We've had/have players on the wing like sane and foden who can dribble past defenders, we've got someone like kdb who drifts out there who can deliver a great ball, we've had sterling who offers fantastic movement off the ball in behind, stretching the defence and offering a pass, we've had jesus and now Alvarez who bring all the intensity and energy you need, they all have at lest one outstanding attribute, What does Grealish do for us?
He saw plenty of the ball first half in great positions 1v1 to get at the fullback and into the box, not once did he beat his man or produce something. He either had his marker block whatever he tried or the majority of the time played it back to the safety net behind him.
Looking back at those key attributes of others and applying them to Grealish, he doesn't have the pace or acceleration to go by defenders, doesn't have a trick or a shimmy to beat somebody or get a yard to deliver, hates using his left foot and telegraph's every dribble, it's a side feint to the left with a half dummy before cutting inside every single time. You cannot be that readable without the pace.
His delivery? nothing noteworthy, a substandard delivery when he provides one but most of the time it gets blocked because he cannot work the space in the first place, wouldn't say its bad by any means but it's no better than others and his numbers suggest he rarely provides.
Movement? Hugs the line, offers nothing behind due to lack of pace, only ever moves backwards and towards the ball to receive it infront of his markers.
intensity? Miles behind the rest of the side with this, a big outlier in this respect and the key reason why he will never, ever play as an 8 for Pep.(yet we still have plenty of people that flat out ignore this very clear major issue and insist he should be an 8. Pep, the guy who turned Delph and zinchenko into left backs, plays John stones right back, had Phil Foden as a false 9 amongst many other left field decisions, loves a position change yet has so far never played Grealish as an 8. He doesn't have a blind spot here, it's really really clear why he doesn't play as an 8 and this idea needs to be shutdown for good)
With the ball he slows everything down to a walk which in itself isn't bad but he doesn't then have the change in gear that's needed, particularly when it's not going to plan and intensity is required. without the ball, he's always a yard or two off the press. Just look at the way he casually strolled out to the ball as their player put the ball back in for their goal, he has to be straight out to that getting a block in, his casualness caused that goal and is indicative of his overall pressing, the out ball for opposition is always the area Grealish occupies when we press.
Things he was known to be good at at Villa, carrying the ball up the pitch, invaluable for Villa but not needed for a side that plays against sides that are often camped on their own box where ederson could walk the ball to the halfway most of the time, we don't struggle to get up the pitch, it's not a valuable skill for us.
Ability to keep hold of it under pressure and win freekicks, again invaluable for villa but very few teams ever put us under sustained pressure and those that try it are generally punished as we play around it, break the press and execute a devastating counter. Also the freekicks just disrupt our flow, useful in niche situations where we're seeing a tight game out or for some reason are under the cosh a bit but those instances are infrequent at most. Meaning it is
just not a skill that's very useful for us.
That's his best two assets from Villa that aren't required here, he just doesn't fit into our needs at present beyond helping to see games out for the last 20 if we have a narrow win which isn't enough and I do not currently see how he might be a better fit in the future.
Best thing that could happen to him right now imo is he misses out on the world cup squad, he will have been with us for 18 months by the time that's over, it either gives him a slap in the face he needs to step up and become useful for us or it quickens the process of cutting our losses which will be becoming a talking point by then if there's no upturn in performances.
