10 | Jack Grealish - 2024/25

[RegisteredToSeePhotos]

KDB's take on it:

Despite no goal involvements, Grealish was heavily involved in City’s play, having 77 touches of the ball and boasting a 98% pass success rate, the highest on the pitch.

“Jack is so good at controlling the tempo of the game, at holding the ball,” said Player of the Match De Bruyne after the game.

“You can’t really get it off him, and then sliding through plays. That’s his quality.

“Maybe with the type of guys we have on the flanks, he’s very good at that. I think we needed a bit more control and he was able to do that with Bernardo, Gundo and myself in the middle, and Jeremy who is a different player and very electric.

“I think we performed well as a team but I think Jack did exceptional.”

Passing success/completion statistics don't tell you what type of passes they are. I'd rather have a player that has "only" a 75% rate that racks up assists than someone who is regularly in the 90% range but where most of those passes are the safe, sideways or backwards ones.

De Bruyne's entitled to his opinion but he's made those comments in an interview after he's been named Player of the Match and not Jack which doesn't support the idea that this was a revelatory performance that should have forced Pep to commit to the idea of central midfield Grealish.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Let's not go holding all of Pep's decisions as gospel given he went into a CL final without a DM in the starting lineup considering he had Fernandinho and Rodri in the squad at the time.

Grealish has attributes that can be utilized anywhere on the pitch and our midfield would benefit from having him in there. We can't hold the ball to save our lives and we have no legs to win the ball higher up the pitch or win second balls yet Kova and Bernardo are somehow going to be fresh after playing a full 90 yet again.

Pep certaibly doesnt get everything right but he's not shy about trying things. This is his 4th season here, if it hasn't happened by now, you have to assume there's a reason for it and could reasonably assume it's not likely to happen. Peps given it a go out of neccesity, so it's not something that's just not occurred to him, he clearly wasn't impressed enough because there's not been a single indication of any desire to try it again despite the need for improvements in that area.

Grealish holds the ball too long and takes too many touches to play centrally. His whole game is about inviting pressure and then resisting it, we don't want our central midfielder doing that, we want them passing and moving as quickly as possible. In a perfect scenario, the midfield move the ball at a tempo that means we are never under pressure. One of our biggest problems this season has been the walking pace tempo we play at. Grealish is the last player in the squad you'd want in there if you want to quicken the game up. We'd somehow be even slower with him in there, he's pretty much the polar opposite to the midfield we want.

 

[pbueno16]

Pep certaibly doesnt get everything right but he's not shy about trying things. This is his 4th season here, if it hasn't happened by now, you have to assume there's a reason for it and could reasonably assume it's not likely to happen. Peps given it a go out of neccesity, so it's not something that's just not occurred to him, he clearly wasn't impressed enough because there's not been a single indication of any desire to try it again despite the need for improvements in that area.

Grealish holds the ball too long and takes too many touches to play centrally. His whole game is about inviting pressure and then resisting it, we don't want our central midfielder doing that, we want them passing and moving as quickly as possible. In a perfect scenario, the midfield move the ball at a tempo that means we are never under pressure. One of our biggest problems this season has been the walking pace tempo we play at. Grealish is the last player in the squad you'd want in there if you want to quicken the game up. We'd somehow be even slower with him in there, he's pretty much the polar opposite to the midfield we want.

That description fits Bernardo pretty well tbf.

Grealish holds the ball out wide because there's no movement in the channel nor is there any overlapping fullback most of the time he plays there. His play there is just a symptom of our attacking movement being stagnant from being compressed so high up in the opposing half.

Anyway, possession is good and all but it means nothing when our midfield gets overrun constantly and provides no cover for our fragile defense. We had 60-70% possession today but had fuck all to show for it. We just need fresh legs in the middle because we're getting crushed in transitions.

 

[applejuice]

Nothing to catch up on. He's 29 and spent 99% of his career playing off the left wing, he's a left winger. .

It is simply not true.

Pep does not fancy him in the middle. We all see it. There is no need to make up fake status to support your view.

