Grealish !!

OK, here's a few thoughts:

(a) passenger in most games? He's our second highest scorer. Pretty good for a passenger.

(b) obviously terrible in training? Not it's not obvious. You and I don't know what he does in training. Most of us are scratching our heads to know what training the club actually does, because it's not evident on the pitch.

(c) Bruce doesn't pic him most weeks? Bruce doesn't pic Bree or Hourihane either most weeks, his own signings. Maybe Bruce doesn't know how to use them.

(d) Attitude? Yes he had problems early in the season, mainly due to inexperience. There are signs he's buckling down. He's talked about areas he knows he's weak in and wants to improve. I think he genuinely loves the club. He's had praise for work he's done behind the scenes, as with kids.

(e) goes missing on the pitch? Maybe he's wondering what he's supposed to be doing. A lot of the players wander around looking as though they don't know. There is no obvious plan, apart from don't concede and hoof it up to Codger.

Grealish isn't the problem. Nor are the other signings who've been benched. Sort the problem and maybe then we can see what these players can do.

The only manager that has got the best out of Grealish is Sherwood .. Would any fans have they guy back ??

Let's face it, Sherwood was shafted by the bunch running the club. He got us out of the hole Lambert had dug, and to Wembley (twice). It wasn't all bad news.

I'd trust Sherwood with getting the best out of our young players more than I would Bruce. Not sure that Sherwood is suited to be a manager though.

I’m with McP on this one.

Jack’s only 21 and is, still, very much, learning the game, yet he is already our second highest scorer. I admit, his confidence seems to have a taken a knock recently and he looks less willing to take players on, but this may be due to him being kicked from pillar to post in virtually every game he has played for us, or it may be down to instructions from the manager. Whatever the reason for the lull, he will pull through it. This kid has bags of ability and is one player that I do not want us to lose.

We have let too many of our youngsters go far too early. We must not make the same mistake with Jack.

UTV

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Good to see peoples thoughts, however sticking to my guns regards Grealish. Dont think he will ever shine in a Villa shirt, all about the attitude and his to me does not resent someone who is ready to knuckle down and fight for the shirt. Time will tell but i'm not holding my breath !!

Paddy, I agree with your comments except for Westwood. He doesn't even get into Burnley's team, and while they're better than us currently we're a far bigger club than they are. Westwood tried hard but wasn't good enough if we're being honest.

Grealish, however, is good enough, but as people have said isn't being used correctly or not being picked. He can't exactly show us what he can do on the bench. Goals against Wigan and Fulham show he has class and he has the ability to go far if used right (further than Gabby who had great pace but never developed other areas of his game effectively). Grealish is the sort of player I love having, because no one else in the squad is like him. He shouldn't be asked to tackle, win headers, etc as that is not his game. His game is getting the ball down, creating chances and dribbling past players. If we can find a way for him to get in the box and score goals, he could be a top player for us. As people said he's only 21.

I'd much rather move on the likes of Bacuna, Gabby, Elphick, etc before getting rid of Grealish.

As an outside, it seems to be me that Villa were doing very very well. Had clicked.

And then losing one game meant that the outside chance of play offs was gone.

Since then - just like WBA - you have been on the beach.

Sure there are problems, but as you saw in March(?) the potential is there to go on long winning runs. A few more signings. A plan B. You could do well next season.

The key is to not give Bruce any longer than, say the end of October. If, by then, you are not top six, he needs to go. AND Dr Xia needs to have a quality replacement already lined up!

20 - don't think we've really clicked all season. Bruce faced with a disasterous run went back to basics (through that run he'd been chopping and changing and the players didn't seem to know what was wanted). The defence stopped conceding. And because Kodjia would nick the odd goal we were winning games.

But we never really played well. We never took over games even against weak opposition. Maybe being on the beach is now a bit of it. But it shows that we only had to drop slightly to start losing games.

It was the draw which finished off our promotion chances. What Bruce SHOULD have done then was freshen up the system by introducing the players who had been kept in the background, players with something to prove. Treat it as an advanced pre-season. It would be forgiveable losing under those circumstances. But he just tinkered a little bit. Result: loses in dead flat performances and nothing gained at all.

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