With City and Chelsea geting stronger each day we need to strenghten our squad. We have some deadwood and ageing players (Mata, Matic...). However, I think there are better options available. I hope we won't panic buy him.
Jack Grealish / signs new 5 year contract
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right thanks.
never heard of either of them
Its not happening
Well one is the Utd correspondent for Sky Sports and the other is a journalist from The Times who are more reliable than the tabloids.
Well he can only scored in Dutch League (also in EL and UCL) as that's his only pro Club he's been playing. That's why people also expecting his price is lower.
Or you can also see that he plays differently than Fred.
Yeah i know they are different types of players and i just feel it is hard to judge stats from different leagues as well .
I wouldn't say no to either Greslish or Van der beek but if pushed prefer Grealish as he has proven form in the premiership and i think a higher ceiling
Think we will sign him but only if Villa get relegated making the price acceptable to the club
I'd like him, but I wouldn't make him a starter. He'd be a rotation option of decent quality
I totally agree with you and believe we can make it happen if we can sell some players
That is why I would prefer Thiago.
Thiago would be a starter and it would allow us to use Pogba in a more attacking position, similar to what Grealish would have. Furthermore, Thiago would add something we really need in midfield, composure and ability to dictate play in a manner we have not seen since Scholes. He just dont lose the ball. I also think it is a bit unfair to Pogba keeping him this deep. He should be allowed to take more risk and lose the ball. He can't where he is at now.
Can you imagine any of these midfield trios working out?
......Bruno.....
Matic....Grealish
Or
......Bruno.....
Mctominay..Grealish
Or
.....Bruno.....
Fred...... Grealish
Because they all look very imbalanced
What’s imbalanced about the first one?
I don't think Grealish can play in a double pivot.
We need midfield depth so not worrying about the balance just improving the squad
If Thiago is available for 40m and Partey is available for 45m it just makes giving Villa (who would be in the championship) 40m for Grealish to play rotation look ridiculous. I like Grealish but we shouldn't go past 30m for a relegated player
Falk said Bayern want 30 million euros.
Partey will sign a new contract with Atletico.
General consensus on the Thiago thread is we are being used to make Liverpool pay up,personally I think there is no harm in at least seeing if he's open to the move.
All are as balanced as having Pogba in place of Grealish.
No it's not. Pogba has played several times in a double pivot before under different mangers. Grealish hasn't. That's like saying David Silva can play there
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Surely this is a joke?
Pogba wasn’t played there initially yet it’s always been a position he was capable of playing.
Modric came over to England with the reputation of being an attacking midfielder and at the age of 22 had several full seasons under his belt considered as a more advanced player, yet was always able to play deep in midfield. Kroos came through as a no.10. Mousa Dembele, also an attacking player through five or so seasons of senior football before moving to centre midfield and that’s obviously now seen as his natural position.
David Silva surprised me the last few years, but the way he’s played under Guardiola I’ve no doubt he could have easily operated next to a holding player. So could Iniesta. Eriksen did. So did Cazorla.
I haven’t seen Grealish play next to a holder in a 4-2-3-1. I have, however, seen him play in virtually the equivalent role in a 4-3-3 - as generally the deeper-lying and less attacking of the two no.8s. McGinn, from the right-sided no.8 position would far more readily break forward and get in and around the attackers, while Grealish would look to pick up the ball from the defence and alongside the no.6 more often from a left-sided no.8 position.
He is happy in deep areas and with the play in front of him, and is very close to Pogba in terms of the areas in which he is comfortable receiving the ball in (ie. the higher up the pitch they both are the more they look to occupy positions either wide or in a half space). Dembele is probably the player he reminds me of most, with the ability to evade pressure or disturb a team’s defensive shape carrying the ball before releasing a teammate.
I’m sure I’ve already tried to have this conversation, or a very similar one, with you already no?
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No idea if we have it didn’t leave an impression on me.
Regardless Grealish is nowhere near a good enough passer of the ball to be a Pogba double pivot replacement. Modric and Kroos even from other positions were clearly excellent passers and far better than Grealish to use them as a comparison or to support your argument is displaying a lack of understanding of how they played their equivalent roles. For example Modric operated as a winger for Spurs initially but he showed a much greater consistency of passing range than Grealish so too did Kroos.
Iniesta played in the best midfield 3 of the century, Eriksen was a CAM and Cazorla rarely moved deeper.
