Jack Grealish

amolbhatia50k

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To be honest I think Bale was obviously fantastic at his best. I do think he was slightly overrated as he's always been about end product but still brilliant until he got lazy and threw his career away. But when I think of the cream of Europe I think of the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Neymar etc I'd consider Bale in a tier below the very best (ignoring Messi and Ronaldo). But yeah, Grealish is not at that level. He has loads to prove
 

SER19

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Absolutely brilliant player id love to see here but not to be shoehorned into a team. Im just not sure he fits anywhere at the minute
 

Bebestation

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Yeah Madrid fans don't think of him as at the very top of European talent either.

Bolded bit explains it.
Madrid fans are deluded because they always able to chop and change their players.

As a neutral, Bale was fantastic player for Real Madrid with poor behaviour. He was like a cheaper less consistent version of Ronaldo that could play in that RW position and score some important goals.

Influence in Madrids recent most important trophy time - if he was at any club he would be a legend or valued, just not at Madrid.
 

RooneyLegend

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Genius, absolute genius this guy. Amazed some argue against that. Sometimes when I read arguments on here I'm convinced people don't watch these guys play.
 

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Genius, absolute genius this guy. Amazed some argue against that. Sometimes when I read arguments on here I'm convinced people don't watch these guys play.
It's as if they look at WhoScored ratings and make their minds up. Grealish would take our attack up a level 100%. He's very versatile too, can play LW, RW, no.10 and as a false 9 he's that intelligent on the pitch.
 

LawCharltonBest

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Genius, absolute genius this guy. Amazed some argue against that. Sometimes when I read arguments on here I'm convinced people don't watch these guys play.
Yeah. Whenever I see Grealish he is brilliant

My brother was dead against it until he saw him play properly a couple of times
 

arthurka

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He would make a massive difference to this team. Think we should go all out
 
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RooneyLegend

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It's as if they look at WhoScored ratings and make their minds up. Grealish would take our attack up a level 100%. He's very versatile too, can play LW, RW, no.10 and as a false 9 he's that intelligent on the pitch.
The only criticism of him that's valid is that he doesn't score much, certainly not as much as he should. He hasn't quite got the hang of positioning himself properly in goal scoring positions after releasing the ball. In terms of ingenuity, ball retention, dribbling, playing within the right tempo he's as good as it gets.
 

RooneyLegend

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Yeah. Whenever I see Grealish he is brilliant

My brother was dead against it until he saw him play properly a couple of times
You can't watch him play regularly and have a different opinion. I've seen him have like one bad performance this season and he was man marked.
 

TwoSheds

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The only criticism of him that's valid is that he doesn't score much, certainly not as much as he should. He hasn't quite got the hang of positioning himself properly in goal scoring positions after releasing the ball. In terms of ingenuity, ball retention, dribbling, playing within the right tempo he's as good as it gets.
He also just doesn't shoot enough. Ole would actually probably be a good coach for him on that front.
 

DWelbz19

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It's as if they look at WhoScored ratings and make their minds up. Grealish would take our attack up a level 100%. He's very versatile too, can play LW, RW, no.10 and as a false 9 he's that intelligent on the pitch.
He’s rated as the second* best player in the league this season on WhoScored.

Nothing to suggest he can play as a false 9 or a RW, either.

He’s an excellent player, but let’s not begin exaggerating.
 

TwoSheds

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He’s rated as the second* best player in the league this season on WhoScored.

Nothing to suggest he can play as a false 9 or a RW, either.

He’s an excellent player, but let’s not begin exaggerating.
Apart from the fact he's played RW plenty over the years and done a great job. False 9 I could agree, he's hardly a natural finisher.
 

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Considering I give us a 2% chance of signing Haaland, if we are going for a big money signing this summer I'd rather it were Grealish over someone like Sancho. I don't care that there's no obvious position for him, with players as creative as he is you simply find a way to make it work.
 

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DWelbz19

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Thats reducing his play down to stats through. He pops up every game anywhere across the pitch and looks dangerous whether it’s right or left, he looks dangerous. I have no doubt that he could play predominantly from the right side for us.
But it doesn’t work like that. That’s like me saying Rashford pops up everywhere and can be just as dangerous on the right — he doesn’t.

Look at his heat maps when he plays. Jack Grealish playing predominantly on the left where he is able to utilise all angles as he’s got the whole field open to him as a right footed attacker. His passing angles, ability to shoot etc. are massively hindered if he’s playing on the right wing. There’s a massive difference to him having the opportunity to float out onto the right, and him actually playing and having his defined role on the right.

Again, I am not disputing his quality. I am disputing the idea that Jack Grealish can play to the top level he plays at any position other than the left - and possibly as a no.10 (which I would probably dispute too, but that’s another discussion).
 

TwoSheds

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Bearded One

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Absolutely brilliant player id love to see here but not to be shoehorned into a team. Im just not sure he fits anywhere at the minute
I appreciate your viewpoint but I think Grealish walks straight into our best eleven if we sign him up. Him and Shaw making interchanges down the left would be a thing of joy.

