10 | Jack Grealish - 2023/24

[chris85mcfc]

Doku and Grealish are totally different types of wingers but Doku coming on and attempting to take on the full back more in 3 mins than Grealish has all game cannot be a thing. I do not know what is wrong with Jack right now but he needs a rocket up his arse.

He cannot keep playing wide forward in the best side in the world and not chip in with goals and assists, especially with KDB being unavailable. The G/A have to come from somewhere and he has to step up.

Or, he could just keep doing what Pep is asking of him, and continue to play in the big games and help us win trophies.

Producing the same as last season will do just fine, and it doesn't have to be Doku vs Grealish all season.

 

[DMA's]

Just take the player on, we know you can do it.

Genuinely not sure he can tbh. He isn’t the most skilful player, lacks pace and has no left foot so is predictable to defend against. He is brilliant at ball retention bur Doku’s impact can’t be ignored. Grealish has never produced good numbers and if that doesn’t improve he will lose his place imo

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Obviously not fully fit yet but he didn’t start the season well before his injury anyway.

He’ll get there soon though.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

felt he gave away the ball too cheaply for their goal

He did but should we be conceding from one loose pass near their box? Silva did one too later on and they were away from that one too. We have to be mindful of what we are doing. We seem to lack pace to get back and cover. Dias and Akanji were as much to blame for that goal for me for getting sucked in (Dias) and not reading the danger and weak defending (Akanji)

Grealish was ok other than that. Nothing special but then he hasn’t been in any game he has played this season.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Ah, a shiny new toy in Doku, and Grealish has to change his whole game all of a sudden.

Let's get one thing straight, Pep will play Grealish in every single big game, and Doku will likely come on and impact the game in a different way, after Grealish has spent 80 minutes pulling defenders all over the place.

Both can and will play their part this season, it doesn't have to be either or.

 

[bert38]

Ah, a shiny new toy in Doku, and Grealish has to change his whole game all of a season.

Let's get one thing straight, Pep will play Grealish in every single big game, and Doku will likely come on and impact the game in a different way, after Grealish has spent 80 minutes pulling defenders all over the place.

Both can and will play their part this season, it doesn't have to be either or.

Interesting listening to Pep saying you can play well when you make so many passes-Jack and Bernie gave us so much more control which has been missing at times this season.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Or, he could just keep doing what Pep is asking of him, and continue to play in the big games and help us win trophies.

Producing the same as last season will do just fine, and it doesn't have to be Doku vs Grealish all season.

Yeah he will play in the big games because he is more predictable and therefore reliable. Pep knows what he gets from him. The problem is, our “big games” are those where the opposition are somewhat of our level and Pep will give up a bit of creativity, for more control. That means Arsenal and Liverpool in the Prem. Real and Bayern in the CL. Plus probably a handful of other sides across the two main competitions.

The majority of games we play, are against sides that are considerably weaker than us and it would be nice if our wide forward played like a forward and chipped in. He should be doing double figures for goals and assists in this team.

I don’t want to make it a Grealish v Doku thing any more than you do, but it’s hard to argue a case where against these weaker sides, you would currently pick Grealish over Doku.

I’m not saying that Grealish abandons everything that made him so invaluable at business end of last season but he has started this season overly cautious. Tonight we were crying out for a bit of a spark and creativity out wide and that didn’t happen until Jack went off.

 

[Blue Steel]

Feel sorry for him. Played some lovely balls that didn’t come off and Doku comes on and gets the slice of luck not once or twice (Doku didn’t beat his man for what it’s worth so don’t bother going down that path). Also helps that Alvarez’s finishing is insane at the moment.

Doku was bought to play on the RW so tbh I’m not quite sure what Pep is playing at, but chipping away at Jack’s confidence won’t yield better results - he’s not that kind of personality. Was a bit perplexed as to why he didn’t put Doku on for Bernardo who was having his first game back - we could have seen one on either side.

Oh and whoever said he needs a rocket up his arse - he ran his arse off all night and also stopped Leipzig on the counter when they were well away. Blaming him for their goal is bloody lazy.

 

[applejuice]

I’m not saying that Grealish abandons everything that made him so invaluable at business end of last season but he has started this season overly cautious. Tonight we were crying out for a bit of a spark and creativity out wide and that didn’t happen until Jack went off.

Well I think that it is a bit harsh. Doku did not get anything really from trying to beat the man outside either. The goal came from a classic back pass...the difference is that Alvarez a better finisher.

And it is worth mentioning Ake instead of Akanji freeing up Josko more advanced. So Josko could overlap (or underlap) which was rarely seen before the sub.

But I agree that Grealish is not in his best form. Based on current form Doku offered more offensively.

 

[samuelyeboah]

Is that what he did today, "dragged defenders all over the place"?

I gotta admit I enjoy this forums creativity at coming up with new and exciting ways to excuse away any and all grealish criticism by any measurable metric like goals, assists, attempted take ons, etc, you know all those boring stuff, that we've resorted to "his mere existence tires defenders".

Can't wait for the new hot football expected defenders dragging metric!

Seriously. If you actually rate grealish don't you think it's a bit insulting that you continually lower the bar to justify it? If the only thing people could say about my footballing abilities is that I drag defenders away I'd start to wonder what I'm actually doing here.