Playing time is hard to come by at Manchester City as there is a fight across every position season after season.
Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne seemed like guaranteed starters at the Etihad Stadium due to arguably being the two best players in the world in their positions.
But for the rest of the Manchester City squad, they cannot afford to head into any season expecting to start week in and week out.
Pep Guardiola seemingly rewards how a player performs in training and after the name in questions steps up on the pitch, they feature more regularly than the rest in his starting line-ups.
For instance, Guardiola recently claimed via BeanymanSports that despite Ilkay Gundogan’s brilliance as a player, unless he trains and performs at the highest level, he will not start for his side.
The German is coming off the back of a brilliant season for Barcelona and yet, the £378,846-a-week man has publicly asked him to prove his class to him once again.
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McCoist makes worrying Jack Grealish claim at Manchester City
Despite working with Gundogan for seven years, the Manchester City boss has stated that meritocracy will dictate his minutes in the team.
The Catalan tactician’s mindset towards picking his side perhaps keeps all the players at the club on their toes.
Ahead of the 2024/2025 season, Jack Grealish expressed his desire to play his best football in a City shirt once again.
The £300,000-a-week man expressed his disappointment about not being picked for England’s squad for Euro 2024 but he now has a chance to return to the fold under interim manager Lee Carsley.
However, Ally McCoist fears for his England career as he doubts Grealish will play regularly for Manchester City this season.
The pundit said on talkSPORT: “I think it will be a concern. I mean, I hope I’m wrong, I really, really like Jack Grealish. I like the way he goes about his business, I like him on that left-hand side. In wide areas, Pep’s [Guardiola] never going to change that formation, really, is he, he’s going to sit 4-2-3-1 and that’s what he’ll do.”
“And one of the full-backs and one of the centre-backs will get into the middle of the park when they have the ball, give them that extra man.”
McCoist added: “There’s an awful lot of games to come and he will get game time, of course he will.”
“Disappointment at the Euros, he’ll be bursting to bounce back. I was watching him, I was following him, there was nobody that work harder, I think he was over in Portugal doing his work [in] pre-season, as you would hope trying to get over the disappointment over the Euros to make sure he hit the ground running this season.”
Ally McCoist added that there is a lot of competition for places in the attacking areas at Manchester City — not making life any easier for Grealish.
“But the boy Savinho looks no bad, I’ve got to say.”
“I saw him, I did the Community Shield, I think it was at Wembley, he came off, he looked lively and then he’s got a bit about him.”
“And obviously, [Jeremy] Doku and [Bernardo] Silva in wide areas, [Phil] Foden will be more central and the one player who will start is [Erling] Haaland.”
McCoist concluded: “So, I definitely want to see Jack get as much game time as possible as I can. But I’ve got a little bit of a concern mate, if I’ve got to be brutally honest, I’ve got a little bit of a concern, I’m not sure he’ll get as much game time as the new England manager would want and more importantly, as much as Jack would want.”
Grealish must tap into an elite mindset to return to his best
Grealish will be aware that especially with Doku starting back-to-back games on the left-wing for City, he will have his work cut out this season.
The additions of Savinho and Gundogan out wide and in midfield respectively also mean that the Englishman will have a hard task of becoming a starter at Manchester City once again.
But in such an instance, Grealish will have to tap into an elite mindset.
Otherwise, the 28-year-old will risk being left out of Pep Guardiola’s sides.
If that becomes a regularity, the three-time Premier League winner’s career at both City and as an England player will be under jeopardy.
A player of Grealish’s calibre would avoid wanting to be in such potentially dire circumstances.
As a result, the former Aston Villa attacker must be determined and embrace the competition as well as the other challenges that come with playing for a top club.
Grealish’s teammates certainly have for years and he must do the same.
