Alan Hutton changed his Aston Villa perception in fifteen matches
Alan Hutton, long mired for poor performance, changed his entire perception at Aston Villa in 2017. The “Scottish Cafu” always fought hard, but when the club needed it most, Hutton stepped up in a big way during a closing promotion push.
Alan Hutton is not an exceptional footballer with the ball at his feet; this much is well known. No player continually dealt with the wrath of angry supporters over the years quite like the former Scotland international, Alan Hutton.
Hutton bored the brunt of Aston Villa’s relegation from the Premier League. Right back has been a black hole in the squad for what seems like ages. Matthew Lowton, Eric Lichaj, and others came and went with varying degrees of success.
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Hutton largely struggled in his first Villa season in 2011. This prompted then-manager Paul Lambert to axe the Scotsman as part of his infamous “bomb squad.” Hutton, alongside other over-paid, under-performing stars, namely Charles N’Zogbia, Darren Bent, and Stephen Ireland wasted their days out of the eighteen.
Later, Hutton returned after two years of loan spells. The performances were not good as a myriad of managers continually stuck Hutton out to dry at right fullback.
To be quite honest, Roberto Di Matteo was set on Alan Hutton starting at the position this year in the Championship. Until Ritchie De Laet arrived late in the window, that is.
De Laet’s ACL tear opened yet another window for Hutton at Aston Villa. For the entire fall and winter period it was not pretty. It was the typical Hutton, overexposed on the flank with lunging defense and poor possession and crossing.
Then something happened; Aston Villa started winning. Not just winning, but shutting down opponents to the tune of seven clean sheets in eight matches. Villa slowly crept up the league standings towards promotion, and Alan Hutton was a huge part of that.
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His entire perception changed at Aston Villa over the course of several league matches. He always showed intense passion for the club, much to the liking of supporters.
But now, entering his age 33 season, some supporters think he should hold down the position for one more year; a notion that would be unheard of just twelve months ago.