Micah Richards highlights Man City change that helped Jack Grealish against Wolves

Micah Richards says Jack Grealish benefitted from added freedom against Wolves and backed the Manchester City playmaker to follow-up his 'menacing' display at Molineux.

Grealish opened the scoring for rampant City inside 60 seconds in their last game before the international break as Erling Haaland and Phil Foden also netted. Wolves were reduced to ten-men when Nathan Collins saw red for a kick on Grealish as the £100million man made his mark.

While there have been some encouraging signs from the England favourite since his big-money move to City more than a year ago, former Aston Villa captain Grealish has been unable to produce his swashbuckling best on a regular basis. But will his display against Wolves be the catalyst for that moving forward?

When analysing Grealish for Match of the Day on Saturday night, Richards said: "He knows that he could have done a lot better up until now, because he's a quality player. This is the Jack Grealish we know and love.

"I always ask him why don't you get into the box more? Stop waiting for other people.

"You know that Kevin de Bruyne is going to put them right on the plate for him... I thought his whole game was very good and he was growing in confidence with tricks and flicks."

Richards added: "When you come in for that fee, you come in with pressure as everyone expects you to be the star man, but he's in a team where they are all stars. He affected the game on the ball and off the ball - he was a menace and I liked his game because he was getting the ball from deep and running.

"Instead of just hanging out on the left wing, he had a little bit more spark and confidence. He was a little bit more central where he could affect it. In this system with Pep, everyone thinks you've got to stay, but you don't. You can move around and he [Grealish] found his form when he was playing a little bit more freely."