"I’ve had to impress him too much" - Manchester City star explains why he feels nervous around 'genius' Pep Guardiola
Jack Grealish has enjoyed a promising start to life under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, winning the 2021-22 Premier League in his first season at the club. After concluding his debut campaign with a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday, May 22, the attacker has opened up on what it feels like working with the Spanish tactician.
It was a massive outing for Manchester City who stunned fans and pundits as they came from two goals down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and claim their fourth Premier League crown in five years. Following that triumph, Jack Grealish hailed the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager as a genius.
Jack Grealish on Pep Guardiola: "He's a brilliant manager... A lot of meetings, a lot of listening - which I've had to get used to, because I ain't the best listener in the world!" [via @beINSPORTS_EN]
“Honestly, he’s a genius," Jack Grealish told Sky Sports in his post-match interview, (via Express). “Football-wise he’s unbelievable.
“I say to people all the time, ‘I’d love you to just come in and watch one of his team talks before the game just to see what he does for every player.’ He’s unbelievable - just working with him day to day on the training pitch."
The Englishman then went on to admit that Pep Guardiola sometimes makes him nervous, adding that he feels he's trying too much to catch the eye of the tactician:
“I don’t get nervous or anything with fans or stuff like that because I think people have seen what I can do," Grealish continued. "But he actually makes me nervous sometimes, I swear. And I feel like sometimes I’ve had to impress him too much."
"It just had to be against Aston Villa, didn't it?" 😅
Jack Grealish looks ahead to Manchester City's final game of the season, where they could seal the Premier League title against his former club Aston Villa! https://t.co/t4ifrQUxuW
“Sometimes, because Pep doesn’t want you to lose the ball, I’m thinking, ‘I can’t lose this ball.’ In the second half last week against West Ham, I felt like once I scored I was like, ‘come on give me the ball,’ and I was running at people trying to create things. And I felt like myself. Hopefully, I can bring that next season - I’m sure I will,” he added.
How Jack Grealish fared under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City this term
Pep Guardiola has run some experiments with Jack Grealish in their first year together, trying the Englishman in multiple positions across midfield and the attack. However, the player seems to be more suited to playing on the left flank, with 28 of his 39 total appearances coming from there.
Stats-wise, Grealish bagged six goals and four assists for Manchester City across all competitions. That includes three goals and three assists in the Premier League, one goal and one assist in the Champions League and two goals in the FA Cup.