Stuart James spoke about Jack Grealish’s performance in Aston Villa’s 2-1 Carabao Cup final loss against Manchester City, during a Q&A on The Athletic.
What did he say?
Villa fought until the very end at Wembley, but they were eventually unable to claw back the result, leaving Wembley on the end of a 2-1 loss.
While pride will likely be felt about the way that they competed, there will be those associated with Villa who are frustrated about the way the game unfolded – Grealish will likely be one of those.
The 24-year-old was shown to be on the floor after the final whistle, and fans were split in their responses to it, as some felt sympathetic towards him, while others claimed he hadn’t turned up.
When asked about the captain’s display, James replied: “Just couldn’t get Jack into the game enough, Alexander. I thought he looked bright at times in the first half, always felt he could make something happen when he got the ball during that period, but Villa just didn’t have enough possession for him to be able to influence the game.”
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Quiet game
It was a very quiet game from Grealish by his high standards. The academy graduate has been integral to Villa’s survival hopes this campaign, recording seven goals and six assists, but was unable to have anywhere near that level of influence at Wembley.
The 24-year-old didn’t have a single shot during the 90 minutes, while he also made just one key pass and one dribble – indicating just how ineffective he was.
As suggested by James, he was not helped by the amount of time that Villa were spending without the ball, holding just 30.3% of possession. This meant he was unable to truly get at the opposition and his threat was nullified.
Did he really play for us?! No Villa fan has managed to name all of these obscure Villans….
However, he didn’t really contribute defensively either, as he failed to make a single tackle, interception or clearance.
All of the above shows that this was a performance for the Villa talisman to forget, as attention now turns to achieving Premier League safety.
Meanwhile, one man encapsulated Villa’s grit during the final.