10 | Jack Grealish - 2022/23 Performances

[applejuice]

Pep doesn’t trust him.

Doesn’t start him in huge games.

2-0 down to villa and he turns to Gundo and sterling instead.

Grealish or mahrez should have started today simple as - but it’s becoming evident pep doesn’t trust Jack and we spent £100m on him.

Villa decision was understandable. I did not go to the stadium but friends said that Villa away fans were singing and shouting something ugly about him all the time.

CL semi/final decisions are also understandable. After all this is his Pep first year and he missed the round 16 cuz of injury. I won't put on a player without any Europe knockout game knowledge when there are more far more experienced players in the team.

However it is really weird today. The only possible reason I could think - Pep really wanted to Foden on the LW given his good record against Liverpool. Even though it means dropping Grealish. However I cannot understand why not subbing him on half time when the problem is so obvious. Pep seems to trust Cancelo as a winger more than Grealish/Mahrez and it is worrying!

This is the only big away PL game before WC and we had a very bad away record this season. The away game vs Dortmund is important as well but not as big as Anfield. Let's see what happens vs Dortmund and if the result is still so poor, serious questions will be asked against Pep. It is acceptable that Grealish the record signing lukewarm in first season. But it starts to bring more and more doubt into Pep and Tixxi management now.
What is Grealish's role? As reported this signing is strongly backed up by Pep then Pep needs to answer this. In recent weeks Pep emphasised on Grealish's role of setting the tempo. Fine, then why not use him at all when we desperately need to control the tempo?
Why drop Grealish when he is in form? Why not use him as an impact sub? If you don't have a plan to use him why spend so much money?
Mahrez just got an extension but he was not even sub on when everyone see we need a right winger to fill the hole?
Grealish clearly has a better chemistry with Bernado and why use them separately?

I am not blaming the player because it is clearer than before that Grealish did put a lot of effort recently to find his form, get over injury etc and work very hard. It is unfair to the player himself when Liverpool can use Milner and Carvalho on to the pitch to make a contribution. Grealish had played well against Chelsea in both legs last season and excellent in Derby. He was famous for his better away record when he was at Villa and need to handle more responsibility. It seems strange to not trust such a player when we have seen his good mentality against Leeds, West Ham and Chelsea away.

I have seen similar treatment on Jesus in the past and hope Grealish not be the 2nd Jesus who never find a firm role at City but flourish else where. From a fan's view, it is better for the footballer to find a team trusting him and let him flourish during the short and brief career. It is not healthy for the player or the team.

 

[applejuice]

I see why Grealish seems to be so scared to make any mistake. He does not get the trust from Pep and he is scared of it. It is just not good for him or the team.

Some players in the team seem to enjoy much more freedom and make mistakes after mistakes without the fear of dropping to the bench. But it is not the case for Grealish and previously Jesus. Sad.

 

[Dodgy Gangster]

Pep doesn’t trust him.

Doesn’t start him in huge games.

2-0 down to villa and he turns to Gundo and sterling instead.

Grealish or mahrez should have started today simple as - but it’s becoming evident pep doesn’t trust Jack and we spent £100m on him.

That’s a daft comment. Sealed by saying we should have played the woefully out of form Mahrez.

But to address your Grealish theory ….. Pep gets paid £15m quid a year because he sees tactical nuances that are way too complex for the average fan to spot. He pieces together his jigsaw according to the particular needs of any given game. Today he chose not to play Jack which seemed a pretty good decision based on how outstanding Phil was in the left wing position that Jack occupies.

It’s not becoming evident that he doesn’t trust him at all. And a league game in October away to a mid table team doesn’t count as huge.

 

[Mattyc55]

That’s a daft comment. Sealed by saying we should have played the woefully out of form Mahrez.

But to address your Grealish theory ….. Pep gets paid £15m quid a year because he sees tactical nuances that are way too complex for the average fan to spot. He pieces together his jigsaw according to the particular needs of any given game. Today he chose not to play Jack which seemed a pretty good decision based on how outstanding Phil was in the left wing position that Jack occupies.

It’s not becoming evident that he doesn’t trust him at all. And a league game in October away to a mid table team doesn’t count as huge.

I wasn’t actually advocating to start mahrez over Grealish and I agree he’s been out of sorts this season - it was more a point of saying we should have just gone with our usual 4-3-3 which generally includes one of the two alongside Foden/Haaland. He did score last week against Southampton though so hopefully he’s getting up to speed a little bit.

No-one is disputing what Pep does and how brilliant he is - but we all know full well how much respect he shows to Liverpool and this had an impact on his selection today. They were there for the taking and we should have just played our usual game. Maybe if Walker was fit he would have done but who knows.

