Will Grigg article in The Athletic


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“At no point would I ever have wanted to leave. I would love to return. At the time, I felt as though I was forced into… not forced, but I felt like I didn’t have a choice when they accepted the offer. I had to leave. I should not have left when I did.”

It must be quite surreal to have an entire television episode dedicated to yourtransfer. Has he seen it? “No,” he reveals for the first time. “Definitely not.”

There must have been a curiosity? “It does not interest me at all. It is edited how the producers want it to be edited. I tell a lie, as I watched the previous series but after the Jack Rodwell incident (Rodwell was portrayed as being at loggerheads with the club over financial demands), it was not something I wanted to be involved in. Everyone I have ever spoken to says great things about Jack. The way his moment was edited, I felt it wasn’t a fair reflection (of him as a person) so it wasn’t something I was keen to be involved in, let alone watch.”

When did it start to feel like things may be going wrong? “Pretty quickly, just because of the expectation,” Grigg says. “I had never missed a chance like the Blackpool one in my life and I don’t think I ever would again. It was just a lapse of concentration and a genuine mistake.

“I have never really been affected by pressure. I have played in front of 50,000, I scored against Manchester City, I represented my country. It is not something that fazed me. I didn’t suit the team at all. I missed that chance but I didn’t miss many others until the end of the season. I scored five and to have scored double figures would have been a miracle in terms of the chances we created. I am not going to pretend I was playing my best football, I wasn’t at all, but I wasn’t playing in a team I was used to. I had been successful at MK Dons and Wigan. They were very different teams.”

He explains the tactical challenges at Sunderland. “It is a lot of things. Tactically, we played a 4-2-3-1 system before at Wigan. A lot of the time, I stayed away from the play and I was lucky enough to have a No 10 in Nick Powell who could create chances for me: left, right and centre. We got loads of crosses in, we had full-backs overlapping, played a bit more football and tried to get crosses into the box, which I thrive off. At Sunderland, we were a bit more direct, we didn’t have a No 10 like I was used to at previous clubs.

“At Sunderland, even now, you have a big target man in Charlie Wyke. He was used ahead of me. It tells you a lot in terms of the style of play. I don’t know if that comes from Sunderland and their background — they like to go back to front a bit — but it has definitely been the case while I have been there. They have wanted a big physical lad up front.

“The fans go back to Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips, big man, small man. It is what they like and what they are after. Jack Ross tried to play a bit of football but that has got drastically different with the change of managers. We definitely play a lot more direct now and whether that affects what happens in the future, I do not know.”

He says: “The move was definitely close but the club decided it was not the best thing to do. It was a rival team and I was training really well, so the manager decided he did not want me to go to a rival team and do well. I am sure everyone at the club knows I am capable of that. It was difficult. I said I was happy to stay and fight for my place. But then, for the next six weeks, I was not even on the bench. That told me pretty much where I was at the time.”

How does that feel, as a record signing cut adrift? “It wasn’t easy at all,” Grigg says. “It has never happened to me in my career. I did not see it as my responsibility to seek an answer as I do not think the answer would have been anything that would have made a difference to my approach.

“I was working really hard, doing extra training and the gaffer even said that in his press conferences. Three games before the lockdown, I was back in. I was on the bench against Coventry and Gillingham, then came on for five minutes against Bristol Rovers. I was finally getting back into the mix and football stopped.

“When Phil Parkinson came in, I was the only available striker. I played the first eight or nine games and we won two of those. I only scored one goal. We were adapting to the new manager’s style and it is no secret that it was horrendous. We weren’t playing well and it took us a long time to adapt. I had a little bit of a chance but since then, my chances have been limited. It was not a secret that I wasn’t the sort of striker the manager wanted to use at that time.”

Horrendous interview but he’s right about style of play mind. Nick Powell was fantastic for him when he was at Wigan and it wasn’t the same when he came here. Honeyman was not creative behind him and our full backs didn’t push up the field.
 
Fair enough. Our style has never suited him. Such a strange decision to spend so much money on him, but that’s all SD’s fault with the way the Maja saga went.
 
“At no point would I ever have wanted to leave. I would love to return. At the time, I felt as though I was forced into… not forced, but I felt like I didn’t have a choice when they accepted the offer. I had to leave. I should not have left when I did.”

It must be quite surreal to have an entire television episode dedicated to yourtransfer. Has he seen it? “No,” he reveals for the first time. “Definitely not.”

There must have been a curiosity? “It does not interest me at all. It is edited how the producers want it to be edited. I tell a lie, as I watched the previous series but after the Jack Rodwell incident (Rodwell was portrayed as being at loggerheads with the club over financial demands), it was not something I wanted to be involved in. Everyone I have ever spoken to says great things about Jack. The way his moment was edited, I felt it wasn’t a fair reflection (of him as a person) so it wasn’t something I was keen to be involved in, let alone watch.”

When did it start to feel like things may be going wrong? “Pretty quickly, just because of the expectation,” Grigg says. “I had never missed a chance like the Blackpool one in my life and I don’t think I ever would again. It was just a lapse of concentration and a genuine mistake.

“I have never really been affected by pressure. I have played in front of 50,000, I scored against Manchester City, I represented my country. It is not something that fazed me. I didn’t suit the team at all. I missed that chance but I didn’t miss many others until the end of the season. I scored five and to have scored double figures would have been a miracle in terms of the chances we created. I am not going to pretend I was playing my best football, I wasn’t at all, but I wasn’t playing in a team I was used to. I had been successful at MK Dons and Wigan. They were very different teams.”

