I am not a fan of what Grealish has become. At Villa he would attack defenders and look to win free kicks. At City he just sits on the left drifts inside and lays the ball off. I hope the same does not happen to Eze if he goes to a big club. I would much rather him taking chances and trying things than just been a player that retains possession but is ultimately boring to watch.

Edited by viveasheagle (23 Apr 2024 5.41am)

You think that's bad have a look at the Liverpool fan site, their comments on Mo Salah after the Palace game, talk about ungrateful.

One more point

Funny how quickly things change. A couple of weeks ago I was saying that Eze hadn't played well under Glasner and that if he didn't suit the system perhaps we should consider selling him.

He's been superb since then, though still misses a lot of big chances.

Is there an argument that the Eze / Olise attacking partnership is becoming superior to the Zaha / Bolasie one?

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

I liken Zaha / Bolasie to Ferraris and Eze / Olise to Rolls Royces. Which you prefer may be a matter of taste.

Very true!

Although I would argue that I don't think there's much evidence to support the idea that mavericks are key to winning trophies - they're great to watch but difficult to accommodate in top teams, which is a description I think is accurate for Eze.

I think the most talented players are the ones who take their flair and maverick traits, and learn to more consistently apply them to help impact games at the top level - in England, I'd point to players like Rooney and Gerrard, who IMO have every bit as much talent as the mavericks already mentioned (if not more), but also learned to use their skills much more efficiently, and had more successful careers as a result.

Cristiano Ronaldo is probably the best example of that development - started as a entertaining winger with every trick in the book, and eventually developed into an output machine.

As fans we always love the story of the sort of 'flawed maverick', and undeniably a lot of those players are phenomenal to watch, but I think there is little if any correlation between winning tournaments and including them in your team, as was the initial assertion.