Everything Jack Grealish was meant to be for Manchester City, he was against Liverpool on Saturday. The 27-year-old has faced a lot of criticism since making the \u00a3100m switch to the Etihad Stadium from Aston Villa two years ago, but it all washed away as he found devastating form in a 4-1 win.<\/p>\n
Grealish scored one and assisted another. He made a crucial defensive contribution to stop Liverpool from going 2-0 up in the first half just moments before setting up Julian Alvarez for an equaliser. Grealish was influential in all areas of the game with City channelling much of their attacking play through the England winger.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll this season, he has been playing really well,\u201d Pep Guardiola said. \u201cNow it\u2019s the Jack we thought. Aston Villa fans know this Jack. Nothing changed it\u2019s just a question of believing \u2018I am part of that, and I can be here.\u2019 Now he has more minutes. The way he behaved in the beginning when he was not playing was exceptional. We are so satisfied for his performance. Today was amazing, he was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under Guardiola, Grealish has had to change his natural game. He is a player who likes to take plenty touches of the ball, but Guardiola\u2019s approach requires quick, incisive decisions from his attackers. Too often in Grealish\u2019s first season at Manchester City, he was guilty of slowing down play in the final third.<\/p>\n
Now, though, Grealish is moving the ball quicker. Liverpool could\u2019t handle the directness of his play on Saturday, nor could they cope with the pace of his decision-making as he bounced passes around his teammates. It was exhilarating to watch a player with such natural talent at such high speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s part of learning the way the manager wants to play and it does take time,\u201d Grealish said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve got that now. There are times where the manager doesn\u2019t want me to dribble all the time and [instead] keep the ball and play little short passes which I completely understand. When we play like we did today we are near enough unstoppable so fingers crossed it can continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guardiola\u2019s system requires tactical and positional intelligence from his players, but it also needs difference makers in the attacking third. At Barcelona, that player was Lionel Messi and while Grealish isn\u2019t at the level of the legendary Argentine he does perform a similar role for the Premier League champions. He makes things happen in and around the box.<\/p>\n
Of course, Grealish isn\u2019t the first player to have taken a season to acclimatise to his new surroundings in a Guardiola team. It took Rodri time to show his best form for Manchester City while Joao Cancelo also required a similar transitional period after joining from Juventus. There is an established trend.<\/p>\n
Erling Haaland could be next in line to follow the precedent. While the Norwegian striker has scored goals for fun this season, questions have been asked of his ability in possession and effectiveness in pressing from the front. Haaland is an excellent striker, but perhaps not a Guardiola striker in his current form.<\/p>\n
The way Grealish has adapted his game offers Haaland encouragement that he can also tailor himself to become an even better fit for Guardiola\u2019s Manchester City team. He can be more comfortable and effective on the ball and more willing to drop deep and open up pockets of space against low defensive blocks.<\/p>\n
Grealish stands as proof of the improvement Guardiola can bring out of players. Manchester City spent a lot of money on the England international, but Guardiola is now maximising Grealish\u2019s talent and that is a frightening prospect. A \u00a3100m transfer fee will never be considered a bargain, but it is now starting to look like value for money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Everything Jack Grealish was meant to be for Manchester City, he was against Liverpool on Saturday. The 27-year-old has faced a lot of criticism since making the \u00a3100m switch to the Etihad Stadium from Aston Villa two years ago, but it all washed away as he found devastating form in a 4-1 win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[272],"class_list":["post-53911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-featurehome"],"yoast_head":"\n