Neil Lennon has admitted that he thinks Jack Grealish was disappointing as Manchester City suffered a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup.
The 52-year-old was covering the game between his old side and the Magpies on BBC Radio 5 Live.
So, what did Neil Lennon say about Jack Grealish? Let’s take a look…
What’s the story?
Well, the man from Northern Ireland felt Manchester City’s No.10 did not cause Newcastle enough problems in an attacking sense.
Lennon said: “Grealish has been disappointing tonight, he’s not really threatened.”
In our view, that is harsh on the England international.
Grealish was making his first start since the 2-1 win over Sheffield United on Sunday 27th August after dealing with a thigh injury, but despite that, he was still one of Manchester City’s best players at St James’ Park.
As WhoScored shows, the 28-year-old registered three key passes, more than any other player on the pitch recorded.
Grealish also completed 100% of his passes – the only player who lasted the entire 90 minutes to do so.
Grealish needs to keep delivering at Manchester City
In Grealish’s absence, many pundits and fans – as well as Pep Guardiola himself – were left dazzled by the performances of Jeremy Doku out on the left wing.
The £100m man did not exactly have much competition for his position last season, but after the Belgian arrived in a £55.5m deal from Rennes back in August, he now has a fight on his hands to start.
Doku netted his first goal for Manchester City on just his second appearance for the Citizens in the recent 3-1 win over West Ham, leading Guardiola to call him “a proper winger that we were looking for” when speaking to Sky Sports.
Some took that as a dig at Grealish.
We disagree that it was intended as such, although nobody can deny that the Birmingham-born maestro needs to deliver if he is to start regularly ahead of the Belgium international.
