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Jack Grealish has joined David Moyes' Everton on a season-long loan after falling out of favour with Manchester City. But why did that happen? And how can The Toffees get the best out of him. Adam Clery explains.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, Adam Cleary from ACFC here, right?
00:04And usually, when I'm deciding what video to do, I have to consider
00:07will that do a lot of views? Could it bring us a lot of subscribers?
00:11Might it even make us a bit of money?
00:13But sometimes, I ignore all of that and just think
00:18yeah, that sounds like a laugh.
00:20And in completely unrelated news,
00:23Jack Grealish looks like he's going to Everton.
00:27So...
00:30Alright, so Jack Grealish at one stage,
00:32the ÂŁ100m heartthrob future of the England national side
00:36and the next, just have a look at this,
00:39one start in the league all year,
00:42one league goal all season
00:44and literally one minute played in the last six games.
00:49This is simply the seasonal exploits of a man
00:52who is neither needed nor wanted by his manager or his club.
00:57And basically, if you want to understand whether or not
01:00this is a smart move for Everton to make
01:02over a man who is going to be 30 next month,
01:05then we have to understand what exactly went wrong here.
01:10And the easiest way to do that
01:11is to get your head around the fact that there are essentially
01:15two Jack Grealish's.
01:17And the one you are likely most readily familiar with
01:20is the one signed by Pep Guardiola
01:23to be one of the last jigsaw pieces
01:25in his bold new vision
01:27of having a box midfield.
01:30Basically, one defender would move into this line,
01:32everyone would shuffle behind him.
01:33And the key role
01:35of the two number 10s in this system,
01:37normally De Bruyne or Gundogan,
01:39sometimes Phil Foden,
01:40was neatly facilitated
01:42by the two wide players,
01:44usually Bernardo Silva on this side
01:46and Jack Grealish vitally on the other,
01:49stretching the defence across the entire width of the pitch
01:52so that you had four defenders here,
01:55both spread along a massive distance
01:58and also up against five players.
02:00When Grealish was a vital cog in the Manchester City machine,
02:04this was his job,
02:06staying as wide as he possibly could
02:08to allow this system to work properly.
02:11It's quite literally won Manchester City the treble
02:14and Grealish, and I mean this,
02:15was as important a part of this system
02:18as Harland was, as Rodri was,
02:21as John Stones was, as anyone was.
02:23He started 23 of Manchester City's Premier League games that year,
02:28which might actually sound a little bit underwhelming
02:31given that there's 38 of them
02:32and he was fit all season.
02:34But you've got to remember,
02:36Guardiola rotates in the league
02:38to keep you fresh for the big games.
02:40And if you look at the Champions League instead,
02:43he started 11 out of the 12.
02:46The only one he didn't start was the dead rubber
02:48at the last group game.
02:49Used sparingly here,
02:51so he was always available.
02:52Here, that is the biggest indicator you'll ever get.
02:55You are important to Pep Guardiola.
02:58But in order to be so,
03:00Guardiola had to mould him into this player
03:03because this extremely wide,
03:05touchline-hugging, tactical load-bearer
03:08is not who he was at Aston Villa.
03:11And that's where you find the other Jack Grealish.
03:14And if you look at his heat map from his last season there,
03:17you see dynamism,
03:19you see freedom,
03:20you see dropping deep to help out your defenders,
03:22you see cruising the width of the pitch
03:24to try and find ways to make an impact.
03:27You see a player making his own decisions
03:31and having a lot of fun doing so.
03:34But you take this
03:34and then you slowly,
03:36dramatically I might say,
03:37morph it into that really big year
03:40he had at Manchester City
03:41and you have lost so much
03:44of that same player.
03:46And look, right,
03:47don't get me wrong,
03:48he's now doing a much bigger job
03:50for a much bigger team
03:52in much bigger games
03:54and coming out on top
03:55in all these really big matches.
03:57But he's playing
03:58a far more limited role
04:00in doing so.
04:02He would rotate,
04:03don't get me wrong,
04:04there was a little bit of freedom
04:05to what he was doing.
04:06He would sometimes come in the middle
04:07to allow De Bruyne into a wider area
04:09or he would allow someone
04:10along the outside of him
04:12by being a little more narrow.
04:13But this was almost always
04:15done as an off-the-ball thing by him
04:18to allow someone else
04:20to get on the ball.
04:21Like this here is a really great goal
04:24that he is integral
04:25and vital to making happen
04:27but it does sort of neatly illustrate
04:29exactly what Grealish's job
04:32at Manchester City is.
04:33They find him wide, right,
04:35and he faces up his man
04:36and at Villa,
04:37he is going to blow past him
04:39either left or right,
04:40get down the byline
04:41or attack this space
04:43on his own directly.
04:44But at Manchester City,
04:46Grealish is basically like
04:48the bucket of chum
04:50you fling in the water
04:51to draw all the other fish towards you.
04:53you see him and club him
04:54over the head.
04:57This isn't the chum bucket.
