10 | Jack Grealish - 2021/22 Performances

[Lauz9888]

The thought I keep coming back to is that he's never scored a lot.

If we've spent £100m on a player in his mid-20s whose stretch target would be to hit 10 goals a season, expecting him to suddenly start banging them in every week, then our club and its recruitment strategy is absolutely fucking insane.

It's not like we signed Kane, with his scoring record, and he's hardly scoring. I could understand being disappointed if that was the case, I know I'd feel it too.

But we signed Grealish, who's scored a few nice goals in his time but has never put up big numbers, or looked particularly likely too.

Pep knew his game, liked and praised him for a couple of years before buying him. The club will have researched him, watched him play, scrutinised his performances. And at no point would they have seen any evidence that he is, or is likely to become, a prolific goalscorer.

And yet they bought him anyway.

I refuse to believe that Pep and the club don't have a plan for him, or that the plan is not based on a realistic assessment of his abilities.

He didn't score much for Villa. Goals are incredibly precious for a club that risks flirting with relegation, and he didn't score big numbers, and he was "taking up an attacking position" but he was their best player anyway and they suffered without him.

As for the off the pitch stuff... I'm not going to defend the dangerous driving but let's give him the benefit of the doubt of that being in the past, him taking his punishment for it and we'll hope/assume it won't happen again (I don't even know if he's back driving again).

Other than that... the bloke's got a social life. Since he joined us the only thing he's done that anyone in the club seems to have had a problem with was how he turned up for training the day after the Leeds match. That was dealt with and we haven't heard of anything similar since. He gets photographed if he goes to a restaurant or whatever because there's tabloid interest in him, but that doesn't mean he's wrong to be there or that our other players aren't doing the same stuff. As long as he's not putting anyone in danger or impacting the club's reputation - and as far as we know he's not - then it's probably none of our business.

 

[Charlesfarsbar]

Pros

technically excellent
eye for a pass
good dribbler
decent pace over shorter distances
seems to fit in well with the team dynamic

cons

not a natural goalscorer
work rate is closer to Mahrez than Phil
bit of a pisshead

hes not a winger in our system for me, he will look great as a number 8 and has been bought for when we phase out gundo and Kev over the next 3 years

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

I think he'll need a different role next season, with less pressure. Foden will probably end up back wide left IMO. Much will depend upon what happens with Bernardo. hopefully he stays and signs a new deal and Grealish becomes a squad player, albeit an expensive one.

But he isn't going to have some miraculous explosion. His limitations as a footballer are pretty apparent so the key thing is going to be getting him to do what he's good at from a position on the pitch where he can do that. For me that'll be playing as an 8 and helping recycle the ball.

I do like the change in tempo you get from some of the pairings on the pitch when they get the ball.

Foden (Up) Grealish (Down)
Kev (Up) Gundo/Silva (Down)
Sterling (Up) Mahrez (Down)

I can definitely see Jack in the Gundo LCM role. He seems to be more willing to go move vertical/direct with the ball in that space as well (when he can). Interesting development to watch going foward.

 

[VOOMER]

£100 million for a bit part player.

 

[oldius]

These threads often look ridiculous later on. For reference, see the Gundogan thread, the Rodri thread, the Mahrez thread, etc.

 

[schfc6]

I will expect a striker with decent height like Haaland changing the dynamic and formation of the team a LOT.

For example, wingers in our F9 system often run to the byline and make a pull back pass or a low cross. Sterling with his speed and Foden with his left foot, perform this task better than Grealish. (Although Grealish shows a lot of improving on this in recent games).

If playing with a tall striker, a high cross might be preferred from the winger. And based on their performance in England shirt, Grealish may be the strongest one among these 3.

Will Foden play as a left winger with a tall striker? It is difficult to say. The closest thing is England team and Southgate plays Foden as a right winger or a right midfielder.

