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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Barney Ronay at Molineux

England’s maverick Jack Grealish plays his part but cannot create liftoff

Jack Grealish applauds the limited number of fans in attendance at Molineux after England's draw with Italy
‘For Grealish the battle is to earn the right to be in these games, while retaining his ragged edge, his mischief’. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Observer

What did we learn? How did it feel? What were the bullet points, the red lines, the notes of glory in this goalless Nations League international in an empty stadium between two teams who spent long periods of this game struggling against some invisible plane of resistance, like flies buzzing down a window pane?

As competitive games go this one stretched the semantic limits of the word “competitive” into some interesting new spaces. At times it felt like a late July club tour practice game. As the ball was shuttled sullenly around the back of midfield you half expected to look at the team sheets and see “A Triallist” listed.

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