A number of Aston Villa fans have taken to social media to slaughter the performance of midfield mainstay Jack Grealish after starting once again in the 2-1 defeat to Norwich City on Tuesday night.
The Villans took the lead away at the Canaries, a deflected James Chester header finding its way past Tim Krul to see the visitors head into half time ahead, but Jordan Rhodes capitalised from another corner to level the scores nine minutes after the restart, and turned the game on its head with another goal in the 73rd minute.
The Villa faithful were less than impressed by Grealish’s display, slamming him for being “lethargic and lazy” on social media, with some even calling for the axe having seen him start every game of the season so far.
This is Futbol has gathered a selection of the supporters’ tweets:
https://twitter.com/VillaMad3/status/1054820791769022464
Should be doing more. Doesn’t seem to be playing full throttle.
— Jacko (@Jackodotcom) October 23, 2018
Bought the hype and has failed to live up to his high standards set at Wembley vs Liverpool.
— Chris Stimpson (@UTVChris) October 23, 2018
His defensive positioning for closing down is pretty terrible ? Seems to be lacking in confidence, not really a place for it in a game like this, I'd put on a player like Hogan for him who is gonna be keen to impress and can run in behind Tammy if gets knockdowns ?
— Claire (@FloppyChicken92) October 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/FranOConnor38/status/1054818896425955329
Grealish is so off the boil. So lethargic and lazy on the ball
— vízzy9 (@vizzy9) October 23, 2018
Think Grealish needs to be doing more , Elmo not contributing as much #avfc
— Ash Skinner (@Villaboy89) October 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/AntonAvfc/status/1054825351799627776
Opinion
Having been tipped as one of the brightest talents to grace the Championship this season, Grealish has got a lot of improving to do if he is ever going to live up to expectation. He goes missing for long periods of games and when he does have the ball, struggles to make the impact that the Villa supporters demand he does. His biggest talent might well be winning free kicks with his close control, but it is from open play where the fans, and no doubt manager Dean Smith, want to see him improve. If he cannot turn this period of poor form around, then the boss might have no option but to heed the supporters’ calls and send him to the bench for a game or two, in a move which could well kickstart his season. For now though, he is failing to have any sort of impact, and with promotion hopes on the line, the side cannot afford to be carrying passengers along the way.