Dean Smith revealed his players grew fed up of being labelled a one-man team during Jack Grealish’s time at Aston Villa and backed them to become a better side without him.
Villa begin life without Grealish at Watford on Saturday following his £100million move to Manchester City, which Villa tried to soften by signing Emiliano Buendia, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings to replace him.
Smith accepts that Villa relied too much on Grealish in their first two seasons back in the Premier League but said the intense focus on the playmaker had hurt other squad members.