And there is less space in front of him to progress the ball too, with each of his ball carries progressing upfield almost two metres fewer this year than at Villa in 2020-21.
Now, that room has gone: on average Grealish is averaging 12.3m per carry this season, down from 13.0m per carry last season. Last season, he was most often given the ball with space in front of him, dribbling with purpose in the transition and therefore attacking defenders at pace. What we are seeing from Grealish – hovering out on that left flank, receiving the ball with a defensive shell in front of him, and carefully passing the ball back inside – is the result of moving from a counter-attacking system at Villa to a possession-based one at Man City. We always expected a lot of his base numbers to go up simply because City are a much better team than Villa, and with time one would expect a considerable jump in the above stats – and in his goal contributions.
That said, it would be disingenuous to suggest Grealish is having a good season. Moving From Counter-Attacks to Possession Grealish is actually receiving the pass in more dangerous areas and doing more with it – it’s just that the perception, from us watching and from the man himself, is that because he no longer runs the show from wherever he chooses he is less involved. His chance creation from open play is down only very slightly, from 2.9 to 2.7 per 90, while his crossing rate has gone up from 1.5 to 1.8 per 90 and his touches in the opposition box are up from 6.9 to 9.0 per 90. Big misses, that reflect his waning confidence, are the only reason Grealish isn’t scoring more often. Using Premier League stats only, to give a more direct comparison, his expected goals (xG) total for the season is 3.4, which is almost as high as the 4.7 he hit across the entire of 2020-21, and his xG per 90 of 0.3 this term is better than the 0.2 per 90 he clocked in both his last two seasons with Villa. This is having a major impact on how he plays, and by starting higher Grealish is expected to score more goals and create more chances.Īnd this is where we discover things haven’t been quite as difficult as they first appear. He expects the ball to be moving fast, not the players, which is one hell of a shift for someone as free-roaming and ball-carrying as Grealish. Guardiola demands perfect choreography, fine-tuning the positioning of his players to retain width and depth.
The touch map comparison and position comparisons below show he is playing much higher on the left this season compared to last: He was given the freedom of Villa Park at his old club, collecting the ball in much deeper areas and driving his team forward single-handedly, while at Manchester City he is expected to stay rigidly in his position. There is no doubt Grealish’s role has changed a lot. Grealish evidently thinks he’s having a tough time settling in at City, and his off-pitch antics are certainly not helping.īut on the pitch at least, the underlying data shows that he’s not too far away from recapturing his form… The data shows that, while Grealish is correct in this observation – averaging 62.3 touches per 90 in the Premier League for Manchester City, down from 65.2 per 90 at Aston Villa last season – the difference is not as marked as he might think. I’ve had nowhere near as much of the ball as I used to get at Villa.”
“At first I thought I’d have more of the ball, get more assists and goals but it doesn’t work like that at all. “I’ve found it a lot more difficult than I thought I would, adapting to a different manager and teammates,” he told the Daily Telegraph in late November. Jack Grealish, the swaggering playmaker that he is, seemingly expected to buck that trend. In their debut seasons, Riyad Mahrez started just 14 of his 27 Premier League appearances and generally looked a little lost Bernardo Silva started 15 of his 35 and tended to shuffle about with caution Rodri was passive and timid, a shadow of his real self and João Cancelo could barely get a game. Throughout Pep Guardiola’s five years at Manchester City, new signings have taken roughly a year to acclimatise, such is the specificity and uniqueness of his coaching methods. A big-money signing ought to immediately be their best selves, ought to burst into life and seize the day from the moment they are plonked into their new and unfamiliar environment. No matter how much new evidence we acquire over the years we always seem to make the same mistake.
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