Manchester City's Spanish manager Pep Guardiola talks to Manchester City's English midfielder #10 Jack Grealish during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on December 4, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Jack Grealish and Pep Guardiola
Thierry Henry gave his typically brilliant analysis of the weekend's action on Monday with a particular focus on the Manchester Derby.
After playing with Pep Guardiola at Barcelona and then going into coaching after retirement, the Arsenal legend is one of the best pundits not just generally but for knowing the specific requirements of what Guardiola wants. Whenever he talks about City, it is worth listening to more than just about anybody else.
While Matheus Nunes was mostly at fault for the United equaliser, Henry highlighted the corner City had moments before that where some poor decision-making from Jack Grealish lost the team control of the situation. Instead of heading back in the direction of United's goal, Grealish went back and was punished.
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"I was at home and I screamed, because that is not the Jack Grealish I saw at Villa, or the Grealish I saw arriving at Man City," Henry said. He added: ""You see what happens. I don't know if you're going to dribble past him...you don't just go the other way."
That criticism tapped into the main accusation levelled at Grealish since his £100m move to the Blues in 2022 - and it is more aimed at Guardiola. The City boss is seen as having taken the freedom away from Grealish, turning one of the great individuals into a systematic robot who has sacrificed all of his flair for the good of the team.
Fellow pundit Jamie Carragher latches onto this, asking Henry if it was a 'Grealish problem or if Pep Guardiola has coached that out of him'. And it is here that Henry went away from the narrative so many have fallen into, saying that however much influences coaches have it is down to the players that 'need to feel the game' rather than hiding behind the decisions of their manager.
Henry knows that whatever responsibilities forwards have under Guardiola they are given the freedom in the final third to try and make something happen. Grealish was known for taking on the burden at Villa, so if he is no longer doing that at City it is through his choice.
It is not Guardiola's fault that Grealish went back in the derby instead of holding possession high up the pitch, just as it is not Guardiola's fault that Grealish hasn't scored for his club in more than a year. The manager must take some responsibility for not being able to get the best out of the player, but every player has to have control over their own decisions and their own form.
Grealish's muddled thinking in the derby may speak to a wider problem that he has picked up, or just the confusion that runs through the whole team and was blatantly evident seconds later in the game from Nunes. If City are to get out of their current mess, they can't just wait for Guardiola to come up with something that makes them better.