The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[Lord Willard]

He is so so good at moving the ball away from players. Would love him to try and ride more hacks like Messi does. That's usually where the team are exposed and have lots of space to get into. (Which is exactly what he did for the goal). That's when he is the 60m player. I would just like him in that position more often, which is tough when we're defending more often. 

Unfortunately I still think he was drifting too deep to retrieve the ball. That's what DL n McGinn should be doing. 

 

[PieFacE]

I really hope the club officially complain to the FA about the game on Saturday with video evidence, not only for the incident at the end, but Jack got no protection from Friend at all, and didn't even get rewarded free kicks for blatantly being fouled. Absolute shambles.

Then there's the issue of all the bookings we got, or all the bookings they didn't get, depending on how you view it.

[sne]

Would like us to try him on the wide left position instead of the CM position.

Partly to get him further up the pitch, and also to get either Hourihane or Nakamba on the pitch.

Been against this but I think we might have to try it.

[KenjiOgiwara]

7 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

I really hope the club officially complain to the FA about the game on Saturday with video evidence, not only for the incident at the end, but Jack got no protection from Friend at all, and didn't even get rewarded free kicks for blatantly being fouled. Absolute shambles.

Then there's the issue of all the bookings we got, or all the bookings they didn't get, depending on how you view it.

I think you have to be careful about making complaints about protection. Sounds a bit whiny to me.

But I think making complaints about a referee not being consistent, making big errors, then having a video referee not making the right call after watching it in slow motion is perfectly okey. 

Ultimately it doesn't matter what you do if a referee and a VAR referee can't follow the rules of the game. And that's a legitimate complaint in my book.

[TRO]

8 hours ago, KentVillan said:

Not sure about this take. There's an easy ball to Douglas on, who then has an unmarked Taylor or Trez to release it to. They're pressing him in the middle of the pitch when he has the ball under control, so although he looks under a lot of pressure, he's messed up their shape, and should get the ball away (would be interesting to know what happened here in reality?).

When Liverpool (the best team at pressing) hunt in packs like this, it's usually higher up the pitch when they want to put someone under pressure in a weaker position.

What it does highlight, though, is how important it is to have several threats in midfield. Teams probably feel that losing their shape is a small price to pay to stop Grealish from driving at them, and because the players they're leaving unmarked are people like Neil Taylor, it's a risk worth taking. As we strengthen our squad, we should see less of this.

I agree with you.

i was talking in a general sense and not about the specific incident.....i think we allow too bigger gaps in our play at times which allows the opposition space to play and i don't think we press consistently enough.

its early days and i am only picking out faults as i see it......but much is good too.

by all accounts we had too many players having a off day.

i think the ref's decision was based on jacks perceived reputation of some quarters, which in itself is shabby.....He was too far away to be sure, so he should not have called it.

[sparrow1988]

2 hours ago, TheMelvillan said:

Was watching the north London derby yesterday and dele Alli was racing though on goal, knocked the ball past the last defender then flung himself on the ground. No free kick given and no yellow card to dele Alli. The commentators reasoning was he didn't look to the referee to give a foul therefore it wasn't simulation.

If that logic had been applied to the grealish situation then even if he had dived (he didn't) then the fact he didn't appeal should have warranted the play continuing.

Refs have to understand that sometimes players go to ground to avoid contact and getting hurt, or that the pace at which they run and manipulate the ball means that the smallest touch is enough to make them fall. It doesn't always mean that they are faking it to win a free kick

Hopefully Grealish gets an England call up and then we won't have to worry about refs being biased against him. The other teams will have to worried about the refs being biased towards him. 

[Zatman]

3 hours ago, ozvillafan said:

That's the one. IIRC, Ayew was appealing for a penalty.

No yellow given despite the unsuccessful appeal. Not so for Jack who didn't appeal and got up immediately.

