Aston Villa threw away a 2-0 lead at home to Wolves on Saturday as we ended up empty-handed after falling to a 3-2 defeat.
Goals from Danny Ings and John McGinn put us in complete control, but with 10 minutes remaining, the visitors scored three without reply to secure the victory.
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It was a bitterly disappointing and frustrating end to what was looking like a positive outing for Villa, and so while there were good aspects of the performance, they were ultimately overshadowed by the unforgivable collapse in the latter stages.
Villa player ratings vs Wolves:
Emiliano Martinez, 6 – Got the nod despite his late return from international duty. Had very little to do over the course of the game, while poor defending in front of him and an unfortunate deflection led to three Wolves goals.
Ezri Konsa, 6 – Struggled at times to deal with Adama Traore in particular, but out of the back three, he was the only one to offer a calm head and solidity in defence.
Axel Tuanzebe, 4.5 – A poor outing on his return to the starting XI with Kortney Hause left out in a questionable decision. Failed to offer a solid base in the heart of the backline.
Tyrone Mings, 5 – Too many wild attempts at clearances and was part of the problem as the defence collapsed in the last 10 minutes as we fell apart defensively. Made many key interventions too, but not good enough from him or the entire defensive unit.
Matty Cash, 7 – A strong performance as he was tireless getting up and down the right flank. Defended well when called into action and offered a real attacking threat at times too. Lacked composure in front of goal in dangerous situations though.
Douglas Luiz, 7 – Excellent shift from the Brazilian considering his dash back to Birmingham from South America for this one. Eventually replaced in the second half, but only after being a key part in midfield.
John McGinn, 8 – Didn’t deserve to be on the losing side today. Put in a battling and sharp display in the heart of the midfield and grabbed himself a goal too. A brilliant performance.
Matt Targett, 5 – Another struggle for him in this one as he couldn’t get to grips with Wolves defensively, albeit after making a bright start to the game. Most of our good play in an attacking sense came down the opposite flank.
Emiliano Buendia, 6.5 – A much-improve performance from the Argentine as he was really effective at finding pockets of space and creating for us. His work-rate was also excellent as he consistently tracked back and pressed in an all-round good display.
Danny Ings, 6.5 – Produced a fine finish for his goal and worked hard throughout, but the system and partnership up front isn’t firing yet and it’s running out of time to click into place to warrant persisting with it.
Ollie Watkins, 6 – Similarly to Ings, Watkins worked his socks off for the team but it just wasn’t happening from an attacking point of view in this one. Didn’t look at his sharpest and struggled to offer a serious threat in the final third.
Substitutions:
Marvelous Nakamba, 6 – Came on to shore things up in midfield but wasn’t able to help Villa see out the game.
Jacob Ramsey, N/A
Ashley Young, N/A