Aston Villa fans have recently got a lot to shout about. The youngster Jhon Duran as a back-up for star man Ollie Watkins is certainly a big boost.
We talk with BirminghamWorld on his progression and how Aston Villa must sharpen up on defending set-pieces, to finish the season on a real high.
We talk with BirminghamWorld on his progression and how Aston Villa must sharpen up on defending set-pieces, to finish the season on a real high.
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00:00 Fans are getting excited by John Duran and on the other side of that, the set-piece goals
00:06 that they are conceding is becoming a bit more of an issue, Charlie. What's the latest
00:09 you can tell us? You were obviously present at their recent Premier League game.
00:13 I was obviously there at the European Conference League, win over Ajax as well, what a night
00:17 that was. John Duran, I'll start with, on that European night, started to break through
00:22 a bit for Villa because Ollie Watkins went down of an injury. Scored the opening goal
00:26 of the game but then had to come off. A lot of concern from Villa fans and so the topic
00:31 immediately goes to, is John Duran the man or are we going to try and bring in Morgan
00:35 Rodgers up top? You're always going to look at replacements in that instance. Thankfully
00:38 Watkins was OK but what it did allow for was Duran to have 60 minutes on the field. He
00:43 scored a goal, created so many problems for the Ajax defenders and just his physicality,
00:49 his pacing behind was really impressive. You can tell he's still very raw, he's still
00:54 very young, I believe only 20 or 21 years of age so he's going to be like that. But
00:59 his finish was unbelievable from the edge of the box, striking it in off the crossbar,
01:03 hit the crossbar twice, the underside of it, before crossing the line. Very impressive
01:08 from him. Did miss some big chances so that's something for him to work on but I think if
01:13 Unai Emery works for him a bit more and can mature him as a player then there's definitely
01:17 a lot in there. The set-piece problem, well Villa have got the fourth most goals conceded
01:23 in the Premier League from set-pieces this season, excluding penalties. So it's pretty
01:30 much a big problem area. There was a goal conceded at West Ham from a set-piece but
01:34 then disallowed. Boeing whipping in a corner and Antonio bundling it in and also it wasn't
01:41 a set-piece but from a wide position was Antonio's goal itself. It's a real problem area for
01:45 Villa, those crosses into the area, they just can't seem to deal with them.
01:50 How do you combat that? They've had defence changes quite a lot this season. Is it a case
01:57 that it's slowly got worse throughout the season or can it be put right in the build-up
02:03 to the back end of this season?
02:04 It's been a problem for quite a long time. I'm not quite sure what it is. Maybe a lack
02:09 of height in midfield when Bouba Kakoumara is not there certainly doesn't help as well.
02:13 He had a stretch out at the beginning of the season and of course now as well. So that's
02:17 not ideal. Maybe as well with those not on a set-piece aspect but just from crosses,
02:23 long lay being a right centre-back, he can't drift across to the left naturally sometimes
02:28 and that's what left the space open for Michael Antonio to score that goal at London Stadium.
02:34 That's maybe an issue, having two left-footed centre-backs, they can sometimes drift across.
02:40 To be in Europe in the first place is a fantastic achievement after a decade out of it. I don't
02:44 think they really cared what competition it was at the tail end of the last season. Just
02:47 getting in that seventh place to get that European football was so important. Now they've
02:52 got it, now they're advancing to the quarter-final stage after beating Ajax. What a night under
02:56 the lights at Villa Park. 4-0 thrashing of the Dutch giants.