Michael Ball tackles the big issues at Hill Dickinson Stadium after Everton's 2-0 win over Fulham
What I’ve noticed in the past couple of Everton games has been that Jack Grealish has been pretty quiet for his standards. But it’s probably been more down to the opposition than himself.
They can see that he’s our key player and they’ve been trying to force us down the other side, yet he and Iliman Ndiaye were both a bit subdued against Fulham, forcing us to go through Thierno Barry down the middle.
I was thinking about this because Grealish has been coached by Pep Guardiola. I remember Pep having a good conversation with Thierry Henry about his days at Barcelona when you’ve got to be unselfish in those positions.
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Henry was really wide on the left and got bored so he went rogue, did a one-two, scored a goal and got subbed because he’d gone against the grain.
Guardiola wanted him to stay wide to help create space for others in the middle.
That’s great when you’ve got that level of players like Lionel Messi at Barca or Erling Haaland with Jack at Manchester City to take advantage, but I’ve felt like he’s probably sacrificed himself too much at Everton these past couple of games.
I know he’s putting in a great shift defensively, but if he goes inside and gets on the ball a little bit more, for five or 10 minutes, he can hopefully open up a few more opportunities for either our other forward-thinking players or himself.
It’s not like Vitalii Mykolenko behind him is going to get caught out of position. He doesn’t tend to bomb on from full-back.
Jack has started his Everton career fantastically, but when opponents try and cancel you out, they’re only losing the right-back, but we’re losing one of our key players.
I remember James Rodriguez started like a house on fire and the opposition knew he was the danger man, so they started doubling up.
Sometimes he’d swap sides from the right where he’d usually be. The left-back isn’t going to follow you all the way, he’s going to have to pass you on.
You don’t have to do it every time, but if you’re not getting the ball for a few minutes, you want to get involved.
We used to see it with him at Aston Villa, yes you work for the team but in those little moments, can he come inside and pick a pass.
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