The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[Dodgyknees]

Just now, It's Your Round said:

It’s not really much of stretch to think that Stan would have asked Jack about his future yesterday. He was stood speaking to him, I mean wouldn’t every one of you be asking the same question? 
 

I’d say that if Collymore is nailing his flag to this mast, he’s been told he’s staying. 

Yep I expect a new contract.

[CVByrne]

I feel sad for Jack. To win the Euros would mean he'd always have a huge victory in his career and a medal better than anything you can win at club level. 

I think Southgate's safe approach came undone in the end. Pressure on England penalty takers is too much so playing a game where it increases the chances you could end up with pens isn't going to work for England. 

It's time to adapt and play more attacking with the wealth of talent available. Jack should be central to that. 

[WHY]

This thread has been a lot of fun over the last month. A lot of our fans have backed Southgate over his handling of Grealish which I must admit, I have found odd. Simple fact of the matter is England are a better attacking force with Grealish in the team, the stats don’t lie. Southgate has treated him disgustingly imo whilst Mason Mount swans about the pitch doing nothing. At the end of the day Southgate failed again and will continue to fail until he changes his negative tactics.

[barry'sboots]

1 hour ago, KevinRichardsonsMoustache said:

This, all day long. 
 

Imagine a world where Jack, like so many terrific players before him, have made the move and been lost in the egos and mania around some of these so-called big clubs.

 

Get that new contract signed, Jack. 

The world where Collymore, Downing, Delph and Tekkers and to a lesser extent Young and Milner have all been before.   Whilst the latter two have had good careers, they will never be looked back on as fondly as they could have been had they stayed C&B.  To an extent you can understand them as the club was in reverse gear but everything about our club appears to be positive at the minute and the new owners are re-building the club to challenge.

[barry'sboots]

3 minutes ago, WHY said:

This thread has been a lot of fun over the last month. A lot of our fans have backed Southgate over his handling of Grealish which I must admit, I have found odd. Simple fact of the matter is England are a better attacking force with Grealish in the team, the stats don’t lie. Southgate has treated him disgustingly imo whilst Mason Mount swans about the pitch doing nothing. At the end of the day Southgate failed again and will continue to fail until he changes his negative tactics.

I agree with almost everything you say.  However, I do think Mount is a good player BUT he is, imho, an "8" and not a "10" and should have played centrally next to one of Rice OR Phillips with Jack in front.

[sparrow1988]

1 hour ago, DaveAV1 said:

The problem is the FA, an organisation that is massively resourced, in every way and has only just managed to get us to our second final in 55 years. There is no measurement that can conclude that to be anything but failure on a grand scale. Let’s not forget that these are the clowns who build the national stadium millions over budget and years late. Did heads roll?
 

During the last 55 years Denmark have been European champions, the French have revolutionised their football coaching set up and won the World Cup twice. The usual suspects Germany and Italy have continued to regularly win tournaments. Minor blips have been just that. 
 

Our rugby team have won the World Cup and continue to be a world power. The cricket team have won the World Cup in two different formats and produce great, exciting cricket. We even have one of, if not the best cycling teams in the world. So in one of the great sporting nations why does the football team consistently fail? The obvious answer is the people who run the sport. While they are allowed to continue to celebrate mediocrity and excuse failure, we will continue to win sweet FA. 

I agree with your first two paragraphs but in your third, you've used two sports which are played by roughly 8 nations to any sort of competitive level and cycling, in which the success of the British teams is based on Dave Brailsford's "marginal gains". The source of these gains are a very hotly disputed topic.

[thejoker]

21 minutes ago, villa89 said:

I would doubt he knows any more than you or I. 

Collymore was with Jack's Dad at the semi-final...

[The Other Mat]

Truly amazing the amount of grief Jack and Sterling are getting on social media now. All stems from Keanes comments and it still continues even after SG explained he'd chosen the order. Anyway Looks the norm is restored and we're back to fans hating on Jack again.

[Davkaus]

1 minute ago, The Other Mat said:

Truly amazing the amount of grief Jack and Sterling are getting on social media now. All stems from Keanes comments and it still continues even after SG explained he'd chosen the order. Anyway Looks the norm is restored and we're back to fans hating on Jack again.

**** 'em.

It doesn't take a body language expert to see Grealish wanted to take one and was gutted that once again he'd be an onlooker.

[villabromsgrove]

 We surely don't need to have a discussion about Jack's "balls", the guy is as brave as they come.

I think we all know that it was Southgate's negativity that put us in a sh*t situation.

His plan A was to hopefully nick a goal and then defend that 1-0 lead desperately to the end of 90 minutes. When Italy equalised in the 68th minute plan B then swung seamlessly into action .... defend desperately until the end of extra time, so that we could reap the benefit of the huge amount of "specialised penalty practice" that he'd been banging onto the press about on a regular basis. 

The sad fact is that none of this had much to do with Jack at all. He was only grudgingly used almost as an afterthought by GS after about 99 minutes of negative dross, the fact that a very nervous Saka and an unfit and creaky Henderson came on before Jack illustrates that point. Southgate hadn't got Grealish's name on his list of five penalty takers because he didn't think he'd be on the pitch at the time, and he wasn't about to alter his 'well planned list' to include JG. (I fully expected Jack to be subbed off when Rashford and Sancho came on in the last couple of minutes).

I believe the above to be fact, but now I'll let myself dip into the realms of opinion.  In my opinion Southgate wanted to be the Euro hero by using his much talked about "historic research and tactics" to win the Cup. He saw Jack as a media darling who might have deflected the spotlight from dogged defensive "tactics" to unplanned eye catching attacking football if he gave him too much match time, or 'God forbid' started him in each match, and GS definitely did not want that.