As for Grealish - don’t shoot the messenger but the proof is in the pudding. He spent 100mil on him and so far doesn’t trust him enough to play him in the biggest games. Hopefully he will get his chance and take it in the future.

And yes Liverpool is a huge game - it’s been our toughest domestic fixture for years now.

 

[Constantine]

That’s a daft comment. Sealed by saying we should have played the woefully out of form Mahrez.

But to address your Grealish theory ….. Pep gets paid £15m quid a year because he sees tactical nuances that are way too complex for the average fan to spot. He pieces together his jigsaw according to the particular needs of any given game. Today he chose not to play Jack which seemed a pretty good decision based on how outstanding Phil was in the left wing position that Jack occupies.

It’s not becoming evident that he doesn’t trust him at all. And a league game in October away to a mid table team doesn’t count as huge.

That's for you. For me, it felt like more than a huge game.

 

[applejuice]

That’s a daft comment. Sealed by saying we should have played the woefully out of form Mahrez.

But to address your Grealish theory ….. Pep gets paid £15m quid a year because he sees tactical nuances that are way too complex for the average fan to spot. He pieces together his jigsaw according to the particular needs of any given game. Today he chose not to play Jack which seemed a pretty good decision based on how outstanding Phil was in the left wing position that Jack occupies.

It’s not becoming evident that he doesn’t trust him at all. And a league game in October away to a mid table team doesn’t count as huge.

Grealish did not play well against Liverpool but he at least managed to cut inside several times on his own and deliver good balls to shift to right for Mahrez to shoot. He also dropped to byline and put into a cross to Halaand on that day.

For me, better performance than Foden did today.

Foden was excellent as a LW in F9 system. In a striker system I have not see enough evidence to suggest he is better than Grealish. They both have good and bad games so far.

However I think that Foden is the best RW choice for us right now. His partnership with KDB is also so good on the right wing. So I really cannot understand the decision why not start Grealish Halaand and Foden together today.

 

[Dodgy Gangster]

I wasn’t actually advocating to start mahrez over Grealish and I agree he’s been out of sorts this season - it was more a point of saying we should have just gone with our usual 4-3-3 which generally includes one of the two alongside Foden/Haaland. He did score last week against Southampton though so hopefully he’s getting up to speed a little bit.

No-one is disputing what Pep does and how brilliant he is - but we all know full well how much respect he shows to Liverpool and this had an impact on his selection today. They were there for the taking and we should have just played our usual game. Maybe if Walker was fit he would have done but who knows.

As for Grealish - don’t shoot the messenger but the proof is in the pudding. He spent 100mil on him and so far doesn’t trust him enough to play him in the biggest games. Hopefully he will get his chance and take it in the future.

And yes Liverpool is a huge game - it’s been our toughest domestic fixture for years now.

I’m not sure they were there for the taking. They’ve only lost 2 league games out of the last 29. As surely as the media have exaggerated how good we are this season they’ve also exaggerated how poor the dippers are.

Jack’s fee is irrelevant. It can sensibly be argued that the home derby game against our most bitter rivals, a resurgent United who were nearer to us in the table than Liverpool were today was a “huge” game, moreso than today, and he trusted Jack to play in that.

I think Pep got it bang on today. We did play our usual game, we just made minor tweaks to take into account our opponents game as we do every week. We controlled the game for long spells and our system worked well. If KDB was more on his game we could easily have won, if Erling goes low instead of trying to chip Allison, if the disallowed goal stands, if Cancelo doesn’t make a daft mistake etc etc. Individual decisions by players in tight games affect results, today was just one of those days.

The only criticism I have of Pep is failure to make changes when Rodri and Gundo and KDB were running out of steam

 

[Dodgy Gangster]

That's for you. For me, it felt like more than a huge game.

I hear you but set aside our hatred of those horrible fucking fans and today was just another game against a team who’ll be challenging for a CL place. Just 3 points at stake, 28 games left to play, not that big a deal int the grand scheme of things.

 

[RonnieColeman123]

I see why Grealish seems to be so scared to make any mistake. He does not get the trust from Pep and he is scared of it. It is just not good for him or the team.

Some players in the team seem to enjoy much more freedom and make mistakes after mistakes without the fear of dropping to the bench. But it is not the case for Grealish and previously Jesus. Sad.

It happens with Mahrez too. I think pep at times gives certain players much more freedom, but that’s also a drawback at times. If said player, such as grealish, has different characteristics that can help turn the tide, they won’t be able to display it and play within themselves

 

[Constantine]

I hear you but set aside our hatred of those horrible fucking fans and today was just another game against a team who’ll be challenging for a CL place. Just 3 points at stake, 28 games left to play, not that big a deal int the grand scheme of things.

You do realize that this win by Liverpool put them back in the title race: only 7 points trailing City (if they win their game in hand) instead of a whopping 13 points.