A number of Manchester City stars were in international action yesterday, and it was a strong night for one player in particular.
England took on Finland in their latest Nations League game, and were looking to bounce back from their embarrassing defeat to Greece.
Lee Carsley picked a more balanced side and managed to oversee a 3-1 win in Helsinki. It wasn’t a particularly great watch at times, but the Three Lions got three important points.
And it was a good night for Jack Grealish, who opened the scoring after some nice play from Angel Gomes to slip him in.
He was unavailable to face Greece in the previous game, but Lee Carsley declared Grealish fit to face Finland and started him from the left.
Grealish left fans impressed with his display against Finland, and talkSPORT pundits Jason Cundy and Tony Cascarino praised the star after the game.
Jason Cundy and Tony Cascarino praise Jack Grealish after England beat Finland
Grealish was gutted to be left out of England’s Euro 2024 squad in the summer, and seemingly he has been using that setback as motivation recently.
He scored against the Republic of Ireland last month on what was a lively display, and he has now followed that up with another goal against Finland – his fourth in total for the Three Lions.
It was a well-worked goal, with Gomes flicking the ball through a very small gap to the onrushing Grealish.
The City wide man then took his time and finished clinically into the far corner.
Grealish’s overall display was good. While some accused him of being a little safe at times, he looked confident and retained possession very well.
Jason Cundy enjoyed his display, saying on talkSPORT after the game (7:51pm): “Jack Grealish was probably the pick of the bunch.”
This morning, the praise continued for Grealish on talkSPORT, with Tony Cascarino adding (7:09am): “Grealish, I mean, obviously, Lee Carsley sees him as his man, really feels that he is the player that’s going to play on the left all the time he is manager.
“I mean, Jack’s goal, it was a terrific goal, wasn’t it?”
Lee Carsley also praised Grealish for his contributions against Finland, branding him ‘outstanding’.
Grealish should aim to score more goals for Man City
Grealish took his goal really well against Finland, to make it two in his last two for England.
He is yet to get off the mark for City in 2024/25 and undoubtedly, he should be looking to score with a bit more regularity.
Grealish has long been someone who has been all about control and ball retention. Arguably, he has never really been a ‘goals and assists’ type of player.
| Jack Grealish 2021/22 | Jack Grealish 2022/23 | Jack Grealish 2023/24 |
| Appearances – 39 | Appearances – 50 | Appearances – 36 |
| Goals – 6 | Goals – 5 | Goals – 3 |
| Assists – 4 | Assists – 11 | Assists – 3 |
But Manchester City did fork out £100 million for him, so it is perhaps not unreasonable to expect him to be scoring a bit more.
If Grealish did establish himself as a bit more of a goal threat, he would surely be starting every single game for City without question. We know Pep Guardiola likes what the £300,000-a-week star brings to the table in terms of his technical quality.
Hopefully, he can start finding the net a bit more – his two finishes against Ireland and Finland suggest that he’s got it in him to be putting up better numbers.
