Whatever Jack Grealish does or doesn't do, there will always be doubters and critics.
He continues to put his head down and do what Pep Guardiola asks of him, rather than the calm and measured demands of Twitter. Until he starts scoring regularly and driving at defences whenever he gets the ball, however, he will never start to repay his £100m fee in the eyes of those outside of Manchester City.
Sunday's derby with Manchester United, then, is the latest chance Grealish has to show why he is actually doing just fine at City. And he only needs to look back at his breakthrough performance in the last Etihad derby to take inspiration.
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When the 4-1 win last season is looked back on, Kevin De Bruyne's double and Riyad Mahrez's lovely goal will be the lasting memories. What will likely be forgotten is that it was arguably Grealish's best performance of the season.
Trusted with the left-wing role after a quiet start to life at City, Grealish turned up with a performance that showed he was ready to embrace Pep Guardiola's tactics and a more conservative role for him than he was given at Aston Villa.
He was involved from the start, keeping possession on the left and finding the feet of Bernardo Silva, who twisted and turned, ran into the space Grealish has just left, and crossed for Kevin De Bruyne to open to scoring early on. It was his flick later in the first half that sent Phil Foden into the area, causing chaos in the United defence that saw De Bruyne fire home a second after Foden and Bernardo had close-range efforts blocked.
Grealish was not involved as Mahrez turned a 2-1 lead into a 4-1 win in the second half, yet his contribution to the game was huge and City will be tempted to replicate that on Sunday.
The statistics for Grealish's first Manchester derby were nothing really to shout home about. He had one shot, the fewest touches of any City player, and had an 89 per cent pass accuracy which was lower than most teammates. However, a look at his heatmap showed him sticking faithfully to the area between the left corner of United's box as City attacked and the touchline.
Notably, United's right-back on the day, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, was penned back close to the touchline closer to his own byline than the halfway line. And it was telling that Victor Lindelof and Scott McTominay were also dragged to United's right to deal with Grealish, plus the roaming Foden.
That split United's centre-back pairing, and their holding midfield duo, allowing the likes of Foden, De Bruyne and Mahrez more space further over. It's an unseen tactic that Guardiola has alluded to when defending Grealish, and it could work again on Sunday.
United will likely have a different right-back, a different centre-back pairing, and probably a new midfield pair too. Grealish won't fear Diogo Dalot, though, and keeping him back in his own half could be even more effective than restricting Wan-Bissaka. Raphael Varane may be better positionally than Lindelof, although he will have to also keep Erling Haaland quiet, while Casemiro is an upgrade on the 'McFred' duo. Christian Eriksen is a classy player, although may look forward more than backwards if picked in a more holding role.
So Guardiola could do worse than turn to Grealish again, who will look to build on his goal at Wolves after some encouraging outings of late. If he can replicate his tactical discipline shown in the last derby, he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet this weekend.
He has nothing to prove to City, but Grealish should eye the visit of United as a perfect opportunity to show he belongs at the Etihad and can be trusted in the big games.
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