One person mysteriously mentioned Dias.....so not 'people'.....and there really was no need to 'excuse' his performance as he was as good as anyone in that first half of bizarre Pep tactical approach.
He is a top player,as is proven when he plays and makes the team tick better and offers better balance,you just refuse to recognise it.
you start the post saying grealish played as good as everyone else in the first half (let’s face it everyone was poor first half).
You then end the post by saying we play better with him despite us turning around the 1 0 deficit with a much improved second half performance after he was taken off.
I’m not naive enough to suggest the sole reason we won was because we took grealish off but equally I don’t see how you can suggest we play better with him in the side.
You say he is a top player which he has proven. Well what constitutes a top player in your mind? Because to me he has yet to prove anything at city.
You also seem extremely critical of mahrez who to me has produced much more throughout his career whilst also offering the same qualities grealish posses (good ball retention, good dribbling etc). Grealish is basically mahrez without the goals and assists.
When we win with him in the team I don’t ever feel we won because of grealish it’s more in spite of him. He came off the back of a huge transfer fee and fanfare from the euros. I watched him a lot for villa and I was never blown away by his performances and the grealish we have now at city is very similar to the one I saw then.
I see posters bemoan the fact he plays lw (despite the fact he plays there for England and mainly did for villa albeit with a slightly different role), I see posters blame pep for taking away his creativity, no overlapping winger…. the excuses go on and on.
Grealish is a good player but to make a career at city that isn’t enough, he isn’t brilliant at anything imo he doesn’t posses elite pace, his shooting is erratic, passing is safe and his dribbling (his strongest attribute) is miles below that of Bernardo (a genuine world class player).
The fanboys such as yourself are going to have to accept that grealish will attract criticism from city fans. A player who cost 100 mil and is not producing game winning performances imo frustration from fans is justified. Deep down you know you expected more from him here, he just hasn’t lived up to the hype.
Grealish is a nice squad player to have but for the price we paid we all expected a nailed on starter. Think it’s fair to say grealish doesn’t even get into our best starting eleven and judging by the team picked at anfield I think it’s obvious pep agrees.
