Aston Villa returned to action in the Premier League by securing a 2-0 win over Wolves at Villa Park however, it was not a positive night for everyone associated with the hosts.
Aston Villa secured a much-needed win at Villa Park against Wolves, winning 2-0 on Saturday night to reclaim their place in fourth.
Earlier in the day, Tottenham momentarily leapfrogged the Villans to place themselves in the top four however, the three points against the Old Gold soon reshuffled the table.
Unai Emery will be delighted to have seen his team return to Premier League action so impressively after the international break although, it wasn’t a memorable evening for all involved.
Alex Moreno had a poor night against Wolves
On a night that saw Moussa Diaby thrive and Ezri Konsa claim his first Premier League goal, it was Alex Moreno who had a contrasting evening to his teammates.
The £13m Spaniard had a particularly poor first half, seeing his display branded as a “stinker” by journalist Jacob Tanswell, as well as having his approach to play picked apart by Sky Sports commentator, Andy Hinchliffe.
One of the issues with the left-back’s performance against Wolves was his inability to produce the final ball, completing none of his attempted four crosses, seeing Hinchcliffe react to his distribution.
“He gets it all wrong in the end.”
“Ollie Watkins deserves much better service than that. Once again the cross from Moreno is wildly overhit.”
Aside from his poor crossing, Moreno failed to impose himself defensively either, winning just 33% of his duels and losing possession seven times, added to by completing none of his dribble attempts to round off a hard day for the 30-year-old, via Sofascore.
Unai Emery must now make a decision on Alex Moreno
After 63 minutes, it seemed as though the manager had seen enough and changed his left side entirely, swapping Moreno for Lucas Digne to encourage a refreshed outlet in the wide channels.
In the 27 minutes that the Frenchman featured, he recorded one duel win, completed one key pass and 100% of his long balls, suggesting that Emery now has a decision to make ahead of Villa’s battle with Manchester City.
After the game, Emery touched on Moreno’s dreary display, admitting that the Spaniard “wasn’t clinical”, courtesy of BirminghamLive.
“The crosses he did weren’t finding the good solutions for our strikers. He wasn’t clinical crossing.”
The most prominent factor of Moreno’s performance was that it only highlighted that the 30-year-old isn’t, at the moment, capable of giving Emery what he wants from his fullbacks.
Without being able to add something to the attack, the left-back’s role in the manager’s set-up becomes almost redundant, paving the way for Digne to rediscover his place in the starting XI.
