After a quietly consistent start to the season for Manchester City, Jack Grealish has retained the number seven shirt for England.
Jack Grealish is entering his second international tournament in a very different context than his first, which was only 18 months ago.
In 2021, for the postponed Euro 2020, Grealish was the secret weapon. The maverick playmaker who had just enjoyed his best spell with Aston Villa, attacking from the inside left with a license to drive forward, tempt fouls, and act as his side’s main attacking catalyst. For England fans, he was the one they cried for to add some spark going forward at Euro 2020.
And to an extent, he did. Mainly playing off the bench, Grealish made an impact when he played, most notably playing key roles in the two second-half goals in England’s last-16 win over Germany that made the country think England could actually win something.
While he remained behind more established internationals, Grealish’s impact for Villa and England didn’t go unnoticed, with Manchester City using £60m of player sales to put towards his £100m release clause and secure the most-wanted forward in the Premier League.
In the following year and a half, City hasn’t seen much of the Grealish that was so confident for Villa or England in 2021. But he’s built on a difficult debut season at the Etihad where he’s had to master Pep Guardiola’s demanding system at the expense of feeding his natural attacking instincts.
He admitted as much after sealing his first Premier League title in May, that he has often declined chances to drive or shoot or play a risky pass if it meant keeping possession and keeping shape. If that’s what he needed to do in order to learn the ropes at City and master the positional requirements of his new role, it was the right decision.
And this season, while the goals are yet to flow, he’s taking a step forward with his decision-making and playing a key (but unexciting) role on the side as he draws attention to the left to create an overload for his colleagues on the opposite flank to exploit. Players like Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan have played similar functions in the past to sacrifice their own instincts for the good of the team. As Guardiola said last season, Grealish’s role in the team is not to score goals.
So by that logic, he shouldn’t be judged on them. Yet until he starts increasing his goals and assists, external criticism will always be lingering.
And that is the case for Grealish’s entrance into the 2022 World Cup, where he’s arguably a better all-round player, and has undoubtedly improved his tactical awareness that Gareth Southgate has previously pointed to as a reason for not playing him more. Grealish has retained the number seven shirt from Euro 2020, and while the wider English public may not feel he’s the exciting player he was two summers ago, he probably offers more to his country now than he did then.
Southgate may also be aware that in the Premier League this season, City is yet to lose in a game where Grealish has featured – or even drop points. In his eight appearances so far, six being starts, City have a 100 percent record. He also played in all Champions League group games, with the Blues winning four of five that he started, and drawing the other in Copenhagen when playing an hour with ten men. The other draw, enough to secure the top spot, saw Grealish introduced as a late substitute.
Of the three games Grealish hasn’t been in the squad, City has won two and drawn one, and he has been an unused substitute in the other three games they have dropped points – the draw at Aston Villa, and defeats to Liverpool and Brentford.
Going back to last season, City hasn’t lost in the last 25 league games Grealish has featured in, and in total, he has lost just twice in the 39 Premier League games he’s been used.
But because he isn’t scoring or assisting regularly, he is deemed as underperforming despite an overall 80 per cent win record for City when he plays in the league. In all competitions, City loses just 14 percent of games when Grealish plays.
There were signs against Chelsea last week that the swashbuckling style was set for a return, however, if he can maintain his winning influence for England, he may be more useful putting what he’s learned at City into practice for the Three Lions. And when he returns to City, that record is hard to ignore when Pep Guardiola is picking his strongest starting XI for the big games to come this term.
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