Tim Sherwood defends Aston Villa stance over Jack Grealish
Friday 2 October 2015 12:19, UK
Tim Sherwood has defended his decision to ask for Jack Grealish to be left out of the latest England squad.
The Villa midfielder made the headlines recently by pledging his allegiance to England having featured for the Republic of Ireland at junior age group levels.
Roy Hodgson was keen on Grealish training with the England squad during the forthcoming international break, but Villa wanted to keep him at the club to work on his match fitness.
Sherwood said: "Jack missed the whole of pre-season. During the last international break, he was injured. We'll use this break for him to train and work hard.
"Jack's made the decision because he feels it's the country of his birth and it's right for him. I heard about Jack's decision via Twitter. I wouldn't have had a bet either way on what he was going to do. I'm happy to go along with it - it's his decision to make.
"He's not playing for England unless he's playing well for Villa. That's the same for every player."
Villa have not won since the opening day of the season at Bournemouth, but Sherwood says the attitude of the players has been excellent in training and it is up to him to get them to transfer that onto the pitch.
He said: "The players are all ears, they look you in the eye and they want to continue to develop. But it's all right doing it in training. There's a lot of good training-ground footballers.
"When the pressure's on you've got to be able to apply yourself on the pitch when the expectancy of a very big club is on your shoulders. That remains to be seen. I'm going to have to learn about those individuals as we go along. But they need to.
"I know the job comes with pressure - that's part and parcel of it. I'll stand up as manager and the players must stand up as players. It's my job with the group of players we have to make sure we get up the league."
Asked about the prospect of another relegation battle, he says: "It's too early to put us in a relegation battle. It's not what we wanted for the return of points. We're a young group, a new group. I'm confident we'll be okay."
