The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[sne]

Yeah he's a highly paid professional athlete at a top club. He should be in absolute peak physical shape every moment of the season. Obviously injuries and sickness an exception. 

[osmark86]

10 minutes ago, sne said:

Yeah he's a highly paid professional athlete at a top club. He should be in absolute peak physical shape every moment of the season. Obviously injuries and sickness an exception. 

Yeah it really isn't deeper than this imo.

If I had a squad of available athletes to play, what kind of message would I be sending to the ones putting in the work to stay in peak physical shape if I played someone who is not putting in the effort? That would be hypocrisy if I was telling the entire team that those are my expectations, and I would probably lose some of their trust.

[villa4europe]

13 minutes ago, Genie said:

I find that weird tbh, like Man City players are the only ones in the world who are match fit from the training ground? 

I’m no Grealish fanboy but Pep has lost the plot a bit with this suggestion.

Man city's squad might be the only one that is...

Thats the strength of them, they don't have to play someone who is out of form or off fitness, they have 3 other players they can use instead 

Grealish isn't up to speed then they just play a £60m player rather than their £100m player, like I said Doku doesn't seem to be in much either at the moment so they just play Nunes or Alvarez or Silva, it is a fairly unique scenario 

[Jonesy7211]

Grealish is world class. He's just been stifled by Pep's style of play. He's been asked to do a different job there. He did it very well last year, but he has dropped off this season. He's never been a player that had outstanding numbers of goals and assists, but we all know what he brings.

In the right system he'd be head and shoulders above 95% of the players in the world again, on a consistent basis. Pep has changed his system again this year, and when Jack first signed for City he took a while to settle. I'm sure he'll adapt again.

The partying is neither here nor there. It's not like Pep is calling him fat like he did to Phillips.

[Genie]

34 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Man city's squad might be the only one that is...

Thats the strength of them, they don't have to play someone who is out of form or off fitness, they have 3 other players they can use instead 

Grealish isn't up to speed then they just play a £60m player rather than their £100m player, like I said Doku doesn't seem to be in much either at the moment so they just play Nunes or Alvarez or Silva, it is a fairly unique scenario 

Match fitness wasn’t invented by Pep and generated in training.

I find it strange for him to suggest players will get a maximum of 20 minutes to show they are match fit. No other serious club or nation would suggest such a thing.

[AndyM3000]

How can he get better when he's told to pass the ball backwards and retain possession? He's not done anything different at City from what I've seen, maybe they have been blinded a bit by Doku who while looks exciting he's not efficient at what he does, I've noticed Haaland gets less chances when its Doku playing over Grealish.

[Rightdm00]

Jack chose to play for a manager who is well known to be very particular about his style of play.  Most could see this happening from miles away. Jack would get a season or two, Pep would determine he isn't up to his standard and eventually would freeze Jack out. At least he got a couple winners medals for his trouble. 

The move to City was always about one thing for me, money. Jack secured the , and he is now slowly quiet quitting with his generational wealth secured. Please don't let him come back here, we will not get anywhere near the same player. Look how far Barkley had to fall before he refound a love for the game. Jack will probably have to take the same route. Or off to the sand league for another deal. Either way I can't see him part of any winning setup we have at Villa. 

[DJBOB]

7 minutes ago, Rightdm00 said:

Jack chose to play for a manager who is well known to be very particular about his style of play.  Most could see this happening from miles away. Jack would get a season or two, Pep would determine he isn't up to his standard and eventually would freeze Jack out. At least he got a couple winners medals for his trouble. 

The move to City was always about one thing for me, money. Jack secured the , and he is now slowly quiet quitting with his generational wealth secured. Please don't let him come back here, we will not get anywhere near the same player. Look how far Barkley had to fall before he refound a love for the game. Jack will probably have to take the same route. Or off to the sand league for another deal. Either way I can't see him part of any winning setup we have at Villa. 

Yeah this. Really, almost all of us would bite when waved around the obscene amount of money he’s making in a trophy winning team. 
 