The same question is Gundogan. He thrives after City switched to F9 system. He is good at running into the box and shoot. But if we bring in a striker, won't the new striker demand the same space and opportunities?

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying Gundo or Foden will become bad with a striker. But I am just saying that their role and style might change a lot. I tend to think Grealish/Mahrez/KDB are likely to perform better with a taller striker because they have proven this in other teams(club/national) with different striker options. For the others, lack of evidence.

I’d expect Foden and Gundogan to adapt, so far we’ve seen very little of Grealish’s ability to adapt.

Foden spent most of career at youth level as a central midfielder. I’d expect as he ages that’s where we’ll see him. We see it from time to time already.

I personally think Grealish will struggle for game time if he doesn’t seriously improve his game changing contributions.

 

[BillyShears]

These threads often look ridiculous later on. For reference, see the Gundogan thread, the Rodri thread, the Mahrez thread, etc.

This is also very true! Think it's important to be balanced in any critique.

 

[blueparrot]

£100 million for a bit part player.

We wouldn’t do that though would we, we aren’t united. So there will definitely be a long term plan for him

 

[ninjamonkey]

A striker is going to mean starting spots are even more scarce. when we play with a striker we could have 4 spots to fill and potentially foden, sterling, mahrez, jesus, alvarez, Palmer, mcatee, kdb, Bernardo, gundogan and Grealish all looking to fill them. There will be rotation of course but if you've got a player or 2 like mahrez or Bernardo this season at the top of their game they become undroppable and the rest are thdn fighting for just 2 spots most weeks, will Grealish be undroppable or near the top of that list next season? Who knows, maybe, but hes nowhere near on current form. It's likely he's going to have to be consistently better than foden and sterling to be playing regularly on the left or consistently better than 2 from at least kdb Bernardo and gundogan (if Pep plays him as an 8 which I don't currently see happening) we will have some player if he manages to do that but thats a very tall ask.

We won't be afforded space to be playing balls in behind regularly for a striker so the players that will benefit most from a striker on the pitch are those putting in crosses. the obvious players to benefit most will be kdb, the best crosser in the league, mahrez with those low angled balls in and cancelo with his array of deep crosses. Foden puts a mean whipped ball in too. Grealish I'm sure can put in a very decent ball but he's not exactly renowned for his crossing, it's not this secret weapon he possesses that's been under utilised so far without a striker as some are making out. He will benefit from a striker I'm sure but so will every other attacking player in the squad yet I weirdly only see it mentioned in here.

These threads often look ridiculous later on. For reference, see the Gundogan thread, the Rodri thread, the Mahrez thread, etc.

Haven't you said he's been the best player on the pitch for the past 3 games? You know you can't vote for yourself for player of the year don't you Jack? (wink)

They only look ridiculous if you ignore the fact that the criticism at the time was largely valid. Rodri has seen a drastic improvement this season, both hinself and Pep have said that, Gundogan had a difficult start here because he struggled to get over his acl injury, both the physical and mental side, again both he and Pep have acknowledged this. Mahrez looked like he didn't belong first season, he had obvious quality but was very out of sync with the rest of the side and had a very different game to the sterling and Sane wing play we were used to at that moment. I've no doubt some went over the top and those that write off his or any players entire career so early on are jumping the gun but they are a small minority, if people were criticising those players back then, most of it was probably valid and doesn't suddenly become invalid now that those players have improved and the criticism no longer applies. If Grealish becomes a superstar and wins pfa player of year next season I'm sure we will all be buzzing for him, doesn't mean those that criticised this season were suddenly wrong in that moment though.

 

[blueparrot]

If I had to guess between now and 2025 the 3 of Gundogan Bernardo and KDB will gradually be replaced in midfield by Foden Mcatee and Grealish. I doubt the long term plan is for any of them to be wide in a front 3.
Think next season will be Gundogans last, Bernardo we still don’t know. KDB probably has 3 years but it will take Mcatee a couple to establish himself.