Former Leeds United player Mike Grella has launched a scathing attack on England’s display against Norway at the World Cup. Despite reaching the semi-finals, the Three Lions have faced fierce criticism, with Grella bizarrely claiming that praising the display is like “having the world’s ugliest daughter and saying ‘oh, you’re so beautiful baby'”.
Grella, who also turned out for Brentford and Scunthorpe United, has been working as a pundit for CBS Sports throughout the tournament. He featured on their panel following England’s 2-1 quarter-final victory on Saturday, and despite never earning a senior cap for the USMNT, he did not hold back.
In footage shared on CBS‘ X account, he 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. 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 ‘on, you’re so beautiful baby’. That was embarrassing how you got through that game. You made Norway look like world-beaters. “You have unbelievable superstars in [Jude] Bellingham and [Harry] Kane, but through facets of the game, not good enough, at all.”
Former Premier League striker Troy Deeney, who was also on the panel, later offered his views. While not quite as scathing as his fellow pundit, the 38-year-old — who never earned an international cap — pulled no punches in his verdict on England. 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. The results are brilliant, we keep winning but Norway with Haaland, who 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 of Konsa and put James at right-back. We just keep on changing different things, we are getting away with it. I don’t care by the way if we win the World Cup, great, give Thomas Tuchel a statue.
“But again, I’m allowed to say that I am not convinced by what we see other than that we can grind out results, which is great, but there’s another level.” Despite failing to win with any real flair, England have reached the final four and will take on Argentina for a place in next Sunday’s final.