The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[sir_gary_cahill]

6 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

He will be 25 this year. A career in football goes fast. He is at his peak now so I would not begrudge him if he does move. He could have left us when we got relegated four years ago.

We just need to appreciate him while he is still here

[VillaChris]

On 19/04/2020 at 19:02, nick76 said:

Yeah because we havent been loyal to him at all.  Always hate this BS that "loyalty" or "wouldn't begrudge him a move"......just BS.  He's a Villa player, we pay him well, we've been just as loyal to him for 20 years building him (and yes he may have got that elsewhere as well but it was us) and as soon as he shows his ability in the PL (one season) we lose him....nope! sorry that is BS.  If we get relegated then fine but if we stay up, I'd make it too hard for him to leave and honour the contract and play for his boyhood club. 

I hate the "earned a move to a bigger club" BS.....dont you want Villa to be better, that we build a team around him and we get better.  If every time a player comes along with talent that we sell them........NO! 

I dont want to have to hope that average players become good from our academy like Bannan, Davis, Moore brothers, Delfouneso,  Fabio Ferraresi etc etc and they never come good. 

We have one that has come good (great!) and now at really the start of his senior career at 24 years old, we let him go.  We have rich owners, we have a great player, we hopefully be in the PL, let's build around him.....let the boyhood Villa fan become the Villa legend and get back to the higher end of the table and enjoy success at the Villa.....I dont want to lose him to so called big club where he'll get lost and be a player amongst players and yes will thrive but I want him to thrive at Villa. 

He has a contract, he's been loyal, we have been loyal....let's tell other clubs to bugger off!

Eventually he will want to play in europe. They'll be champions league clubs after him, probably as soon as this summer. I really can't see any logic why he'd deny himself that opportunity unless he was confident we could win trophies and be in CL ourselves within next 2-3 years and that is wildly optimstic given what we've seen this season.

He has mates at Leicester. I'm sure he's looking on enviously at likes of Chilwell and Maddison getting to play with likes of Youri Tielemens and Ricardo Periera. If he has a mate at Wolves (maybe Matt Doherty if they played in the Irish youth teams) then he'd be very envious at him getting to play with Neves and Moutinho. Can you imagine a midfield trio of Neves-Moutinho-Grealish here, we'd be well clear of the relegation zone.

That's the standard of player we need to start attracting in the near future to be more than just making up the numbers in the league. And keep Grealish. Just taking more punts on players of standard of Trezeguet and Jota simply isn't  as they are barely bottom six standard players as we've seen from this season.

The board have done well so far but I simply want people in charge who can go and convince some really good players to join us and not be bothered by stuff like "they won't want to live in Birmingham" which is usually an excuse put out. Do it and there's far more chance of Grealish hanging around for another year or two. Slowly building isn't going to tempt him I'm afraid.

[VillaChris]

8 hours ago, nick76 said:

Ok, from now on, anybody that plays well for Villa we should sell..........

I think we should start thinking about selling Louie Barry now if he shows any potential close or in the first team over the next year and Chukwuemeka should be sold now especially given interest by the bigger clubs....in fact we havent got him to sign the contract yet, we should pull out and let a big club, a club he deserves with his talent, take him now.

No longer we moan if we lose to teams above us because they deserve to be there, in fact for any of the big clubs, let's concede the points before games start because they deserve the points before us.

 

 

 

Over reaction, yes.......but what if Louie Barry is as good as people say, are we going to be sitting here in 2 years with you guys saying the same thing about him.....the same with Chukwuemeka who some have considered the best young talent around for his age. 

I just dont get your attitudes, just perplexes me.  If our owners every felt the same way you guys did then we should just shut up shop now.

Most clubs in world football sell their best players. The very best can sell when the time is right. You saw that when Fergie decided he no longer wanted likes of Beckham and Van Nistelrooy around.

If you sell your best player you simply have to replacement them with similar standard (will be very hard for us but believe it or not there are some talented number 10s around who don't play for Real Madrid or Man. City) or trust in what you've got already at the club.

Leicester sold Maguire knowing Soynucu had settled in and they haven't missed him one bit. We can't really do that as someone like O'Hare has barely played for us so would be completely mental to rely on him next season as the new Grealish.

Problem in the past has been our woeful recruitment replacing likes of Young and Downing. That summer N'zogbia was only wide option to replace both. He flopped and we just gambled on our young players to step up. 16th place.

Not sure who we could get but at least get some unpredictability in final third as we'd massively lose that without Grealish. Perhaps deulofeu at Watford? Still only 26 and obviously can make chances and get people off their seats if you get the ball quickly enough to him.

[useless]

If we were to  sell Grealish and use the money to buy better players than we have now in key positions then we will be a much stronger side than we are now with Grealish, even if we don't have a single player quite as good as him.

