10 | Jack Grealish - 2022/23 Performances

[schfc6]

anyone who says grealish is not supremely talented can forget watching football, as you don't understand football. you can say he does not fit the team or that pep has no clue how to get the best out of him, but never that grealish is not talented enough.

He’s talented on the ball. It’s his football brain that hinders him. He’s looked out of his depth ever since he arrived sadly.

Seems a real decent bloke, but we’re a season and a half in and he’s still not affecting games often enough.

He’s been poor again this season, but pairing him with Mahrez is a bizarre call from Pep, and gets the worst out of both of them.

 

[madloaf]

And I’ll correct you… A 10 is not midfield. We don’t normally play a 10 and if we did, Grealish would be 4 choice at best..

That aside, he rarely played centrally for Villa. England don’t play a ten and he’s only got a handful of starts for England anyway.

Mount played as a 10 in the world cup, it's just he was so fucking invisible you probably didn't notice ;)

 

[schfc6]

Sounds like Jack is doing exactly what the manager wants him to do?

Yes, i’m sure his instructions vs Everton were to offer absolutely no attacking threat whatsoever and then to be hauled off again when we need a goal.

 

[wolviedinho]

so you are suggesting that Grealish is a better option centrally than Gundo or Bernardo.....

He isnt

Hypothetical until he does. What would happen if you played Gundo on the wing?

 

[Lauz9888]

Traditional wisdom - and certainly my inexpert instinct - says that a player whose main qualities are ball retention and progression is probably going to be more effective centrally, because it opens up more angles for runs and passes than are available on the wing.

He's never going to be able to consistently go round defences on the outside because he doesn't have the sharp burst of pace or tricky left foot that would require (he has pace but it takes a few yards to build up, and his left foot is functional but nowhere near the skill of his right). He can cut in on his right, but when that's his only option and there's no overlapping runner on the left, it's pretty easy to defend against. Whereas if he was central, he'd have passing options on either side of him as well as spaces (even if they were tight spaces, which he's pretty good with) to run into.

So by that logic I'd love to see him lined up as cover/eventual replacement for Gundo (I love Gundo and he'd be my preference in that left 8 position over Jack right now, but his age and injury history mean he can't play every match and his contract situation means he's unlikely to stick around for many more seasons, so now is the perfect time to develop his replacement. Bernardo would still get plenty of minutes rotating the right 8 and the right wing).

But Pep isn't following that traditional approach right now.

Instead, it seems that what he's doing is asking Jack to hold onto the ball on the left, drawing defenders to him, then switch the ball central or to the right wing, so his teammates can exploit the space those defenders have vacated.

It's a task that requires patience and perseverence and, unfortunately for Jack, it's a largely thankless task because even if he delivers his part of the plan to perfection, success is dependent on what other people do with the ball after he's moved it to them, and of course the credit for a goal goes to the scorer and assister, not the guy who made the space for it to happen. He can get into goalscoring positions by moving into the box after he's moved the ball out right, and of course he does need to do better in those situations.

If we're playing this way, I prefer Jack on the left and Phil on the right, because Phil exploits that space well with speed and aggression.

 

[simon23]

Hypothetical until he does. What would happen if you played Gundo on the wing?

We tried that once...it was a disaster ( vs the scouses)
However bern4do out wide is better than Grealish and Gundo centrally is better than Grealish. You can see that from Grealish playing more centrally for Villa..
Forden has the better skill set, and mind set to play in either position as well. Grealish winds other teams and fans up...while people actually think it's funny ( upto them) it's unhelpful also.

 

[simon23]

Traditional wisdom - and certainly my inexpert instinct - says that a player whose main qualities are ball retention and progression is probably going to be more effective centrally, because it opens up more angles for runs and passes than are available on the wing.

He's never going to be able to consistently go round defences on the outside because he doesn't have the sharp burst of pace or tricky left foot that would require (he has pace but it takes a few yards to build up, and his left foot is functional but nowhere near the skill of his right). He can cut in on his right, but when that's his only option and there's no overlapping runner on the left, it's pretty easy to defend against. Whereas if he was central, he'd have passing options on either side of him as well as spaces (even if they were tight spaces, which he's pretty good with) to run into.

So by that logic I'd love to see him lined up as cover/eventual replacement for Gundo (I love Gundo and he'd be my preference in that left 8 position over Jack right now, but his age and injury history mean he can't play every match and his contract situation means he's unlikely to stick around for many more seasons, so now is the perfect time to develop his replacement. Bernardo would still get plenty of minutes rotating the right 8 and the right wing).

But Pep isn't following that traditional approach right now.

Instead, it seems that what he's doing is asking Jack to hold onto the ball on the left, drawing defenders to him, then switch the ball central or to the right wing, so his teammates can exploit the space those defenders have vacated.

It's a task that requires patience and perseverence and, unfortunately for Jack, it's a largely thankless task because even if he delivers his part of the plan to perfection, success is dependent on what other people do with the ball after he's moved it to them, and of course the credit for a goal goes to the scorer and assister, not the guy who made the space for it to happen. He can get into goalscoring positions by moving into the box after he's moved the ball out right, and of course he does need to do better in those situations.

If we're playing this way, I prefer Jack on the left and Phil on the right, because Phil exploits that space well with speed and aggression.

Agreed. I think he may be better at being central, but while gundo us here and playing, grealish isn't the best option. He isn't hge best option wide either.

You could also argue that Alvarez maybe the better player in other positions (certainly wide). Alvarez as a goal threat also rakes the pressure off Haaland and would create more as well.

If its down to this it just backs up the argument that at present Grealish shouldn't be playing.

Question. What happens if we go 3 at the back?

 

[MarsLlama]

anyone who says grealish is not supremely talented can forget watching football, as you don't understand football. you can say he does not fit the team or that pep has no clue how to get the best out of him, but never that grealish is not talented enough.

He's not talented enough. His output is shockingly low despite playing in one of the best attacking sides of the century. Talented enough for Villa? Clearly. Not for us.

 

[MarsLlama]

And I’ll correct you… A 10 is not midfield.

Of course it is.

 

[MarsLlama]

So many comments here accusing people of singling Jack out when he wasn't the only bad player on Saturday.

It seems to me perfectly reasonable that a man who plays poorly almost every week will get more criticism than a man who has an off game, something that happens to all players a few times a season.