The England international departed to a standing ovation in the second half having assisted both goals in a 2-0 win against Brighton.
Jack Grealish applauds the fans as he is substituted (Peter Byrne/PA)open image in gallery
Jack Grealish applauds the fans as he is substituted (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)
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Everton manager David Moyes was pleased his decision to give Jack Grealish licence to attack paid off after the on-loan Manchester City winger provided the assists for both goals in the 2-0 win over Brighton.
The England international managed just two assists in the last two Premier League seasons at City but matched that in his first 71 minutes of football for his new club, setting up Iliman Ndiaye and James Garner for the goals.
After a brief substitute appearance in Monday’s defeat at Leeds he departed to a standing ovation in second-half added time after gracing the competitive opening of Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium with an impressive first start.
“Really pleased with Jack. He has done a lot of good things,” said Moyes, who said he was hopeful a deal for Southampton winger Tyler Dibling would get done soon.
“I don’t know if he gave the ball away today. We’ve been looking for those attacking options and that flair and he gave us something.
“We all want the Jack Grealish we all know but you don’t play for the club if you haven’t got it and Jack has certainly got it. We need him to show it more.
“He had licence to go at people, he ball-carried and his assists, especially the first one, was a little bit more of what you hope for.
“I just want Jack to be what he can be. We want him to take people on and be positive.
“I think the boy who we saw playing for Man City in the year they won the treble is a really exciting player and I hope we can get him back.
“He didn’t shirk it, he didn’t want to come off at 60 minutes. He probably thinks he has something to prove.”
Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler bemoaned his side’s inability to take arguably the better chances in the game.
In the first half, Kaoru Mitoma and Jan Paul van Hecke both hit a post, Danny Welbeck missed an open goal and Matt O’Riley failed to capitalise on a James Tarkowski back-pass even before Welbeck’s missed penalty.
“If you score the goals we wouldn’t have this discussion,” said Hurzeler, who was without the injured Georginio Rutter.
“It would be an excuse if we said we missed a striker. Overall we created enough to win the game and enough chances to score, so that’s the thing to take away.
“The dynamic of the game could have been different but the facts say something else and the result doesn’t lie.”
The Brighton boss replaced Carlos Baleba at half-time but insisted it was tactical and had nothing to do with speculation linking him with Manchester United.
Asked whether he thought the player had been affected, Hurzeler said: “No, I don’t think so.” And would Baleba still be a Brighton player at the end of the window? “Yes,” Hurzeler added.