Pundit Danny Murphy has praised Manchester City winger Jack Grealish for his defensive work.
The winger ended his second season at the Manchester club by scoring more goals and delivering more assists than he was able to in his debut campaign at the Etihad Stadium.
Despite that, the City star has found himself being praised for another side of his game by one pundit who knows what it takes to play in the Premier League at a high level.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Murphy had this to say about Grealish when discussing the topic of how hard City players work off the ball under Pep Guardiola.
He said: “Grealish is a great example, you don’t have to be a defensive-minded player to be a good defensive player.
“Grealish now never has right-backs running off the back of him. You don’t watch Grealish play and think ‘oh he’s let them go again.’”
Last season saw the Englishman win 16 tackles in total across his 28 league games, leaving only five other City players with more successful tackles than him.
In fact, Grealish was one of the two City players who made a defensive action that led to a goal being scored by the Manchester club.
Another example of his impressive defensive work came during City’s 4-1 win over Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium last season where the winger ran down the pitch and tackled Mohammed Salah to stop the Egyptian from being in a one-v-one situation with Ederson, which ended up being described as “magnificent” by Stuart Pearce.
With all of that in mind, it’s nice to see Grealish getting this recognition and praise from Murphy.
Moving forward, if the winger continues to put plenty of effort in on the pitch in and out of possession, he’ll undoubtedly be one of City’s most important players of the season.
