Smith hails Grealish ‘quality’ but demands more from Villa

Boss Dean Smith praised Jack Grealish but demanded more from Aston Villa following their 2-1 play-off semi-final comeback win over West Brom.Conor Hourihanes rocket and Tammy Abrahams penalty turned the game around in the final 15 minutes to give Villa a narrow lead in their Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final first leg.Dwight Gayle opened the scoring but was sent off with two minutes left after collecting a second yellow card for diving in on Jed Steer. Dean Smith: Comeback was deserved. Big job ahead in the second leg.#AVFC pic.twitter.com/WnJ9SXVx9a Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 11, 2019Grealish set up Hourihane and won the spot-kick for Abraham to win it and Smith praised his skipper.He said: With the quality hes got he can create things. Thats where we want him on the ball in the final third.Credit to West Brom in the first half, he had to beat four or five players with the numbers they had behind.By keeping our width in the second half, it gave us licence to go forward and get into places.Tyrone Mings speaks to Jack Grealish during the play-off clash at Villa Park (Nick Potts/PA)But Smith expects more from his side after they were forced to battle back from a goal down at Villa Park on Saturday.He added: Im pleased we won the game but not pleased with the performance. We can certainly perform a lot better.Albion came with a game plan to sit behind the ball and slow the game down which they did very well and they capitalised on a mistake from us.Our movement and use of the ball we didnt do well enough in the first half. View this post on Instagram Players. . Fans. . Together as one. . #PartOfThePride #AVFCA post shared by Aston Villa FC (@avfcofficial) on May 11, 2019 at 7:46am PDTWe never created as many chances as we should have with the players weve got.In the second half we were better and we kept our width better. We created more opportunities but it took a really good shot from Hourihane to get us back into it.Well be going for the win (on Tuesday). Thats how we want to approach games and how the players know I want to approach games.Villa went behind when Gayle drilled in from the edge of the area in the 16th minute after Glenn Whelans error gave him a clear run through.Dwight Gayle is sent off by referee Graham Scott (Nick Potts/PA)Jay Rodriguez had earlier hit the bar and Albion looked like holding on until the 75th minute when Hourihane netted from 20 yards.Just 202 seconds later Villa were ahead when Kieran Gibbs brought down Grealish in the box and Abraham netted his 26th goal of the season from the spot.Gayle, who was booked for time wasting, then received a second yellow card after making contact with Steer as he slid in to reach James Morrisons cross.He is now banned for Tuesdays second legand caretaker boss Jimmy Shan questioned referee Graham Scotts decisions.Its a new one on me if you have to jog and sprint to restart every time the ball goes out Hes got booked for allegedly time-wasting for the throw-ins. To my mind, every time the ball went out he had an intent of walking towards to the ball, he said.Its a new one on me if you have to jog and sprint to restart every time the ball goes out.Ive got no problem with the referee discussing that with him and trying to hurry him up, but not once did Dwight stand still, every time hes walking to take the throw-in.The second one, hes got every right to contest the ball. Its a fantastic delivery from James, great timing from Dwight and if he gets contact hes a two-goal hero. Hes obviously a big player for us, thats obviously a big frustration.By far the best rendition of Allez, Allez, Allez weve ever seen at Villa Park today. #AVFC pic.twitter.com/SEVaup7wxp Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 11, 2019He is a goal threat but gives you so much more, he is going to be a big blow (on Tuesday).Shan admitted Albion must approach the home leg on the front foot if they are going to overturn the deficit and reach Wembley.He added: Thats the approach were going to have to have. Maybe tactically we have to have a different approach.We sat deeper today, the game plan worked for large parts but we were undone with a shot from distance and a penalty.Its simple communication, when the ball gets squared (for the first goal), to get people in the right slots. Were frustrated with that one and the momentum swings with them.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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