Aston Villa secured a point on Saturday in our goalless draw with Leicester City, ending a four-game losing streak in the Premier League.
After a bitterly disappointing run of form, it was crucial that Villa produced something this weekend to give ourselves a lift and to build on that in the remaining games.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Leicester: Solid defence but Bailey disappoints
While we struggled to create and look a threat in attack, we certainly showed an improvement from a defensive perspective and battled hard to keep a clean sheet and in turn secure a share of the spoils.
With that in mind, there were certainly positives for Steven Gerrard to take away from the game, but naturally, he will be fully aware that there are plenty of aspects of the performance to work on moving forward too if we’re to string some wins together and end on a high note.
Crucial defensive shift, clean sheet
After conceding nine goals in those four defeats, it was imperative that we rediscovered some steeliness and solidity in defence to give ourselves a foundation to go out and get a result.
We produced that on Saturday with the entire team working hard out of possession to make it difficult for Leicester, and so that was a big positive from the performance.
That’s 10 clean sheets for the season, and it’s crucial that we continue to add to that number now if we’re to put together a run of wins.
Nakamba comeback a welcome boost
We’ve missed Marvelous Nakamba’s presence in midfield since his knee injury sidelined him last year, and so it was great to see him get back on the pitch and get some minutes under his belt.
It will be a gradual process to get him back to full fitness and in a position where he’s in contention to start a game again, but this was an important step on that path and there’s no doubt that we could do with the defensive protection that he provides in front of the backline.
Time will tell just how much of an influential role he’ll play in the remaining games, but Gerrard will be pleased to have him at his disposal again.
Iroegbunam plays himself into contention
An excellent 22 minutes for Tim Iroegbunam has potentially helped him play his way into more minutes and a bigger role in the coming weeks.
As seen in the stats in the tweet below, the youngster put on a composed and mature performance in the latter stages and proved why there is a lot of hope and expectation about what he can provide us with if he fulfils his potential.
There is every reason to argue in favour of him being given a more prominent role ahead of Douglas Luiz in that No.6 role to have a really good look at him now ahead of next season, but time will tell if Gerrard thinks he’s ready for that.
Minutes played: 22
Passing accuracy: 75%
Duels/won: 4/4
Recoveries/opposition half: 3/3⭐️ Hope to see Tim Iroegbunam get more game time in the coming weeks…👊🏽🟣🔵#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/IK52hR9Pm9
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) April 24, 2022
Buendia creativity needed
Both Leon Bailey and Philippe Coutinho struggled to produce anything of real quality in this game and that was a major contributing factor in why he didn’t pose much of a threat to Leicester.
Almost immediately after coming on, Emiliano Buendia gave us a spark in the final third and it would be surprising he doesn’t get a bigger role next weekend.
The Argentine needs to be shown more faith and given a real run of games to help him find his best form, and especially with others struggling to produce anything, he needs to start more games.
Result Villa must now build on
While it wasn’t a top performance by any means, it’s a solid foundation on which Villa can now build on moving forward.
It stops the run of defeats, gives the defence in particular a lift with the clean sheet, and builds confidence in the entire team that we can kick on and start climbing the table.
Gerrard’s focus for months now has been just that, to then set up a strong pre-season and attack next season with real confidence in the group coupled with reinforcements. Against a tough, quality Leicester side, this was a battling and deserved point, and it will hopefully lead to more positive outcomes.
