The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[Tomaszk]

5 hours ago, a m ole said:

+5 minutes to turn the game around against France.

This is the saddest thing.

He'll get 70-90 mins against Czech and then desperately be trying to save us when we can't get the ball in the RO16 game.

Southgate should be sacked immediately. Now, even. To give us any sort of chance.

Obviously not going to happen, but what an unbelievable waste it would be to go into the world cup with him.

[birdman]

6 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Southgate should be sacked immediately. Now, even. To give us any sort of chance. 

This is ridiculous and funny at the same time. Well done lol

[MotoMkali]

1 hour ago, darrenm said:

I want him to play against Czech Republic and embarrass Coufal. Coufal for West Ham made it his mission to stop Grealish and was very proud that he did because he had no-one else to worry about. I'd love Grealish to get his own back.

The reality will be more like, be won't play against Scotland then he'll start against Czechs along with a load of other 2nd stringers and get nothing against them, then not get another minute until 80th against France where we're losing and he gets 2 touches.

Except Coufal had help. People seem to forget this the only times grealish was actually stopped was when teams played 2 rbs down that side. They had coufal and fredericks. Fredericks basically played as a rb defensively so Coufal could stick with Grealish.

One of the only times Smiths will he won't he play tactic worked was when leicester played pereira and castagne to mimic west ham. 

There were a couple other games but I can't really remember them lol. 

[birdman]

Jack would run riot against Scotland based on today's showing. I think Southgate rates him highly its just that at the moment he sees him as a special weapon... as in he has a particular set of skills.... to be used in times of peril. I'm giving Gareth the benefit of the doubt and assuming he was protecting a prized asset by not bringing him on when it wasn't necessary. Really want him to start against Scotland so we can see Jack and John do battle... also its the game I've picked to go to the pub and watch! 

[Phil Silvers]

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

This is the saddest thing.

He'll get 70-90 mins against Czech and then desperately be trying to save us when we can't get the ball in the RO16 game.

Southgate should be sacked immediately. Now, even. To give us any sort of chance.

Obviously not going to happen, but what an unbelievable waste it would be to go into the world cup with him.

Would love it if Southgate got the boot and ending up being ManU or Spurs manager. 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Phil Silvers

[WallisFrizz]

2 hours ago, darrenm said:

I want him to play against Czech Republic and embarrass Coufal. Coufal for West Ham made it his mission to stop Grealish and was very proud that he did because he had no-one else to worry about. I'd love Grealish to get his own back.

The reality will be more like, be won't play against Scotland then he'll start against Czechs along with a load of other 2nd stringers and get nothing against them, then not get another minute until 80th against France where we're losing and he gets 2 touches.

Jack still got an assist in this game so I wouldn’t say Coufal stopped him (although credit where it’s due he did well).

Ive heard Stuart Pearce on TalkSPort doing Jack down at every available opportunity and gleeful he didn’t get picked. He’s probably very sore that Jack has had 2 goals and an assist in his last 3 appearances against WH. 

[barry'sboots]

8 hours ago, avfc1982am said:

I said this yesterday but feel like repeating myself because it's another day. Southgate isn't brave enough as a manager. He still put's square pegs in round holes no matter his resources.

To come out yesterday and say Trippier was needed over Shaw or Chillwell was damning for both players, regardless of how you drop it. He basically told them he didn't trust them. He did the same with arguably the best player bar Kane in the squad. By leaving him on the bench whilst bringing on every man and his dog instead. This is my biggest issue with Southgate.....He gets the answers to the questions he should've been asking before the tournament and then chooses to ignore them. James, magnificent against City in the CL final and all season, Yet not experienced enough. Chillwell, another that was exceptional in the CL final, yet not experienced enough. Shaw, excellent all season at arguably the biggest club in the Country, yet not experienced enough. Finally...the man of  the match in 4 out of his first 6 games, not good enough. 

Southgate is by definition, a bottle job. There will come a time in this tournament when England have to chase the game against a top side, not one sliding. I have no faith whatsoever that Southgate can manage that team, in that moment to turn things around. He is a passive manager and passive doesn't cut the mustard in the big moments.  

We'll see how this pans out, however after watching England for 40 plus years I have no faith this bloke is better than many that came before him. 

Whilst we share much the same view on Safegate's abilities as a Manager, I think you can accuse him of many things but I don't think you can call him a "bottle job"??  If anything, he is very brave to stick to his thoughts and selection decisions in the face of significant contradiction from both pundits and the public.  If he were a bottler he would go with the popular choices, trying to please the masses i.e. play Jack.

I think he is a cautious, negative manager - playing a "better defender" but out of position, playing a "6" (better defender) out of position as an "8" - much like Brucie was for us (he wants to not lose rather than to win) which is a real shame given the array of attacking talent that we have at the minute, most notably our Jack.

