Grealish’s focus is a credit to him: Smith
DEAN Smith praised Jack Grealish’s focus after Aston Villa drew a blank against Burnley.
They were held to a 0-0 draw despite having 27 shots as Anwar el Ghazi and Kortney Hause hit the woodwork.
Matt Lowton cleared Ahmed Elmohamady’s deflected effort off the line, while El Ghazi wasted several fine openings after the break.
Villa captain Grealish was banned from driving for nine months and fined £82,499 on Tuesday for two separate driving offences but boss Smith believes he has managed to keep his mind clear.
He said: “It was a performance I expected from him. A lot was made out of the week he has had, but he was in court for two driving offences, nothing more nothing less, and he handled it as I expected him to, with aplomb.
“Jack’s performances are what we are accustomed to. We had to make changes, and with the way Burnley play we had to be good defensively.
“I’m really pleased with the performance, there are loads of positives to take. We changed 40 per cent of the team and our squad was tested but came through with flying colours. It was a performance worthy of a win.
“I’m not concerned
(by not scoring). My concern is when you’re not getting chances. We look like a team unlikely to concede goals as well, when you do that you’ll accumulate points.”
Opposite number Sean Dyche said: “It wasn’t a great result, just a good result. We had to get back to being strong defensively and we have done that.
“In the first-half, I thought we were in some brilliant moments but we have to tidy up. We have to be more clinical and detailed because we have a base to work from now.
“We have to make it happen rather than wait for it to happen.
“We had a big result at Arsenal (winning 1-0 on Sunday) but doing the basics well has been important to us since we’ve been in the Premier League.”