Aston Villa (H) 30/11 - Match Thread

ScotHammer

baracks_a_hammer said:

If Dicks and Moncur were playing in that fixture, we’d have ended the game with nine men and Grealish would have left on crutches.

Correction: We would still have 10 men. The first one to tackle him would do it (him) right first time, so the other one would be free to continue!😃

BubblesNeverDies

Ham, call me old-fashioned but I find it really difficult, or should I say impossible, to separate the player from the personality/character, call it what you will.
I don't care how good (debatable) a player he is, his behaviour will always detract from his ability.
For me, he's dirt.

Lukerz

I am unsure on Grealish.

I think Monday summed him up. Bags of ability, dribbles with the ball, nice close control, touches, flicks, a goal & a man of the match performance.

Side takes 0 points.

I think for all that undoubted ability, he does not do enough in that final third. Holds the ball for too long & goes down far too easily. Most players, when they feel that bump, stay up & continue to attack the back line. He falls over. We get everybody back. Happy days.

OutcastLondoner

McGinn is far more important to them.

Brother_Sledge

Winning free kicks is a valuable skill and one which Mark Noble is pretty clever at using to take pressure off. Grealish wins them in more dangerous areas but he needs to be a bit smarter and cut out the simulation before refs start ignoring some of the genuine fouls. He is good at dropping back into space to make it easy for others to give him the ball and then building up a head of steam before being challenged. He could be a class player except that he hasn't got any class.

yoyo

When I see the antics of players like Grealish and Neymar then it makes me respect Messi even more. He does everything he can to stay upright when he has the ball,yet takes more stick than anyone.

IronHerb

Well 5 goals and 5 assists in 9 matches isn't a bad return for the final third of the pitch. That means he's been involved in half of Villas 20 league goals. I'd call that pretty good.

baracks_a_hammer

I don’t believe there are many (or even any) better attacking players in the league this season than Kane, Son & Grealish

Similarly (and in a riotously biased manner) I don’t think there are many/any better defenders this season than Cress and Oggy

Pearces_Left_Foot

IronHerb said:

Well 5 goals and 5 assists in 9 matches isn't a bad return for the final third of the pitch. That means he's been involved in half of Villas 20 league goals. I'd call that pretty good.

Last Season 36 games 8 goals 6 assists
Season before 16 games 1 goals no assists

He is either getting better or is in a purple patch

I still would n't want him in our team his antics would drive me mad

claretandbluesky

Many players like him, Joey Barton the greatest example, great player who at his prime most would have wanted on the pitch, but such an unlikeable personality few would have actually wanted their club to buy Chelseas's Costa also comes to mind.

OutcastLondoner

Barton’s an extreme comparison! I think most would take Grealish and make excuses for him if he were at their club.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Yeah, fans are very fickle.

I mean, there are a lot of unpalatable footballers out there but if they perform well then it’s extremely rare (non-existent?) for their own fanbase not to defend them.

Cuz1

You couldn’t defend grealish on Monday diving play acting and trying to get another player sent off is not and never will be the type of player I’d like to see in our shirt

yoyo

Dicanio was loved here but very much a Marmite person with other fans

BubblesNeverDies

I don't remember Di Canio as a diver.

Cuz1

No but the ref did 😂

ASLEFshrugged

Grealish is like Zaha, a player who has enough talent not to need to dive but dives anyway

OutcastLondoner

I don’t think Zaha dives as much as Grealish does. At least not from what I saw on Monday. They both do get kicked a lot though. Maybe they started by trying to get those fouls and have gone too far.

ASLEFshrugged

Zaha took it to a different level, he dives and if he doesn't get a free kick he looks outraged at the injustice then clatters someone in retaliation.

I've not seen him this season, maybe he's realised he doesn't need to keep throwing himself to the floor every time anyone comes close

BubblesNeverDies

One of the things that got me about Grealish was in the (I think) 1st. 10 minutes when he and Coufal both chased for the ball over by the byline.
They made shoulder contact and Coufal, simply by being stronger, won the ball and Grealish went over.
Grealish gets up claiming that he'd been fouled as if to claim entitlement in a 50/50 situation, that if he didn't win the ball then he must have been fouled.
His arrogance is matched only by his vanity.

yoyo

And his stupid Barnet!

Ravel49

😳

alderz

Did anyone see the absolutely blatant foul by Chilwell on Povedo yesterday? He stays on his feet, no foul. If he had gone down then 100% it’s a penalty. That’s why players go down so easily.