Birmingham City suffered defeat against arch-rivals Aston Villa on Sunday, handing a dent to the Blues hopes of entering the fight for a spot in the playoffs.
Garry Monk’s side took a first-half lead but a quickfire brace prior to the interval left Villa with the advantage, with the home side building upon that in the second period to emerge as 4-2 victors at Villa Park.
Despite the defeat, which is Birmingham’s second in three matches, there were positives to take from the performance and many fans on social media were impressed by Maikel Kieftenbeld’s crunching tackle on Jack Grealish late in the game.
England starlet Grealish has earned a reputation for going to ground too easily in the Championship this season, making him a pantomime villain in the eyes of rival fans, but there was definitely enough contact from Kieftenbeld to send him flying.
Some fans took to social media to have their say on the incident and we have gathered some of the best reactions below.
Grealish looks like the type of player who would go down if a feather touched him.
— JR (@thejonreeve) November 25, 2018
@KiezLufc love it
— Elliot Bower (@BowerElliot) November 25, 2018
He reminds me a little bit of yacob a few years back. The guy is a proper old fashioned stopper.
— Luke Stokes (@lukestokes84) November 25, 2018
FFS. Is he a gymnast or a footballer?
— Novichok for Chelski (@kevhancock) November 26, 2018
I could watch that all day
— 2Steps (@2STEPSHURLEY) November 26, 2018
Kieftenbeld 2-0 Grealish
— Jaquob Crooke (@JaquobC) November 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/EllAlbion/status/1066690666162544645
https://twitter.com/kei_city/status/1066663809954209792