04:59With Dalo, I think this is pinned
05:01by Grealish,
05:02Danilo,
05:03and remember him,
05:05gets on the outside
05:06and you're thinking,
05:06oh, overlap.
05:08So Casemiro tells him,
05:10you can see him,
05:11to go with the runner
05:12and steps across to Grealish himself.
05:15So that is effectively two players now
05:17that Grealish is tied up
05:18all by himself.
05:20But instead,
05:21he uses the fact Casemiro
05:23has moved off De Bruyne
05:24to slide it into him.
05:26And now, obviously,
05:27De Bruyne is free to attack this area
05:29or move it out wide again.
05:30But look at Grealish.
05:32He's the one
05:33now attacking the half space here
05:36and dragging Dalo with him
05:38because all of a sudden
05:39he is the big threat.
05:41And as a result,
05:42again,
05:43both of these two players
05:45get drawn towards him.
05:47But aha,
05:47oh no,
05:48it is another ruse.
05:49Remember Danilo
05:50making that overlapping run?
05:51Now Grealish
05:52has pulled his marker away,
05:54leaving him all this space
05:56where he is found.
05:57He whips it in
05:58and you're thinking,
05:59hey,
05:59maybe the object was for Grealish
06:01to get on the end of this cross.
06:02Maybe that's his job
06:03in all of this.
06:04But no,
06:05of course,
06:05obviously not.
06:06It is for Holland
06:07who scores.
06:08And that's the thing
06:09about Grealish at Manchester City.
06:10He is absolutely vital
06:12to making it happen.
06:13The position he takes
06:14at the start
06:15when he decides
06:16to release the ball,
06:16the movement he does
06:17after that.
06:18But he does not make the goal.
06:20He does not assist the goal.
06:22He does not score the goal.
06:23He's just a tactical piece
06:25to that puzzle
06:26who's following
06:27the instructions
06:28he was given really well.
06:30Five goals
06:30and seven assists that year
06:32is not bad,
06:33but it is quite literally
06:34way less than he got
06:36in his last season at Villa.
06:39And if you think,
06:39oh, well, you know,
06:40they are pretty close.
06:41He had a couple of injuries
06:43that season.
06:43So he did this
06:45in half almost
06:47the number of games.
06:49There are 50 appearances
06:51for Manchester City
06:52in this season,
06:53and there are 27
06:55for Aston Villa
06:56in this.
06:58And just to be completely clear
06:59about this,
07:00that is not me saying
07:01one of these seasons
07:02is better or worse
07:03than another,
07:04merely that there are
07:06two Jack Grealish's.
07:08He can do all this stuff
07:09where it's not about him
07:10if he needs to,
07:11but when it is about him,
07:14he is very good
07:16at that as well.
07:16And the difference,
07:17fundamentally,
07:18between those two versions
07:19of Jack Grealish
07:20is the freedom
07:22to take players on
07:24and make your own decisions.
07:26And if we look at
07:27his possession numbers
07:28from those two seasons,
07:29and I'll tell you this
07:30right now,
07:31these are not going to
07:32leap off the page at you,
07:33but if you stare at them
07:34long enough,
07:35it's pretty much
07:36what my job is,
07:37they do start
07:38to paint a bit
07:39of a picture for you.
07:40He gets more touches
07:41at Manchester City
07:42because, obviously,
07:43he does.
07:44He's playing for Manchester City.
07:45They saw way more
07:46of the ball
07:46than Aston Villa did.
07:48And the bulk of those touches
07:49understandably comes
07:50in the final third.
07:52And it's like
07:5333% more touches
07:55in the final third,
07:56which might, again,
07:57not seem like a lot
07:58when you're staring
07:59at a decimal point,
08:00but that is per game.
08:02That's every single game
08:04he's getting 33% more.
08:05So spread that out
08:06across an entire season
08:08and you are talking
08:09hundreds,
08:10if not nearly thousands,
08:12more touches in a season
08:14in this part of the pitch.
08:16And the thing is,
08:17right,
08:17everybody says
08:18that Guardiola
08:19stopped Jack Grealish
08:20from taking players on.
08:22Like, he instructed him
08:23to forget about
08:24that 1v1 threat.
08:26But when you look
08:26at the numbers,
08:27that's not true.
08:29Don't get me wrong,
08:30the take-ons
08:31are definitely down,
08:32but not drastically
08:33at all.
08:344.1 per 90
08:36at Villa
08:36to 3.6 per 90
08:39at Man City.
08:40So still,
08:41three or four times
08:42per game.
08:43He was still doing it.
08:44But you look
08:45at the success rate
08:46and he goes from
08:47beating players
08:4865% of the time,
08:50which is absolutely loads,
08:52to down somewhere
08:53into the 40s,
08:53which again,
08:54just like the touches,
08:55is the difference
08:56of like over a third.
08:58It nearly halves
09:00the number of successful
09:01take-ons
09:02he's making
09:03per game.
