The Villa Match Zone

“A great day out” – thoughts on Villa’s Norwich demolition

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Forum regular Tierney shares thoughts on Villa’s demolition of Norwich.


A great day out and a tremendous performance. As mentioned by others, at times, particularly in the first half, the game was so open and there could have been a fair few more goals. I enjoyed it as a whole spectacle and it was great seeing us being so clinical and seizing on opportunities that we forced Norwich to create.

It’s the first time I’ve seen some of the players “live”, but I fully understand the hype around Nakamba. Imperious and doing all the unfashionable work. His positional discipline allows the full-backs to go flying up the pitch. I honestly could see him being like Kanté was for Leicester.

Wesley seemed a striker to me, what’s the fuss been about?! Joking aside, he did a great job, holding the ball up, linking players and getting himself around the six-yard box repeatedly. He even doggedly chased back on a number of occasions and won the ball for us deep in our half.

I was delighted he got the goals he did and the penalty is a very good save by McGovern. It is low and hard so he’s had to get down well to make the save. A few around me were in agreement that him claiming a hat-trick would’ve been the cherry on the cake.

Great work by the fans in supporting him though, “Wesley’s on fire” and you have to agree; 1 in 2 record at the moment and if he gets in the 12-18 bracket this season, it’ll go a long way to keeping us up.

The involvement of Hourihane to suit our style as well is inspired by Deano. He knows how to play the midfield three but likewise wants to break defensive lines and get in the box. I’d say he probably, after Wesley, was our player most often in the opposition box. This allows Jack to drop off in the pockets of space outside the box, be creative and give the full-back a decision.

Ultimately, the two were interchanging throughout, obviously something that doesn’t happen if another winger is there but it really works to Jack’s strengths I believe. A good goal too, there have been a couple of times in recent weeks he’s been annoyed be didn’t get that cut-back and he showed everyone why.

It was a shame to see Engels go off, he really is imperious and, arguably controversial, I’d say better than Mings. Glad to hear he isn’t seriously injured. Talking of Mings, despite what Heaton may have said, he is most culpable for the loss of the clean sheet which was a real shame. There was no need to volley the ball back to Heaton and to then loop it up and undercook it – you could see what was about to occur.

I also thought we were got at down our right too easily on a number of occasions in the second half. Whether this was the introduction of Roberts for them or us taking the foot off as the game progressed; potentially it was a combination of both. At times you see El Ghazi (and then Trezeguet) were both late to react in tracking back, whilst I’m not sure how Guilbert felt having to follow wingers inside. Definitely something to look at for Deano.

But overall, it was a fantastic day out. Norwich fans I spoke to afterwards didn’t make excuses and applauded the performance too. You could see our performances have improved game-by-game since the last international break, long may we continue to compete against all in the league.

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