The long-forgotten winger deserves another shot in the Champions League after pulling his side out of a potential FA Cup wreckage

"It was a typical FA Cup game – that's why this competition is unbelievable," said Pep Guardiola after Manchester City had made it out alive from their fourth-round tie with Leyton Orient. The coach talked animatedly about "the vibe, the smell of the crowd", those elements that make the oldest competition in football so special. Yet most of his players seemed to hate every minute.

Teenage debutant Vitor Reis didn't know what had hit him. Nor did Nico Gonzalez, who was knocked to the floor and landed on by an opponent in the build-up to conceding a 50-yard screamer in an incident that knocked the deadline-day signing out of the game inside the first half.

One player, however, appeared to be in his element. That was Jack Grealish, who was one of City's most experienced players on the pitch and their best performer. He didn't wince at the prospect of fans being right on top of him, of lower league veterans getting stuck in. He came alive in the surroundings, keeping City afloat and ultimately getting them back into the game.

It was a rare outing for Grealish, who had not started since City's previous FA Cup tie against Salford City, and has not been named to a Premier League line up for seven weeks,. He sure made the most out of it, and now Guardiola should reward his efforts and bring him back into the fold for the biggest game of City's season against Real Madrid.

Getty Images Sport'Fighter'

Guardiola effusively praised Grealish's display in east London and talked up the qualities that many people would have associated with the version of the player that City signed from Aston Villa in 2021 for a then-Premier League record £100 million ($123m). He said: "Jack has this sense of the street – a player of the street. Today most of the players are for the manager, they are so academic. 'You have to do this, you have to do that'. Jack is there to fight in the stadiums when people shout, and he's a fighter."

It was strange to hear Guardiola talk in such a way about Grealish since many blame the Catalan for squeezing those very qualities out of him and attempting to turn him into a robot whose primary aim is to stick by the touchline, hold the ball up and give his team-mates time to get forward before releasing them.

Winning fouls and maintaining possession have been Grealish's main tasks since working with Guardiola, leading to him becoming a completely different footballer. In the words of journalist, author and Pep confidant Marti Perarnau, the coach sees Grealish as "a rest station", an outlet City's players can use to buy them valuable time.

AdvertisementGettyCrucial cog in winning machine

It took Grealish more than a year to learn this new role, but he perfected it during the treble-winning season of 2022-23. He may have only finished the campaign with five Premier League goals and seven assists – fewer than he had managed in his last two years for Villa – and yet he was a crucial cog in the winning machine.

Grealish's best performance of that season came in the 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool, when he both scored and thwarted Mohamed Salah from finding the net with a lung-bursting sprint back, but he was an integral part of all the big wins, including the sensational 4-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals.

If he took a back-seat role on the pitch, he took a front seat in City's celebrations. And that might well have been where things began to go wrong for him.

Getty Wanting him to do it again

The image of a bare-chested Grealish, clad in a fluorescent workman's jacket and declaring 'I'm a turkey and the turkey needs feeding' before Kalvin Phillips poured liquor down his throat during City's victory parade turned the player into a poster boy for partying. His antics, however, seemed to fly in the face of Guardiola's relentless demands on his players and his quest for perfection. The coach's first act as Barcelona coach, after all, was to root out Deco and Ronaldinho out of fear for the negative impact they were having on a young Lionel Messi.

Guardiola has not mentioned Grealish's partying antics much lately, but on a few occasions has hinted that he expects more dedication from his No.10. Last month, he contrasted the England international's performances and attitude with Savinho when he said the Brazilian was "in better shape and everything than Jack". He added: "I fought a lot for him [Grealish], fought a lot to be here – to say ‘come on, do it again, do it again’. I saw him, I saw your level and I want that, every single training session and every single game. If not, Savinho (plays). I want the Jack that won the treble? Yeah. I want it. But I try to be honest with myself for that."

Getty Brutal reminders

And even as he lavished praise on Grealish for his performance at Leyton Orient, Guardiola made it clear that the ex-Villa man has not always exceeded his expectations and that he still has work to do. He said: "I want much more, this is the level I would like to see from Jack, but it has not been like that. I like it. The club brings new players every season, we don't have the same squad as when I arrived nine years ago or in the treble or quadruple of 100 points. Players have to understand that no new contract makes a player better, it is the competition in the locker room and on the pitch that makes the players better."

Guardiola has given Grealish many reminders of how competitive City’s squad is, both in his brutally honest declarations in the media and in the club’s transfer activity. Grealish beat off competition from Phil Foden in the treble-winning season, but then had to compete with Jeremy Doku on the left wing the following campaign. It meant that he only started 10 Premier League games in 2023-24, less than half compared to the previous two campaigns.

Last summer, Guardiola brought in Savinho, and then in January he added Omar Marmoush, yet another player who can play on the left side of City’s attack. The new additions have given Guardiola the chance to play Grealish more centrally, and yet his hopes of earning further opportunities through the middle have been quashed by City signing Nico.