Jack Grealish’s new role at Manchester City

Jack Grealish has had to adapt to a new role at Manchester City this season and we've taken a look into what's been going well and where he needs to improve.

After his £100million move from Aston Villa to Manchester City in the summer, Jack Grealish hasn’t quite hit the heights that were expected of him so far this season. We’ve taken a look into his underlying stats, which shows us what he’s been doing well so far and where he needs to improve. 

The system 

The first thing to take into account with Grealish this season is the new system that he has had to adapt to. Manchester City dominate the ball and average more possession than any other Premier League side with 67.9% on average. This is a huge jump from the 49.1% of possession that Aston Villa were averaging last season with Grealish in the squad.  

Aston Villa’s attacking patterns were also heavily based around Jack Grealish as 44% of their attacks went down the left-hand side last season – more than any other Premier League club. Manchester City on the other hand are a little more balanced with how they attack as only 39% of their attacks go down the left-hand side – the 14th lowest in the Premier League. This highlights that Grealish is less relied upon in the final third and so his overall goal output was always likely to go down a little.  

Goal output 

Jack Grealish has never really been a prolific goalscorer, his highest-scoring season with Aston Villa came in 2019/20 where he scored eight league goals. During the 19/20 season, Grealish was Villa’s main source of goals and everything was funnelled through him in the final third. Grealish took 72 shots that season in total, which was more than any other Aston Villa player. 

This season for Manchester City, Grealish has been adapting to a new role where he isn’t quite as involved when it comes to his goal output. Grealish currently ranks ninth in the Man City squad this season for shots, with 31 in total.  

From this aspect, Grealish’s start has been somewhat frustrating. He has underperformed his xG by two goals, which is the second biggest xG underperformance in the Man City squad just behind Gabriel Jesus.  

It’s also worth pointing out that 90% of Grealish’s shots this season have come from inside the box, which has increased from 74% at Aston Villa last season.  

Goal creation 

This is where the numbers start to tip a little bit more in Grealish’s favour. Although he has only registered two assists so far this season, his underlying numbers suggest that this should soon improve.  

Grealish currently ranks 13th in the Premier League for shot-creating actions with 72 so far this season. Within the rest of the Manchester City squad that places him third, just behind Bernado Silva and Kevin de Bruyne.  

Thanks to Manchester City dominating the possession in most of their matches, Grealish is also seeing more of the ball compared to when he was at Aston Villa. The 26-year-old averages 58 touches per 90 with Man City, compared to 56 last season with Villa.  

As a result of having more touches, Grealish is also averaging five more live passes per 90 although he is being much more conservative with his range of passes. With Aston Villa he was completing 6.91 progressive passes per 90 and that has now dropped down to 3.4.  

Despite having more touches though, one area of his game that has been slightly hindered by settling into Pep Guardiola’s system has been his dribbling output. Arguably his strongest skillset, last season with Villa Grealish was averaging 2.51 successful dribbles per 90 – which ranked him amongst the best in the league.  

This season with City, Grealish’s dribbling numbers have dropped down to just 1.42 dribbles per 90. Interestingly enough, no one in the Man City squad has averaged over 2 dribbles per 90. 

Pep Guardiola’s system is more reliant on passes through the lines, rather than individual brilliance from dribbling past players, which somewhat hinders Grealish’s natural game.