10 | Jack Grealish - 2021/22 Performances

[alexmcity]

First of all this is not a dig at Grealish , he's a brilliant footballer worth the admission fee on his own , but i do question our recruitment because we didnt need Jack Grealish , we have four or five players who can slot into the team where Grealish has been utilised. We needed a £100-150m striker , but they were thin on the ground and with the money burning a hole in our pocket we bought Grealish , who will still when acclimatised to our tactics will make a decent contribution , but any criticism of Grealish has to be tempered we are asking him to play a false nine at times a position he has never played. Not sure what his best position in our team is because at Villa he had a free reign to cause chaos and we dont give players a free reign.
He is an expensive cog in a well oiled machine and with the quality of our playing squad he was never going to stand out head and shoulders amongst the likes of KDB , Mahrez , Foden , Gundo , Bernardo etc. Jack's issues are similar to Mahrez , a big fish in a small pond but it has worked out well for Mahrez hopefully it will for Jack as well.

Where would we be now if we were without Grealish when Kevin and Foden were injured and Sterling was poor? 5-6 pts off Liverpool?

I still can't fathom why some people don't trust Pep/Txiki when it comes to signing players like Grealish? Grealish wasn't signed at the expense of a striker. We had the money to buy Kane IF (and it's a fucking huge IF) Spurs were reasonable in their Kane evaluation. It's not like we'd have offered Spurs 150-200m if we hadn't signed Grealish.

We signed Grealish because Sterling was poor and thought about leaving, because Bernardo wanted to leave, because KDB and Gundogan are already 30+, etc. There were good reasons why we were after Grealish.

 

[applejuice]

First of all this is not a dig at Grealish , he's a brilliant footballer worth the admission fee on his own , but i do question our recruitment because we didnt need Jack Grealish , we have four or five players who can slot into the team where Grealish has been utilised. We needed a £100-150m striker , but they were thin on the ground and with the money burning a hole in our pocket we bought Grealish , who will still when acclimatised to our tactics will make a decent contribution , but any criticism of Grealish has to be tempered we are asking him to play a false nine at times a position he has never played. Not sure what his best position in our team is because at Villa he had a free reign to cause chaos and we dont give players a free reign.
He is an expensive cog in a well oiled machine and with the quality of our playing squad he was never going to stand out head and shoulders amongst the likes of KDB , Mahrez , Foden , Gundo , Bernardo etc. Jack's issues are similar to Mahrez , a big fish in a small pond but it has worked out well for Mahrez hopefully it will for Jack as well.

TBH what happened in the summer is -

- Bernardo really insisted on leaving and City believed his agent that a deal would be made. However his agent failed to convince other team to pay the price tag City demanded. (And I am glad he did not leave!!)

- Gondu/KDB/Foden all picked up injuries during the Euros. KDB might need an operation and that would mean missing months. Gondu is over 30 and his back injury is difficult and repeated to come back. Foden's injury was also unpredictable about how long he would miss. And indeed all of 3 need repeated on and off rest. And they are not fully fit even now...

Pep's system can pull through without a striker - but cannot miss an attacking midfielder. In this case City had to buy one knowing the only fully healthy option Bernardo wishing to leave. Question is - if City should go for such an expensive option...

 

[samuelyeboah]

looks like if you took a center back and put them on the wing

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

I find it quite odd that a number of posters cannot seem to grasp the fact that Pep / management team felt that buying Grealish would enhance the overall team performance. They also felt that paying £100 million was the price worth paying.

Because Grealish has clearly never played in a team managed by Pep , the change in the role asked of him is taking time for him to adapt to. And, if Pep didn't think Grealish was doing or capable of doing what is expected, then he would continue to work with him until he either performs as asked or is moved on.

He has been at the club for a matter of months and other players coming into the team have taken time to adjust and adapt, but Grealish shouldn't be afforded the same time ?

I seriously doubt that Pep could give a flying fuck about the opinions of some of BM's experts even if that means their ego being bruised.

 

[Hart of the Matter]

He lacks quickness of thought. Not sure you can train that into somebody.

 

[applejuice]

He lacks quickness of thought. Not sure you can train that into somebody.

Actually I hold the opposite view. His thought was quick enough on the pitch at least showed in several cases during the build up stage when he dropped deep yesterday during the 1st half. A nice example is the build up stage leading to KDB shot. We tend to ignore the building up but just seeing what happens in the box. At least comparing to Gundo and Ferna in the midfield - the pair looked like slow motion movies last night... :(

However he lacks quickness in the leg. That is really something we can never train. Sterling and Walker are born with speed. Grealish is simply not.

 

[kye1991]

I agree that he needs time to settle in, and think that he will come good soon.

That said.... 100 million of our English pounds One hundred million. Unbelievable.

At least the lad didn't set the price.

Although he did say he was worth it. If he played on the red side of Manchester this forum would be full of people laughing there bollocks off at how he's delivered so far for 100mill. Still not seeing it.

 

[Maly]

looks like if you took a center back and put them on the wing

I don’t agree with you, but thanks for posting. Made me chuckle thinking about having Big Mick McCarthy, Kenny Clements or Alan Kernaghan etc playing on the wing

 

[simon23]

Where would we be now if we were without Grealish when Kevin and Foden were injured and Sterling was poor? 5-6 pts off Liverpool?

I still can't fathom why some people don't trust Pep/Txiki when it comes to signing players like Grealish? Grealish wasn't signed at the expense of a striker. We had the money to buy Kane IF (and it's a fucking huge IF) Spurs were reasonable in their Kane evaluation. It's not like we'd have offered Spurs 150-200m if we hadn't signed Grealish.

We signed Grealish because Sterling was poor and thought about leaving, because Bernardo wanted to leave, because KDB and Gundogan are already 30+, etc. There were good reasons why we were after Grealish.

Do you think Grealish will ever reach prime KDB level.....ie one of the top 5 players in the world?
I certainly dont and have seen nothing ever to make me think he can get to that level....there is a lot of adulation around Grealish but Im not sure why.....Foden is twice the player and was before we bought Grealish who is a few years older. Bernardo, likewise is light years ahead of Grealish in every aspect of their games...

 

[simon23]

Although he did say he was worth it. If he played on the red side of Manchester this forum would be full of people laughing there bollocks off at how he's delivered so far for 100mill. Still not seeing it.

said something similar before we bought him.....along the lines of that id be laughing my tits off if the rags were offering 100m for Grealish......