Mason Mount: How England match-winner proved Gareth Southgate was right to drop Jack Grealish against Belgium

Outrage, anger, disbelief. Gareth Southgate had lost the plot, they lamented. This was before the game against Belgium had even kicked off.

Jack Grealish was out of the starting XI despite his supreme showing against Wales four days before and in was Mason Mount. The nation’s sofas were alive with those who know better than the England manager furiously tapping away on tablets and smartphones.

Grealish’s absence caused an immediate, predictable backlash from supporters, who questioned what convinced Southgate to select Mount over the Villa player. One suggested the Chelsea midfielder irons Southgate’s little waistcoat for him, another that he has in his possession compromising photographs of the England manager.

It seems the art of passing judgement on a football game after it has finished is a dying one.

Perhaps it could be that Southgate merely resisted the temptation to start Grealish against the world’s No1 team after a handful of – admittedly – very good games for his club and one superb performance for England, after which he was compared to Paul Gascoigne, one of England’s greatest ever players.

A performance, it should be noted, against practically a Wales B team. Isn’t it, after all, the England manager’s job to ignore the hyperbole and try to win games against the world’s best sides, as he did so tonight?

Mount is a less sexy selection than Grealish, for sure. Grealish looks wonderful as he dances around defenders with those tiny shin pads and low socks. He carried England creatively in the friendly against Wales last week. His assist to set up Dominic Calvert-Lewin for England’s first goal – the delicate shimmies and unmissable cross – was a moment of pure class.

There is no doubt Grealish can turn it on in an instant. But Grealish also likes to drift, and wander. He does not care where he plays, he tells us. He is pure enjoyment of playing personified.

Jack Grealish was left on the bench against Belgium after impressing in Wales win (Photo: Getty)

Mount, on the other hand, is far more structurally organised, he presses harder, he offers a tighter defensive unit even as an attacking player, while still possessing the technique and ability to produce match-winning moments.

Against Belgium he did not have the sort of game that would trouble highlights reels before or after he curled in the match-winner in the 64th minute, via a huge deflection off Belgium defender Toby Alderweireld. But he won England the game.

While Grealish – four years older – was fighting relegation last season, Mount, then 20-years-old, finished in the top four with Chelsea, played in the Champions League and accumulated in total 59 appearances for club and country.

Southgate is continually trying to win games in the present while thinking ahead to the European Championships next summer and he clearly sees Mount as the player who offers better potential.

That could change. Grealish is doing everything right to change Southgate’s mind and that is exactly what the England manager will want to see. It is precisely the sort of attitude Southgate rewards.

Southgate has also said that he sees Grealish competing with Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford on either side of Harry Kane up front. Against Wales he played in a front three, with Danny Ings and Calvert-Lewin. Whereas Mount is more likely to fit into a central role.

Against the stronger sides – the Belgiums, Frances, Germanys, etc – Southgate will always play more defensively. He has spoken about it many times and always points out that if he tries to open up against a side like that then England could get battered.

So with two up top versus Belgium – Calvert-Lewin and Rashford – Southgate had a three-man midfield behind and Mount will always be selected ahead of Grealish in those circumstances.

England may have fallen behind to Romelu Lukaku’s penalty and been outplayed for the opening 20 minutes, but they turned it around, were level at the half-time thanks to Rashford’s penalty and were the better side of the second half, during which Mount sealed what was arguably England’s best performance in years.

It ended Belgium’s 13-game unbeaten run, dating back almost two years.

Gareth Southgate’s selection was vindicated by the result (Photo: PA)

Southgate has always maintained that it is results in these types of matches that will determine success in international football. These are the teams England will face in knockout tournament matches and two or three of these tightly contested victories, in quarters, semis and finals, could mean the difference between elimination and going all the way.

Southgate will select a safer pair of hands, in these games, every time. The least he deserves is to have his decisions judged after the match has concluded.

Sam Cunningham’s i football column is published in print and online on Tuesday mornings. You can follow him on Twitter @samcunningham