10 | Jack Grealish - 2024/25

Pep needs to take the gamble and just play him in the middle, even if it's just for one game. No disrespect to Kova but if he can shine in the middle then I believe Jack (who has more range to his game) would be great there.

The "wings" experiment hasn't worked out, Pep has shown that despite being a very proud manager, he can actually admit when certain "brilliant ideas" don't work out (Walker as a midfielder?), I'm hoping he would be open to giving Jack a chance in the midfield.

Most of the things some posters (myself included) write about Jack is simply just banter or trying to get under the skin of his most loyal fans but in reality, I actually rate him and I would like to see the dynamic Jack from his Villa days, not this overly cautious player we have now.
 
he is really under pressure to deliver with much younger wingers ready to step in, Bobb, Doku, Savio all want to play, and even Bernardo/Foden will play some games from the wing during the season.

our play will evolve bit this season, I think players need to evolve as well. dont think can stay the "safe" option to hold the ball instead of make things happen. get the ball and turn back and recycle and try to win freekick there will be match situations where that will come handy, but will not be the case in majority of our season.

always had the feeling he is holding back bit, now that is due to Pep's instructions or limits of Grealish, not sure, but in his 3 seasons so far he had top class 6 months or so only, and decent level was another 6 months, rest is not much improvement on what we had before him. this season if he doesnt hit the top class form again well we might cash in next summer.

if he cant do it after a whole pre season while others trained weeks less also with bit of extra motivation of the dropping from England for Euros, well thats bad.

I think he needs to evolve and show more and be more aggressive.

dont think there is any chance of him playing centrally under Pep. we would have seen glimpses of that already, as he really not shy to try things like Akanji in midfield, Stones in midfield, RB Lewis all over the pitch etc.
 
As others have said, I'd still love to see him play more centrally. With the pace on the wings we have, I think he'd excel in that role. Maybe we'll see it, but with the return of Gundo it's possibly less likely.

He can still do a job on the wing. Pep clearly wants to see him be a bit more dynamic, and I think he will be. But as much as it's "safe" and predictable, drawing a couple of defenders onto him and laying the ball inside is actually very effective. We were excellent in the treble winning season at doing it, with Bernardo/Gundo looking to run the space inside created as a result and then pull the ball back.
 
Damanino said:
he is really under pressure to deliver with much younger wingers ready to step in, Bobb, Doku, Savio all want to play, and even Bernardo/Foden will play some games from the wing during the season.

our play will evolve bit this season, I think players need to evolve as well. dont think can stay the "safe" option to hold the ball instead of make things happen. get the ball and turn back and recycle and try to win freekick there will be match situations where that will come handy, but will not be the case in majority of our season.

always had the feeling he is holding back bit, now that is due to Pep's instructions or limits of Grealish, not sure, but in his 3 seasons so far he had top class 6 months or so only, and decent level was another 6 months, rest is not much improvement on what we had before him. this season if he doesnt hit the top class form again well we might cash in next summer.

if he cant do it after a whole pre season while others trained weeks less also with bit of extra motivation of the dropping from England for Euros, well thats bad.

I think he needs to evolve and show more and be more aggressive.

dont think there is any chance of him playing centrally under Pep. we would have seen glimpses of that already, as he really not shy to try things like Akanji in midfield, Stones in midfield, RB Lewis all over the pitch etc.
Click to expand...
Spot on.
Jack's under big pressure to deliver, it already seems to weigh heavily on him. Season start after his long (and hard working!) summer break is disappointing, except for the Barca friendly where he showed what Pep wants to see regularly - but sadly he doesn't deliver regularly.

Funny that folks still hope for things we've never seen and fully ignore that our coaching team of idiots never test his best midfield skills in training... (and still compare it to Villa days with loads of space, not like the packed defences we have to play).

I feel we had hopes to get him where we want him, but it still didn't work (he had very strong displays though). Hoping for change isn't what a good management would do. A realistic analysis is needed and a realistic scenario for the future. 'Change' of style or play is a very high task that doesn't just happen by a click. And he had some time.

I really hope he can shake off the pressure and play his game.
Have my doubts though I must say. Pep seems to lose patience too.
 
Last edited:
CC1 said:
I like Doku a lot but I think Jack is definitely more productive with his use of the ball. At the moment Doku jinks about a lot then more often than not, passes backwards.
Jack is a better player IMHO
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Jack is great with his control.

That’s why he, along with Ilkay, came on at around 70 minutes to see the game out, and he did his job perfectly.
 
Txiki Txiki Bang Bang said:
Pep needs to take the gamble and just play him in the middle, even if it's just for one game. No disrespect to Kova but if he can shine in the middle then I believe Jack (who has more range to his game) would be great there.

The "wings" experiment hasn't worked out, Pep has shown that despite being a very proud manager, he can actually admit when certain "brilliant ideas" don't work out (Walker as a midfielder?), I'm hoping he would be open to giving Jack a chance in the midfield.

Most of the things some posters (myself included) write about Jack is simply just banter or trying to get under the skin of his most loyal fans but in reality, I actually rate him and I would like to see the dynamic Jack from his Villa days, not this overly cautious player we have now.
Click to expand...
I think we would all like to see the dynamic Jack from his Villa days but he was pretty much free to roam where he liked unlike his time at City where he is mostly on the wing. He plays like he's scared to make mistakes and consequently plays it safe far too often.

I agree with you that Pep should try him in central midfield because I think we'll see Jack become far more confident in able to fully express himself and this will most probably lead to more goals and assists.
 
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