 

[Williecaballerno]

Grealish didn't get a single goal or assist against Forest yet it's OK for people to use that match as an example of why Pep is, and has been his whole time here according to some, wasting Grealish on the wing.

Did you watch that game? No he didn’t get a goal or assist. So fucking what. Football isn’t actually based on goals and assists and stats all the time. He played really well in that game. And hasn’t been given the opportunity to play there again in the league since. Despite us being terrible in midfield and overran most games

 

[applejuice]

Grealish has no heart and desire, starting him would have made no difference today and he's not an impact sub. Sooner he's shipped out. Of the door the better.

Heart and desire? Surprised you pick up these two words after seeing how the players played today. They showed plenty?

But I agree with you. The sooner City gave a greenlight on his move the better. Spurs patience is wearing out.

 

[applejuice]

Did you watch that game? No he didn’t get a goal or assist. So fucking what. Football isn’t actually based on goals and assists and stats all the time. He played really well in that game. And hasn’t been given the opportunity to play there again in the league since. Despite us being terrible in midfield and overran most games

That is Blue moon now. G/A to judge a CM performance while crying about "no midfield at all' after every defeat.

Anyway if G/A is the measurement then why current version of Bernado and Gundo still get regular game time in the CM role?

 

[Tomblue]

Nothing to catch up on. He's 29 and spent 99% of his career playing off the left wing, he's a left winger. We've got a manager who plays central defenders in midfield in champions league finals. We've got wingers at fullback, the manager will play people in unconventional positions if he thinks it's workable, he has played grealish centrally less than half a dozen times in what is nearing 4 years, it's pretty clear he isn't a central midfielder in the managers eyes and this obsession that 1 half decent game (and it was nothing more than that) proves he's now a central midfield option isn't something I buy into.

He has no attributes whatsoever that make him an obvious winger. Doesn’t have pace and doesn’t have a trick in him to beat a man.

Was always best at receiving the ball in tight spaces and carrying the ball through the middle of the park at Villa. Has been played in the wrong position for his whole city career and his numbers evidence that.

 

[dhruvblue]

The whole team was crap against Juve, so why single out Grealish? Foden, Gundo, Kova, Bernardo and de Bruyne have had plenty poor performances this season yet they're thrown in game after game to the same result. Grealish's worst performance isn't as poor as what we've seen from who I mentioned above.

FFS let's try something different in the middle.

Whole team was good against Forest so why single out Grealish?

 

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

£100m is starting to look like very poor business. He was great from January to April in the treble winning season decent overall across that full season, but where the fuck is he now? He’s put in about £15m worth of top level performances over his 3½ years of that transfer fee.

WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?

Starting?

 

[Craig]

Pep certaibly doesnt get everything right but he's not shy about trying things. This is his 4th season here, if it hasn't happened by now, you have to assume there's a reason for it and could reasonably assume it's not likely to happen. Peps given it a go out of neccesity, so it's not something that's just not occurred to him, he clearly wasn't impressed enough because there's not been a single indication of any desire to try it again despite the need for improvements in that area.

Grealish holds the ball too long and takes too many touches to play centrally. His whole game is about inviting pressure and then resisting it, we don't want our central midfielder doing that, we want them passing and moving as quickly as possible. In a perfect scenario, the midfield move the ball at a tempo that means we are never under pressure. One of our biggest problems this season has been the walking pace tempo we play at. Grealish is the last player in the squad you'd want in there if you want to quicken the game up. We'd somehow be even slower with him in there, he's pretty much the polar opposite to the midfield we want.

Yet we have someone playing as our number 6 who tries dribbling all the time as if he’s Messi!

 

[Goater101]

People forgot he played midfield vs Juve and was shit.

 

[Brewster's millions]

People forgot he played midfield vs Juve and was shit.

He certainly wasn’t great that day, but was he any worse than the numerous, terrible performances our other midfielders have put in this season?

Not sure he was.

Were at the point now where the manager’s refusal to try Grealish in the middle, or give O’Reilly a decent chance, is difficult to comprehend.

 

[Lauz9888]

Whole team was good against Forest so why single out Grealish?

