NO JACK, NO HOPE?
Life After Grealish is a pain for Villa
HOW many players does it take to replace Jack Grealish? Nobody really knows. Nineteen goal involvements is the void he leaves. Aston Villa reckoned three.
With the £100million coughed up by Manchester City for Grealish, in came Emiliano Buendia, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings. Only, it is really not quite so simple to replace the heartbeat of a side, the captain and the poster boy. Here was a perfect case in point.
Blown away in the first half, it left too much to do. If this is the pilot episode of Life Without Grealish, then Dean Smith has plenty of work to do to turn this into a thriller, and not a horror, for their fans.
‘Whether Jack [Grealish] is in or not, we can perform a lot better than that,’ came Smith’s curt reply. ‘We lacked intensity, on the ball, off the ball, and it was almost like we were playing a friendly. We all know a Premier League game g is not a friendly.’
Credit Watford boss oss Xisco Munoz, too .. Watford had the best home record in the top four tiers of English football last season and he stuck to his guns, refusing to bow to the experts who have Watford in many preedicted bottom threes for the season. They attacked tacked — and it reaped reward.
If they can keep Ismaila Sarr, then Watford have every chance of making a success of this campaign. He is a delight to watch, toying with his markers like a cat and a ball of string. He embarrassed Matt Targett so much that Smith had no choice but to hook the left-back at half-time. He was likely grateful to be taken out of the firing line.
Sarr finished with a goal and assist but it should have been more. Good luck getting the Senegalese out of Watford on the cheap. ‘An amazing performance because the team were very hungry,’ Munoz said.
The atmosphere was gladiatorial as the teams emerged. How Graham Taylor, who managed both of these teams and had this match dedicated to his legacy, would have relished this sort of occasion.
There was the pantomime element, too, with Ashley Young, who made his name as a youngster at Watford, booed by the home fans. It was Watford, who had Emmanuel Dennis, Peter Etebo and Juraj Kucka all making debuts, who started quickest, immediately pushing Villa back. It took 10 minutes for Sarr to add the final ball to his mazy running, picking out Dennis who, at the second time of asking, slotted past Emiliano Martinez from seven yards out. Villa looked shellshocked when they really should not have. Watford were dominating everywhere. No lessons were learned on the fly, it seemed. Again came Sarr, t his t i me Ings and t hen John McGinn his victims, both trying to alleviate some of the punishment being handed to Targett.
Then, just as Villa appeared to be getting to the break with damage at a minimum, away went Sarr. Deep inside his own half he broke out with Dennis. Tyrone Mings knew it was a race he was never going to win and as they reached the box he could only stretch to deflect Sarr’s strike into the far corner.
Off went Targett, Young shifted to left- back and Jacob Ramsey came on to freshen up the attack.
Young’s experience halted Sarr but that was just one of multiple battles Villa were losing and when Cucho Hernandez, on f or his Premier League debut, curled a strike into the corner just seconds after being introduced Villa’ s players stood mouths agape.
Watford fans were still celebrating when McGinn drove in a cross from Bailey, thrown on with 30 minutes to go. A penalty from Ings came too late to give Villa any real hope of spoiling the party.