Jack Grealish is one of the Manchester City players being heavily scrutinised in the wake of Manchester City ’s dramatic Champions League defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
Pep Guardiola’s men crashed out of the tournament after two late Rodrygo goals plus a Karim Benzema penalty in extra-time sealed a 6-5 aggregate win for the La Liga champions.
Grealish started the game on the bench and replaced Gabriel Jesus with 12 minutes of normal time remaining. He produced two golden opportunities to put the tie to bed before Madrid drew level, seeing one of his efforts cleared off the line and a second tipped past the post by Thibaut Courtois.
Those misses came back to bite the 26-year-old, with pundit Rio Ferdinand delivering a crushing assessment stating a goal would have "changed everything" for the midfielder.
Grealish has found life at City much tougher than many predicted this season after becoming the most expensive player in Premier League history last summer, and the sixth-most of all time, when he joined Guardiola’s men from Aston Villa for £100m.
Having scored seven goals while registering a further nine assists, there was an expectancy that he’d slot seamlessly into the City attack. However, he’s so far managed just three goals, three assists and has started less than half the champions’ Premier League matches this season.
Additionally, the England man hasn’t started a European fixture since the group stages, and Guardiola’s decision to bench him again in Wednesday’s crunch encounter was telling of his current position in the squad. Grealish opened up on his struggles earlier in the season, stating back in December that he’s found it “difficult” adapting to his new surroundings.
“I’ve found it a lot more difficult than I thought I would, adapting to a different manager and team-mates. At first I thought I’d have more of the ball, get more assists and goals but it doesn’t work like that at all. I’ve had nowhere near as much of the ball as I used to get at Villa.”
According to Fbref, for Villa last season Grealish averaged 58.6 Premier League touches per 90, whilst at City so far this season, he’s averaged 56.4. In terms of being a target of attempted passes, his average at City of 57.3 is again not too different from his average of 56.1 per 90 at Villa. Therefore on that basis, it can be argued that he’s seeing as much of the ball as he was when playing in claret and blue.
The wider issue though, and perhaps the main cause of his problems at City, is the areas and situations in which he’s receiving these passes.
Aston Villa last season under Dean Smith finished with a possession average of just 46.1 per cent as per Wyscout . Their style of play was often about trying to remain compact without the ball, then looking to break quickly and directly when they won it back.
This benefited Grealish as he would often receive the ball in advanced positions where he could run at an unsettled defence and dribble past defenders into space. City though play in complete contrast to this. They dominate the ball - their possession average is 67.8 per cent this season - and often look to pin the opposition inside their own half. They break sides down by relentless passing and clever movement that opens up gaps which they then exploit.
This means at City, Grealish is often picking the ball up in crowded areas where he can’t dribble with the same efficiency. Last season he was averaging 3.83 dibbles per 90 with a success rate of 65.6 per cent. This season the same has fallen to 2.81 with a success rate of just 57.4 per cent.
Grealish may well find his feet, and City are surely going to remain patient with him given how much they paid to bring him to the club. However, Guardiola’s tactical approach won’t change, meaning Grealish will have to find a way to adjust or risk continuing to be nothing more than a bit-part player.
