Q and A: Life after Grealish

Jack Grealish's £100 million move to Man City set a new Premier League transfer record this summer - the England international leaving his boyhood club Aston Villa for pastures new (and ideally trophies!).

The midfielder's departure from the Midlands has torn at the heartstrings of the Villa faithful, but with coffers bulging and some exciting summer signings, there is a feeling that Dean Smith's side can roll with the punch of losing their talisman and improve upon last term's mid-table Premier League finish. 

To gauge Villa's fans' expectations after an emotional and hectic summer, we checked in with Stephen Hickingbotham of Villa Analytics to discuss life after Grealish...

1. Let's start with an obvious question? How sad were you to see Jack Grealish go and how much of an impact do you think his departure will have?

Absolutely gutted, naturally. Grealish is simply a level above the rest and absolutely irreplaceable. While we’ve added some nice players to the squad he leaves a gaping hole in the side and will be a huge miss all season long.

2. Dean Smith actually spoke about Villa developing an unconscious reliance on Grealish - did you agree?

Definitely, you could see it last season when Grealish was injured. All aspects of our side tailed off and our season fell to pieces as our hopes of European football vanished and we fell into the bottom half.

©Manchester City

3. With Grealish gone, what tactical tweaks do Villa need to make to their game?

One thing about Grealish leaving is the freedom it gives us tactically. It’s a new era for Villa and Smith has an opportunity to make wholesale tactical and personnel changes.

We’ll have to make up for Grealish’s goals, creativity, and progression in the side but also the impact he had off the ball. Teams would change their shape and overload the right specifically to combat Jack and that won’t be the case this season.

4. Villa had a busy summer in the transfer market with Buendia, Bailey and Ings all coming in for big money and Ashley Young and Axel Tuanzebe also returning to the Midlands - how excited are you by the new additions?

Bailey and Buendia particularly excite me. Leon’s pace and penetration in behind will give us something we were really missing last season on the wing as well as his dazzling footwork, while Buendia is one of the best through passers out there and can become a hugely important creative player for us. 

Ings is an interesting one to me as centre forward isn’t a position I’d have said we’d need to sign a starter for after Watkins’ season but clearly we plan on a change of shape there. The returns of Ashley and Axel are obviously great for the fans and are 2 really solid rotational options.

©Getty / RUI VIEIRA

5. How good was Ollie Watkins last season after his move from Brentford? Do you think there's more to come from him; do you think he and Ings can play in a front two?

As I just touched on, I definitely see Villa exploring our options in a front two and I can see the two working together very well. Watkins’ all round game is absolutely incredible and both players love to play on the shoulder. Both players can press aggressively and score bags of goals. 

With Watkins drifting into the left channel and Ings out to the right I fully believe the ‘Watkings’ partnership can become massively popular and effective this season.

6. If you had to pick a trio of players who will be vital to Villa this season, who would you choose and why?

Emi Martinez, Emi Buendia, and Leon Bailey. I feel we’re really lacking in a ball winning midfielder and so the defence could be a relative weakness for us this season. 

©Getty / NELSON ALMEIDA

Martinez maintaining his form from last season will be critical in winning us a number of points next season.

The burden of replacing Jack Grealish will fall on the latter two of the trio - in chance creation, goal scoring and in ball progression. 

7. You slipped to an opening day defeat to Watford; how did you rate the performance and what gave you cause for concern and/or optimism?

I think Watford exposed problems that looked fairly obviously going into the season, particularly with Watkins, Luiz and Bailey all absent from the starting team. We were absent in midfield and struggled to move the ball forwards. With those 3 in the team we’ll certainly improve but I still worry about us in the middle of the park. 

8. The Villans finished 11th in the top flight last season - can they improve upon that this term?

I’d like to hope so. If we failed to improve on 11th it would really set the project back but there are a lot of good teams in the mix this season. It remains to be seen how much the likes of Brighton, Wolves, and Palace can improve as well as if the promoted Brentford can compete in the top half.

I think we certainly have the quality to finish inside the top half and I do hope we can convert our potential with a strong push towards European football.

Not doing a full thread until links are more concrete, but Doucoure is the profile we need. Defensive quality, ball progression, and reliable passing. Would be the perfect partner for Douglas Luiz as he is with the brilliant Seko Fofana for Lens. https://t.co/a5fvPrttle

— Villa Analytics (@VillaAnalytics) August 9, 2021