Zero goals and zero assists. Aston Villa’s captain, Jack Grealish, hasn’t had the best of restarts since the Premier League resumed. Villa’s seemingly slow descent back to Championship football has not been halted by their star man chipping goals and dragging his team forwards. If anything, his performances have been a far cry to the man who catapulted Villa to promotion this time last year.
Solving the Jack Grealish Problem at Aston Villa
Lacking in Attack Recently
“The final third is the bit that’s just missing at the moment,” Dean Smith said to Match of the Day following his side’s 2-0 defeat to champions Liverpool. Surely, if Grealish was at his mercurial best, this wouldn’t be the case? After all, attack has not been Villa’s issue all season, it’s their defensive record that has seen them unable to climb the table.
Grealish has been moved back into the middle, instead of on the left wing where Smith played him much of the season. He now operates behind the striker, Keinan Davis or Ally Samatta, and fans thought this would get Grealish more involved in the game, but the opposite has been true with both of Villa’s goals coming from set pieces.
Moving to Manchester?
Reports from the Sunday Express’ Neil Fissler indicate that Grealish has already plotted his move away from Villa Park and found a home in the North West — with Manchester United his new club — which could explain his dip in form. His head simply isn’t at Villa Park anymore, but instead fantasizing about the Theatre of Dreams. United are currently flying high, scoring an average of 2.8 goals per game and failing to win only once. Bruno Fernades has continued his sparkling form, Paul Pogba looks every inch the midfielder United paid for and the front three of Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Anthony Martial are deadlier than ever. Which begs the question: where would Grealish fit in?
It’s true that he has some of the best stats in the league for chances created. He has created 80 chances, second only to Kevin De Bruyne’s 101, a fact which he was very happy to share when he came under attack from Graeme Souness following Villa’s performance against Liverpool. But Fernandes, who plays in Grealish’s favoured role, has only played for half the time and is already racking up the assists for United.
Running Out of Games
Micah Richards, who was relegated with Aston Villa in 2015, said on Match of the Day 2 that Villa “can get out of this [relegation], especially when they’ve got a player like Jack Grealish. He didn’t have the best of games today but he can make the difference.” But can he? Whether this speculation is true or not, Villa’s talisman has been anything but in recent weeks. With only five games, and Watford now a gaping four points clear, Villa are running out of time for their star man to get firing. It seems unthinkable, but could the best move for Villa be to bench Grealish? In part to rest him after such a congested run of games but also to get used to life without their star man and pull together as a team.
More than a few times this season Villa players have been guilty of just passing the ball to Grealish and hoping he can do something. More often than not he has delivered, particularly with a sensational strike against United at Old Trafford. The trouble is, teams know that and so mark him out the game. He drops deep to get the ball and then is ineffectual, which Smith himself has remarked on multiple times. Grealish is then frustrated, perhaps thinking of a future without Villa in it and most importantly not scoring.
If Villa were to drop Grealish, John McGinn could step into his role having made it his own for Scotland. Marvellous Nakamba and Douglas Luiz, who has been sensational for Villa since the restart, could hold the midfield with Smith able to pick from Jota, Trezeguet and Anwar El Ghazi on the wings. Without him Villa fans may say they’ll be unable to score, but it’s not as if they’ve been scoring with him.
It might be worth a roll of the dice and, who knows, from the bench he might just score.
Main Photo
