I bring so much more than goals and assists
Grealish: It’s been a tough season but now I’m back
WHEN Manchester City’s players were afforded some downtime in a Croydon hotel on Friday night, Jack Grealish headed straight to his room and fired up the iPad. He had been binge watching a series and it really needed finishing.
What he might not have expected is that the Netflix show brought him close to tears. Grealish had a 49-minute episode left of the documentary detailing City’s Treble season so he sat there, relived it, overcome with emotion. And then turned in arguably his best performance of this campaign at Crystal Palace 15 hours later. The two things might well be linked.
‘I know this is a bit deep,’ Grealish said. ‘The last episode especially made me a bit emotional, made me want to go and do it again and made me think.
‘I’ve got to try and enjoy the moment. Because I’m not going to be playing Champions League for the rest of my life. It’s been a difficult season for me personally after the highs of last year.’
There has been introspection for Grealish since he became the poster boy of City’s history-making night in Istanbul last June.
By his own admission, he has struggled to come to terms with the magnitude of the achievement — City were only the second
English team to complete a clean sweep — and it has undoubtedly contributed to what has since unfolded. Palace was only his ninth Premier League start of the campaign.
Pep Guardiola has had several conversations with the 28-yearold about life, about hunger and what it means to go again, how to retain relentlessness in pursuit of excellence. The manager has chosen, at other times, to go public with pointed remarks.
There was a suggestion that a lack of peak fitness influenced one of Grealish’s three injuries. He wanted Grealish ‘angry’ for losing his place to Jeremy Doku.
There have been intermittent references to his performance in training. But the message over the last week is that ‘Jack is back’. Back just in time — and Grealish himself wants to make up for what has gone before.
‘At times this season I have struggled a little bit with myself,’ he said. ‘Sometimes you do sit there and think how can you ever top last year? Will any happiness ever come close to that?
‘In myself I feel like I’m coming back now. You need that hunger. The manager has been so good with me. I owe him a little bit.
‘I want to score, because in football there is no better feeling than scoring goals, but it is a team game. I feel I bring so much more to the team than just goals and assists.
‘If you watch the Palace game back you’ll see I played well. It’s just a shame that everyone in the world now just loves stats.’
CRYSTAL PALACE: (3-4-3): Henderson 7; Ward 6, Andersen 6.5, Lerma 6.5; Munoz 6, Wharton 7.5, Hughes 5.5 (Ahamada 82min), Mitchell 6 (Clyne 75, 6); Ayew 6.5 (Olise 74, 6), Mateta 7 (Edouard 72, 7), Eze 6 (Schlupp 64, 7). Scorers: Mateta 3, Edouard 86. Booked: Mateta. Manager: Oliver Glasner 6.
MANCHESTER CITY (3-2-4-1): Ortega 6.5; Stones 6, Dias 6.5, Gvardiol 6 (Akanji 46, 7); Lewis 8, Rodri 6 (Kovacic 74, 6); Bobb 7, DE BRUYNE 9 (Silva 90), Alvarez 7 (Nunes 74, 6), Grealish 8; Haaland 7. Scorers: De Bruyne 13, 70, Lewis 47, Haaland 66. Booked: Gvardiol. Manager: Pep Guardiola 7.5. Referee: Paul Tierney 7. Attendance: 25,132.