Grealish struggles as Man City cry out for Kane

Carlo Garganese

• 15 Aug 2021 20:58 BST
• 3 min read

The first Premier League weekend of the season has already witnessed some big shocks.

First of all, on Friday evening, Arsenal were defeated 2-0 by a Brentford team playing in their first top-flight match for 74 years.

Then, in the last game of the matchday, champions Manchester City suffered a 1-0 loss in the capital to Tottenham.

All the talk before the game centred around two men, Jack Grealish and Harry Kane.

Grealish was making his full and Premier League debut for City following his £100 million summer move from Aston Villa.

Man City need Kane

Meanwhile, Kane was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t even travel to the stadium, officially because he had only begun training on Friday having been in isolation - and so wasn’t fully fit.

This immediately fuelled rumours that Kane’s own £100m-plus transfer to City is now inevitable.

Whatever the truth, it is clear that City need a natural number nine like Kane. While Chelsea went out and signed a world-class striker in Romelu Lukaku from Inter, City are still stuck without a recognised frontman.

Ferran Torres played as the false nine but, despite an intense first 15 minutes where they created a few good chances, City were slow and sterile thereafter.

They rarely threatened Tottenham for the final 75 minutes of the match, with the home side always dangerous on the counter-attack.

Someone like Kane, who is an expert with his back to goal and can play against deep-lying defences, would have made a big difference on Sunday for City. He would have turned an impotent attack into a far more potent one.

How did Jack Grealish perform on his full debut?

As for Grealish, he showed a few nice flashes and flicks but he will certainly need to adjust his game slightly for Guardiola’s system-based football.

Often on Sunday, the ex-Villa star was guilty of slowing down the game and coming too deep. City are at their best when they move the ball quickly and create overloads, something that just didn’t happen in London after their fast start.

Heung-Min Son scored the only goal of the game, cutting in from the left and lashing into the bottom corner. However, both Ruben Dias and Ederson can be considered at fault.

Son scores against City.

Water is wet. 💧 pic.twitter.com/o1COPWcfkH

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 15, 2021

Dias was FWA Footballer of the Year last season but he brought his poor Euro 2020 form into this game and he was too deep when Son shot. This blocked the view of Ederson, who nevertheless should have still reacted better.

A bad start from the champions – they have two weeks to find themselves a striker. Will it be Kane?