Jack’s the ace card as City get their kicks at Wolves
Champions go top with Grealish the main man
Jack Grealish has confessed that he likes to take a bit of a kicking. He reckons it makes him play better.
Maybe that’s why Pep Gu a r d i o l a gave his £100million midfielder the nod at Molineux after a week when the boot really went in over Grealish’s failure to give Manchester City enough bang for their buck.
It certainly worked. Perhaps Pep knows best, hey?
In fact, it took Grealish just 53 seconds to replay his manager’s faith and answer the critics.
And how he enjoyed doing it in front of fans who will always have him down as a bona fide Villan.
Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne combined down the right in City’s first attack.
And although De Bruyne’s low cross was too strong for Erling Haaland as he arrived at the near post, it was perfect for Grealish to steer home his first goal of the season.
Haaland soon added a second and this game was over as a contest when Nathan Collins flew into a high tackle on Grealish to pick up a red.
That allowed City to go into cruise control, with Phil Foden adding No. 3 after the break.
Injuries meant this was only Grealish’s second Premier League start of the campaign.
But he has scored just six times and conjured up only four assists after arriving from Aston Villa last summer.
He knows that he will have to beef up those stats if he wants to be taken seriouslyserious in Guardiola’s star- studded team. He said: “I hadn’t scored since the West Ham game at the back end of last season so it was nice to get off the mark.
“I should be scoring more, I should be getting more assists. I’m always going to have people talking about me with the amount I got bought for.
“If you look at my career I probably haven’t scored as many as certain people. It’s something I do want to add to my game.
“It is nice when Pep defends me. He has been brilliant. I have to thank him because he gave me the opportunity today after my performance on Wednesday because it probably wasn’t the best.”
The City boss reiterated his faith in the midfielder’s ability and said: “They don’t have to say thank you. I said to them many times they are here because I t r ust them unconditionally, all of them. Jack is not an exception.
“He scored a goal and it was a good performance. Of course I am happy for him. He played really well, was strong and made a good run for his goal.
“He’s a guy who does not lose the bal l . It was a good performance from him.”
Haaland was City’s big buy this summer and certainly isn’t struggling to live up to the hype and hysteria. This was his 14th goal of a season that is looking ominous for the rest of the division.
The Norweigan threatened to add to his impressive tally every time he got a sight of Wolves keeper Jose Sa.
And he also showed he is a maker as well as a taker of goals by brilliantly linking up with De Bruyne as the Belgian provided the cross for Foden to score in the second half with a cute finish.
With Ruben Neves dropping back to play as an emergency centre- back after Collins’ departure, Bruno Lage would have been worried that this could have become the kind of battering that might cost a manager their job.
But with City playing in second gear after the break, they only had Foden’s goal in the 68th minute.
Soon afterwards, Guardiola sent on Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez as substitutes.
Talk about f lexing your muscles.
When Grealish was later replaced by teenager Cole Palmer, he left with a smile on his face and a wave to the Wolves fans on the South Bank giving him grief.