What We Learned About Aston Villa Last Night Against Norwich City
Soccer Football - Championship - Aston Villa v Swansea City - Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain - October 20, 2018 Aston Villa's Tammy Abraham celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images/Alan Walter EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Tim Wykes on what we learned from last night. Norwich City 2-1 Aston Villa
What did we learn last night??
1. For a 28-year-old experienced keeper, Nyland makes some terrible decisions.
2. The players are working hard to execute Smiths plan, but it will take time.
3. Chessy and Axel could be a very strong partnership.
4. We miss McGinn
5. In the current potential squad only Keenan Davis is capable of replacing Tammy and may well be better at this system.
6. El Ghazi needs some games, drop him to 23’s and promote O’Hare who has been brilliant for well over a year now, in the games where Grealish isn’t at it, like this one (apart from the last 10 mins), O’Hare is a great option and would provide genuine competition for Grealish.
7. We are a few months away from being able to play Hogan, we have to be able to retain and control the ball better.
8. Taylor tries hard and certainly isn’t the worst.
9. Nothing really to split Whelan and BB, what a great option to have.
10. Terry’s influence is immediately evident in Axel, made much better decisions, stayed on his feet, used his pace and physicality well.
11. Taylor being small physically small, invites teams to hit the back post from their left side, it causes us problems.
12. For all the talk about creative players, we are creating very few chances in open play.
Options/weaknesses:
- No genuine option at GK = Problem
- No genuine option at LB = Problem
- We have limited cover at CB = Issue
- CDM is fine
- Wingers should be fine
- CM is strong, but we should sell Lansbury and promote O’Hare
- CF is weak for this system. If we get Davis back fit, might be ok. Hogan is for next season if at all, JK is not equipped to play in this type of team unless he changes significantly. Players I would want are Gestede (I know, but he would suit this). Woods(Great, old fashioned No9) = Problem
To summarise:
Need another keeper
Need a LB
Need a CB if they are a significant upgrade.
Need a CF that can play this system.
Need to promote O’Hare and maybe a couple of others.
UTV
With thanks to Tim Wykes