10 | Jack Grealish - 2024/25

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Pep is reverting back to attacking, dribbling wingers who are direct and make things happen. Fast.

Jack isn’t one of those type of players - or at least he’s not been asked to be since joining - but I’d love to see him give it a go. Even the run at the end where he got booked was unusual for him. Attacking his marker and making things happen. Another day that’s a pen.

A side note, though, Pep absolutely bollocked him apparently for taking so long to get ready to come on. Along the lines of ‘do you want to come on or not?’ - I think it’ll be tough love this season between them both instead of a fatherly figure.
 
CC1 said:
I like Doku a lot but I think Jack is definitely more productive with his use of the ball. At the moment Doku jinks about a lot then more often than not, passes backwards.
Jack is a better player IMHO
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Pep starts the player who is more likely to help the team.

Doku finished last season stronger than Grealish: contributed vs Real, Chelsea (fa cup), Spurs away, scored vs United. And he's only 22.

Both will play a lot. The player who performs better will start more (big) games.
 
skillman said:
Jack isn’t one of those type of players - or at least he’s not been asked to be since joining - but I’d love to see him give it a go. Even the run at the end where he got booked was unusual for him. Attacking his marker and making things happen. Another day that’s a pen.
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The run was not unusual. It is his trademark move. The pass to him from McAtee was the unusual part though. Grealish was in the pockets and McAtee held the width and passed to him from left to right.

For most of Grealish City career he played with Cancelo or Ake behind him. Cancelo is a right footer and prefers crossing with his right. Ake usually plays deep and Grealish receives from him with his back to goal. They rarely make pass similar to that one to find their wideman unmarked. And we can all agree Grealish is never a touchline winger. Although he can hold the ball wherever he receives, he prefers to receive in the half space.

It is not a coincidence. Last season Grealish best two games, Utd away and Real away. Look how most of his productive runs came after a pass Josko(or others) made to find him in the half space at the right moment. Especially the run which lead to the early opener vs Real. It is very very rare for any of our wingers to receive a pass like that ever since Zinchenko faded from starting XI and left.
 
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Grealish is still drunk on the bench and couldn't recognise who Gundogan was.

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mancityscot said:
Shouldn’t get a look in as long as doku and savio are fit imo
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If they are fit and performing well then that may be the case. If that is the case then nobody can have an issue as it means we are obviously playing well without him.

That said, Jack will play plenty of games this season, he’s too good not to and certain games will fit his skill set over the other two.

Unless you think those two can play close to 70 games. Which would be stupid even for those who have never rated Jack from day one..
 
Pep needs to take the gamble and just play him in the middle, even if it's just for one game. No disrespect to Kova but if he can shine in the middle then I believe Jack (who has more range to his game) would be great there.

The "wings" experiment hasn't worked out, Pep has shown that despite being a very proud manager, he can actually admit when certain "brilliant ideas" don't work out (Walker as a midfielder?), I'm hoping he would be open to giving Jack a chance in the midfield.

Most of the things some posters (myself included) write about Jack is simply just banter or trying to get under the skin of his most loyal fans but in reality, I actually rate him and I would like to see the dynamic Jack from his Villa days, not this overly cautious player we have now.
 
he is really under pressure to deliver with much younger wingers ready to step in, Bobb, Doku, Savio all want to play, and even Bernardo/Foden will play some games from the wing during the season.

our play will evolve bit this season, I think players need to evolve as well. dont think can stay the "safe" option to hold the ball instead of make things happen. get the ball and turn back and recycle and try to win freekick there will be match situations where that will come handy, but will not be the case in majority of our season.

always had the feeling he is holding back bit, now that is due to Pep's instructions or limits of Grealish, not sure, but in his 3 seasons so far he had top class 6 months or so only, and decent level was another 6 months, rest is not much improvement on what we had before him. this season if he doesnt hit the top class form again well we might cash in next summer.

if he cant do it after a whole pre season while others trained weeks less also with bit of extra motivation of the dropping from England for Euros, well thats bad.

