After Liverpool inflicted a narrow loss on Aston Villa on Saturday, Steven Gerrard took his side to East Anglia on Tuesday night to take on Norwich looking for a return to winning ways.
The Canaries, who started the season poorly, have improved under the former Villa gaffer Dean Smith and hoped to take a huge step towards safety against the Villans. Similarly to Villa, City had been extremely unlucky to lose to Manchester United 1-0 on the weekend, with a dubious penalty settling the match in favour of the Red Devils.
Dean Smith commented in a pre-match interview that he had “no point to prove,” in his first game against the side that he led to promotion and subsequently kept up, whilst Gerrard also played down the reunion of Emi Buendía with his former club.
Emi Starts on Return to Norfolk
With both Norwich and Villa ravaged by injuries and illness, here is how the two sides lined
up at Carrow Road:
For the hosts, skipper Grant Hanley did not recover in time after an injury sustained against Manchester United, whilst Lukas Rupp and Josh Sargent also dropped out of the squad with unspecified injuries.
Ben Gibson, Jacob Sørensen and Todd Cantwell replaced the injured trio, whilst full-back Brandon Williams came in for Dimitris Giannoulis, after missing Saturday’s game against his parent club.
Villa had suffered an almighty blow this week with the news that the in-form Marvelous Nakamba would be out for a number of months with a knee injury, whilst a number of Covid cases had also blighted the side’s pre-match preparation.
The only change to Villa’s starting line-up saw Buendía start in place of Nakamba, but the bench took on a fresh look with a number of youngsters selected.
Scintillating Start
If both teams had experienced a disrupted build-up to Tuesday’s fixture, it was the away side who looked more fresh and raring to go as they set about their work from the off.
McGinn set the tempo as Villa began to produce some intricate and incisive passing moves, and the Scottish midfielder went close after eight minutes with a dipping effort, which Tim Krul tipped over.
Under Gerrard, Villa have often had less possession than their opponents, but in the opening exchanges, the boys in claret and blue dominated the ball and pulled the home side around with the two Matt’s out wide causing the Norwich full back’s a real headache.
If Villa’s right and left back were showing their attacking prowess, the men in the middle were impressive too. A criticism of Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa from some quarters has been their hesitancy at times in stepping out from the back and playing progressive passes, but the pair were the source of many great Villa moves.
Ramsey Breaks Through
For all Villa’s dominance, Norwich’s makeshift defence was standing firm. That was until the 34th minute. Ollie Watkins, who became a handful when he dropped deep to link up play, received the ball from Jacob Ramsey and returned the one-two.
With open grass ahead of him, but not much support, the youngster set off on a driving run. As he approached the penalty area, Ramsey only had one thing on his mind. On his weaker side, the boy from Great Barr unleashed a powerful strike that fizzed past Tim Krul.
Whilst the pundits and interviewer after the game compared the moment to a Steven Gerrard special, the goal perhaps more accurately evoked memories of Gerrard’s assistant Gary McAllister. The former Leeds United man would certainly have been proud of such a powerful run and rasping finish.
At the break Villa led and deservedly so. The 1-0 scoreline at half-time did not quite reflect just how comfortable things had been for the away side, with rare Norwich attacks comfortably snuffed out by the impressive Mings and his defence.
A Lack of Cutting Edge
The Canaries returned to the field for the second half with a renewed belief, although as they have shown many times this season they just seem to lack that quality to really hurt sides.
This was no more apparent than when Ashley Young gifted the ball to Kenny McLean who raced in on goal. He could have attempted to take it around Martínez or try and lift it over the Villa goalie, and in the end did neither as he poked the ball hopelessly wide.
Such a gilt-edged opportunity was a rarity for Dean Smith’s men, despite a much improved second half showing and when you are down at the bottom such chances cannot be spurned.
A Villa attack was then brought to an abrupt end after Max Aarons suffered what appeared to be a head injury. The replays showed that the full-back had been struck on the arm and was holding his head to avoid the awarding of a free-kick. Unsurprisingly, the youngster declined treatment and was able to continue.