09:04And if I'm losing you
09:05with all these numbers,
09:06right,
09:06just stick with me
09:07for just a second,
09:08right,
09:08because we're nearly there,
09:09right,
09:09the change
09:10in these numbers here,
09:13which is bad,
09:13remember,
09:14is a direct result
09:16of the change
09:17in these numbers here.
09:20And Aston Villa,
09:21go back to the heat map.
09:22What could he do?
09:23He could drop deeper
09:24into the middle.
09:25He could find space
09:26to impact the game,
09:27go past players
09:28more or less
09:29whenever and wherever
09:30he felt he should.
09:32In transitions
09:32or even just
09:33in possession,
09:34Villa would look
09:35for him specifically
09:36to open up
09:37the opposition
09:37and they would find him
09:39all over the pitch.
09:40He had the freedom
09:42to dictate those conditions
09:43to the opposition.
09:45Like,
09:45if he's up against
09:46a defender,
09:46he can pull him
09:47out of position
09:47so that when he skips
09:49past him,
09:49he's doing so
09:50into loads of space.
09:51Or if that's not working,
09:52he can go sit
09:53on some cumbersome,
09:54idiotic central midfielder
09:56so he can skin him
09:57and get through
09:57the centre of the pitch.
09:59He made
10:00these decisions.
10:02But at Man City,
10:03it simply did not work
10:04like that for him.
10:05He did not have the ability
10:06to go looking
10:07for the ball.
10:08He had to be receiving it
10:10as high and as wide
10:12as he could manage to be
10:13to free up this space
10:14in the channel
10:15for your De Bruyne's,
10:16for your Gundogan's,
10:17for your Foden's,
10:17for the number 10s.
10:19And of course,
10:20if you're having
10:21to get the ball here
10:22and you try
10:24and take players on there,
10:26it's a lot harder.
10:27Doing it out here,
10:28you are taking on full-backs
10:30who are set,
10:31who are deep,
10:32who are denying you
10:32space in behind.
10:33You have all the pals
10:34around them
10:35so they can show you
10:36whichever way
10:37they want to.
10:38It's considerably
10:39more difficult
10:40and,
10:42specifically,
10:43like 33%
10:45more difficult,
10:46as you can see here.
10:47So Guardiola didn't ruin
10:49or change Grealish
10:50as a footballer.
10:51He just changed
10:52what he was being asked
10:53to do
10:54as a footballer.
10:55And if Everton
10:56want to get the best
10:57out of him,
10:57then they need to change
10:58his life from this
11:00back to something
11:01that resembles
11:02this.
11:03Because this is not
11:03a team that are reliant
11:05upon 70% possession
11:06or have some of the
11:07best attackers in the world
11:08that he's making space for.
11:10This is a version
11:10of Jack Grealish
11:11that can be the man
11:13for you
11:14if you can find him.
11:15And don't get me wrong,
11:16that's only one side
11:17of the discussion.
11:17If Everton do use him
11:19more akin to how
11:20he was being used
11:20at Villa,
11:21then the rest is
11:22on him at,
11:23he'll be 30
11:24by the time this happens,
11:26to show that he can
11:27still run
11:27and dance
11:28and skip
11:28and sing
11:29and enjoy his football
11:30all over again.
11:32Like it's basically,
11:33it's not unlike
11:34The Wizard of Oz,
11:35is it?
11:36Like this man
11:36was robotic
11:38and unexpressive
11:39and now he's on a journey
11:40to the Emerald City
11:41to be given a heart
11:42so he can feel
11:44all of his feelings.
11:45Which I presume
11:46our editor Archie
11:47is now crudely animating
11:49over the top of me.
11:51Greatest football analysis
11:52channel
11:53on the internet.
11:54Someone literally
11:55stopped me in the streets
11:56to tell me this week
11:57and okay,
11:59but I am not sure how.
12:03Anyway, yes,
12:04there we go.
12:04Everton fans,
12:05don't say I never
12:06do any videos on you.
12:07You've just got to
12:07go and do the most
12:09out-of-pocket transfer
12:10conceivable
12:11of the entire summer.
12:13But please do let me know
12:14what you make of it all
12:15and Jack Grealish
12:16and David Moyes
12:17and the new stadium
12:18and everything that's going on
12:19in your lives
12:20in the comments down below.
12:22And of course,
12:22don't forget to like,
12:23share and subscribe
12:24to us here at ACFC
12:25because this won't be
12:26the last time we talk
12:27about Everton.
12:28No, sir.
12:29I think you're going
12:30to have a mad season
12:31and I'm quite excited
12:32about it.
12:33You get me across
12:33all the social medias
12:35at Adam Cleary,
12:35C-L-E-R-Y.
12:37And well done me,
12:38by the way,
12:39for getting through
12:39this entire video
12:40without using the word
12:42calves once.
12:44Which I technically
12:45have done now
12:46and thus have ruined that.
12:47So there you go.
12:49He's got big calves.
12:50That's why people
12:52like him,
12:53I think.
12:53Goodbye.