Pep Guardiola defended Jack Grealish’s performance against Borussia Dortmund though admitted the England international does need to find some momentum. Grealish had a particularly difficult afternoon but Guardiola insisted he is delighted with what the playmaker is bringing on the pitch and levelled the blame at a lack of support from his teammates for his subpar display.
Pep guardiola said: “He started well, had a knee problem, ankle? Lucky it wasn’t worse. Last game [Dortmund] in the final third, he was the only one who made aggressive runs, but at the moment he didn’t have his mates in the box, we left him isolated, the others should have been there to help. With the ball, we didn’t make any movements to help him. I know him and I’m more than happy and delighted with what he’s doing, [but he] needs to get momentum.”
Grealish only has six goals and four assists in his 44 appearances for City but Guardiola maintains that he wasn’t signed solely for great numbers, even if the No.10 wants to improve them himself.
Pep Guardiola said: “We didn’t sign him for that, that wasn’t the reason. He competes with top players and he knows it perfectly and never complains, such a nice guy, when he doesn’t play first to help the team, delighted with everything. We understand him and he understands us, be yourself as a person and a player, try to be better tomorrow than today. I don’t talk about the outside voices, I don’t know, maybe some players listen and that’s why I tell them there are many things they can do cleaner and better. Always I say they know exactly how they play. You don’t have to listen to what the people say, every one of us knows if you get the best in that day, you know how you did it. It doesn’t matter what people say.”
