Swans defeat the Greal reason for dreadful run
DEAN Smith believes there’s more to Villa’s slump than the absence of injured talisman Jack Grealish.
Villa have won only two of 13 games since Grealish hobbled off against Albion at The Hawthorns in early December. But Smith has cast aside any aspersions of Villa being a one-man team and claims his side’s drop in form does not coincide with Grealish’s lay-off.
“People keep saying that to me, it doesn’t,” Smith said, after a 2-0 home defeat to West Brom last weekend. “But people will say it does. He got injured in the (first) Albion game. After that we’ve played Stoke, Leeds, won at Swansea.
“After that Swansea game we ended up playing three rightbacks in a back four. We had no Axel Tuanzebe, no James Chester, or an injured James Chester, no Jack Grealish.
“You take that quality out of any team it’s going to hurt.”
Smith charts Villa’s downfall back to the FA Cup third-round defeat to Swansea at the start of January. Villa headed into the home tie in fine fettle having lost only one game in 11, yet they were thumped 3-0 by the Swans, who exacted revenge for their Boxing Day defeat. Villa have only had one win in seven matches since then.
“For me, our dip in performances has been since the cup game,” Smith said. “I don’t think we’ve been as fluid or as good since then.”
Grealish is back in training as he recovers from a complex bone stress injury and the 23-year-old has an outside chance of making the squad for the trip to Stoke on Saturday.
“He’s working on his fitness,” Smith said. “He’s got no pain at the moment. I’ll be guided by the rehab staff.”
Grealish is one of several midfielders Villa have been missing in recent weeks.
Henri Lansbury and Tom Carroll are injured, while Smith will also have to make do without John McGinn for the game in the Potteries. The Scot is suspended for two matches after picking up a tenth booking of the campaign against Albion.
“It’s tough and we lose McGinn now for a caution,” said Smith.
“The injuries certainly haven’t helped us. We’re throwing on a 17-year-old kid (Jacob Ramsey) for his debut for the last half-an-hour, but that’s where we’re at in terms of midfielders.”