Jack Grealish admits he plays better for Southgate than Guardiola as Man City star revels in free role with England

JACK GREALISH claims he plays better for England than Manchester City.

The £100million British record signing won a Premier League winner’s medal in his first season at the club.

England star Jack Grealish believes he plays better for his country than he does for Manchester CityCredit: Rex

Grealish helped the Citizens retain the Premier League title during the 2021-22 seasonCredit: Alamy

But the former Aston Villa midfielder, who impressed as a Three Lions substitute in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Germany, said: “I feel that I’ve played a bit safe at City.

“But when I come here with England, I train really well, I score goals, get assists and whatnot.

“I do feel like I play with a lot more freedom here and hopefully I can transfer that into my club football and keep on improving.”

Grealish, 26, made 31 starts for City and eight substitute appearances, scoring six times and delivering four assists.

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Southgate tells Grealish to be ‘more tactically aware’ to get more action

He also stressed there are major differences playing for England boss Gareth Southgate compared to City manager Pep Guardiola.

Grealish added: “Of course they’re two different managers so it’s always going to be difficult. Pep’s a lot more structured.

“You can’t complain because of what he’s done in the game, how successful he is. Whereas Gareth is more ‘whatever you think’.

“Obviously you have a formation and a structure but he says to me if you feel like you need to go to the other side of the pitch to get the ball then go and do that.

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That’s not really part of the freedom, the freedom is more in myself. Hopefully I can try to transfer that to City.”

Grealish hopes to start in England’s third Nations League match at home to Italy at Molineux on Sunday.

Southgate is set to make a string of changes while the Three Lions are also at home to Hungary in Wolverhampton on Tuesday.

The England boss says Grealish can be just as valuable from the start as he is coming off the bench – but has demanded more from him tactically.

He said: “He can do both. If we didn’t trust him we wouldn’t put him on the pitch with 20 minutes to go in the belief he can make a difference.

“At the start of the game the challenge for the wide players was to attack, defend and to try and score goals – high tactical level and you’ve got to be spot on – and that’s an area Jack can get better at.

Grealish will be hoping to start against Italy on Saturday after impressing off the bench in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with GermanyCredit: Getty

“What he did do was carry the ball as the game opened up with a little bit more space and opportunity.

“The impact both he and Jarrod Bowen had was really important in those attacking areas.

“There is a good challenge there among those players but we’ve got to keep pushing them.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk

Jack Grealish admits he plays better for Southgate than Guardiola as Man City star revels in free role with England

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