Aston Villa Dud who Lost Possession 12x was worse than Diaby vs Brentford
This £69k-a-week stud let Aston Villa down in their away victory over Brentford, winning 2-1.
Aston Villa is now top of the Premier League table at Villa Park, having amassed 24 points out of a possible 24. On the road, though, the Midlands team is sixth.
The Villans’ performance at Brentford on the road demonstrated once more why Unai Emery’s team needs to get better on the road if they hope to fight for the championship this year. Despite falling behind by a goal in the first half thanks to Keane Lewis-Potter, Villa was able to win all three points in the game, however their performance was quite lackluster.
A Ben Mee red card in the game was certainly the catalyst behind the win but Emery may be left disheartened by displays from certain individuals, including one player in particular.
Moussa Diaby’s game in numbers
Club record £52m signing Moussa Diaby started on Thursday as Aston Villa earned a 1-1 draw against Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa League which was enough to see Emery’s side finish top of the group while qualifying for the knockout phase.
The Frenchman didn’t set the world alight in Bosnia, earning a 6/10 player rating via Birmingham Live, but was rewarded with another start at the Gtech Community Stadium today.
However, the attacker struggled to get into the match and didn’t create a single opportunity during the game for star striker and top goalscorer Ollie Watkins who recorded merely one shot on goal during Diaby’s time on the pitch.
Additionally, Diaby whipped three balls into the penalty area during the game but only one was successful, while the France international also lost 60% of his ground duels
With 25 minutes remaining of normal time, Diaby was taken off by the manager but was not the worst player to be taken off at the same time in London.
Matty Cash’s performance in numbers
Matty Cash being substituted in the 65th minute earlier this afternoon was arguably more of a catalyst behind Villa’s comeback win than Mee being sent off.
After struggling throughout the game, the Poland international was eventually substituted by Leon Bailey, who came on the pitch 12 minutes after Alex Moreno did to set up the equalizer.
Cash completed just 73% of his 22 passes during the game and missed a crucial opportunity at the far post early in the first half, which resulted in an xG of 0.17.
Additionally, according to FotMob, Cash lost 60% of his six ground duels against Saman Ghoddos, who completed more tackles than any other player during the game, and made just one pass into the final third despite his team having 68% of the ball.
Furthermore, Cash had only 34 touches of the ball against the Bees, having played more than an hour’s worth of football and lost possession 12 times.
However, according to Sofascore, goalie Emiliano Martinez had 38 touches, which highlights the full-back’s lack of influence on the game.
Statistically speaking, Cash was among the poorest players on the field during Villa’s 2-1 triumph, so it’s a miracle the Midlands team was able to win when he was substituted in the second half.
He won’t want to recall this game anytime soon because the stud was worse than Diaby and the head coach rightfully benched him when Villa was behind 1-0.
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