Taken in isolation, it was the sort of goal to explain why Manchester City’s desperation to get Jack Grealish led them to break the British transfer record. It was a combination of two of England’s most idiosyncratic and exciting talents, Phil Foden weighting the pass from deep, Grealish taking the gossamer touch to control it and supplying the finish.
It was Peterborough United 0 City 2. The chances of a repeat against a more decorated United on Sunday seem slight. There will be an easy explanation for Grealish’s probable presence on the bench in the Manchester derby: a lack of sharpness. His only February starts came against Championship opponents.
A combination of injuries, COVID and a couple of games on the bench after Pep Guardiola disapproved of a night out mean he has only begun five of their last 14 matches. He has had a stop-start time spell and it is easier to imagine he will be pencilled in for a 90-minute outing against Sporting Lisbon, when City have the cushion of a five-goal lead, than against United.
And yet it could complete an unwanted double. Grealish was an unused substitute at Old Trafford, Guardiola leaving his starting 11 on throughout a 2-0 humiliation. Perhaps a status and a tag as the £100 million man is unhelpful, drawing attention to him every time he is omitted, bringing a focus on his slender number of goals and assists.
City’s campaign contains a sizeable number of sizeable games and Grealish began in home and away wins against Chelsea. Yet the meetings with United assume a symbolic importance. So did the trip to Anfield, where he was unconvincing as a false nine while Foden flourished on the flank: that, arguably, was the finest performance by anyone on the left wing for City this season. Meanwhile, a resurgent Raheem Sterling has proved City’s most prolific performer there. And then there is Grealish, defended by his manager in inimitable manner.
Guardiola likes to disdain the simplistic measures of footballing success others use; he can judge the collective. “Players today play for the statistics, but this is the biggest mistake they can do,” he said this week. If he was arguing against selfishness, he added: “Players say, ‘How many goals [did] I score or how many assists [did I get]?’… this is the problem.”
But Grealish himself has admitted he needs more end product. Seven City players have more goals this season. Eight have more assists and if it is a surprise Bernardo Silva does not, maybe that underlines Guardiola’s argument that numbers can be deceptive. Yet the Portuguese’s goals, in turn, offer evidence of decisive contributions. Grealish has supplied too few.
He feels buffeted by various prevailing winds. City’s famous failure to sign Harry Kane left them more dependent on their wingers for goals. In between thrashings, they were prone to draw blanks at the start of the season, when Gabriel Jesus and Grealish often manned the flanks. Their winter surge came when their two most predatory wingers, Riyad Mahrez and Sterling, took over. They acted as the poachers. Meanwhile, he has not been a natural for the unconventional role as a false nine: Foden, Silva and Kevin de Bruyne show more aptitude for it.
Then there are the shifts in the pecking order amid City’s largely interchangeable group of gifted attackers. Grealish may have been most affected by Sterling’s renaissance; when his future was shrouded in uncertainty, the summer signing looked a potential replacement. Last summer there was the expectation Silva could go; if so, Grealish might have got more game time in midfield.
There is the sense that being pinned to the touchline does not really suit a player who had a roving brief with Aston Villa but who often excelled in the inside-left channel. There is the possibility – arguably, given the precedents from Mahrez, Silva, Rodri, Joao Cancelo and others, a probability – that Grealish will improve in a second season under Guardiola’s tutelage.
And there is the context that City have accumulated more technical, creative midfielders, wingers and No. 10s than anyone else. There is no way even Guardiola can cram them all into the same team. But there is nevertheless the impression that the flagship signing, the £100 million man, does not belong in their strongest side right now. It may not stop them winning the title, and potentially more, but it is remarkable the record buy looks the most expensive reserve.
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