Report: Everton star sparks early season Remontada under Moyes guidance | OneFootball

Grealish Sparks Everton Remontada Under Moyes

Jack Grealish turns 30 today and few could have predicted such a vibrant start to life at Everton. Four assists in little more than two games, double his tally from the past two Premier League seasons combined, have marked his loan move as one of the early success stories of the campaign. For a player accustomed to criticism during his Manchester City years, this feels like a resurgence that might yet develop into a full Remontada.

David Moyes, never one to shower praise lightly, was quick to highlight the player’s mentality following Everton’s recent win at Molineux. “It’s nothing to do with me, let me tell you, it’s all to do with Jack and his own mentality to be better. What Jack gives us is something just on the edge, which, hopefully it’s on the edge of creativeness and maybe scoring goals.”

Such words strike at the heart of the transformation. Grealish has not suddenly discovered qualities that were absent at City. Instead, he has found an environment in which those qualities carry greater weight.

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Everton’s system amplifies Grealish

Moyes’s side are compact, disciplined and often content without the ball. This is a stark contrast to Pep Guardiola’s possession-heavy demands, where Grealish frequently acted as a pressure valve, tasked with keeping the ball and maintaining structure rather than gambling with it.

At Everton he is asked to do precisely what unsettles defenders most. To take risks, to probe, to carry the ball into spaces and commit opponents. In a system geared towards rapid transitions, he suddenly looks liberated. Against Brighton in his home debut, Grealish dropped into a 4-4-2 mid-block, worked hard defensively and then sprang forward at the moment of turnover. Space opened, runners broke in support and Grealish was allowed to attack in the way that once defined his Aston Villa days.

This style change is already reflected in his output. When doubled up on against Wolves, instead of simply recycling possession as he often did at City, he sought a return pass in behind. It led to a shot at goal, proof that Everton encourage him to test defences rather than always play safe.

Creativity backed by data and context

Assist statistics can sometimes flatter or deceive. At Manchester City, Grealish often created chances but lacked the final numbers due to variance in finishing. “I was sat down with the manager and the analyst guys from City and they showed me stats that you want to see as an attacking player that aren’t goals and assists,” Grealish explained in a 2022 BBC interview. “Stuff like expected assists, because that’s where you put the ball on a plate for someone, and they haven’t (finished it).”

The underlying metrics back his case. His expected assists (xA) per 90 minutes remained among the league’s best, even when his actual assist return was modest. He ranked fifth in open-play xA per 90 in 2021-22, yet finished 69th in recorded assists. What we are seeing now at Everton is not an anomaly but perhaps overdue statistical correction.

It is still early in the season and a deeper dataset will be needed to confirm sustainability, but Grealish’s output so far feels more than a fleeting spike. He is combining the vision and control honed under Guardiola with the attacking edge of his Villa years.

Fouls, set pieces and a new threat

Another element of Grealish’s game fits perfectly with Everton’s strengths. Since 2019-20 no player has been fouled more times in the Premier League, with 485 to his name. Each of those moments of contact now carries additional significance because Moyes’s side thrive from dead-ball situations. Everton scored 5.9 goals per 100 set pieces last season, the best return in the division. Defenders face an impossible dilemma, step off and he can hurt you with his passing, get tight and risk conceding a free kick in a dangerous area.

Grealish’s magnetism for fouls therefore becomes a tactical weapon for his team, one that aligns with their collective identity. In combination with the likes of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and their set-piece specialists, it enhances Everton’s overall threat in both open play and dead-ball scenarios.

Signs of a Remontada

The word Remontada, often associated with dramatic comebacks, feels apt here. Grealish is not returning from injury or exile but from a period of muted influence, where his contribution was measured in intangibles rather than direct attacking numbers. At Everton he is being measured by the decisive actions that supporters crave.

Many expected him to make an impact on loan but few anticipated such an immediate return. His four assists have already shifted the narrative around him and if he continues at this rate, Thomas Tuchel will surely be considering his recall to the England squad in October.

For Everton, Grealish represents more than an individual revival. He symbolises the idea that the right player in the right system can spark collective momentum. In a season where Moyes is seeking to re-establish Everton’s place among the top half of the league, the early signs suggest that Grealish could be the catalyst for a genuine Remontada.