That was a nailed on penalty for me

[MarkLillis]

3 hours ago, sidcow said:

It boils my piss that Grealish has this reputation for diving.  He is constantly targeted, frequently bundled over and despite being the most acknowledged fouled players he is still not given tons of free kicks he should. 

 

There must be a reason for this.

Harry Kane can go down regularly when he feels "contact" some times he wins the decision sometimes not. However he is not vilified in the way Jack is either by refs of other supporters.

Is it because Harry Kane is an England star, so fans of other teams see him in a different light?

Is it because Harry Kane conducts himself in a more professional manner around referees? 

Whatever it is Jack could learn from Harry because they are both kicked and fouled and both go down a lot, but only one has a unjustified reputation for diving.

[LakotaDakota]

I don't think he dived and it should have been a goal, He was shoved, off balance collided with another player as he was getting the pass off BUT, Looking at it from all the different angles there is one angle that does make it look at least somewhat like he drags his foot & throws his leg out a little. Unfortunately this is the angle right behind him which is where Friend was situated

[MotoMkali]

On 01/09/2019 at 12:39, a m ole said:

I want to know who the VAR was that thought Friend didn’t **** up, he needs sending to county u12’s too.

Should be sent to the courts. Considering that justice is supposed to be blind

[AndyHowell]

I think he was unlucky but he should try and stay on his feet more.

[villa4europe]

9 minutes ago, AndyHowell said:

I think he was unlucky but he should try and stay on his feet more.

I think what pisses opposition fans off is that he's trying for tactical fouls, look at how many penalties he's won (baggies obviously jumps out but after that?) or free kicks in dangerous areas, i would guess its not actually that many, I think he very very rarely goes down if there's something on

Saturday demonstrating that twice, for the goal he's trying to stay up and after going down he's straight back up, compare that to the 1 in the 1st half where he's vs 2 players in the corner with no where to go no one to pass to he invites the challenge and goes down (the apparent shoulder barge which was 50/50 as to whether you get those), often if he's isolated or wants to slow the game down or trying to relieve pressure he'll go down

like most things with jack its purposeful and thought out, football intelligence, there are times when he should try and shake it, it bit him on the arse vs spurs and there are times where he should just shoot or put a low percentage ball in the box is the better option than a high percentage pass

Edited September 2, 2019 by villa4europe

[Czechlad]

We had this same discussion last season with Jack. He started the season slowly, and then Bruce moved him to the left where he was even worse. 

[TRO]

6 hours ago, TheMelvillan said:

Was watching the north London derby yesterday and dele Alli was racing though on goal, knocked the ball past the last defender then flung himself on the ground. No free kick given and no yellow card to dele Alli. The commentators reasoning was he didn't look to the referee to give a foul therefore it wasn't simulation.

If that logic had been applied to the grealish situation then even if he had dived (he didn't) then the fact he didn't appeal should have warranted the play continuing.

Refs have to understand that sometimes players go to ground to avoid contact and getting hurt, or that the pace at which they run and manipulate the ball means that the smallest touch is enough to make them fall. It doesn't always mean that they are faking it to win a free kick

I don't think there is much point in any of us debating this point much more.....We was wronged.

The whole of football are unanimous in their verdicts......not much more to say other than The ref and VAR must be seeing something none of us do....very,very frustrating.

I hope we never see him officiating one of our games again....He is certainly Kevin Enemy to us.

Edited September 2, 2019 by TRO

[KenjiOgiwara]

4 minutes ago, Czechlad said:

We had this same discussion last season with Jack. He started the season slowly, and then Bruce moved him to the left where he was even worse. 

He isn't a good winger for the very same stuff that I find to be his weaknesses as an AMC. He isn't direct and determined enough. He is brilliant on the ball, world class balance and has passing and vision that's excellent, which is why he has been so good as a playmaker, but in the final third he just isn't decisive enough. I probably aren't using the right words, but determined or something like that. If he were to be a good winger he had to have those quality to counter attack fast enough. To whip in crosses fast enough. Et cetera.