[barry'sboots]

8 hours ago, OxfordVillan said:

The England managers remit is to win games. That’s it. Yesterday the England team won, and never looked like losing. Job done. Professional and efficient, though not spectacular. I think Southgate missed a trick by not taking Watkins, as Ollie is fantastic at hassling the backline with his endless energy, not to mention he does also score goals. I also don’t particularly rate Calvert-Lewin as highly as others do, I think he’s quite one dimensional in that he’s good in the air. But with just the one game played, Southgate got it right. Tougher tests to come.

Yes, his remit is to win.  But in doing so, in the "easier games" (qualifying and, I think, yesterday's game can fall into this), he needs to develop a formation/identity/style of play that he can take into the tougher games and still have a chance of winning those and, subsequently, the tournaments.

I think I could have played yesterday (slight exaggeration I know) and found space, as Phillips did, in amongst that ageing Croatian midfield BUT that does not prepare you to then play against the Italys, Portugal, Spains, Germanys, Frances etc. which is where we habitually fall down in these tournaments.  

[barry'sboots]

8 hours ago, OxfordVillan said:

Well, yes. But I don’t think it takes too much of a stretch of the imagination to conclude that if you win your games you win tournaments! 

You can win all of your games until you lose one in the knockout stage and then you most definitely won't win the tournament!!

[barry'sboots]

8 hours ago, Greenfly said:

As far as I can gather, the reason he's England manager is because he was the England U21 manager for ages. So in their minds, he "knows this generation of players better" than anyone else.

By this logic, expect to see him replaced by Aidy Boothroyd in about 10 years time.

No your talking - he would make Safegate look fantastic!

[avfc1982am]

Just now, barry'sboots said:

Whilst we share much the same view on Safegate's abilities as a Manager, I think you can accuse him of many things but I don't think you can call him a "bottle job"??  If anything, he is very brave to stick to his thoughts and selection decisions in the face of significant contradiction from both pundits and the public.  If he were a bottler he would go with the popular choices, trying to please the masses i.e. play Jack.

I think he is a cautious, negative manager - playing a "better defender" but out of position, playing a "6" (better defender) out of position as an "8" - much like Brucie was for us (he wants to not lose rather than to win) which is a real shame given the array of attacking talent that we have at the minute, most notably our Jack.

 

• "I think he is a cautious, negative manager". You might as well called him a bottle job yourself instead of trying to be diplomatic in your choice of words.

The point being that negativity and cautious isn't positive or courageous. Hence bottle job.  Unfortunately he is in my opinion. 

 

[Denaldinho]

Fine, SG didn't use Grealish in the first game but i think he will become an important player later on - He as the gift to unlock even best defence in the tournament. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

Southgate is setting himself up for failure. If he finally gives Jack a chance when England are chasing a game and he influences it but it’s too late to turn it around he will get crucified in the media. 

Pretty much the whole country is desperate for Jack to play as he gives the team something different.  It’s madness if he doesn’t feature.

[Tom13]

 

[TRO]

8 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

I disagree I'm afraid. Yes, we need to win, but we also need to build momentum by playing our best players and those players need to gain an understanding on the pitch so that when we face the better teams in the latter stages, we've given ourselves the best chance to win.

We should be able to beat Croatia with the players that didn't even make the final 26 man squad, that's how much depth we have. Beating them and only having 2 shots on target is not an achievement. It's literally the least i'd expect. 

We have Kyle Walker playing ahead of Reece James. We have a right back playing left back. We are playing two defensive midfielders when there is only a need to play one and our best player is on the bench.

Like we do with every tournament, we're going to roll out the same old cliche's...
'Best to get the bad game out of the way first',
'You can only beat what is put in front of you',
'3 points is all that matters',
'We'll grow into the tournament'. 

It's all nonsense. We'll come up against a decent side at some point and we'll be knocked out. At the last World Cup, we played three tough matches. Belgium twice and Croatia and we lost all three and people are sat there scratching their head asking the question, 'well how on earth did that happen, we beat Panama 6-0?'. 

We're going nowhere with Southgate. When is the last time we outplayed a good team? F*** me, we finished third in our Nations League group for christ sake behind Belgium and Denmark. 

Apologies if I'm not more optimistic but we're wasting an opportunity to win a big tournament with this failed man in charge. 

You make points that are valid no doubt.....but there is no evidence that our choices of team, would have done any better.

playing all out attacking players is what we all want, its what we all aspire to, but it takes defence and offence to make great sides.

let me give you an example.....Last season we started like a house on fire, looking the real deal, playing good football and winning games.....Then we got blown away at home by Leeds, why, we forgot how to close down and defend, we got carried away with our own offensive prowess and lost the initiative to build anything.

It kills me to say this....but Gareth might have been right, to start cautiously, get the win, the clean sheet and build the momentum.

I am not saying, you are wrong, but we will have to wait and see, if he got it right.

I am not convinced of all out attack or all out defence.....its the ability to know when to do what, that makes teams winners.

