Jack Grealish handed new challenge by Pep Guardiola amid fresh Man City issues
Pep Guardiola has told Jack Grealish to get back to the form that saw Manchester City pay £100million to make him Britain's most expensive player.
Grealish has started City's last four games on the bench and played just 14 minutes in that time – as a late substitute in a 3-1 win over Burnley 10 days ago.
The impressive form of Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez has forced Grealish out of the picture, with City boss Guardiola urging the England winger to be himself if he wants to win back his place.
Young Norwegian winger Oscar Bobb has also started ahead of Grealish this season, with the 28-year-old facing a challenge to play regularly ahead of England's Euro 2024 campaign this summer.
Asked what Grealish must do to get back in the City side, Guardiola said: “Be himself. I'm always pleased with my players – Jack as well.
Pep Guardiola went back on his word after blocking last-ditch Barcelona transfer
“He has to demand from himself to get back where he was, especially last season, and all of the time at Aston Villa. I'm looking forward to give him minutes. Now he's making steps to get to his best and that's all. We need him, we need everyone and we need Jack.
“He's doing the steps to get back to his best level and now is competing with players at a high level. This is the only reason why. This season he was not like last season, but he's getting better. This season, lately he's getting better and we're looking forward.”
Jack Grealish is facing a battle to win back his Man City place, having started their last four games on the bench (Getty Images)Guardiola admitted Grealish was badly affected by a break-in at his house on December 27 when his family were inside the property and he was starring in a 3-1 win at Everton.
Asked how much of an affect the raid had on Grealish, Guardiola said: “I'm pretty sure it did for a few days. Hopefully he forgot it, but I would have been affected, too. It's not easy what happened with him, his girlfriend and his family. I think he handled it really well. Lately he didn’t speak about that subject, so hopefully he's fine.”
Pep Guardiola has told Man City winger Jack Grealish what he must do to win back his starting place (@beinsports_FR /Twitter)City can go top of the table with victory over Everton today, although Guardiola was keen to play down talk of his side repeating last season's Treble triumph. "We have 99.99 possibility that we're not going to win the Treble,” said Guardiola. "The chances to do it again are like this [makes raspberry noise].
“If it was easy, another team – Manchester United in that time - would have done it again. It’s not easy. What I like is that we're still there. We're close to top of the league and other competitions we are there and qualified.
“This is what I like at this stage. Hopefully we will arrive in March and April with the same feeling to fight for the titles in May. This is the target.”
Visit the Mirror Football YouTube channel to see Man City star Rodri's in-depth discussion with our Chief Football Writer John Cross.
and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