Obviously if he had those traits as well, he wouldn't be an AMC at this club, he already be in the Champions League. 

[TRO]

3 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

He isn't a good winger for the very same stuff that I find to be his weaknesses as an AMC. He isn't direct and determined enough. He is brilliant on the ball, world class balance and has passing and vision that's excellent, which is why he has been so good as a playmaker, but in the final third he just isn't decisive enough. I probably aren't using the right words, but determined or something like that. If he were to be a good winger he had to have those quality to counter attack fast enough. To whip in crosses fast enough. Et cetera.

Obviously if he had those traits as well, he wouldn't be an AMC at this club, he already be in the Champions League. 

I think you make some good points........I love watching Jack and think he has attributes that makes him one of our stand out players, but a bit of something is missing to make him comfortable amongst the best.

We all know he doesn't score enough goals to be be a Lampard or a Gerrard or even a David Platt....but his peers like Maddison and Mount are more likely too.

I am not absolutely sure what eludes him, but it is something, that he can't get quite right yet.....maybe he is having to do too much, but just speculating.

Its very, very hard to comment on him in the light he does so much for us....but just trying to be constructive.

[useless]

Not sure why people are judging Grealish's ability to play on the wing based on a ten game spell under Bruce when the whole team was rubbish. He proved many times before then that he was capable of playing out wide, and was often a star performer in that position. He's probably the best winger at the club, it's just up to Smith to decide whether we're better off with keeping him in the middle or trying him out wide. On the one hand I think we'd miss his composure in the middle of the park but on the other, I feel that in the Premier league playing in a three man midfield has a lot more responsibilities than does playing in a three man midfield in the championship, so to get the most out of Grealish's attacking powers it might be better to play him further forward. Even if he was to play as a 'winger', he could still occupy a lot of the same positions that he does now, he wouldn't have to be stuck out wide.

[TRO]

15 minutes ago, useless said:

Not sure why people are judging Grealish's ability to play on the wing based on a ten game spell under Bruce when the whole team was rubbish. He proved many times before then that he was capable of playing out wide, and was often a star performer in that position. He's probably the best winger at the club, it's just up to Smith to decide whether we're better off with keeping him in the middle or trying him out wide. On the one hand I think we'd miss his composure in the middle of the park but on the other, I feel that in the Premier league playing in a three man midfield has a lot more responsibilities than does playing in a three man midfield in the championship, so to get the most out of Grealish's attacking powers it might be better to play him further forward. Even if he was to play as a 'winger', he could still occupy a lot of the same positions that he does now, he wouldn't have to be stuck out wide.

When you look at Tony Morley.....He had pace a wicked cross and an eye for goal.

Jack is blessed with ball control, balance and a fine weighted pass....... not sure he is winger material.

[KentVillan]

100% guarantee that the minute Grealish gets his England call up, the following will happen:

1. A cringe interview with Henry Winter in the Times, full of Partridge-esque phrases like "the chunky calved playmaker looks and sounds like a Peaky Blinder, and plays with the razor-sharp edge of their famous hats".
2. Alan Shearer will do a feature on him on MOTD.
3. He will be linked with a £100m move to a "big club".
4. Referees will start giving decisions his way.

No chance would Kevin Friend have targeted him like this if he'd just received his England call-up.

I don't think Premier League refs are corrupt, they're just really vain and want to make a name for themselves. He perceived that a lot of fans of rival clubs think Grealish gets away with too much, and he wanted to be the hero who spotted it. It's harder for a ref to pull that kind of act with a popular England player.

[sne]

33 minutes ago, TRO said:

When you look at Tony Morley.....He had pace a wicked cross and an eye for goal.

Jack is blessed with ball control, balance and a fine weighted pass....... not sure he is winger material.

Thomas Brolin was in the 94 WC team of the tournament playing as a playmaker on the left wing.  Compared to him Grealish is Usain Bolt and much better at crossing. 

If we play him wide it will not be as a kick and rush winger.