After a promising early run in the Carabao Cup after wins over Burton (1-3) and Bristol City, this was a decidedly limp way to go out.
Whilst this fixture has no bearing on our excellent start to the Premier League season, it underlines the limitations of Villa’s strength in depth should injuries or suspensions take their toll.
Stoke were cautious but purposeful early on as Villa looked disjointed, as you might expect for a much changed starting XI.
With that said, there was plenty of quality on the pitch, both in terms of experience and value. Rarely though did Villa look cohesive going forward or safe at the back.
It was a night of miss-placed passes, wayward shots and errors strewn performances. Henri Lansbury, woeful. El Ghazi, painfully ineffective.
Guilbert, replaced by the arrival of Matty Cash, did nothing to suggest that the Forest mans acquisition was premature.
Keinan Davis also continues to be a question mark. Relentlessly strong and again showing moments of close control whilst holding the ball, was guilty of a glaring first half miss at the far post.
Stoke’s goal was a flashback to last season’s alarming inability to defend a corner. Three Villa shirts failed to stop a smart Vokes header, despite being crowded around the Stoke man. Neither Nakamba nor Guilbert come out of a rewatch of the goal particularly well.
VOKES GOAL
Stoke were buoyed by the opener and the game was almost decided with a second, but for Jed Steer making a good reaction save onto the cross-bar.
Villa will also be mindful of cover at centre-half with Kortney Hause going off with what looked like a groin injury. Bertrand Traore had a very quiet evening too.
It was, in short, a struggle to watch.
For some, the Carabao Cup is a distraction from the Premier League. However, the League Cup triumphs of the 90’s linger in the minds of many modern fan and last season’s Wembley final serves to illustrate the alluring nature of silverware to a football club.
Overall it was the manner of the exit from the competition that should frustrate us most, but it will a clash against Champions Liverpool this Sunday that now grabs our attention.
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Embed from Getty Images
Aston Villa 0-1 Stoke City
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Jed Steer
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Frederic Guilbert
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Neil Taylor
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Kortney Hause
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Ahmed Elmohamady
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Bertrand Traore
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Henri Lansbury
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Marvellous Nakamba
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Anwar El Ghazi
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Jacob Ramsay
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Keinan Davis
Well, all but exclusocely playing our second string was going to bite us in the rear at some point, but this was a poor performance with not many positives to take from it.
Dean Smith is one of those who fondly remembers the League Cup wins of the 90’s as well, and he’ll be livid with the performance. Win tonight and we would have been two wins from another Wembley appearance, three from a trophy and booking a place in European competition next season, and all the added attention that would bring.
Forget money, football is about winning trophies, and now we only have two left to play for this season, and one is (barring a Leicester-esque miracle) all but out of reach. The other – the FA Cup – is also a much more difficult ask.
All that said, this is going to be an extraordinary season for football in general.
The current environment is seeing players facing a difficult schedule, so squad rotation is going to be vital. It’s just unfortunate that our team couldn’t match the performance they put in last week.
I’m not going to dwell too much more on the result, nor am I going to rate the players this time out. Suffice to say I’d expect eleven changes on Sunday, and with the transfer deadline approaching, some of tonight’s players may have had their last opportunity to play their way into the team. We can only hope that resting our Premiership starting eleven will pay dividends at the weekend.
El Ghazi was our best player – he created that chance for Davis and had one great run and shot into the box. Lansbury, half a star? At least he passed the ball forwards – unlike Nakamba, Guilbert and Traore.
All a matter of opinion I guess. Lansbury wasted possession endlessly and was a passenger against a Championship side. Plus missed a free header from 3 yards out. Also, aside from one moment against Burton at the death, was v v poor. El Ghazi’s end product was woefully inconsistent – as we’ve come to expect as the norm. Tries hard at times, but guilty of running into dead ends, passing to no-one or….simply out of play.