HE’LL BE ALL RIGHT, JACK
Walker: Grealish has not hit the levels he did at Villa... but just give him time
MANCHESTER CITY v BRUGES Champions League group A: Kick-off 8pm
HE has seen him do it for England and Kyle Walker says Jack Grealish will soon deliver for Manchester City too.
Grealish has had a slow start at City following his British record £100million move and the playmaker has scored twice and made three assists in his 14 appearances.
He made a bigger impact last season at Aston Villa as he netted six times and created 10 goals in his 26 Premier League games.
Walker was Grealish’s England team-mate when he thrilled fans with his cameos during their march to the Euro
2020 final and he carried that form into this autumn’s
World Cup qualifiers.
He has no doubts about Grealish’s talent and says he just needs time to adjust to City’s style under Pep Guardiola. “We’ve all seen over the last number of years just what Jack can do,” said the defender.
“He has come into a new team, with a new philosophy and different style of play and different players.
“People take time, people can react in different ways. But the talent is there, he shows it day in, day out in training.
“I’ve been with him and had the pleasure to play with him at international level and the way he keeps the ball, his dribbling, attracting defenders, drawing fouls, he’s great to watch and I can assure you it is a nightmare for defenders.
“Let’s just give him time. He has not played badly, he’s probably not quite hit the consistent levels he was getting at Aston Villa, but we like to share the load here.”
Although Grealish scored a fine solo effort in City’s opening Champions League game against RB Leipzig, he has not made the impact expected.
Walker claims the onus is on everyone to share the goalscoring burden at City and says they are still doing well despite the debate over their failure to replace Sergio Aguero.
“I wouldn’t say we have lacked goals because there have been a number of games where we have put in five, we put five past Arsenal, five past Bruges the other week,” he said.
“It’s kind of like, OK, Man City don’t score, they need a striker. But when we score five all of a sudden, we’re doing quite well without a striker.
“We’re a team and this team is built on foundations from over the last four years.
“We lost Kun in the summer, who was the hero, the standout, the poster boy for this club.
“Apart from him, everyone is on a level playing field, where there are no egos, we all work hard for each other and run for each other."
Walker, 31, admits it is important City perform well tonight against Bruges in the Champions League at the Etihad ahead of Saturday’s Manchester derby.
City sank to a surprise defeat at home by Crystal Palace on Saturday and Walker says they need a confidence booster.
“We have to get back to winning ways," he said. “It’s a massive week and we have to make sure we get the morale back up and go into the Manchester derby with spirits up.”