Danny Ings, who is just finding his feet following an injury lay-off then replaced Ashley Young, as Watkins shifted wide to accommodate his fellow forward. There are growing concerns over whether Steven Gerrard should try to fit both of these talented strikers in the team even if it compromises his style and vision for this side and for 15 minutes after the former Saints man arrived on the scene, Villa’s fine football became rather disjointed.
The hosts continued to huff and puff, but Villa, and in particular the skipper Tyrone Mings, had an answer for every question the Norwich frontmen asked of them.
‘OW’ Inflicts Pain on City
A one goal lead is always precarious, and so the magnificent travelling Villa fans will have felt a great sense of relief when the visitors sealed the points late on.
Carney Chukwuemeka, who had replaced the lively Emi Buendía, found the ball in the Norwich half before skating past the lunging Billy Gilmour. As he entered the box, he deftly switched the ball across his body to create room for the cross before firing the ball towards the back post. Ollie Watkins, as he so often is, was free at the back post to flick the ball into an empty net, before revealing his new ‘OW’ celebration, which I am certain we will be seeing with great regularity this season.
If questions have been asked about how Ings and Watkins can work together, this goal showed the benefits of finding room for both in the Villa set-up. For defenders, marking one of these clinical and intelligent forwards is difficult enough, but when you have one striker peeling off towards the penalty spot ready to side foot a cut-back into an unguarded net, whilst the other is ready at the back stick for the tap in, defenders do not stand much of a chance.
And what a moment too for the prodigious Carney Chukwumeka. The young midfielder has been the subject of much speculation regarding his contract situation, with a host of European clubs lurking. Gerrard has made it clear that the best place for the youngster to develop is under his stewardship at Villa Park.
He is the latest in what could become a very long list of talent academy graduates to star for the first team, and for the goal his ball carrying and crucially his ability to make the right decision in picking out the killer pass proved that he is absolutely ready to produce at the highest level for the Villa.
Focus Shifts to Clarets
This win was a professional display, with periods of scintillating movement both on and off the ball, and most pleasing of all saw Villa’s exciting young stars sparkle brightly. The defence also seems to be rediscovering the solidity that was such a building-block for the success in the first half of last season, and the two full-backs look defensively sound and dangerous going forward in equal measures. For Norwich, Smith has a monumental job to keep the Canaries in the league, especially with the lack of firepower up front.
After a fourth win in six, Villa face another side currently sat in the bottom three on Saturday in Sean Dyche’s Burnley at Villa Park. With a notoriously tough fixture lying in wait then, Gerrard will hope that his players have come away from Carrow Road unscathed and that those who have tested positive for Covid are on the mend.
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One Response
Hi Luke
I’m a hard nosed villa fanatic . I’m like a stick of rock open me up and you’ll see claret and blue running through my veins .
NOW THEN DOWN TO BUSINESS
AS REGARDS TO CARNY CHUCKS
IF HE DOESNT WANT TO PLAY FOR ASTON VILLA FC . THEN HE CAN FUCK OFF WITH HIS AGENT TO WHEREVER HE LIKES.
I ONLY WANT PLAYERS WHO WANT TO WEAR OUR FAMOUS COLOURS WITH PRIDE .
AND IF YOU THINK STEVEN GERRARD IS GOING TO HELD TO RANSOM . DREAM ON.I DONT CARE IF IT WAS YOUNG LIONEL MESSI MY ANSWER IS STILL THE SAME. FUCK OFF AND DO ONE .I DONT WANT NOBODY AT MY FOOTBALL CLUB WHO DOESNT WANT TO PLAY FOR US. THERES OTHERS IN THE ACADEMY.TO COME THROUGH WITH THE DESIRE TO REPRESENT OUR ICONIC FOOTBALL CLUB. IF WE CAN SELL JACK THE LAD . THEN CARNY CHUCKS IS NO PROBLEM
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