The Grealish-Hourihane switcheroo

Aston Villa’s summer spending spree reminded viewers of a certain Fulham. Last season the Cottagers shipped in 15 new players before the season started. It didn’t help much as they finished 19th ahead of only Huddersfield.

Villa’s transfers were compared to those of Fulham and the idea that multiple new faces would take time to settle in circulated in the air. In reality, it has been far away from that. New faces like the Brazilian Wesley and experienced goal-keeper Tom Heaton have impressed for the Villains.

In addition to the new faces it was Villa’s usual suspects John McGinn and Jack Grealish playing as 8s in a 4–3–3 with two wingers upfront flanking Wesley. Grealish and McGinn’s all round technical ability and late runs in the box makes them the perfect players for this position with each player playing with his dominant foot inside the field — Grealish on the left and McGinn on the right — just as it is in the sport of Handball.

Villa’s wingers whether Trezeguet, Jota or Anwar El Ghazi were producing inconsistent performances and in the Burnley game at Villa Park Dean Smith decided to start Conor Hourihane, pushing Grealish out wide. The 4–3–3 was still intact but now in addition of another player in midfield to enable Grealish to play somewhat of a free role. Drifting in from the left wing, Grealish pops up unmarked to help with the build up.

It’s not only that. As Grealish shifts inside, Hourihane attacks the space out wide. The interchange of positions between the two of them has been a key element in Villa’s recent positive results.

There were signs from the first time Dean Smith tried this out. In the example below, Grealish moved inside from the left wing attracting pressure from the opponent as Hourihane moved out to the wing.

Grealish’s patience with the ball, attracted the Burnley players leaving Hourihane free.

He then played in Hourihane who was fizzed it into the box.

McGinn scored from Hourihane’s cross, but the goal was ruled out by VAR as Hourihane was marginally offside. Despite it being ruled out, it showed signs of things to come.

In the game after — against Norwich, this constant switching between the duo freed Grealish to dictate the game, while also putting Hourihane in good positions inside the box.

Villa’s 2nd goal illustrates this perfectly. As Matt Targett is starting the offensive transition, Grealish drops deep to collect with Hourihane bursting forward to attack the space.

Targett then goes out wide to occupy the wing area as Hourihane continues his run forward.

When Grealish opts to play Targett out wide, Hourihane rushs into the space between Max Aarons and Ibrahim Amadou to present himself as a passing option.

Targett sees the run and plays the ball into Hourihane’s path.

Following that, Hourihane crosses it inside the six yard box for Wesley to double his and Villa’s tally.

The runs from Hourihane also stretches the opponent’s defensive line to allow McGinn and Grealish to operate.

Aarons and Amadou sprinted back rapidly to prevent a pass into the space for Hourihane who demanded the ball more than one time. This also frees Wesley as seen below

El Ghazi decides to play Grealish who’s in a good position to shoot, but his strike edges the far post. Other than attracting the Norwich players, Hourihane’s run allowed Grealish to drift inside an be in a good shooting position.

The Newcastle game, which was Villa’s only win in November had the marks of both players. Hourihane scored and assisted the goals, whilst Grealish was arguably the game’s best player.

In the build up to the foul which resulted in the 2nd goal, Grealish drops to collect the ball as Hourihane prepares himself to move wide.

Hourihane keeps himself by the touchline, pining DeAndre Yedlin in the process. This allows Grealish to drift inside only to be stopped by Federico Fernandez. The free-kick resulted in the second goal which was assisted by Hourihane.

There were other examples throughout the game. Here, Grealish drifts inside to attack as Hourihane — out of the screen — is keeping his width to protect the left wing and Targett.

Grealish combines with Wesley and cuts through the Newcastle defence.

Everything was perfect except for Grealish’s last pass which was poor, allowing Jetro Willems to intercept the ball.

Similar to the Burnley chance mentioned above. It was again and untracked run by Hourihane behind the defence after Grealish drifted inside.

Grealish alert of the run plays the ball for Hourihane between Miguel Almiron and Yedlin.

Hourihane doesn’t hesitate and fizzes a low cross inside the box.

Wesley should have made it 3–0 but he shot it straight at Martin Dubravka.

Against Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was probably aware of the threat. Thus, instructing Andreas Pereira to drop to the right back area to support Aaron Wan-Bissaka — this also was to keep Daniel James upfront as an option for counter attacks.

The thing is though, that the switch goes both ways. Hourihane going wide vacates space in midfield for Grealish to attack, as much as Grealish leaving space wide or in the left channel for Hourihane to attack.

In the snippet below both are seen in their starting positions, Grealish wide and Hourihane in midfield.

After Wesley wins the header, Grealish collects it and drops back while Hourihane sneaks into the space between Wan-Bissaka and Victor Lindelof.

Grealish then plays the ball across the field for McGinn.

The ball reaches Trezeguet out wide on the right and with Grealish unmarked he makes a late run inside the box.

Trezeguet spots Grealish, and makes an excellent pass for the Villa captain who should have scored to make it 2–1.

The addition of Hourihane added consistency in terms of performance, higher technical ability, and better passing. However, the most important factor is that it freed Grealish while not damaging the structure.

The interchanging of positions makes the duo unpredictable, and it’s interesting to see if the partners in crime can lift the Villains up the table.