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Guardiola lauds Grealish cameo after picking out favourite trait in Man City loss

Man City manager Pep Guardiola hailed the 25-minute cameo of Jack Grealish on his Man City debut, and highlighted his aggressiveness as a notable positive.

Man City fielded a slightly weakened team with youngsters Cole Palmer and Sam Edozie given run-outs. Nevertheless, Guardiola would have still been expecting to lift silverware with regular starters the likes of Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez in the eleven.

A generally even contest saw both sides play at a higher tempo than Community Shield clashes have typically produced.

But with the match seemingly heading for penalties, Leicester scored a late penalty after a costly Nathan Ake blunder led to the concession of a spot-kick.

Speaking in his post-match press conference (via the Manchester Evening News), Guardiola said: “I would have loved to have won the game. Congratulations to Leicester for the Community Shield victory.

“The performance was really really good, especially for this stage of the season and the way we played in the second half.

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“In general given the short preparation time we had, all the loan players, all the academy players have been exceptional.

“The game was well played. They had chances, we had chances and in the second we were so good.”

Guardiola thrilled with Grealish cameo

Jack Grealish was handed his debut with 25 minutes remaining after completing his £100 move from Aston Villa on Thursday.

Grealish showed a few neat touches and an incisive passing range. However, he couldn’t break Leicester’s stubborn resistance as Man City ultimately fell late on.

Nevertheless, Guardiola was thrilled with what he saw from his new signing in his brief cameo.

“He was really good,” said the Spaniard when asked specifically about Grealsh.

“Aggressive, going against full backs and every time he had the ball there were three players [around him].  We will know him and step by step he will find the best.”

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