[nick76]

6 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Most clubs in world football sell their best players. The very best can sell when the time is right. You saw that when Fergie decided he no longer wanted likes of Beckham and Van Nistelrooy around.

If you sell your best player you simply have to replacement them with similar standard (will be very hard for us but believe it or not there are some talented number 10s around who don't play for Real Madrid or Man. City) or trust in what you've got already at the club.

Leicester sold Maguire knowing Soynucu had settled in and they haven't missed him one bit. We can't really do that as someone like O'Hare has barely played for us so would be completely mental to rely on him next season as the new Grealish.

Problem in the past has been our woeful recruitment replacing likes of Young and Downing. That summer N'zogbia was only wide option to replace both. He flopped and we just gambled on our young players to step up. 16th place.

Not sure who we could get but at least get some unpredictability in final third as we'd massively lose that without Grealish. Perhaps deulofeu at Watford? Still only 26 and obviously can make chances and get people off their seats if you get the ball quickly enough to him.

Most clubs?

Big clubs sell their best players when they are at the end of their best playing days and not before

Small clubs sell their best players at highest value when they know they are going to lose.

Middle teams try their best to keep their best players and only final resort sell them....we have to be in this category.  Palace still haven’t sold Zaha, Wolves and Neves, West Ham and Declan Rice. 

[nick76]

5 minutes ago, useless said:

If we were to  sell Grealish and use the money to buy better players than we have now in key positions then we will be a much stronger side than we are now with Grealish, even if we don't have a single player quite as good as him.

Risk isn’t it? Assume we will get value for money....selling Jack and getting 2 maybe 3 quality players in.  Our track record isn’t good.

[TRO]

3 hours ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

Why do the likes of Trezeguet, El Ghazi and Wesley get booed then? 

Frustration, I guess.

Personally, I never boo our players during a game....its counter productive.

I don't moan out loud either, they can hear that when its in numbers, that too is a turn off  for some players.....but there again it can motivate, those with character and self belief, its like a kick up the backside to them.

Edited April 20, 2020 by TRO

[useless]

I'm not saying that I'd want to sell him, I'd rather we kept him and signed new players improving the rest of the team, but if he did leave I don't think it would have to be the disaster that many think, providing we spent the money wisely. The way I see it we've been pretty rubbish since Grealish broke through, not his fault of course, but whether he stays or goes the only really way we can go is to improve on that.

[VillaChris]

12 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Most clubs?

Big clubs sell their best players when they are at the end of their best playing days and not before

Small clubs sell their best players at highest value when they know they are going to lose.

Middle teams try their best to keep their best players and only final resort sell them....we have to be in this category.  Palace still haven’t sold Zaha, Wolves and Neves, West Ham and Declan Rice. 

Wolves can keep Neves as before the break they were looking very good bets to finish top 4 and were going well in europa league. I imagine the pitch they gave him in June 2017 when they convinced him to join wasn't even as good as the reality has been.

West Ham have always sold their best players, Rice has still only been on the scene 18 months and has struggled a bit more this season for club and country.

Can't argue too much with the Zaha point. He already has experience at Man. United so I feel with him he's content being a big player at small club rather than just be another attacker at say Chelsea or Spurs where he wouldn't get as much of the ball in final third as he does at Palace.

If you look at Sheffield United in recent years they've actually sold likes of David Brooks, Calvert Lewin and Che Adams which would've been a pretty decent forward line but hasn't done them too much harm in the long run.

More recent example would be our laughable attempt to try to replace Benteke. Trying to strengthen the whole 11 from the money we got didn't really work out that well as a strategy that summer. Should've just tried to find another prolific top level striker and patched up rest of the team with loans.

Edited April 20, 2020 by VillaChris

[TRO]

16 minutes ago, useless said:

If we were to  sell Grealish and use the money to buy better players than we have now in key positions then we will be a much stronger side than we are now with Grealish, even if we don't have a single player quite as good as him.

It still relies on prudent recruitment......i am not sure i have that faith.

[VillaChris]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

It still relies on prudent recruitment......i am not sure i have that faith.

Our record in replacing key players since 2010 has been a disaster so I agree it would be nice one time to go out and get some good players if we have to lose a key one from our team.

We actually didn't miss Barry that much in 2009-10, just moved Milner centrally and he did the job brilliantly but Grealish is a unique case.

Thinking back to when we lost Yorke, we signed Dublin and Merson for the money we got. Vast premier league experience and both in England squad when they joined. Very different times to now given we were an established top 6 prem club then so had that status to attract good international players.

[useless]

We're relying on acting with care and thought for the future with regards to recruitment whether we sell Grealish or not, because even if we keep him, we're still going to need to improve the rest of the team.

[TRO]

26 minutes ago, useless said:

We're relying on acting with care and thought for the future with regards to recruitment whether we sell Grealish or not, because even if we keep him, we're still going to need to improve the rest of the team.

