Aston Villa journalist Danny Raza has made a claim on club captain Jack Grealish.
This comes after Raza recently made an appearance on Holtecast, a Villa-themed podcast to reflect on Villa’s 1-1 draw against Everton and look ahead to their upcoming Premier League clash with Arsenal.
On the topic of Grealish and how he has performed for the Birmingham club in recent weeks, Raza shared his views on the Englishman.
He said: “One of the things that’s really annoyed me since the restart is he’s tried to run through defenders when he clearly hasn’t got the capability for it. He’s probably not got the fitness for it, first of all. Second of all, there’s nerves, he almost looks like Jack Grealish of three or four years ago.
“Sometimes there’s spells in the game where Grealish does just show up and play really well. But he’ll be running into defenders trying to take on three men, when it’s like, what are you doing? Don’t try that, release the ball earlier. And there’s a lot of times where he’s walked the ball into the box and just kept hold of the ball until it’s too late and the opportunity’s gone.
“I just wonder where he’s at, it’s not a skill thing, it’s not a talent thing. It’s almost like his vision is just blurred at the moment. I don’t know what it is, personally.”
Has Jack Grealish dropped his form since the restart?
Yes
No
According to WhoScored, Grealish has been Villa’s top performer in the Premier League this season, with his performances in the 34 league matches he’s made for Villa earning him a season rating of 7.21/10.
However, in the eight league games Grealish has played in since the league restarted in June, he has only managed to pick up a match rating over 7/10 two times (per WhoScored).
TIF Thoughts…
Looking at Grealish’s match ratings since Villa’s fixture against Sheffield United when the season resumed, it could be argued that the 24-year-old hasn’t been at his best for Dean Smith’s side.
With two league fixtures left for Villa to try and avoid the drop back to the Championship, Grealish will need to be on his best form to try and help his team get as many points as possible for them to have any chance of survival this season.