I think he needs to evolve and show more and be more aggressive.

dont think there is any chance of him playing centrally under Pep. we would have seen glimpses of that already, as he really not shy to try things like Akanji in midfield, Stones in midfield, RB Lewis all over the pitch etc.
 
As others have said, I'd still love to see him play more centrally. With the pace on the wings we have, I think he'd excel in that role. Maybe we'll see it, but with the return of Gundo it's possibly less likely.

He can still do a job on the wing. Pep clearly wants to see him be a bit more dynamic, and I think he will be. But as much as it's "safe" and predictable, drawing a couple of defenders onto him and laying the ball inside is actually very effective. We were excellent in the treble winning season at doing it, with Bernardo/Gundo looking to run the space inside created as a result and then pull the ball back.
 
Damanino said:
he is really under pressure to deliver with much younger wingers ready to step in, Bobb, Doku, Savio all want to play, and even Bernardo/Foden will play some games from the wing during the season.

our play will evolve bit this season, I think players need to evolve as well. dont think can stay the "safe" option to hold the ball instead of make things happen. get the ball and turn back and recycle and try to win freekick there will be match situations where that will come handy, but will not be the case in majority of our season.

always had the feeling he is holding back bit, now that is due to Pep's instructions or limits of Grealish, not sure, but in his 3 seasons so far he had top class 6 months or so only, and decent level was another 6 months, rest is not much improvement on what we had before him. this season if he doesnt hit the top class form again well we might cash in next summer.

if he cant do it after a whole pre season while others trained weeks less also with bit of extra motivation of the dropping from England for Euros, well thats bad.

I think he needs to evolve and show more and be more aggressive.

dont think there is any chance of him playing centrally under Pep. we would have seen glimpses of that already, as he really not shy to try things like Akanji in midfield, Stones in midfield, RB Lewis all over the pitch etc.
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Spot on.
Jack's under big pressure to deliver, it already seems to weigh heavily on him. Season start after his long (and hard working!) summer break is disappointing, except for the Barca friendly where he showed what Pep wants to see regularly - but sadly he doesn't deliver regularly.

Funny that folks still hope for things we've never seen and fully ignore that our coaching team of idiots never test his best midfield skills in training... (and still compare it to Villa days with loads of space, not like the packed defences we have to play).

I feel we had hopes to get him where we want him, but it still didn't work (he had very strong displays though). Hoping for change isn't what a good management would do. A realistic analysis is needed and a realistic scenario for the future. 'Change' of style or play is a very high task that doesn't just happen by a click. And he had some time.

I really hope he can shake off the pressure and play his game.
Have my doubts though I must say. Pep seems to lose patience too.
 
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CC1 said:
I like Doku a lot but I think Jack is definitely more productive with his use of the ball. At the moment Doku jinks about a lot then more often than not, passes backwards.
Jack is a better player IMHO
Click to expand...
Jack is great with his control.

That’s why he, along with Ilkay, came on at around 70 minutes to see the game out, and he did his job perfectly.
 
Txiki Txiki Bang Bang said:
Pep needs to take the gamble and just play him in the middle, even if it's just for one game. No disrespect to Kova but if he can shine in the middle then I believe Jack (who has more range to his game) would be great there.

The "wings" experiment hasn't worked out, Pep has shown that despite being a very proud manager, he can actually admit when certain "brilliant ideas" don't work out (Walker as a midfielder?), I'm hoping he would be open to giving Jack a chance in the midfield.

Most of the things some posters (myself included) write about Jack is simply just banter or trying to get under the skin of his most loyal fans but in reality, I actually rate him and I would like to see the dynamic Jack from his Villa days, not this overly cautious player we have now.
Click to expand...
I think we would all like to see the dynamic Jack from his Villa days but he was pretty much free to roam where he liked unlike his time at City where he is mostly on the wing. He plays like he's scared to make mistakes and consequently plays it safe far too often.

I agree with you that Pep should try him in central midfield because I think we'll see Jack become far more confident in able to fully express himself and this will most probably lead to more goals and assists.
 
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