Aston Villa secured a dramatic late 1-0 win over Zrinjski in our Europa Conference League clash, with John McGinn scoring in added time.
Villa dominated the game with 70 percent possession and a total of 27 shots at goal, but despite that sustained pressure particularly in the second half, we couldn’t find a way through.
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To their credit, there was heroic defending from the visitors, but it was a wasteful performance from Villa as it looked as though it might not be our night. Fortunately, McGinn headed home Matty Cash’s cross deep into injury time to ensure we put our first points on the board in Europe.
It was a crucial win having lost our opener, and while it continues to build momentum heading into our encounter with Wolves in the Premier League on Sunday, it hopefully also lessens the pressure on us as we look to advance out of Group E.
Aston Villa player ratings vs Zrinjski:
Emiliano Martinez, 8 – Didn’t have much to do as we controlled the game and didn’t allow Zrinjski to threaten, but he produced a superb early save to keep it goalless. As is often the case, that was his decisive impact where he stepped up and delivered in a big moment as if that had gone in, the game could have been stretched and completely different.
Ezri Konsa, 7 – Shifted across to right-back in the first half as he continues to show his versatility, and yet he still looked assured in possession while showing great physicality and speed to nullify Zrinjski’s attacks down that side.
Diego Carlos, 6.5 – Good to see him back after injury, and he defended well when needed as he was physical and no-nonsense. Accurate with his distribution for the most part, but will be disappointed he didn’t do better with some goalscoring opportunities.
Clement Lenglet, 6.5 – Much better shift compared to what we saw in Warsaw. Didn’t have too much defending to do, but was composed and on point with his passing to help build our play out from the back.
Lucas Digne, 7 – Did well to stretch the pitch and give us an attacking outlet down the left flank in the first half. Seemed to be a constant threat so unclear why he was replaced at half-time, perhaps had more to do with his heavy workload so far this season.
John McGinn, 7.5 – Continued to drive Villa forward even after shifting around our midfield. Scored the all-important winning goal, doing brilliantly to break into the box and nod home Cash’s delivery. Decisive.
Leander Dendoncker, 6 – Tidy in possession, but it was all a little bit too safe and slow. Shielded the backline with his presence and positional awareness, but in a game we dominated, needed more quality to help our rhythm and break them down.
Youri Tielemans, 6 – Still struggling to show his form from pre-season. Sloppy with his passing at times and unsure of himself it seems on the ball, while he had a couple of efforts from distance that were wayward. Needs to be better in giving us that sense of control and rhythm when Douglas Luiz isn’t on the pitch.
Nicolo Zaniolo, 6.5 – Always trying to make something happen and unlock the defence. Saw a couple of attempts denied, including a superb bicycle kick, but he just needs that bit of luck to go his way to get him up and running in front of goal.
Leon Bailey, 6 – Showed good trickery and skill on the ball at times, but lacked a decisive end product that we needed to find a breakthrough earlier. Switched flanks and his ability to stretch the pitch and run at defenders is crucial, but just needs to make a bigger final impact.
Jhon Duran, 6 – Did really well at times to hold up play and use his physicality to hold off defenders to get a shot off. Did well to link our play up and get others involved too before coming off at the break.
Substitutes:
Matty Cash, 7.5 – Injected energy and good wide play after coming on to give us more intensity and urgency in attack, and provided the delivery for McGinn’s winner.
Ollie Watkins, 6 – Couldn’t really have the level of impact that he wanted with Zrinjski defending deep and in numbers. Did offer a different threat to Duran though which created space for others to exploit.
Douglas Luiz, 7 – Classy as always with his positional awareness and distribution, as he came on and immediately started to control proceedings.
Bertrand Traore, N/A
