Jack Grealish Watch

RealGunner wrote:

Jack Grealish against PSG pic.twitter.com/P9A3FfaKYS

— FutbolBible (@FutbolBible) September 28, 2021

lmaooooooooooooooo I can't breathe

wow... i mean he does nothing. Just has sexy calves (according to my wife) and that's about it.

139m euros seems a bit much for sexy calves and sideways dribbling

take to heart my analysis on him in the PL thread after the Chelsea game... Pep is playing a losing game if he plays him in these type of matches. Grealish is there to drive the ball forward against the likes of Burnley and Norwich so that commentators can gush over him and try their best to make his price tag seem justified.

Myesyats wrote:139m euros seems a bit much for sexy calves and sideways dribbling

Then again, Real Madrid paid 100m for an overweight backwards dribbler

El Gunner wrote:take to heart my analysis on him in the PL thread after the Chelsea game... Pep is playing a losing game if he plays him in these type of matches. Grealish is there to drive the ball forward against the likes of Burnley and Norwich so that commentators can gush over him and try their best to make his price tag seem justified.

You're so right. OK, so you couldn't get Harry Kane... how about going after another goal scorer?

I always wanted to see Giroud in a Pep Guardiola team. They should have signed him.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Myesyats wrote:139m euros seems a bit much for sexy calves and sideways dribbling

Then again, Real Madrid paid 100m for an overweight backwards dribbler

Backwards dribbling the most underrated skill in football. Only true students of the game understand its immense value

He can’t keep starting big games can he? Oh wait, Raheem Sterling is on the bench. Guess Grealish will continue to start then. But anyway, Pep is a real dummy if he had anything to do with this signing.
Given how he already destroyed one GOAT team with that dumbass signing of Cesc Fabregas I could believe it.

I know most City players take a season to adapt under Pep, and a lot of them struggle in their first season, but Grealish has looked so off.

Pep won't play him in midfield because he'd rather play Bernardo/KDB/Gundogan there, so Grealish either has to play as a touchline hugging LW or a false 9. He looks awkward in both roles. Although he's good at carrying the ball from deep, he's not good at 1v1s. So he'll square up against his fullback, fail to go past him, then proceed to sideways pass it every time. Even as a false 9, he looks completely lost.

Grealish himself said he was struggling to adapt. He said that he thought he'd be touching the ball a lot more because of City's high possession count, but instead he is fixed to a position and has to wait for the ball to come to him.

He used to be a ball rapist at Villa where the play constantly had to go through him, and he had to take 100 touches every time he received the ball and he was free to roam wherever, but now he's having a real shock of what it is really like playing at City.

The thing is I see the potential in him. I'm not even talking about his dribbling ability or his chance creation, but his ability to pause on the ball is at a ridiculously high level. His timing when it comes to releasing a pass is so good. He'll be on the dribble making the defender hesitate then play a pass when the defender least expects it. It's that specific trait that makes him so dangerous. It helps create a gravity around him where the opposition defenders tilt closer to him which opens up space for the other players around him.

It's one thing to be an attacking midfielder who can dribble, pass, and even shoot. What really makes you elite is timing and tempo. Grealish has the skillset, I just don't think it'll truly come out until he plays more centrally, but he probably won't be given the chance any time soon.

Grealish is a central player by nature. Most central players who are big fish in small ponds struggle in bigger more relevant teams when everything is not going through them though.


Players who are central by nature playing wide has been a criminal misuse in the last decade as they are sacrificed outside and resort to cutting in rather than the wide tendencies of someone who is naturally wide.

Grealish is bound to adapt given his skillset but some adapt slower than others and Pep's system is not meant to enhance the player but have the player enhance the system itself albeit once they fit in.

Way too early to judge him.

well let's not forget Bernardo was close to leaving recently, so acquiring Grealish might have been Pep's plan as a replacement. With Bernardo's resurgence though, i don't know where that leaves his (Bernado's) future City plans. So Grealish might have to wait for his time in the sun only for when Bernardo and/or Gundogan leaves/drastically drops off in form.

I really like Cas' analysis (I usually do most of the time) and I fully agree to it, however, if it weren't for the fact Jackie is English and Pep is clearly liked by the media, he would have been called a flop signing all now.