2025/26 Jack Grealish


I think we need to move him centrally. It’s his game to slow the play down but we’re becoming increasingly more predictable and easy to deal with as we play through him so much that teams are able to get back into shape when we work the ball out to him. For him to consistently work on the left he’d need a left back to play in tandem with and Mykolenko just isn’t that.

I think we’ve got to get him and NDiaye much closer together as they’re probably the only ones on and same wave length and they’re both just running down blind corridors right now. We’ve been well and truly sussed out and Moyes needs to try something else.
 
The problems are obvious: He's about 15 levels better than any other of our players, so as intelligent and smart as he is in drawing free kicks, pulling defenders out of position, getting crosses in or sliding team mates into goal-scoring positions, ultimately whoever the ball ends up with is more likely than not going to mess up the opportunity and Jack's work will have been for nothing.

It's what many of us feared when we failed to bring in a striker (a real one) or a full back to link up with him. Basically a wasted move to sign him as he'll, at best, take us from whatever position we finished in last season to maybe 2-3 positions higher, the additional prize money of which won't even cover his wages.

All of this while probably somebody like Bournemouth goes on to win a cup of get into Europe.
 

Grealish is Grealish. He holds the ball up brilliantly and, by backing defenders deeper and deeper, sets up space for a midfielder to burst through for a shot - Garner usually. He needs a better overlapping full back next to him, and he needs someone with Dewsbury Hall's skill set to link up with. Perhaps the problem is that Garner and KDH - while both great players - aren't City quality players, neither is Myko - again, a solid enough left back but not Grealish levels of ability.

Moyes has told Jack to do what he wants once he has the ball, but even a player as good as Grealish still needs a certain amount of coaching, even if its just how to work intelligently with the level of players around him. He definitely looks like he overplays at times, but that might be because options aren't open to him, or it might be that he's become hyper-aware of his importance to the team. Plus, he's desperate to get back into the England squad, so that might lead him to try almost too hard.
 
I think he needs to adjust to the lack of quality around him compared with when he played at Man City...i.e., be more selfish. He needs to shoot more when he has the chance to get the shot off have a ping. It also makes it more difficult as a defender as they can't totally sell out on the premise of him not shooting.
 

Thought he did some good things last night but too often he got to the byline and cut back onto his right instead of fizzing the ball across goal with his left, similar to assist for ndiaye against Brighton.
 
Need players to step up to reduce the reliance on him....

He can't constantly be expected to produce on his own...

One thing that does frustrate me though, his habit of trying to cut back with his weaker foot...

If hes central or out right he'd be doing that with his dominant foot
 
He loses the ball quite a lot as well, let’s be honest.
For me he has started to be less aggressive with his play. He's started to hold on for too long and that is the primary issue. In his better games he was looking to drive forward and make crosses where’s the last few games he’s been checking back on himself and slowing things down too much.
 

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