The difference between doing it in a 3 with a free role and doing it as the pivot is huge. Surely you understand that?
Playing him in a double pivot would be experimenting with him since he's never played there. He could easily turn out to not be suited in that position rather than be successful there like Modric or Kroos. It's all theory. Like saying Dalot should play RW because Bale made the switch. If it turns out Grealish can play in a double pivot though then I can see him playing very similar to Dembele rather than a Kroos.
Grealish is an accomplished passer, it's quite frankly ridiculous to say he's not good enough at passing to play centre midfield. He also does not have to be as good as Pogba (or Modric or Kroos) in that regard or have a similar range in order to successfully play there. Why no mention of Dembele in your post? I stated that he is the player Grealish reminds me of most - do you ignore him because he's not enough of a 'passer' to fit your argument?
Eriksen and Cazorla both played in the two in a 4-2-3-1 successfully. The fact that they are considered to be advanced playmakers does not change the fact that they were capable of operating deeper and would have excelled doing so on a more extensive basis.
There is an obvious difference between being the most advanced player in a midfield three - the no.8 with the greatest license to attack in a 4-3-3 (which I'm going to assume is what you mean by 'a free role', though even players operating in that role typically have more defensive responsibilities than that term implies) - and operating in a midfield two. The difference, however, between playing as the deeper no.8 in a 4-3-3 - alongside the more attacking no.8/ potentially the 'free role' player and ahead of the no.6 - and playing in a two with a holding player in a 4-2-3-1 is, or at least can be, negligible. I described Grealish playing in the latter role - how far away playing as a free attacking midfielder with a two player safety net behind you is from playing in a double pivot is irrelevant.
Not particularly. As described above, he has excelled playing in the equivalent position in a 4-3-3. Playing as a full back and as a winger are typically very different, asking a player to adapt to the adjacent midfield role from a 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 is not. It isn't really any different to the adjustment you would ask for from the attackers in the same change of system - there are exceptions but in the vast majority of cases the shift is relatively inconsequential. And, yes, he certainly is closer to Dembele than Kroos.
It's worth noting that his manager has said he can play in a midfield two when praising his versatility. Also Grealish has described himself as a no.8. Sure, he hasn't elaborated and if I had to guess I would say he was envisioning himself in a 4-3-3 rather than a 4-2-3-1, but I would say it shows that he prefers to have the play and options in front of him rather than operating ahead of the play with his back to goal more. It doesn't mean that he is certainly better, as good or even just good enough deeper but generally a player is surely going to be happier and more comfortable playing in areas that they actually excel in.
No, but replace Grealish with Pogba and it still isn't balanced.
Just like our current 3 isn't balanced now. The only time our midfield is balanced is when the double pivot behind the 10 is two of Matic, Fred or McTominay, and that isn't good enough.
That's why need a DM as well. Someone who has the quality of Matic on the ball along with the ability to cover the pitch like Fred and McTominay. Get a player like that and having Pogba or Grealish as the partner becomes a non-issue.
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Just seen the Dembele mention and I’d agree if you were to play him at CM a ball carrier like Dembele would be a similar(ish) play style but that is not the function of Pogba and Dembele was a lot more capable defensively than Grealish too. You’re not comparing like for like here you’re cherry picking a quality rather than considering why a player can play CM in a two.
Grealish hasn’t played in the two. He played as a free attacker in a 3 man midfield. The reason Pogba is so useful to us is his passing range. We don’t have someone in the side who can play that ball for counters as consistently as Pogba. Grealish would nullify that threat.
Eriksen and Cazorla also are both more accomplished passers. Grealish is more of a ball carrier/dribbler.
The arguments of the importance and differences of a 3 man midfield and 2 are not irrelevant... if you are willing to completely dismiss this then you’re not worth talking to.
Grealish isn’t a potential Pogba replacement and would not work next to Matic with Bruno ahead as a double pivot.
Just saw a Villa fan say they should demand Zaha money for Grealish,they won't be in a position to do that if he's a championship player.
I see where you're coming from. I don't think Grealish would have a problem playing similar to Dembele in a double pivot. But where I'm concerned is that the midfield could be easily bypassed as Grealish wouldn't offer much defensively
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Agreed
Zaha money was in a different era anyway. No ones paying £80m for a Maguire or a Zaha this summer relegation or not.
Grealish is a £40m transfer.
Yeah we would definitely need a strong DM in that sort of formation for it to work effectively.
