The Footie Thread

[Beezerk]

Id say less.. He sold for 100m because of his value for Villa to replace. He's now 2 years older too.

Whilst he's a very good player, his production isn't actually that good at City. Really surprised me to see a stat the other day which showed he's not yet matched his last season at Villa stats despite all the players around him at City being miles better.

I don’t look too much into stats, he links play together, gets field position and is supremely confident accepting the ball under pressure, plus his obvious ball skill and an eye for that canny pass no one else sees. Despite his worse stats for me this year has shown him to truly be the world class player he is.
#Grealishfanboy

 

[Pin-seeker]

Apparently James Maddison as had to delete some old social media posts saying how much he hates Spurs

 

[Swango1980]

Apparently James Maddison as had to delete some old social media posts saying how much he hates Spurs

Doesn't every footballer than moves to Spurs have to do that?

 

[Bdill93]

City may score twice as many goals, but they probably have about 10-15 players who can unlock defences, and either get that assist or score the goal. So, that still significantly dilutes his involvement in goals, compared to maybe what he could do at Villa where he was the main man.

It is true that he doesn't score as many as Mahrez and Foden, who play similar positions. Although, they are naturally more direct players, and thus you'd probably expect that. Clearly Pep sees other qualities in Grealish that he sees more important to the way the team play than purely getting an assist or a goal. Meanwhile, Foden struggled to get in the side ahead of him back end of season. I guess his ability to hold the ball up, and keep the flow of possession going is often overlooked by some, who judge players on the headline figures of goals and assists.

I don’t look too much into stats, he links play together, gets field position and is supremely confident accepting the ball under pressure, plus his obvious ball skill and an eye for that canny pass no one else sees. Despite his worse stats for me this year has shown him to truly be the world class player he is.
#Grealishfanboy

I don't simply look at stats, I just expected his stats to improve at City is all.

I know what Grealish can do more than most, I've witness him live for over 100 games against top talent, he almost single handedly kept us up one season. His ability to take a player on with bursts of pace and close control is better than I've ever seen. Drawing fouls, the list goes on.

We could all see it in our last season in the Championship, he's always been special, always want him starting for England and blows my mind that he doesn't all of the time. He never even got a look in while at Villa which was absolutely laughable. One of the reasons I dislike GS so much was his pathetic excuse of only using Prem players which he then went back on and called up Phillips.

The talent is not in question, he's been world class for years in my eyes - I just really thought Pep would add something more to his game - specifically goals if I'm honest. He made Sterling a goalscorer!

 

[Swango1980]

I don't simply look at stats, I just expected his stats to improve at City is all.

I know what Grealish can do more than most, I've witness him live for over 100 games against top talent, he almost single handedly kept us up one season. His ability to take a player on with bursts of pace and close control is better than I've ever seen. Drawing fouls, the list goes on.

We could all see it in our last season in the Championship, he's always been special, always want him starting for England and blows my mind that he doesn't all of the time. He never even got a look in while at Villa which was absolutely laughable. One of the reasons I dislike GS so much was his pathetic excuse of only using Prem players which he then went back on and called up Phillips.

The talent is not in question, he's been world class for years in my eyes - I just really thought Pep would add something more to his game - specifically goals if I'm honest. He made Sterling a goalscorer!

Forgetting stats then, compared to how he played at Villa, do you think his performances this season for City were higher or lower than how he played when at Villa? In other words, do you think he is a better player now than he was a couple of years ago, or worse?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

The talent is not in question, he's been world class for years in my eyes - I just really thought Pep would add something more to his game - specifically goals if I'm honest. He made Sterling a goalscorer!

That may come but ultimately City don't need him to score in the way Sterling did. Sterling was a master at the tap in, a knack that is not to be sniffed at, but didn't provide a whole lot more, hence why he was moved on. Grealish gives Pep control down the left, feeds balls through to attackers, midfielders. He rarely gives it away, he still draws a huge number of fouls which leads to more scoring chances. He is providing a real team role for Pep and the fact he plays so many games and is not rotated as many are says a great deal about how he fits in that team.

His role may evolve over coming seasons, it will be interesting to see.

 

[pendodave]

@Orikoru Happy with Maddison?

£40m is a steal in todays market for a player like Maddison!