But Jack is perhaps the only one who didn’t think 2-3 years ahead of what playing with a Pep time would truly be like. 

Edited February 27 by DJBOB

[Mic09]

8 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

Yeah this. Really, almost all of us would bite when waved around the obscene amount of money he’s making in a trophy winning team. 
 
But Jack is perhaps the only one who didn’t think 2-3 years ahead of what playing with a Pep time would truly be like. 

Poor Jack, what is he gonna do now?! 

Seriously, let's not joke around. He could have been at Villa (fighting for a possible CL spot) or maybe not because we would have not had Emery the way things could have played out. We most likely would not have Bailey. 

He made the best decision he could have - joined the best team in the world, with arguably the best manager and players, won the biggest trophy in football along with league/cup titles, made unbelievable money, he is in the England team regularly.

He is 28 now, so probably has another 4-5 years left at top level. 

I think he made a very good decision for himself, his family, his trophy cabinet, his bank account. In fact, he made the only right decision that EVERYOBODY (other than some Villa fans) would have made.

If football is about winning, he completed the game. 

What else was he supposed to do, move to Man United? Maybe Chelsea? 

[DJBOB]

4 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

Poor Jack, what is he gonna do now?! 

Seriously, let's not joke around. He could have been at Villa (fighting for a possible CL spot) or maybe not because we would have not had Emery the way things could have played out. We most likely would not have Bailey. 

He made the best decision he could have - joined the best team in the world, with arguably the best manager and players, won the biggest trophy in football along with league/cup titles, made unbelievable money, he is in the England team regularly.

He is 28 now, so probably has another 4-5 years left at top level. 

I think he made a very good decision for himself, his family, his trophy cabinet, his bank account. In fact, he made the only right decision that EVERYOBODY (other than some Villa fans) would have made.

If football is about winning, he completed the game. 

What else was he supposed to do, move to Man United? Maybe Chelsea? 

I think it depends on what you want. Money, titles, prestige - he’s got it all. 
 
Playing consistently and playing to his strengths? Well - I find either of those hard to believe. 

[Mic09]

11 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

I think it depends on what you want. Money, titles, prestige - he’s got it all. 
 
Playing consistently and playing to his strengths? Well - I find either of those hard to believe. 

Ask any footballer if he wants to either;

1. Win every trophy club football has to offer, be one of the best paid players in the world, be an international star in the best football team in the world

2. Play to their strength.

He does play consistently when fit so that is a bit of a moot point. 

What are we even discussing? He made the right decision. 

And let's say he didn't, just to entertain the argument. When Man City called him 3 years ago, to offer him all the glory in the world, do you think anyone would have said ''crap, I might not move to Real Madrid in 2026, I might end up at Chelsea or Spurs or maybe even Inter Miami so I better stay at struggling Villa. I might even have to run down my £300k a week contract...'' ?  

[sharkyvilla]

If in the unlikely event he moved back to us on loan would he count as homegrown for Europe?

[villarule123]

I'd 100% take him back as long as he severely cuts down his wages and it's for no more than £40m.

He would be great on the left in our team. 

[PaulC]

3 hours ago, Jonesy7211 said:

Grealish is world class. He's just been stifled by Pep's style of play. He's been asked to do a different job there. He did it very well last year, but he has dropped off this season. He's never been a player that had outstanding numbers of goals and assists, but we all know what he brings.

In the right system he'd be head and shoulders above 95% of the players in the world again, on a consistent basis. Pep has changed his system again this year, and when Jack first signed for City he took a while to settle. I'm sure he'll adapt again.

The partying is neither here nor there. It's not like Pep is calling him fat like he did to Phillips.

Last season he performed well for man City this season he has shown very little.  Grealish has to shoulder some of the blame. It's too easy to blame the system Man City play. He's got to fight for his place. 

