There were signs that one Manchester City player could be on his way back against Salford City | OneFootball

Manchester City beat Salford City 8-nil to progress through to the fourth round of the FA Cup. There were several positive signs throughout the game at the Etihad from a City point of view. One of those was the performance from Jack Grealish. The quality of the opponent has to be factored into the equation when assessing Grealish’s performance but there were signs from the England international that he may be on his way back to being the player we all know he can be.

Jack Grealish has played a lot better than he did on Saturday in bigger games and against bigger opponents. That has to be said. It should be a given that the quality of Grealish would stand out against a League Two side. That’s exactly how Saturday’s match unfolded as the England international played his best game for some time last weekend. That was a positive for him and Manchester City.

Grealish has been criticised for his lack of goals and assists during his time with Manchester City. While that criticism is on the money to some extent, it doesn’t fully do justice to what Grealish adds to the world champions lineup. At his best, he is a key player in City’s style of play. He offers control, and he is often the player who plays the key ball in the build-up to a goal. But he could do with scoring more goals and adding more assists. He set up Jeremy Doku’s opener against Salford City and laid on another goal for James McAtee. Grealish also converted a second-half penalty to get himself on the scoresheet at the Etihad. So that’s a start.

The hope is that the performance of Grealish against Salford City is the start of something for the England international. He needed a performance like that for his confidence if nothing else. Jack Grealish will have a vital role to play for Pep Guardiola’s side over the second half of the season. It’s now up to him to build upon what he showed against Salford City and use it as as the standard for his performances going forward. If he does that he may be crucial to City’s push over the second half of the season.