Manchester City had signed Jack Grealish this transfer window due to a hidden release clause in the player’s contract. The transfer had caused a ripple effect on the market as the player became the most expensive English sale. While many would feel that this signing wasn’t a need at the time. There are many other reasons behind the transfer as well which won’t be visible to the naked eye.
Currently, Manchester City plays in a 4-4-2 formation while attacking with Jack Grealish playing on the wings. Before getting onto how Jack Grealish to help to create a change in the system within the Manchester City squad. Last season the club played in their well know 4-3-3 system as well as a hybrid 4-4-2 formation. Within the 4-3-3 system, the club emphasised the wingers playing high and wide. While the two number 8s push into the half-spaces of the defence. The full-backs would go narrow to cause an attacking formation of 2-3-5. While this formation made the team be able to score a lot of goals due to the overloads it forms. But due to the fixtures, there were a lot of injuries within the squad which led to the need to change the system.
Manchester City then shifted to their Hybrid 4-2-4 formation with the usage of 2 false nines within the squad. Due to this, there was a continuous usage of rotations within the attacking half. The two false nines disrupt within the backline causing either centre back to push forward leading to a gap to be attacked on. This helped the squad to help win the League as well as get to the FA Cup Final and the Champions League Final.
Why Jack Grealish Had Become A Player Who Needed To Be Signed By Manchester City?
To take a small case study, We could take the Manchester City win over Norwich. Manchester City won that game 5-0 with Jack Grealish scoring a goal as well. When looked at his average heat map it is around the left half of the pitch playing like a winger. But when you search the area he was most in, it was acting like a false nine in certain build-ups. While on the other half, he was the player who was in the highest position on the pitch for Manchester City. Manchester City had a shot conversion rate of 29%. While Gabriel Jesus pushed to the wide right with Bernardo Silvia interchanged positions with him to keep the usage of a False nine in the squad.
It must be stated that Jack Grealish has been making fundamental changes to his game. There is a focus for the player to drop deep and help in the build-up while also staying ahead to push the attack in the box.
