Jack Grealish still offers something to Man City that Jeremy Doku doesn't yet

Even the happiest man in the world will find something to moan about every now and then and Manchester City fans are no different.

Certain, small but vocal corners of the City fan base have made themselves heard in recent years with cutting and bizarre criticism of a player. Ederson was the player to feel the brunt of it last season.

Some supporters felt the goalkeeper wasn't making vital enough saves in big matches and was letting too many shots go past him. Stats that ignored the context of the goals conceded did the rounds as calls for Stefan Ortega got louder and louder.

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It was a big overreaction to City's stop-start first half of the season when everyone was playing below par but the complaints soon faded away when Ederson made several crucial saves on the way to the treble. Let alone his proactiveness off the line and confidence on the ball are intrinsic to how the Blues play.

This time around it's a narrative on Jack Grealish that has bubbled out of the swamp like a devious aligator. The forward is coming off the back of an incredible season in which he was undroppable on City's march to the Premier League title and Champions League trophy but is yet to quite reach those heights.

It's unsurprising. The season still hasn't hit double figures worth of games yet and Grealish has missed a few of them with a calf injury. Besides, despite their winning start, no City player is going at full-throttle just yet and that's by design.

Pep Guardiola doesn't want his side going too intense too early in what is going to be an even more gruelling campaign. It's typically not