[chrisvilla4]

I love Jack, I really do. As much as I agree in playing terms city was the wrong move, it wasn't in terms of success, he could not have one any more. Now it's down to him, if he loves the game and wants to play, he needs to move. City is probably too demanding off the field (not like the arm round him and easier ride he had with Smith) if he wants to be the elite, he has to behave and live elite off the pitch as well as on it, I'm not sure he wants to do that and there lies the problem at city. 

Edited February 27 by chrisvilla4

[Genie]

32 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Last season he performed well for man City this season he has shown very little.  Grealish has to shoulder some of the blame. It's too easy to blame the system Man City play. He's got to fight for his place. 

I can’t say I’ve noticed much difference so I’m surprised Pep is criticising him. Last year he was dull,  bland and safety first. A shadow of the player he was for us. 

Now he’s apparently not playing well enough. Did anyone else notice this before Pep made this announcement? 

[MrBlack]

1 hour ago, sharkyvilla said:

If in the unlikely event he moved back to us on loan would he count as homegrown for Europe?

Yes

[DJBOB]

4 minutes ago, Genie said:

I can’t say I’ve noticed much difference so I’m surprised Pep is criticising him. Last year he was dull,  bland and safety first. A shadow of the player he was for us. 

Now he’s apparently not playing well enough. Did anyone else notice this before Pep made this announcement? 

Jack is switched off this year and talked about it himself on trying to find the motivation after winning all the trophies last year. While he was still playing within the system last year, he was actively more engaged with his progression and distribution. During the matches he has played, Pep has been visibly unhappy with his effort (and Jack's injuries) and has cut his playing time subsequently.

[DJBOB]

1 hour ago, Mic09 said:

Ask any footballer if he wants to either;

1. Win every trophy club football has to offer, be one of the best paid players in the world, be an international star in the best football team in the world

2. Play to their strength.

He does play consistently when fit so that is a bit of a moot point. 

What are we even discussing? He made the right decision. 

And let's say he didn't, just to entertain the argument. When Man City called him 3 years ago, to offer him all the glory in the world, do you think anyone would have said ''crap, I might not move to Real Madrid in 2026, I might end up at Chelsea or Spurs or maybe even Inter Miami so I better stay at struggling Villa. I might even have to run down my £300k a week contract...'' ?  

There's plenty of other players that have chosen different clubs in order to keep playing. I wasn't even saying that he should stay at Villa.

The point is that he saw your point number 1, without realizing that in 2-3 years with how Pep manages his team and not playing into Jack's strengths, he would be riding the bench. Does he look happy to you this year not starting every match? To me, he doesn't - but yeah, he's won the trophies, got loads of money and a lot of Gucci advertisements.

Now he can ride off into the sands of Saudi or to south beach - but there are plenty of players who have chosen other options to make sure they were consistently playing.

Just as the same I don't begrudge Ashley Young for going to United when he did, but that didn't really work out for him until he rediscovered himself as an all action RB. Same with Milner - who also won the trophies - and was an integral part of the side for 4 years and then went on to Liverpool to continue playing at a high level.

I would be shocked if Grealish was anywhere a functional player for a decent side in 4 years, much less 8.

Edited February 27 by DJBOB

[KentVillan]

7 hours ago, Jonesy7211 said:

Grealish is world class. He's just been stifled by Pep's style of play. He's been asked to do a different job there. He did it very well last year, but he has dropped off this season. He's never been a player that had outstanding numbers of goals and assists, but we all know what he brings.

In the right system he'd be head and shoulders above 95% of the players in the world again, on a consistent basis. Pep has changed his system again this year, and when Jack first signed for City he took a while to settle. I'm sure he'll adapt again.

The partying is neither here nor there. It's not like Pep is calling him fat like he did to Phillips.

Players can look outwardly fit and not be fit. Danny Drinkwater never looked fat to me, but he drank his career down the toilet.

Grealish obviously a much better player to begin with, but I do worry he's too used to playing himself into match fitness instead of just looking after himself properly.

We all know some players turn up from the summer break ready to go, and some always need a few games to get going. Whether they have a six pack or not is not always the key predictor.