Micah Richards says one Man City player looked like he was really ‘enjoying himself’ in Forest win

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Manchester City got back to winning ways on Wednesday night by beating Nottingham Forest 3-0 in front of their home fans.

Goals from Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku helped City secure their first victory since October across all competitions.

Pep Guardiola’s side also managed to keep just their third league clean sheet of the campaign.

Despite not managing to get his name on the scoresheet, another figure in City’s starting XI found himself being spoken about by a pundit and former City player.

• READ MORE: Who is Micah Richards? Step into former Man City right-back and larger-than-life pundit’s world

Micah Richards discusses Jack Grealish’s midfield performance against Forest

While assessing City’s win over Forest on Match of the Day, Micah Richards shared this verdict on Jack Grealish after seeing the 29-year-old play in a midfield role on Wednesday night.

He said: “Doku played off the left and Bernardo Silva played on the right and they were rotating. But I think sometimes when Jack plays on the wings, he takes too many touches.

“I think his position is as a number 10. He grew into the game, his confidence was there and it just allowed him to take a bit more care in certain areas.

“Sometimes when he plays on the wing people get too close to him and he sort of goes, comes back, but today he was enjoying himself.

“When he’s playing midfield, he can go a lot deeper as well and play like a quarterback, so he was doing that and going forward as well. I enjoyed it.”

Kevin De Bruyne praised Grealish for midfield efforts

The early weeks of the 2024/25 season saw the 29-year-old feature in a left-wing position, as he has done throughout his time at the Etihad Stadium.

However, in the absence of Rodri, Phil Foden and Mateo Kovacic, Grealish showed how capable he is of playing in a deeper and more central midfield role.

Richards wasn’t the only person the Englishman caught the attention of, as De Bruyne praised Grealish for what he offered City from the midfield on Wednesday night.

He said: “I made a couple of mistakes in the first half but I think Jack did a really good job at carrying the ball and control it a bit.”

With 89 minutes under his belt, the former Aston Villa star made three key passes in total as well as drawing four fouls for the home side, which showcases how difficult he was for Forest to play against.

After the match, Grealish shared a message on social media saying that he “really enjoyed” being back on the pitch with his teammates, which backs up Richards’ observation of the Englishman’s mood.

Looking ahead to the rest of December’s fixtures, it’ll be interesting to see if Guardiola decides to keep playing Grealish in a midfield role and if he can keep enjoying himself in doing so.