He explains the tactical challenges at Sunderland. “It is a lot of things. Tactically, we played a 4-2-3-1 system before at Wigan. A lot of the time, I stayed away from the play and I was lucky enough to have a No 10 in Nick Powell who could create chances for me: left, right and centre. We got loads of crosses in, we had full-backs overlapping, played a bit more football and tried to get crosses into the box, which I thrive off. At Sunderland, we were a bit more direct, we didn’t have a No 10 like I was used to at previous clubs.

“At Sunderland, even now, you have a big target man in Charlie Wyke. He was used ahead of me. It tells you a lot in terms of the style of play. I don’t know if that comes from Sunderland and their background — they like to go back to front a bit — but it has definitely been the case while I have been there. They have wanted a big physical lad up front.

“The fans go back to Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips, big man, small man. It is what they like and what they are after. Jack Ross tried to play a bit of football but that has got drastically different with the change of managers. We definitely play a lot more direct now and whether that affects what happens in the future, I do not know.”

He says: “The move was definitely close but the club decided it was not the best thing to do. It was a rival team and I was training really well, so the manager decided he did not want me to go to a rival team and do well. I am sure everyone at the club knows I am capable of that. It was difficult. I said I was happy to stay and fight for my place. But then, for the next six weeks, I was not even on the bench. That told me pretty much where I was at the time.”

How does that feel, as a record signing cut adrift? “It wasn’t easy at all,” Grigg says. “It has never happened to me in my career. I did not see it as my responsibility to seek an answer as I do not think the answer would have been anything that would have made a difference to my approach.

“I was working really hard, doing extra training and the gaffer even said that in his press conferences. Three games before the lockdown, I was back in. I was on the bench against Coventry and Gillingham, then came on for five minutes against Bristol Rovers. I was finally getting back into the mix and football stopped.

“When Phil Parkinson came in, I was the only available striker. I played the first eight or nine games and we won two of those. I only scored one goal. We were adapting to the new manager’s style and it is no secret that it was horrendous. We weren’t playing well and it took us a long time to adapt. I had a little bit of a chance but since then, my chances have been limited. It was not a secret that I wasn’t the sort of striker the manager wanted to use at that time.”
Jack Ross liked to play a bit of football? :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Strikers are expected to create chances now, its 2020. Whether that be from agressive pressing, using physical attributes or by clever passes or dribbling. Don't expect a player in League one to tick all of them boxes but they need to do something to help the team create chances. So when he is being critical of creativity he is also criticising himself IMO.
Fair comment. He’s part of a team that fails to create enough. The talk of having a number 10 to lay on loads of chances was telling of his attitude. That being said there is so little from the rest of the team that he wouldn’t make all that much difference even if he was prime Drogba.
 
Fair comment. He’s part of a team that fails to create enough. The talk of having a number 10 to lay on loads of chances was telling of his attitude. That being said there is so little from the rest of the team that he wouldn’t make all that much difference even if he was prime Drogba.

Yup. Well known he thrives with a 10. Honeyman wasn’t good enough and Parkinson doesnt play with a 10. I’ve got to say, you look at the side Wigan went up with and it’s better than ours in a lot of positions.
Maja's talent was to make something from nothing. Grigg doesn't have that gift.

He also had the best finishing conversion % in England and probably Europe.
 
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Looks like George Caulkin’s having a day off


He'll be interviewing lots of Saudis about their misty eyed recollections of Sir Bobby, and the affinity they have always had with the horny handed sons of toil on the banks of the Tyne, throughout the terrible misery of consistent mid table Premier League football.
 
You can tell within the first few games whether or not some players are going to buy into playing for Sunderland or not, from the very outset he has looked half arsed and not up for it.

That's fine, it's not his fault we paid daft money and gave him daft wages. Just ensure you fuck off sharpish to your next tinpot club that you 'want' to play for.
 
I f***ing hate it when players mention Quinn and Phillips as if we lumped it up to Quinn and Phillips rapped in knock downs. We had wingers, attacking full backs and a capable midfield. They go on as if we’re peak Tony Paulis at Stoke.

The whole interview is bizarre. I agree with him that our team hasn’t been set up for him to score at any point. But he’s missed more than that one chance. He didn’t look fit and/or interested for plenty of games under both managers. Nick f***ing Powell is hardly Zidane.

He’s f***ing under contract, it’s at the very least massively unprofessional. Get the fucker fined, fine him for every single little thing and then peddle him ASAP.
Spot on mate
 
The piss taking party is in full swing still. Except this time, it’s entirely at the expense of the fans.
 
I f***ing hate it when players mention Quinn and Phillips as if we lumped it up to Quinn and Phillips rapped in knock downs. We had wingers, attacking full backs and a capable midfield. They go on as if we’re peak Tony Paulis at Stoke.

The whole interview is bizarre. I agree with him that our team hasn’t been set up for him to score at any point. But he’s missed more than that one chance. He didn’t look fit and/or interested for plenty of games under both managers. Nick f***ing Powell is hardly Zidane.

He’s f***ing under contract, it’s at the very least massively unprofessional. Get the fucker fined, fine him for every single little thing and then peddle him ASAP.

We also came 7th in the Premier League, a division Will Grigg never has seen and never will, bearing in mind he has never been remotely successful above League One level.

That interview is atrocious. It's the fans' fault, it's the managers' fault, it's Charlie Wyke's fault, it's anyone but his fault - there is apparently nothing that the lazy, arrogant, overweight, misfiring fuckwit can do to improve his own performance.

As soon as he started sticking up for Jack f***ing Rodwell it confirmed my suspicions.
 
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