Jack admitsVilla have had Prem wake-up call
JACK Grealish has claimed he will have a few sleepless nights following Aston Villa’s second successive Premier League defeat.
The skipper had a golden chance to open his account for the season when Villa were 2-0 behind to Bournemouth at Villa Park on Saturday, but he headed over from a pinpoint Ahmed Elmohamady cross.
His midfield colleague, Douglas Luiz, then scored a stunning goal minutes later, but it wasn’t enough as Villa succumbed to a narrow 2-1 defeat to the Cherries.
But Grealish believes, once they cut out the mistakes, results will take care of themselves.
“It’s disappointing, we’ve all said it, the manager has said it : ‘ We need to cut out the mistakes’,” he said.
“I give away the ball for Harry Kane’s goal (in the 3-1 opening-day defeat at Tottenham) and we ended up losing, and we give away a penalty and then a deflected goal (against Bournemouth).
“As soon as we cut those mistakes out I’m sure we’ll be fine, as we saw after the first 20-30 minutes (on Saturday).
“That’s the difference between the Premier League and the Championship, when you make mistakes, nine times out of ten you get punished.’’
The talismanic skipper thanked the fans for their unwavering support at Villa Park and attention has now turned to Friday night’s visit of Everton.
“That should have gone in (the missed header), that’s one I’ll be losing a bit of sleep over,” added Grealish. “But it will come and we’ll go back to the training pitch now and work hard for Friday’s game.
“I thought we were the much better team after the first 15-20 minutes, but that’s this league for you. When you make mistakes you get punished and that’s what happened.
“One thing we always know, the fans are going to be there. At the end, them clapping us off, it means a lot and we will work hard to put that right for them next Friday.”
Villa winger Anwar El Ghazi said head coach Dean Smith told the players to remain positive after their Bournemouth disappointment.
He explained: “He said if we keep going like this we will get enough points.
“But we have to be focused and know we cannot make mistakes any more because this is the Premier League. Players are better tactically and we need to remember that.”
Villa made 12 signings over the summer at a cost of £127 million and several of the new faces need time to adapt to the top level.
El Ghazi, whose loan move from Lille was made permanent, admits communication is a slight issue, with the likes of Douglas, Wesley Moraes and Egyptian winger Trezeguet not yet fluent in English.
“It’s a little bit harder with the ones who don’t speak English,” he added. “We help every player who comes into our team. We have to be collective at Aston Villa. We are one.”