Jack Grealish was the talk of Twitter on Monday night, as the Aston Villa captain inspired his boyhood club to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Newcastle.
If the tweets are anything to go by, Gareth Southgate should probably make his way down to Villa Park more often in the coming months and save a spot in his Euro 2020 squad for Monday’s man of the match.
From a Newcastle perspective, it was a night when the pragmatism backfired and the woes of their attacking players continued.
Steve Bruce has always seemed like a likeable and generous guy, but gifting the opposition seemingly unlimited access to the ball seems a little excessive. Villa were allowed more than 70% possession during the opening half hour, but lacked the killer pass to break through the Magpies’ stubborn defence.
When you defend as deep as Newcastle did, you need your offensive players to do the business on the counter attack. Sadly for Bruce, Miguel Almiron is lacking the confidence to even control the ball at this point and completely wasted Allan Saint-Maximin’s lung-busting run from his own half.
Joelinton, meanwhile, found himself isolated far too often yet again. On the odd occasion that the Brazilian was able to hold the ball up, his teammates were far too slow in joining him and the attacks quickly broke down.
Villa made their dominance count in the first half’s final 15 minutes, Newcastle conceding two sloppy free kicks and Conor Hourihane making them pay – twice. The Irishman curled the first sublimely around the wall for 1-0, and then delivered a peach of a cross for Anwar El Ghazi to score.
Jack Grealish was at the heart of the build up, drawing the Magpies’ defence into clumsy challenges through his pace and trickery.
Steve Bruce must have given his players a rocket at half time and they started the second half with greater energy and intent. The revival was short-lived, and Villa began to dominate yet again. Passive attacking play resumed and the Magpies once again sat far too deep.
They might have improved slightly after the interval, but Newcastle fans were right to question the tactics employed.
With clear-cut chances at a premium in the second half, it was the perfect opportunity for the Jack Grealish appreciation society to grab some valuable air time – and rightly so. The captain had pulled the strings all night, cutting in from the left flank to terrorise Newcastle.
Cries for an England call up are far from misplaced, especially on the back of a performance like this.