Topics: Jack Grealish, Graeme Souness, Manchester City, Football
Jack Grealish has brilliantly touched on the criticism he receives from pundits like Graeme Souness, saying he will listen to every word if he's played well and ignore them he's had a bad game.
Grealish was subjected to criticism during his Aston Villa days and at Manchester City last season, having joined the Blues for £100 million.
Sky Sports duo Souness, who is leaving the company, and Roy Keane would often slate the England international for not releasing the ball quick enough.
The 27-year-old, who has starred for Pep Guardiola's team this campaign, has hit out at the criticism he receives, defending himself for holding on to the ball during his spell at Villa.
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He also said he'd watch the analysis if he's had a good game but won't listen to a word if he's had a bad outing.
"The way some of the TV pundits talk I can’t actually catch my breath sometimes. It’s as if they never played bad themselves. Graeme was an unbelievable player. But he used to say I held on to the ball too long," he told The Daily Mail.
"I was like, 'Mate, I play for Aston Villa'. A lot of the time we didn’t have the ball so when we did the manager told me to keep it.
‘It’s the same here.
"Everyone sees Pep as a tiki-taka manager, but before the Bayern Munich game away in the Champions League he said, 'You know what having balls is? It’s about being the one to keep the ball, to calm the game down'."
Grealish added: "So you do that and you get criticised. It’s tricky. When I was at Villa nobody had paid any money for me so it didn’t matter if I played bad.
"Also, 90 per cent of the games were not live on TV so people wouldn’t notice anyway.
"It is different now but I will be honest here - if I have played well I go back home and watch everything and listen to the commentary and what they say afterwards.
"If I play sh*t, I will not listen to a word they say."
Grealish hasn't had much criticism this season as he's been in superb form. He's become a regular fixture under Guardiola as they continue to fight on three fronts.
