Grealish defends Southgate amid 'harsh criticism'

defended Gareth Southgate against the harsh criticism of the English manager.

Southgate advanced to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup with the

and reached the finals of Euro 2020 with this team, but failed to win the championship. England has not won in the last 4 games of Nations League and has lost twice to Hungary and drawn against Italy and

. Criticisms of the English head coach are very high and this is when there are less than 2 months left until the start of the World Cup. However, Grealish praised the Three Lions manager.

Grealish said: 

"I think [the criticism] was harsh.

"[There was] the final last year and [then losing] the Hungary game last camp. I think the last time we lost to a team in 90 minutes [before Hungary] was Belgium in November 2020. 

"I think it was very harsh and especially with the World Cup and the Euros how well the team had done. I thought it was harsh, but sometimes that's what you get if you're English, and I've certainly had my fair share."

Grealish believes that the team will unite before the World Cup and will support their manager.

"If you have a few bad results, people are going to jump off the bandwagon a little bit,"

he added.

"Before that, everyone was saying how good we are and how well we'd been doing. We hadn't been beat over 90 minutes in so long.

"I wouldn't say we're underdogs, and we know what talent we have in our dressing room.

"One thing I love about these tournaments is how everyone comes together, so I'm sure we'll have their full support, and two months can't come quick enough.

"I hope for myself that I'm playing regularly for Man City and performing, and hopefully I'll be on the plane."

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