Best season in the championship. Plenty have shone in the championship in central roles and struggled to replicate it in the PL. Taraabt anyone?
Grealish has excelled at LW with freedom to do what he wants. He won’t get that same freedom at a bigger club equally though he’ll be better supported. It’s absolutely debatable as he’s never consistently shown a level of quality in Silvas position.
Grealish is a far better progressive dribbler than he is passer. Maddison is a better example of a progressive passer. Being more of a dribbler is one of the key reasons he’s been played out wide with a free role because he has the time and space to progress the ball. He’s struggled in the PL in central areas and Smith has admitted he’s best out wide for Villa even if Jack thinks he’s a No10.
I would expect him to do well at City but he is not the perfect David Silva replacement and it’s disrespectful to an outstanding player to suggest a good championship season and good pl season as a winger make him perfect. He would be a significant drop in quality especially from a creative and controlling stand point. Silva is much more than just a passer he can dictate too.
I like Grealish as a player but you’re overrating him if you think he’ll replace Silva perfectly.
Plenty (such as Taraabt) have struggled, naturally, with the level in general - Grealish hasn’t. He is excelling in the Premier League, and his versatility is well established. In the same sense, were Eze at QPR to get a Premier League move and perform playing off the left next season there would be no doubt about his ability to play centrally in the top tier either.
Grealish hasn’t struggled in central areas in this league at all. He spends his time deployed as a wide man largely coming infield, the one time I have seen him set out as a no.10 in a 4-2-3-1 he was the MOTM (Norwich I think) and he was Villa’s best player as usual in the last game he played as a left-sided no.8 in a 4-3-3 (against Newcastle, the game before last).
I can recall Smith talking about left wing being a great position for him and for the balance of the team at the particular time he said it, but certainly no definitive statement about where Grealish is best. He has spoke about the player’s ability to play in a midfield two, as a no.10 and as a no.8 in a three. If he thought Grealish’s best position was left wing he wouldn’t play him elsewhere yet he has - why play him centrally against Norwich or against City in the Cup after he had settled on using Grealish from the left? Villa had both Nakamba and Hourihane available against Newcastle so why would Smith deploy Grealish in the middle? And Grealish considers himself a no.8 not a no.10.
I would imagine the reason for playing him on the left is more to do with the circumstances the team find themselves in. Villa are struggling, are on the backfoot and defending in a deep shape for significant periods of games. Using Grealish at left wing generally keeps him higher up the pitch and in a better position to be utilised on the counter, they get another combative midfielder in the side, or defender in back 3/5, and it means less of Trezeguet who has generally looked quite brutal when I’ve seen them.
I don’t really see Grealish’s passing and dribbling as being exclusive. He retains the ball, stands up defenders and attacks space exceptionally well, but uses these abilities to advance the ball to teammates both in building play from deep and in the final third. He is a progressive player looking to operate in the left half space, the particulars of how exactly he looks to release those around him is not important - there’s no reason why Man City would require ‘more of a passer’ than him.
At no point have I said he would perfectly replace Silva, but he has a similar sense of patience which would nicely compliment De Bruyne’s more forceful and speculative playing style. He is a good fit positionally and stylistically, if Guardiola was looking to retain that particular shape and balance.
