Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara believes that Spurs would have been “really comfortable” if Jack Grealish was on their team on Sunday afternoon.
Jose Mourinho’s side battled to a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa at Villa Park thanks to a late Heung-min Son effort.
O’Hara, who was speaking on The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast show on talkSPORT on Monday morning, feels that Grealish would have made life easier for the visitors.
I really liked him. He brought everyone into play. He could have had two or three goals and he was by far the best player on the pitch.
If you looked at the way Tottenham played and you had Grealish in that team, they would have been really really comfortable.
READ ASTON VILLA VERDICT
O’Hara is right about Grealish being the best player on the pitch because the Englishman made five key passes in the encounter, more than anyone else for both teams (WhoScored).
However, whether he would have made Tottenham more comfortable is another question.
Grealish is a player who loves to keep the ball at his feet and make things happen, shown by his 70 touches of the ball, whilst Spurs were always looking to play on the counter-attack in wide areas via long passes from defence.
This is proven by the fact that Villa had 54% possession compared to Tottenham’s 46%, suggesting that the visitors were happy to soak up the pressure and hit on the break.
Spurs also have Dele Alli who plays a very similar role to Grealish and he only had 41 touches of the ball in 82 minutes, which could mean that if Grealish was playing for Spurs, he would not be as involved in play as he is for Villa.
