by As Manchester City players hung around the Wembley pitch after the final whistle, Jack Grealish stood on the sidelines. Arms across his chest, Pep Guardiola ignored the club’s £100 million signing.
Even when City were 2-0 down at half-time, Guardiola, who later admitted his “gameplan” was wrong, did not turn on Grealish. Instead the manager brought on Jérémy Doku, who almost saved City’s FA Cup final. Even when Kevin De Bruyne was taken off the pitch with less than an hour played, it wasn’t Grealish who came out on top. Instead it was Julian Alvarez.
Cahir was chasing the game. They were desperate for some motivation to attack. They want the match winner. Game translator. Guardiola made two positive substitutions. He brought two starting players. And none of them were Grealish who played just 10 minutes in the last month when the business end of the season hit us.
That cameo for the 28-year-old came as an 80-minute substitute, replacing Phil Foden in the 4-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. He didn’t play a minute against Fulham, against Tottenham Hotspur, against West Ham United and now against Manchester United.
That is in such stark contrast to the pivotal role he played last season in City’s remarkable march to an unprecedented Treble. Injuries played a role – with a dead leg sidelined for a month early in the campaign. Then in January there were more niggling problems, this time with a groin issue. But Grealish has been chasing his season and form ever since.
Curiously, however, Grealish started both of City’s Champions League semi-finals against Real Madrid and performed well, albeit giving up penalties, and the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea but he has since gone out of contract.
It means there must be a question as to where Grealish goes from here. His most talked about move in recent weeks has been wondering how a confetti cannon works, as he enjoyed City’s Premier League title win last weekend, coming off from Fenix restaurant and bar in Manchester at 5am and the celebration continues.
Grealish was not alone. De Bruyne was seen slumped in the back of a taxi, a brown-eyed Rodri and Erling Haaland also led the revelry. City hired the venue, the celebration was allowed, the players did nothing wrong and Guardiola gave them time off.
“We celebrate well this week,” Guardiola said before being asked if those celebrations might have gone too far. “Completely the opposite,” he insisted. “They [the players] directed.”
City will press on with their title parade on Sunday, from the National Football Museum and along Dean’s Gate in the city centre, to win the league title an unprecedented four times in a row. But it might be wise for Grealish to dial down his involvement this time.
The winger seems to have hit a crossroads. For the club and, perhaps also, for the country.
He was included in England’s provisional 33-man squad for the European Championships but Marcus Rashford Marcus Rashford must be a warning to him.
Grealish certainly cannot take his place in the final 26-strong squad. On form he has conceded just three goals this season and none since December 16th. His goals came in a four-game burst – against Tottenham Hotspur, Luton Town and Crystal Palace. And, along with three assists, that was it.
Grealish is understandably not about goals and it only helps him to perform well and win. But he wasn’t doing enough of that for City either and here he was forgotten in a final they were chasing.
Others are posting big numbers and big performances. Contrast Grealish’s will with the form of Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon, Jarrod Bowen and Eberechi Eze then he – and James Maddison – are two of the big names among England’s most threatened starting options.
As Southgate showed – and as Rashford and Jordan Henderson discovered – the manager will not stand on ceremony.
Will Guardiola? In announcing his squad, Southgate warned against “offense” which is the enemy of every successful football team and, perhaps, there was an air to City that they just had to come up to overcome a wounded, vulnerable United.
If City were likely to be overconfident, Grealish spoke candidly about how his self-belief had waned. Although he also claimed that he was returning. However, he suffered a setback with this as Guardiola put more confidence in Doku and talked about what the Belgians did afterwards. Grealish has the pecking order down. Where does this leave him? We know that Guardiola does not stand on ceremony when it comes to making changes. It could be an interesting summer ahead.
