Jack Grealish Confess About His Struggle At Man City

Jack Grealish has said it has been “far more difficult” than he anticipated to adjust to Manchester City’s style of play.

Jack Grealish, who cost £100 million, demonstrated the champions’ depth by coming off the bench to set up their game-winning goal against Chelsea.

At Stamford Bridge, City were not at their best, but Grealish provided the crucial moment of sharpness with a slide-rule pass across the face of the six-yard box to set up fellow substitute Riyad Mahrez for a tap-in.

The 27-year-old former Aston Villa player had more goal involvements (16 – six goals, 10 assists) in his final season in the Midlands than he has had in over 18 months (10 – four goals, six assists) with City despite recording his third Premier League assist of the season on Thursday.

After City’s 1-0 win over Chelsea on Thursday night, Grealish said: “When I came here, I’ll be honest with you, it was so much more difficult than I thought.

“In my head, I thought I was going to the team sitting top of the league and I was going to get so many goals and assists, and obviously it isn’t the case. A lot of teams tend to sit in against us and that wasn’t the case at Villa.”

File photo of the most expensive Manchester City star, Jack Grealish.

Grealish added: “[Ex-Aston Villa manager] Dean Smith would tell me to go and find the weak link in the defense, whether that was on the right, the middle or whether I wanted to hug the touchline – and at Villa, I always had an overlapping full-back.

“I came into City, having been at Villa my whole life, and I’ve never had to change. I’ve always been used to that. I didn’t realize how hard it is to adapt to a different team and manager.”