Grealish and the word "negativity" do not go together in the same sentence, hence the reason why he was criminally sidelined and underused during this tournament by an inadequate and totally over cautious manager.

I can't wait to get back to the beautiful game with Jack as Captain Courageous leading his team of talented attack minded players out onto the pitch at Watford on August 14th. UTV

[Danishlad]

10 hours ago, pete101 said:

Born a Brummie but moved back to Ireland when I was 10, I've always classed myself as Irish but hearing the abuse jack gets in the country , I'm ashamed of my nationality

Cheer up bud. It’s difficult for people who are mixed nationality. 
Don’t be affected by a few nutters on the internet or who ever shouts the loudest abuse. 
 

[Danishlad]

Jack is class, Should have been used more. 
After about 60 mins
Southgate got that wrong. Still love Southgate though

[DaveAV1]

19 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said:

I think it's a bit unfair to compare the football team to the rugby / cricket teams. There's only about a dozen teams in the world that play rugby or cricket to a suitably competitive level, whereas there's probably 50+ football teams who can play at a reasonable level. I'd agree that England has underperformed given the quality of our league but there's still a LOT of teams that think they have a reasonable chance of winning the World Cup every time it comes around, so it's certainly no easy task.

I was wondering last night whether England as a footballing nation might have turned a bit of a corner regarding the quality of their squad with the PL rule changes about home-grown players, and St George's Park opening about a decade ago. I don't know if it's just coincidence we have a strong and tight-knit bunch of young players coming through now or whether that's something that's going to become the new normal, but I certainly hope it's the latter!

Comparing apples and pears perhaps but I wasn’t really comparing us to the also ran teams. Given our resources we have massively under performed over the last 55 years. 
 

Off the pitch I can’t think of another major organisation that handled a huge infrastructure project so badly that it became a national embarrassment. Years late and millions over budget. They changed the spec every day. Stuff like gold taps in the executive lounge etc. Ridiculous. The whole England Supporters Membership ticketing that gave the game to corporate entities instead of fans. The whole thing is a farce. 
 

St. George’s gives hope that at least we’ve go something in place as far as a training facility and plan goes. Whether it’s effective or not? Your guess is as good as mine. 
 

A few years ago France, Germany, Italy etc had about three or four times more qualified coaches than we had. I’d like to think that has changed significantly  now but I’m not holding my breath. 

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

5 minutes ago, The Other Mat said:

Truly amazing the amount of grief Jack and Sterling are getting on social media now. All stems from Keanes comments and it still continues even after SG explained he'd chosen the order. Anyway Looks the norm is restored and we're back to fans hating on Jack again.

This exemplifies modern media doesn’t it? Producers don’t give a sh*t what people actually say, they just want engagement. Keane is perfect fodder for the machine: he says things that never overstep the line, but give plenty of grist to the mill of the rage machine. 

As much as Keane thinks he’s some sort of maverick, he’s a tool so a content producer can point to ‘engagement stats’ on their social feeds. 

There’s no thought here, just the need for engagement. We’re all **** mice pressing furiously pressing the button for another dopamine hit.

Euro 2020 Jack is as much a product of this media maelstrom as a victim of it.

[DaveAV1]

10 minutes ago, sparrow1988 said:

I agree with your first two paragraphs but in your third, you've used two sports which are played by roughly 8 nations to any sort of competitive level and cycling, in which the success of the British teams is based on Dave Brailsford's "marginal gains". The source of these gains are a very hotly disputed topic.

I’m comparing apples with pears you’re right. But what I’m trying to say is that as a country we have talented sports people across all sports but only in football do we consistently fail. Both on and off the pitch. 

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

35 minutes ago, John said:

Southgate gave Jack around 20 minutes of extra time to win the game for us and then didn't give him the opportunity to hit home a penalty. It is almost like he would rather have risked defeat than given Jack the chance to be the match winner.     

Agreed,  it did sort of feel like that.  Rather lose than let a Brummie shine.

Us, pundits and newspapers all wanted him to play more during the tournament.  We all know nothing apparently.

When he was on,  other teams doubled up on him at a minimum creating space elsewhere. 

He might not have scored or created a goal but football isn't always about what you do with the ball.  

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

8 minutes ago, KevinRichardsonsMoustache said:

As much as Keane thinks he’s some sort of maverick, he’s a tool

Game has moved on and he just looks old and bitter.

[Sulberto21]

7 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

I’m comparing apples with pears you’re right. But what I’m trying to say is that as a country we have talented sports people across all sports but only in football do we consistently fail. Both on and off the pitch. 

England's cricket team was the exact same as Southgates tactics - dour boring and turgid. They decided attacking cricket would be more rewarding and it has proven to be so. India and Australia were so far ahead so you using the cricket team is a fair comparison.

The team play cricket the way Jack plays footy.

[WallisFrizz]

 

[WHY]

29 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

I agree with almost everything you say.  However, I do think Mount is a good player BUT he is, imho, an "8" and not a "10" and should have played centrally next to one of Rice OR Phillips with Jack in front.

Been at the last 2 games and watched him closely. I agree Mount is a very good player but isn’t the best player in the 10 or 11 role in the squad, so shouldn’t  player there. Agree the 8 role next to Phillips or Rice is the position he should be playing. Southgate  trying to accommodate Mount cost us the game last night imo. He switched Sterling to the right where he has less impact so Mount could play left of the front 3. It failed massively. To leave him on the pitch for over 90 minutes was criminal.