Let's be honest McAtee is 50/50 at best, of being that level, and decent player that Grealish is, he certainly isn't better than his current competition at present....hopefully like many, he will be better next season, at present he is nowhere near what you would expect for £100m.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.
Maybe Mcatee is 50/50 but we have a year or two to find out. Don’t agree about Grealish, I think he could fairly comfortable start to take over from Gundogan over the next season or 2.Let's be honest McAtee is 50/50 at best, of being that level, and decent player that Grealish is, he certainly isn't better than his current competition at present....hopefully like many, he will be better next season, at present he is nowhere near what you would expect for £100m.
Agree -particularly on Gundo -who I was scathing about for the first few years who I see now as an key player who will take some replacing -and maybe Jack is the one in the scheme of thingsThese threads often look ridiculous later on. For reference, see the Gundogan thread, the Rodri thread, the Mahrez thread, etc.
So we paid 100 mill for a player with a view to take over our current mids 4 years down the line ? At which point he will be 30 and being phased out himself?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
Maybe your right, imo a player mid 20's for £100m should be having minutes now, over a 31yr old (unless it was Messi or similar) if he was that good. I really hope he becomes that player....at present, on other flank, Mahrez for me is streets ahead.Maybe Mcatee is 50/50 but we have a year or two to find out. Don’t agree about Grealish, I think he could fairly comfortable start to take over from Gundogan over the next season or 2.
In the end I ask myself what did Txiki and Pep see in Grealish to chase him and pay £100 mill, it certainly wasn’t a panic buy or a shot in the dark. They will have analysed where he fits into the squad long term.
I don’t see him as a wide forward, I do see him moving inside. Time will tell.
Bluemoon can be a very interesting place.Coutinho is all smoke and mirrors. Hyped up to get big money for Liverpool, once gone he soon found his level... i.e. not top class.
He's actually been very average since he returned to the PL and imo is only getting 'rave reviews' at Villa because Gerrard has the Midlands media in his pocket.
Villa would have Jack Grealish back in a heartbeat. Obviously not for £100m, because he was never actually worth that anyway - we just wanted him so much, probably because we were 'definitely' signing Harry Kane.
We'll see the best of Jack at City when the intended / planned striker arrives. I'll judge him by his performances next season.
I see you are new here ;)So we paid 100 mill for a player with a view to take over out current mids 4 years down the line ? At which point he will be 30 and being phased out himself?
That's me done with this thread , I'll check in next season when he's hit the magical 12 month checkpoint to see what the excuses are then
Man I miss those days...Liverpool was not elite level during Coutinho's days.
You honestly think Coutinho is/was a genuinely world class footballer?Bluemoon can be a very interesting place.
The criticism at the time included comments like bit-part player, Plodri, FFS, dodgy knees, and, for many posters, belligerence that failed to recognise any improvements when they came. I think Grealish has done decently and has looked like one of our best for several games now. You would never know that we had any success at all if you listen to some commenters here.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.
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.