Dembele’s function for Spurs was essentially the same as Pogba’s is currently for us - an anchoring player alongside/ behind them and with them being in the team to link the play from the back to the front players and the specifics of how exactly they each go about progressing the ball isn’t terribly important. I could understand you rejecting me championing the idea of someone like Essien, Vieira, Khedira, Matuidi, Kante or other such box to box type fulfilling Pogba’s role as they would provide vastly different qualities from the same position, but Grealish is a creative player, a playmaker. Pogba, Modric, Kroos, Dembele, Thiago, Verratti, Rabiot, Arthur Melo, and previously Scholes, Xavi, Pizarro and the like - none of these players are identical, but they can all be broadly categorised together stylistically for no.8s and Grealish fits in with them for me. With the exception of perhaps Thiago and Verratti, I also wouldn’t say any of them were particularly stronger than Grealish defensively - all of them are/ were in their sides for what they provided on the ball as opposed to what they provided when the team was out of possession. Grealish is the same - he doesn’t excel in the defensive phases of the game but he is a willing worker and is diligent enough in carrying out his defensive tasks.
I haven’t seen Grealish playing in a two. A ‘free attacker in a three man midfield’ would be inaccurate in describing the role I have predominantly seen him play in a midfield three though. I acknowledged that playing as the most attacking player in a three man midfield is very different from playing in a deep midfield two, what I reject is the idea that playing as the ‘link’ between the most advanced, attacking, free player and the deepest, most defensive, anchoring player is similarly so. And that describes the role Grealish has generally had in a midfield three (and I would guess more by design than instruction - Grealish wants to come deep and take the ball, McGinn always wants to ‘go’ and join in in attack).
Grealish could potentially replace Pogba. Playing next to Matic with Bruno ahead of them is not dissimilar to the midfield setup he has been involved in with Hourihane and McGinn.
As mentioned above, I don’t see it as being significantly different to having Pogba or any of the others referred to in that position. Generally, to have someone secure in his place would mean compromising on quality in possession.
As a creative CM player. Kristoffer Olsson is Luka Modric copy and mould of player. United need a more creative than a Grealish player. As scoring goals Grealish is above and better than K.O. But United have many goalscoring players right now and should buy Sancho too. Then will Grealish sit on the bench most of time?Grealish will not start above Sancho, Greenwood, Rashford, Martial and Bruno.
And Bruno was the reason why I didn’t recommended Maddison and Grealish in last summer. But i will might recommend Grealish for a club like Everton. Easily over Walcott. Grealish will definitely strength Everton.
United need more cm players. That’s why i rate K.Olsson above Grealish. Grealish is all over the place. Grealish is not a natural cm player.
And to comparison Grealish type of player. Then you have Federico Chiesa. As full packet. Skill and mentality higher than Grealish.
But in the end. Grealish is definitely a really good attacking player. But not on top level. Above average and under the top.
And how many better central midfield can you name that is better than Kristoffer Olsson. For the price of 5 mill £, back in Jan 2019. 5 mill £ for a player that is a bit lower than Luka Modric level. Not many in world world football. We are not talking about 30 £ or above. Krasnodar paid 5 £ mill for his previous club. Clearly a bargain.
Yeah, we paid 15 million for Zaha. Sounds about right.
He named his top 10 PL midfielders recently and didn't mention Scholes or Keane. Don't want anymore.
...okay, I still do, but come on, Jack!
...okay, I still do, but come on, Jack!
No seriously I would question his footballing brain if he left those out, especially Scholes.
I’m not fussed on him to be honest, looked woeful against us.
His top 10:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Gerrard
3. De Bryune
4. Giggs
5. Lampard
6. Yaya Toure
7. Fabregas
8. Bale
9. Vieira
10. D.Silva
1. Scholes. fecking idiot.
Called us Man Utd in a recent interview as well
Just sour grapes as he knows we've moved on
And since when Bale and Ronaldo are midfielders?.
Been fantastic tonight. I hope we’re still going to get him along with Sancho. Anyone who thinks he is the Sancho alternative needs their head checked. Completely different players.
Just sublime on the ball isn’t he?
Fernandes and Pogba will have greater highlights and whilst Grealish is abit more blunt he’s incredibly consistant.
I really think we could use some of his calming presence at times.
Fernandes and Pogba will have greater highlights and whilst Grealish is abit more blunt he’s incredibly consistant.
I really think we could use some of his calming presence at times.
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