Was the great Jack Grealish a fevered cheese dream? Maybe he only swims as a big fish

Did we all just invent the great Jack Grealish: a maverick, an unpredictable, talented player with magic in his boots? Is he some sort of collective fevered cheese dream that we’ve just woken up from?

A couple of decent 20-minute cameo appearances from the bench and ‘the clamour’ started once again for him to begin games, just as it had last summer. But when he does start he doesn’t make that much of an impact and everyone is a little deflated.

Grealish is monumentally frustrating, both for England and for Manchester City. Against Italy, in typical fashion, he kept receiving the ball, largely on the left, looked well set, advanced five metres then pulled up and laid it off, back and to his right. Time and again he takes it on the touchline, feigns to run at the defender, but doesn’t and then lays it off. He cuts in from the left, runs past a blocking defender, then pulls up and lays it off again. He seems to have forgotten how to take on a defender and beat him. He seems to have forgotten how to use his left foot too. It’s all tickling and no punching.

The Aston Villa maverick magician has been reduced to being a neat and tidy player whose role is hard to discern. Much of the time he is reduced to being an extra pass in a move that would do better if he was not involved at all. Knock it wide to Jack, Jack advances five metres, stops, turns 90 degrees and lays it off to a man who may as well have taken the initial pass in the first place.

England 0-0 Italy: Rating the players from a Nations League bore draw at Molineux

This is hugely frustrating. Why won’t he take the opposition on? Some lay the blame for Grealish’s stagnation on Southgate, others place it at Pep Guardiola’s door. But whether he broke Grealish the way you break a wild horse, it is clear to see that this Grealish is a tame imitation of the man we thought we knew.

Southgate has to try and fix this by insisting Grealish runs at people (if he isn’t already telling him to do this). Insist he plays more vertically and drives into the box. Insist he shoots more. Give him licence to make mistakes. At the moment he looks like he doesn’t want to do anything wrong, so takes the easy way out all the time. For a man who is not usually short of self-belief, it is painful to see. It is as though the game is a training match. He lacks zing and drive too much of the time. Everything he does is tidy enough but too often goes nowhere and has no ambition to do so.

How about not…