Because it was one of the few matches this season where the midfield has looked like it was properly functioning, Grealish was the personnel change, and the MOTM spoke afterwards about the positive impact he'd had that had helped with that?

He's not the answer to all our problems and he wasn't able to fix the midfield against Juve. No one player is a miracle cure for what ails us.

None of our midfielders have been great every match this season. I'd go so far as to say they've all had significant periods of very poor performances. And every single one of them has been strongly backed, rested where they could be but put into the starting XI over and over again and given the time to try to work it out.

Grealish is 50:50 on good to bad midfield performances on a very small sample size. Are any of the midfielders who have been given endless opportunities really much better than 50:50 over the course of the season?

He hasn't played in midfield for years and would obviously need playing time to get into the swing of it. We give Nunes a load of matches to learn how to be a right-back but Grealish gets no grace period to learn a midfield role.

The problem seems to be more off the pitch than on it. He's a talented senior footballer and we've been struggling this season - whatever else is going on, we should be finding a way to use him to improve our performances, even if it's just until a planned transfer.

The reluctance to make full use of an already depleted squad (not just Grealish, but most of our youngsters too) is placing far too much strain on other players who could do with a rest.

 

[waspish]

People forgot he played midfield vs Juve and was shit.

He did what weird is he has never played him there again even at home! You can't make your main up in a player after one bad performance

 

[Goater101]

He certainly wasn’t great that day, but was he any worse than the numerous, terrible performances our other midfielders have put in this season?

Not sure he was.

Were at the point now where the manager’s refusal to try Grealish in the middle, or give O’Reilly a decent chance, is difficult to comprehend.

I agree with you. My feeling is Pep is seeing something we aren’t? Because yeah this midfield has shit the bed all season.

 

[Brewster's millions]

I agree with you. My feeling is Pep is seeing something we aren’t? Because yeah this midfield has shit the bed all season.

A fallout, lack of effort in training or some other off-field issue is the only explanation for what’s happening with him, because at the moment anyone could get into our midfield.

Grealish is basically getting the same treatment as Kalvin Phillips. McAtee and maybe even O’Reilly are ahead of him in the pecking order.

If the situation is that bad, I don’t understand why he hasn’t been shipped out on loan, even if we have to pay the bulk of his wages. Would surely be preferable to having him hanging around like a bad smell.

Just one of several odd situations to have developed this season.

 

[Gone for a Burton]

A fallout, lack of effort in training or some other off-field issue is the only explanation for what’s happening with him, because at the moment anyone could get into our midfield.

Grealish is basically getting the same treatment as Kalvin Phillips. McAtee and maybe even O’Reilly are ahead of him in the pecking order.

If the situation is that bad, I don’t understand why he hasn’t been shipped out on loan, even if we have to pay the bulk of his wages. Would surely be preferable to having him hanging around like a bad smell.

Just one of several odd situations to have developed this season.

....."a bad smell".....

He's not Cancello, I understand that he's one of the most popular guys in the locker room.

 

[Gone for a Burton]

A fallout, lack of effort in training or some other off-field issue is the only explanation for what’s happening with him, because at the moment anyone could get into our midfield.

Grealish is basically getting the same treatment as Kalvin Phillips. McAtee and maybe even O’Reilly are ahead of him in the pecking order.

If the situation is that bad, I don’t understand why he hasn’t been shipped out on loan, even if we have to pay the bulk of his wages. Would surely be preferable to having him hanging around like a bad smell.

Just one of several odd situations to have developed this season.

Summats oop !!

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

It’s pretty clear his time is done and he needs a change of scene. Never worth £100 million, but never factored that into my equation as it’s irrelevant once the money has been spent imo. Think he’s made an overall decent contribution in his four seasons here. At times good, occasionally very good, at other times not so good.

Let’s not forget he’s won three PL titles. Some of the stick he’s had whilst being very much part of that amazing sequence was completely unwarranted.

If he does move on, I’ll certainly wish him all the best and wouldn’t be surprised if he stands out much more at somewhere like Spurs, but I can’t see a way back for him here now.