Well we are 19th with him.

So what does that tell you?

Jack is really the icing on the cake player......its the cake we need.

but i can't see top players, being convinced by Dean Smith or Chris Wilder for that matter...I don't think Ron Saunders would have attracted them if he was around now either.....they went after more durable types, instead...we are caught between a rock and a hard place, right now.

I think if we are sticking with Dean, a rethink is required with regards to recruitment.

Edited April 20, 2020 by TRO

[Hobbit Feet]

It’s a shame he’s 25 this year as people have pointed out he’s probably going to want to move on for his career unfortunately, it’s a shame we are not a couple of years down the line and hopefully Challenging the top half of the table. I’d say it’s too much of a gamble for him to stick around and find out if that’s the way we are going, especially with teams like Everton investing and now Newcastle going to be up there it’s going to be harder than ever to break into the elite positions now. 

[villalad21]

I actually agree with Souness here.

Jack needs to play more effective. Pass and move. He holds onto the ball too much.

Whether he does it because he doesn't trust the rest of the players i don't know-

[tom_avfc]

11 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I actually agree with Souness here.

Jack needs to play more effective. Pass and move. He holds onto the ball too much.

Whether he does it because he doesn't trust the rest of the players i don't know-

But it’s not his game to pass and move. He’s the player he is because he has the ability to beat people and to draw fouls. Why does every player have to move the ball quickly and pass and move?

I could sort of understand the argument when he was younger and not getting the goals and assists that he is now. He’s been ridiculously effective for 2-3 seasons playing in exactly the way he does.

Yes, if he goes to a better team he’ll more than likely pass the ball a bit more but I’d be completely against him becoming a “pass and move” player for any club let alone for us when the chances of him getting the ball back from a lot of the players he’d be passing to would be pretty slim. 

[OxfordVillan]

10 hours ago, useless said:

If we were to  sell Grealish and use the money to buy better players than we have now in key positions then we will be a much stronger side than we are now with Grealish, even if we don't have a single player quite as good as him.

As long as we were to get enough £s for Grealish that allowed us to buy 2 or 3 good 1st team players, then I agree. Emphasis more on 3 players. 

[TRO]

4 hours ago, tom_avfc said:

But it’s not his game to pass and move. He’s the player he is because he has the ability to beat people and to draw fouls. Why does every player have to move the ball quickly and pass and move?

I could sort of understand the argument when he was younger and not getting the goals and assists that he is now. He’s been ridiculously effective for 2-3 seasons playing in exactly the way he does.

Yes, if he goes to a better team he’ll more than likely pass the ball a bit more but I’d be completely against him becoming a “pass and move” player for any club let alone for us when the chances of him getting the ball back from a lot of the players he’d be passing to would be pretty slim. 

The "pass and move" game involves the team as opposed to one individual player.

We need a team.

Jack plays the way he does, because there is little alternative....and he he is good at carrying the ball.

Thats part of our problem, we are essentially a one man band.

Jack is a great player, but his style does slow our game down and we become predictable, but we don't do much else with the ball, so he has little option....that is not meant to be a criticism of him, just an observation of us.

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by TRO

[villalad21]

4 hours ago, tom_avfc said:

But it’s not his game to pass and move. He’s the player he is because he has the ability to beat people and to draw fouls.

Hm.

Sounds like C. Ronaldo in his early days.

The best players adapt and perfect their games to be more effective.

[tom_avfc]

39 minutes ago, TRO said:

The "pass and move" game involves the team as opposed to one individual player.

We need a team.

Jack plays the way he does, because there is little alternative....and he he is good at carrying the ball.

Thats part of our problem, we are essentially a one man band.

Jack is a great player, but his style does slow our game down and we become predictable, but we don't do much else with the ball, so he has little option....that is not meant to be a criticism of him, just an observation of us.

 

He's managed to get 7 goals and 6 assists playing in a pretty poor team. He's contributing a goal or an assist every other game in the Premier League. He'd have a decent chance of getting into a team of the season. 

He'd look better in a better team (any player would) but as for wanting him to move the ball quicker etc. I just think it would detract from his game. Obviously with better players around him he'd pass the ball more and he'd also have much more space as teams wouldn't be able to double/triple mark him out of the game but I'd like to think he'd still be allowed to play his natural game.

Additionally for me I just like watching the way he plays football. He's a one of a kind player who will slow the game down because that's the way he plays football. While he's contributing in the manner he is the last thing I'd be asking him to do is completely change his game. 

I genuinely don't think I've seen a player like him before - in my lifetime he seems to have a pretty unique skill set and way of playing the game. That's not me saying he's the best player in the world he's just different from anything else. I wouldn't know who to compare him to if I'm being honest.