Jack Grealish has revealed it was quiet in the Manchester City dressing room at half-time against Tottenham before Pep Guardiola picked them up.
City were staring down the barrel of an unthinkable three defeats on the bounce at the break after somehow finding themselves two goals down. Two Ederson mistakes allowed for Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal to score in quick succession just before the break.
The Blues were booed off the field but came out in the second half like a different beast and quickly drew level through Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland. The excellent Riyad Mahrez then grabbed a double to secure a much-needed three points.
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Grealish has explained what the mood was like at half-time amongst the team. He told Sky Sports: "I thought we actually done alright in the first half, probably had the better chances and then like last week we conceded a goal, we took like a stupid free-kick I think and then they scored another one so it wasn’t the best dressing room at half-time, it was silent for a little bit. The manager spoke to us, gave us some encouragement and I thought we were brilliant that second half."
Mahrez echoed the sentiment: "You think about everything. Everything goes through your head really but like Jack said, I think we played good in the first half, we had the ball and they didn’t have anything apart from the two goals we conceded.
"When we came back we were a bit frustrated at half-time and the manager spoke to us, then we knew, and we’d done it before, that we could come back from one or two goals behind and that’s what we did. I think we played so good second half and we showed what we are. A bit of luck as well but we provoked the luck and we deserved the win."
On the second-half display, Mahrez added: "We try, we try, it’s so lucky. We try, like Jack said we start very well and score two goals early as well, so it put us in a great position to keep going and push. I think we deserved the win and it’s very good, we have to keep going.
"I was trying like everyone, like Jack, trying to be more direct and aggressive with the ball. We started having chances and then we score, that’s football, and I think second half was top, scored four goals and it was a good night."
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