The star quality that made Jack Grealish’s reputation is still present and correct. Four years with Pep Guardiola failed to curb the edges. At Everton, the maverick for whom the thrill seemed gone despite winning the lot at Manchester City is rolling back to happier times.
Molineux staged a masterclass from the former boy wonder who wears the Everton No 18 shirt once worn by Paul Gascoigne and Wayne Rooney. Tyler Dibling, Everton’s teenage new signing, a player of similar skill set and physical capabilities, an unused sub here, should learn plenty from Grealish, 30 next month, entering veteran status. With Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, his two willing creative partners, on the scoresheet, Everton, so long a grim sight to behold, were a pleasure to watch.
David Moyes has his old-school reputation but will indulge free spirits in return for work ethic. “He is even better than I thought,” he said of Grealish. “But it is all about Jack, not me. He probably needs a bit of love and attention. He needs the games as well. Footballers need games. He’s got something to prove, I’m sure, I think we all have in life.”
Moyes was, though, less impressed with his team’s defending to let Wolves back into the contest. “Unlike us,” he said, recognising that turning the dial to attack has its effect at the other end. “A bit scary near the end.”
By the seventh minute of Grealish’s third game for Everton, his second Premier League start, he had surpassed the last two seasons’ total of City assists. To follow two against Brighton, Grealish’s nod of a Mykolenko cross supplied Beto’s header. Within 163 minutes of football for Everton, when Dewsbury-Hall scored Everton’s third, he had reached four, the second-most of any Evertonian since the beginning of last season. He had also made the key pass in his team’s second.
Wolves’s equaliser came against the run of play, lifting already flagging home spirits. Hwang Hee-chan’s finish was precise, belying a run of form that has led to Vítor Pereira’s recent public defence of the Korean. The home fans sang Pereira’s name instead. This time last season, amid a similar run, predecessor Gary O’Neil was being barracked. “The conversation I had with my team was tactical maturity,” said Pereira. “We didn’t learn.”
Jørgen Strand Larsen was absent, through injury according to Pereira. Wolves intend to keep the Norwegian. Good strikers are hard to come by and Wolves will need much more besides. “We need at least two more players, especially in attack,” said Pereira, hopeful of more arrivals by Tuesday.
For Everton’s second, Grealish linked with Dewsbury-Hall with a disguised, slipped pass before Ndiaye slotted in: School of Science stuff. “They are both fantastic lads,” said Dewsbury-Hall. “Everyone knows Jack is quality but Ili is a top player.”
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When Beto, Everton’s awkward No 9, is pulling slick dummies it suggests a forward line full of confidence. In midfield, Idrissa Gueye was breaking up play while Grealish, dropping back, was winning back the ball and buying fouls to kill Wolves momentum. “They’re just away from the biggest clubs and you see the winners they are,” said an approving Moyes of Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall, signed from Chelsea, for their more prosaic work. Hard yards put in, time for another assist. Grealish dabbed the ball inside for Dewsbury Hall’s left-foot finish.
In the home end, rebellion. “Back the team or sell the club” sounded the chant. The days when the owners, Fosun International, made Wolves a destination for high-end talent appear long past. Pereira, who rescued the club last season, is struggling with a thin squad, Wolves pointless after three matches. “It will be a tough, tough, tough season for sure,” said Pereira. “But we will play better. Today we were not the team we wanted to be.”
Wolves at least showed purpose after Rodrigo Gomes set up the last 10 minutes with a volleyed goal. To stem the flow, Grealish revived the ball-retention role fulfilled at City until departing to a standing ovation. Jordan Pickford, Everton’s saviour the last few years, finished the job, saving well from Jean-Ricner Bellegarde. Rodrigo’s miss of the rebound sent Wolves fans grumbling home. Meanwhile, the new people’s champion at Merseyside’s people’s club, Grealish, was happily joining the post-match celebrations with his new admirers.
