MANCHESTER (England) -- Jack Grealish celebrated Manchester City's first goal by putting his fingers into his ears. But you can see that he is listening to Pep Guardiola.
Although it's not what Grealish had in mind -- the ball bounced off Grealish's knee and over the line to help City win comfortably 5-0 over Norwich City -- he doesn't mind. It was a typical Guardiola goal, a threaded pass followed by a cross from a byline to find a man at the back. This suggests Grealish is paying more attention to team meetings.
After his move to Aston Villa for 100 million, Grealish is back on track. City has bounced back from their defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. Guardiola seemed like someone who doesn't panic after one bad result. The way his team defeated Norwich was a timely reminder that they are champions because of this.
To celebrate the return of fans at the Etihad Stadium after 18 months, City put on a fireworks display just before kickoff. It wasn't an explosive performance, but it was quite a quiet show. This season, Norwich won't be the only team to suffer.
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Guardiola said after the match, "The result was the outcome of how many positive things we've done." "We are still not at our best, but we have many things we can do. It was great. It was great.
"Hope Jack can score more, but the most important thing in life is the first win."
Grealish mentioned Guardiola as one reason he left his boyhood club this year, and it's easy to see why. Raheem Sterling, under the Catalan, went from only scoring a few goals per season to consistently scoring more than 20. He scored 31 goals in all competitions during the 2019-20 season.
Grealish has a best score of 10, but City gives him the chance to put up much higher numbers. He will have plenty of chances if he plays on the left side of the front three as he did against Norwich. After Kyle Walker's opening goal against Norwich, Gabriel Jesus' darting run and opening defence had closed in on him, he did just that to score his first home goal for the club.
Jack Grealish scored Manchester City's first goal on Saturday in his home debut as the Premier League champions defeated Norwich 5-0. Tom Flathers/Manchester City FC via Getty Images
Guardiola stated, "If Jack has the mentality to score goals as Raheem, then yes [he can get 20-30 goals per season]". "Raheem didn't know what he wanted when he arrived in this country four or five years back. This changed. Raheem was able to score a goal today because he reached the central position as a nine. He is an absolute machine. He must return to those positions. He decided to change his mind and score, score, Score. Jack can achieve anything if he has the same mentality as Raheem.
Grealish's goal was nearly identical to the first goal of afternoon. Jesus' cross didn't reach the back post, however, because it was combined by Grant Hanley with Tim Krul. Jesus was a great right winger.
Guardiola stated, "He is a player that likes to play wider than in central roles." Gabriel is a great manager. He is never complaining. He will play five minutes and then do the best five minutes. He is happy if he plays right; he's happy if he plays central; he's happy if he plays left.
Gabriel is my joy. Because he is so generous, he deserves the best in life. It is an extraordinary team and I don't have any complaints about it. Last season, we had the same team and lost Sergio [Aguero]. Jack was replaced and I am very happy with the squad that we have."
After Aymeric had given the third, Sterling added the fourth from a second Jesus cross. Riyad Mahrez reached 5-0 partly due to Ruben Dias vision of picking out the Algeria international at 30 yards.
Daniel Farke pointedly stated that Norwich had "conceded a similar goal four times." They have scored 26 goals in their six Premier League visits to City.
Farke's team couldn't get a shot on target from the visitors here. After two games, their record reads: no points, no goals, and eight conceded.
Guardiola's table is looking much better ahead of Arsenal next weekend. City and Grealish both up and running.
