It has been a slow start to life at Aston Villa for Ross McCormack.
Much was expected from the man who has scored the most goals in the Championship in the last 4 seasons but so far a mixture of poor form and lack of a sustained period of game time in one position has been his downfall.
He has been deployed as a striker, number 10 and even out wide this season and he has been able to contribute as much as he would have liked thus far. Since Steve Bruce has come in, it’s been a frustrating time for McCormack who has had to watch Jonathan Kodjia become the go to man for goals, a burden that Ross is usually trusted with.
I do believe though that the upcoming African Cup of Nations presents McCormack with a great opportunity which he mustn’t pass up. The winter tournament will see the departures of more than likely Jonathan Kodjia, Albert Adomah and Jordan Ayew to play for their respective countries for the majority of January. This is going to leave a huge hole up top for Villa and McCormack will be pushed up the pecking order as a result.
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Personally I would like to see McCormack as a number 9 or 10 but I would make a case for Jack Grealish to start in the number 10 role just off the main striker especially with Ayew and Adomah missing.
With McCormack as the main striker up top and with the supply line of Jack Grealish and possibly Leandro Bacuna/Andre Green supplying him, he will improve on his 2 goals to date.
McCormack is also a clever passer of the ball too and he is always on the move looking for the ball so he has that flexibility of moving just behind the main striker if Steve Bruce wants to go more direct by bringing on Rudy Gestede to play up top.
McCormack will also be relieved to hear that Villa are unlikely to sign another big-money forward in January but a loan deal has not been ruled out. This means that McCormack will have to score goals and impress Steve Bruce so as to persuade him that the loss of Ayew/Adomah/Kodjia will have no great effect on the team.
So the crunch time is fast approaching for McCormack and he needs to take this chance or else his Villa career could be over before it really started.