Jack Grealish laments ‘weird’ Man City performance that leaves them on brink of Champions League exit

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Jack Grealish lamented Manchester City’s ‘weird’ trait that continues to plague the team.

City scored twice in the space of three minutes to take a 2-0 lead against Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League tie on Wednesday, only to crumble and lose 4-2.

Despite scoring his second goal in four games, Grealish couldn’t inspire City to victory
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The result left City on eight points in the Champions League table, two away from the knockout stage play-offs.

It means the English heavyweights must beat Club Brugge next Wednesday in the final match of the league phase or they will miss out on the Champions League knockout stage for the first time since the 2012/13 season.

City’s capitulations have been a familiar story throughout the season, with none as bad as their 3-3 draw against Feyenoord in November.

With a 3-0 lead and 16 minutes remaining, a City win seemed like a procession.

But the Dutch visitors pulled off a miracle and nab a result at the Etihad Stadium.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the PSG defeat, Grealish struggled to put a finger on why the team continues to fall like a house of cards when holding a lead this season.

“Usually in these moments, we’re so good,” Grealish said.

“It’s happened too many times this season, when we’ve gone one goal, two goals up, even three against Feyenoord, and we’ve not been able to control the game and see it out.

“It’s weird because in every other season we’ve been so good in these moments, managing the game.

“I don’t know if it’s a confidence thing, because we know for most of this season, especially before Christmas time, we weren’t really at the levels that we know we can.

City’s 2-0 lead evaporated in the space of just seven minutes against PSG
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“But listen, I think it’s down to ourselves to try and change that moving forward and especially to try and go and win the game next week.”

Grealish added: “We have so many players on the pitch when we go 2-0 up that are so good with the ball at keeping it.

“But we’ve not been doing that recently and that’s down to ourselves.

“Credit to Paris, they were so good, very energetic and a lot better than I thought. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but they were top tonight, a really good team. They deserved to win tonight.”

Although City suffered a serious wobble against PSG in the Champions League, they will hope to keep their strong Premier League form intact.

After a torrid run of six defeats in eight league games, Pep Guardiola’s side have bounced back and are unbeaten in their last five.

A forlorn-looking Guardiola has become an all-too-familiar sight on City’s sideline this season
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They have picked up three wins in that run, although they have come against teams placed 14th or lower in the Premier League table.

But they will have to beat a team ahead of them in the table for the first time since December 4 as they welcome Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

City won the reverse fixture 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the opening game of the season and would love nothing more than a repeat scoreline.

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