Former Leeds United forward Mike Grella has launched a scathing attack on England's World Cup performance against Norway, despite the Three Lions winning 2-1 to reach the semi-finals. Working as a pundit for CBS Sports, Grella compared praise for England's display to 'having the world's ugliest daughter and saying oh, you're so beautiful baby'.
Grella's Brutal Verdict
In a clip uploaded to CBS' X account, Grella said: 'The good news is you have two games left... and you can actually win a World Cup. The bad news is you're not very good at football. You're not good with the ball or in transition. You leave unbelievable spaces in between the lines.'
He continued: 'By English standards, a really poor performance. It's impressive how poor you are and are still able to get away with a win. It's like having the world's ugliest daughter and saying oh, you're so beautiful baby.'
Calling a Spade a Spade
Grella, who also represented Brentford and Scunthorpe United, did not hold back: 'Let's call a spade a spade here, that was embarrassing how you got through that game. You made Norway look like world-beaters. The credit is, two more games and you can win a World Cup. You have unbelievable superstars in Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, but through facets of the game, not good enough, at all.'
Troy Deeney's Assessment
Former Premier League striker Troy Deeney, also on the CBS panel, echoed similar sentiments. He said: 'They keep telling you the performances are going to come, but they might not. In wide areas we are average at best, when it's 0-0, we're playing with the shackles on. They told us that they were going to play front-footed football. There's so many questions over what we see compared to the result.'
Deeney added: 'The results are brilliant, we keep winning but Norway with Haaland, who probably had his worst game of the tournament, was brought off when they were chasing a goal and they still had 10 shots in the game. So we don't dominate or control games and then also the changes, in my opinion, we got away with it. Bringing off Declan Rice, we had Reece James as a holding midfielder with Elliot Anderson further up, then we take off Konsa and put James at right-back. We just keep on changing different things, we are getting away with it.'
England's Path Forward
Despite the criticism, England have reached the final four and will face Argentina for a spot in next Sunday's final. If Thomas Tuchel's side get beyond the holders, one of Spain or France will be waiting in New Jersey.