[Ginko]

I don’t even mind all that much that Southgate didn’t pick Jack or even sub him on. Obviously I think he should start, but if the tactic is to lump it up to Kane to knock down for the two wide players to chase onto, that’s not really Jack’s game. Fair enough.

However, we didn’t wind up doing that. We lumped it up to Stirling of all players on the left wing, over and over again, and unsurprisingly, being 5’6”, he didn’t win those balls. When Stirling did get the ball on the deck and ran at players, he lost possession again and again — Jack would have done more with those opportunities.

We also played a RB at LB, presumably because he’s trusted and due to his set pieces, so why not have the most fouled player in the league two years running on the pitch in order to win free kicks in dangerous areas to justify that bizarre selection? Again, baffling.

We won, and yeah, Croatia were crap and didn’t really look like scoring, but we didn’t have that many chances either. And besides, the goal came from trying something different to the repetitive tactics we employed throughout the majority of the game. Who knew that switching it up might create better opportunities to score?

We also couldn’t get a foot on the ball for the last twenty minutes of the game, which given the players we have is absolutely ridiculous. I can only believe that’s down to tactics, maybe the temperature if I’m being kind, but it’s no real excuse. We have the players to keep possession.

I’m glad we won, of course, and obviously I wanted to see Jack on the pitch running the show, but my biggest problem was that we were bang average yesterday and the tactics made little sense. I can’t believe the media are being as positive as they are about the performance.

Hopefully we move up a gear when playing one of the big boys, but from witnessing a number of England games under Southgate now, I won’t hold my breath. We’ll probably qualify, but I don’t think we’ll go much further than that. One of the big teams will beat us comfortably. Not embarrassingly so, but comfortably. Unfortunately I think that’ll be enough to justify keeping him around until the World Cup, which will be another wasted opportunity.

Edited June 14, 2021 by Ginko

[Thug]

7 hours ago, DJ_Villain said:

I reckon Gonzo has been given orders and a nice little envelope of money not to play Grealish...

If Grealish plays, he will undoubtedly light it up... causing his profile to rise and therefore his monetary value... which means that the powers that be who will want to buy him will have to pay more...

Its all corrupt and geared against the Villa...

It’s the only logical reason to explain why Grealish isn’t playing and why we haven’t won the Premier League every year for the past god-knows how many years...

Anyone else notice him struggle to get the mask on his nose and chin at the same time?

The elastic on the mask was proper stretched too.  With all them millions you’d think he could afford to ask his tailor to custom make him one.

 

[birdman]

10 minutes ago, Ginko said:

lso couldn’t get a foot on the ball for the last twenty minutes of the game, which given the players we have is absolutely ridiculous. I can only believe that’s down to tactics, maybe the temperature if I’m being kind, but it’s no real excuse. We have the players to keep possession.

I’m glad we won, of course, and obviously I wanted to see Jack on the pitch running the show, but my biggest problem was that we were bang average yesterday and the tactics made little sense. I can’t believe they media are being as positive as they are about the performance.

Hopefully we move up a gear when playing one of the big boys, but from witnessing a number of England games under Southgate now, I won’t hold my breath. We’ll probably qualify, but I don’t think we’ll go much further than that. One of the big teams will beat us comfortably. Not embarrassingly so, but comfortably. Unfortunately I think that’ll be enough to justify keeping him around until the World Cup, which will be another wasted opportunity.

Foden is the only other player who is really comfortable with the ball and he's still not as good in possession as Jack is. He's gifted for sure but he's nothing like Jack. Against Croatia the ball was like a hot potato, get rid of it ASAP! It was pretty shite and boring to watch but as you say it was hot and it was the first game and we won so that's all that matters really. 

[StefanAVFC]

Posted this in the Group D thread bit may as well go here too.

My theory with Waistcoat Nonce and Grealish is that he genuinely thought he needed to play in the PL to be involved. But there was so much clamour from the media that he resisted to show he's in charge. 

He calls him up, gives him minutes here and there in meaningless games to shut everyone up, then yesterday he doesn't play him and wins, again to shut everyone up. 

I fully expect him to play 90 when we've already qualified, be MOTM and not play another minute in our 2nd round loss, with Sterling, Rashford and Foden playing significantly 

[Tomaszk]

Quite simply, Southgate has been embarrassed more than once by Jack and he doesn't like it.

He doesn't like that he can win and still be asked why Jack didn't play, why Jack isn't making the squad. Then he doesn't like the excitement around after he is the most exciting England player since Wayne Rooney so refuses to praise him. He doesn't understand it because he doesn't understand football. He understands PR and getting paid. The England manager is now a job solely awarded on if the FA think you will embarrass them.

It's a disgrace Jack doesn't have 25+ caps by now. He should have been starting for England since 2018. Not in the squad, not behind guff like Sterling and Lingard. Starting.

Zero doubts I'll totally lose interest in England if he isn't playing. I was bored out of my tree watching that first match. The positive spin being put on it is laughable.