That said I think there are areas in the team that require urgent attention before we talk about LW but if he was available today I’d take him in a heartbeat. There is no point having players in their correct positions when they do not have the requisite quality.

if push comes to shove playing without a RW is doable if there is enough quality in other places.
 
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SER19

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I appreciate your viewpoint but I think Grealish walks straight into our best eleven if we sign him up. Him and Shaw making interchanges down the left would be a thing of joy.

That said I think there are areas in the team that require urgent attention before we talk about LW but if he was available today I’d take him in a heartbeat. There is no point having players in their correct positions when they do not have the requisite quality.

if push comes to shove playing without a RW is doable if there is enough quality in other places.
Id just worry that Grealish from the left ends up in Bruno 'space' a lot and would love to see us with quality traditional wide players. Sancho on right for example. But would hate to see Grealish elsewhere.

Eg would this work v most teams

...... Fred... Pogba

Sancho ........Bruno..... Grealish

............... Rashford.....

Because rashford will always start with ole. Grealish plus rw would mean no new striker or dm i imagine, just financially
 

Bearded One

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Id just worry that Grealish from the left ends up in Bruno 'space' a lot and would love to see us with quality traditional wide players. Sancho on right for example. But would hate to see Grealish elsewhere.

Eg would this work v most teams

...... Fred... Pogba

Sancho ........Bruno..... Grealish

............... Rashford.....

Because rashford will always start with ole. Grealish plus rw would mean no new striker or dm i imagine, just financially
Sir you’ve got a perfect lineup there, nobody will take the other persons space imo. If we are able to pull off Sancho and Grealish, I’d be over the moon.
 

Abraxas

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I don't think he'd be signed for us on the left because there's no indication Rashford is going to work out down the middle in the long term. It wouldn't be logical to buy a starter in a position where we've already got a nailed on starter when there are holes in the team. Also Ole has said many times he's basing his attacking play around pace and power, I don't think he'd want to lose Rashford's pace from those positions.

The question would be can he play as part of the midfield behind Bruno or on the right?

I don't like the idea of him on the right as it just seems like you would lose so much of his ability to go either way and to cut in and he could just be an isolated figure out there. He'd be drifting in constantly and leaving us quite narrow.

As a midfielder..maybe. I could see him fitting into that type of role later in his career. He has the technique, the ability to break through the lines, I can't see why not. You'd have to complement him and it's questionable whether he'd be worth the outlay as an experiment, but I don't see why he couldn't still be quality. The problem is so much of his work would not be in the final third.

Ultimately I don't think he quite fits for us anymore, which is unfortunate.
 

snk123

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Genius, absolute genius this guy. Amazed some argue against that. Sometimes when I read arguments on here I'm convinced people don't watch these guys play.
It's unreal sometimes reading people's opinions. I'm against English players as I think they are overrated more often than not and end up being average but Grealish is just on another level. He's exactly the sort of "generational" talent people are labelling Haaland and Mbappe. If his name was Grealinho, he'd be worth 200m at this point.

I started watching Aston Villa games just to see him play - so effortless and oozes class.
 

snk123

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The only criticism of him that's valid is that he doesn't score much, certainly not as much as he should. He hasn't quite got the hang of positioning himself properly in goal scoring positions after releasing the ball. In terms of ingenuity, ball retention, dribbling, playing within the right tempo he's as good as it gets.
He doesn't shoot enough which is exactly what we need considering all our forwards don't pass enough when in great positions.
 

gazbradley

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Grealish is a left winger, or sometimes a number 10.

He isn't going to play in a 2 man midfield like Pogba,Mctominay,Fred.

So it'll be Grealish instead of Rashford or Bruno. Losing Pogba makes no difference unless we push Bruno deeper.
I think he could play centrally with license to roam against teams that sit back, our big problem is a lack of creativity against those sides especially when Pogba doesn’t play. He’s also versatile enough to play wide against bigger teams, something we’ve tried with Pogba which has been ok but doesn’t really suit him as much as Grealish.
I do think we missed the boat on signing him last year though but if there’s a deal to be done at a reasonable price then it’d be a great signing
 

Zlatattack

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I don't think he'd be signed for us on the left because there's no indication Rashford is going to work out down the middle in the long term. It wouldn't be logical to buy a starter in a position where we've already got a nailed on starter when there are holes in the team. Also Ole has said many times he's basing his attacking play around pace and power, I don't think he'd want to lose Rashford's pace from those positions.

The question would be can he play as part of the midfield behind Bruno or on the right?

I don't like the idea of him on the right as it just seems like you would lose so much of his ability to go either way and to cut in and he could just be an isolated figure out there. He'd be drifting in constantly and leaving us quite narrow.

As a midfielder..maybe. I could see him fitting into that type of role later in his career. He has the technique, the ability to break through the lines, I can't see why not. You'd have to complement him and it's questionable whether he'd be worth the outlay as an experiment, but I don't see why he couldn't still be quality. The problem is so much of his work would not be in the final third.

