Pep Guardiola fires “angry” message at Jack Grealish after losing his Man City place

Pep Guardiola says he wants Jack Grealish to “get angry” in order to reclaim his spot at Manchester City.

Doku stole the show as Manchester City crushed Bournemouth 6-1 to reclaim the top spot in the Premier League on Saturday. He scored the first goal and assisted on four more.

This came after manager Guardiola decided that Jack Grealish should start firing again after the England midfielder was benched for last week’s derby victory over Manchester United.

Guardiola said: “I want Jack angry and I want him to play good, and then Doku – be angry that he hasn’t played the last two games. This is the way to maintain the consistency at that level.”

Grealish has had a frustrating start to the season after missing a month due to a dead leg, but Guardiola has no doubt he will get back to his best.

“Jack is back,” he said. “The way he played at Old Trafford, to give us more composure and more powers in that position, it was decisive for us.

“We need everyone. There are a lot of games and everyone has to compete.

“As much as Jeremy and Jack perform, and I can play both at the same time, but when they don’t, train better the next day because the moment is coming, and when you are mentally there in the head you will perform well.

“Then we will win games and you will be happy and everyone will be happy. This is what we have to do.”

In preparation for their Champions League match against Young Boys on Tuesday, City will assess the health of their star striker Erling Haaland. The Norwegian injured his ankle and was taken off the field at halftime on Saturday.

Guardiola acknowledged that he wants Haaland back as soon as possible, but he was happy that his team managed to score six goals without his help.

He said: “It’s good that Jeremy has this threat to score goals and Bernardo (Silva) and Phil (Foden). We know it.

“I know Mateo (Kovacic) is not a goalscorer, but we have now more players involved, with and without Erling – but I want Erling on the pitch.”

City cans secure their place in the Champions League knockout stages for an 11th successive year with victory over the Swiss side this week.

Guardiola said: “It’s so important, more than you can imagine, because we can park the car until February and focus on the Premier League and others. We have to close it on Tuesday.”