I'm curious what regular Leicester watchers make of Maddison.
I am operating on a sample size of 1 live match at the start of last season. Leicester were pretty insipid (they lost 2-0 to whu) and he was anonymous throughout and looked very delicate/ lightweight.
Obviously I'm hoping that this can be extrapolated to a full season, but I'm wondering what system or complementary players might bring out the best in him.

 

[Bdill93]

That may come but ultimately City don't need him to score in the way Sterling did. Sterling was a master at the tap in, a knack that is not to be sniffed at, but didn't provide a whole lot more, hence why he was moved on. Grealish gives Pep control down the left, feeds balls through to attackers, midfielders. He rarely gives it away, he still draws a huge number of fouls which leads to more scoring chances. He is providing a real team role for Pep and the fact he plays so many games and is not rotated as many are says a great deal about how he fits in that team.

His role may evolve over coming seasons, it will be interesting to see.

With the loss of Gundogan then adding goals would only be a good thing. Its certainly something all of their other outside forwards provide above Jack.

Forgetting stats then, compared to how he played at Villa, do you think his performances this season for City were higher or lower than how he played when at Villa? In other words, do you think he is a better player now than he was a couple of years ago, or worse?

I don't think he's worse, but I don't think he's significantly better. He's now playing in higher caliber games in the CL for sure though.

He's been allowed to play more like he did at Villa this season than last - that's why I think people are seeing the best of him.


I'm not slating him here, I've probably bigged him up on the forum more than anyone else over the years, I've always thought he was world class - I just thought he would get better under Pep. All hes done to me so far is learned to pass the ball quicker - which is easier when you're passing to Rodri or KDB than it is to Nakamba and El Ghazi

 

[Bdill93]

I'm curious what regular Leicester watchers make of Maddison.
I am operating on a sample size of 1 live match at the start of last season. Leicester were pretty insipid (they lost 2-0 to whu) and he was anonymous throughout and looked very delicate/ lightweight.
Obviously I'm hoping that this can be extrapolated to a full season, but I'm wondering what system or complementary players might bring out the best in him.

Creativity in abundance - Set Pieces - Goals.

He's got everything you want from a CAM and should help bring the wide players at Spurs some more chances at goal - as well as Kane.

 

[IanM]

Never mind all this serious stuff.... the new Aldershot Home shirt is very cool!

 

[Piece]

Talksport bosses must be absolutely loving the drivel she comes out with. Seen it plastered all over twitter and elsewhere, if their presenters talked sense nobody would call in

It's not even the stupidest thing she's ever said, remember during covid and she couldn't understand why people thought it wasn't a good idea to charge £14.95 per game on tv?

That "pundit" is a waste of punditry space.

 

[Hobbit]

View attachment 48282

Never mind all this serious stuff.... the new Aldershot Home shirt is very cool!

Blyth Spartans home & away shirts…. Away one must be Duracell powered - it hurts my eyes.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Blyth Spartans home & away shirts…. Away one must be Duracell powered - it hurts my eyes.


View attachment 48283

Have you been away that long? It's the colours of Northumberland .

Not easy on the eye but between the two kits they shouldn't clash with another team.

 

[Piece]

Blyth Spartans home & away shirts…. Away one must be Duracell powered - it hurts my eyes.


View attachment 48283

Very "Spanish" looking!

 

[Hobbit]

Have you been away that long? It's the colours of Northumberland .

Not easy on the eye but between the two kits they shouldn't clash with another team.

Thank god I’m from Middlesbrough! Spent a lot of time in Blyth - the office is on the Riverside Business Park but always stayed at the Grand in Tynemouth.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Thank god I’m from Middlesbrough! Spent a lot of time in Blyth - the office is on the Riverside Business Park but always stayed at the Grand in Tynemouth.

Does Blyth have any hotels? . Don't think I'd be staying overnight there

 

[Jensen]

Does Blyth have any hotels? . Don't think I'd be staying overnight there

Don’t know about hotels, but it has plenty of drug supply

 

[BrianM]

New Brora Rangers home top, if anyone is interested
Love seeing the new tops for teams

 

[nickjdavis]

England U-21's looking like a team with plenty of talent.

Carving through the German defence every time they get the ball.

 

[Pin-seeker]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1674001559473078273

FairPlay to him.

Let’s be honest we’d all jump at the chance.
Just like we’d have all signed up to LIV