Man City take on Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday and if we’re not reading too much between the lines then both Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling are going to be benched for this one.
The English pair started for City against PSG and it’s safe to say that both of them had a really poor outing. Sterling played as the main centre-forward whereas Jack Grealish was operating on the left-hand side.
While Man City did maintain a high tempo in the attacking areas but Sterling and Grealish looked really underwhelming and both of them did not last the full 90 minutes on the pitch.
The duo was replaced by Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus and Pep Guardiola has hinted that these two could be in line to start against Liverpool at Anfield.
“We made a really good game, quite similar from Stamford Bridge, maybe we were a bit less aggressive in our first actions because of the quality of players that we have,” he said, as reported by MEN.
“Gabby and Foden are more aggressive in terms of this than Raheem and Kevin – but in general it was a fantastic game, we did everything.
“I didn’t see the stats but I think we created enough chances to score, the quality of the players that we have we minimised, through our game, Neymar and Messi being in contact with the ball and Mbappe running in behind.”
According to Fotmob, Jack Grealish had a rating of 7 out of 10 while Sterling could manage only 6.8/10.
Jack Grealish vs PSG
Mins played: 70
Touches: 62
Total shots: 1
Passes made: 44
Passing Accuracy: 90%
Long balls: 1
Dribbles won: 3
Tackles won: 3 pic.twitter.com/QjFbUXVqgm— Jack Grealish (@GrealishXtra) September 28, 2021
The summer signing made only 40 accurate passes and he managed only one shot, that too was not on target. Sterling was even worse than this as the England international strung together only 14 accurate passes.
This was Grealish’s first prominent taste of the Champions League and it’s safe to say that he will have to work a lot harder to sync his game with the European style.
Foden and Jesus’ entry really helped elevate things for Man City in the final quarter against PSG and given how solid Liverpool are in defence, there’s every chance that Pep Guardiola could give Jack Grealish and Sterling a breather and name these two in the starting line up on Sunday.
