Jack rolls with the punches
The first time it happened, it could have been excused. a second time and you had to start questioning it.
but when Stefan Johansen got alongside Jack grealish for a third time and clipped his ankles, you knew exactly what the west brom midfielder had been asked to do.
Johansen had been sent out to kick , shove, batter and bruise. he is not the first one to do so this season and it would have been understandable if grealish retaliated, but that is not his style. he chooses to laugh. not laugh to cover up his frustration but because he knows fouling him is the only way he can be stopped.
no Championship defender seems clever enough to work out what grealish is going to do next and he loves that. Five times he was fouled in Saturday’s play- off semi-final first leg, more than anyone else on the pitch. the v illa captain has been fouled 154 times this season, the most in english football.
you think eden hazard and wilfried Zaha get a tough time? it is not even close to the treatment grealish gets. the Premier league pair have been fouled respectively 50 and 53 times fewer than the 23-year-old.
‘he gets kicked every game but he’s used to it,’ said manager dean Smith. it was one of the reasons grealish spent so much time in the gym last summer. he already had mental toughness and he needed a body to match it. now he is ready for the top flight.
‘i want to play in the Premier league with villa, i want to lift trophies with v illa and i want to play for england,’ he said before last year’s play- off final against Fulham. that ended in tearful defeat and that is why his determination to succeed with the club he has been with since he was six years old is stronger than ever.
he is a leader and he does not give up. that came through in his performance on Saturday . after dwight gayle opened the scoring for west brom, grealish set up Conor hourihane for villa’s equaliser, then won a penalty, converted by striker tammy abraham.
‘ i always think to myself, “does he ever get tired?”’ said abraham, who is on loan from Chelsea. ‘he gets the ball and he keeps going and keeps going. he is a fantastic player and you don’t question why he is a leader.
‘For us it is a massive bonus to have someone like Jack in the team. he always believes and tries to encourage everyone until the last minute.’
his team-mates know they have to match his ambition. ‘Jack’s the best player in the league,’ said hourihane. ‘he’s got so much quality. he’s probably too good for the league.’