Ultimately I don't think he quite fits for us anymore, which is unfortunate.
Do we hinder the development of the team just because it won't be perfect for Marcus Rashford? If Rashford can be a 20+ goal a season wide player who is creating regularly as well, then yeah I say we have to stick with Rashford and work a team around him, but if he's not, then why missing out on someone who can provide, goals, assists and much needed creativity. Let Rashford fight for his place. When Fergie signed Veron do you think he worried where Keane or Scholes would play? When he signed Tevez, he didn't care where Rooney and Ronaldo played. When we signed Berbatov he didn't care where Tevez, Rooney or Ronaldo would play.

I'm not comparing players, but I think we should care less about where our current players will fit, if we see a player who can improve our team. Sometimes the sum of the parts is more important than the parts themselves. Mind you i think it's all wishful thinking. I'd be delighted if we signed Grealish, but i doubt we will.
 

jeff gurr

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Jack Grealish is a quality player who can play in more than one position. He is the kind of player you grab with both hands when available ! Don't worry about where he will play, just know he will. I was hoping that Villa would get relegated last season & the possibility of him playing alongside Maddison at City.
 

Isotope

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How you don't want to see this at United is just beyond belief.

"Ohh.. but there's this X playing there, so we don't need him". SAF didn't care much about Rooney's feeling when he signed RVP. Or Nani's when he signed Valencia.

 

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Southgate will have his head up his arse if he doesn't start this guy in the summer.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Sir you’ve got a perfect lineup there, nobody will take the other persons space imo. If we are able to pull off Sancho and Grealish, I’d be over the moon.
It's a good attack but Rashford isn't a center forward. His hold up play and ability to bring others into play is simply not good enough. In fact Martial is much better at it than him. He's far better as a floating second striker who starts from out wide on the left. Hence, Grealish for me either rotates with Rashford or with Bruno. As good a player as he is, I'm not sure it's worth it given we've got so many positions to strengthen in. Besides I don't think we have the funds for both Sancho and Grealish. Given a choice, I'd definitely pick Sancho.
 

horsechoker

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How you don't want to see this at United is just beyond belief.

"Ohh.. but there's this X playing there, so we don't need him". SAF didn't care much about Rooney's feeling when he signed RVP. Or people's shins when he signed Valencia.
Corrected that for you
 

amolbhatia50k

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How you don't want to see this at United is just beyond belief.

"Ohh.. but there's this X playing there, so we don't need him". SAF didn't care much about Rooney's feeling when he signed RVP. Or Nani's when he signed Valencia.

He'd be brilliant for us. Someone with the ball glued to his foot is sometimes we've needed for along time. However, with Pogba and Bruno already in midfield and Rashford on the left it becomes hard to make a case to spend big on Grealish when you consider our other weaknesses. In terms of ball control, balance, personality he'd be fanatastic. But we haven't got the money to buy, for example, him and Sancho. And contrary to people dreaming of Amad being the next Messi, we are desperate for improving the in that area, and were not in the positions Grealish plays in.

It's one of those cases where if you can get the player early (as Spurs nearly did) or from the right club (like let's say he was at Ajax) then it's perfect but if he's at a PL club and will go for an inflated fee as Rice would, then it becomes too difficult.
 

Pep's Suit

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He's a great player but no team can afford him this summer and who knows how quickly it'll change.
 

Isotope

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He'd be brilliant for us. Someone with the ball glued to his foot is sometimes we've needed for along time. However, with Pogba and Bruno already in midfield and Rashford on the left it becomes hard to make a case to spend big on Grealish when you consider our other weaknesses. In terms of ball control, balance, personality he'd be fanatastic. But we haven't got the money to buy, for example, him and Sancho. And contrary to people dreaming of Amad being the next Messi, we are desperate for improving the in that area, and were not in the positions Grealish plays in.

It's one of those cases where if you can get the player early (as Spurs nearly did) or from the right club (like let's say he was at Ajax) then it's perfect but if he's at a PL club and will go for an inflated fee as Rice would, then it becomes too difficult.
We desperately need to improve our LW also. And AMC when Bruno is having an off day.
 

Bearded One

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It's a good attack but Rashford isn't a center forward. His hold up play and ability to bring others into play is simply not good enough. In fact Martial is much better at it than him. He's far better as a floating second striker who starts from out wide on the left. Hence, Grealish for me either rotates with Rashford or with Bruno. As good a player as he is, I'm not sure it's worth it given we've got so many positions to strengthen in. Besides I don't think we have the funds for both Sancho and Grealish. Given a choice, I'd definitely pick Sancho.
At center forward we have Rashford, Cavani and Martial and these can do a job maybe not to a world class level but would pose problems to most central defence pairs especially if they get supply from Grealish, Bruno and Sancho which is a world class attacking trio anywhere in the world.

Goals do not even need to come mainly from the number nine. My point in all of this is that if Grealish is available, we’d be mad to let him go elsewhere. If our budget cannot take Sancho and Grealish, that’s another kettle of fish. I also don’t think we need too much reinforcements in other areas of the pitch. DM and CB are very important but players like Grealish can make you tweak your plans a little just to have a little bit of extra quality.