Aston Villa youth players continue to impress in competition

In five matches across all competitions, Aston Villa recorded two wins, one draw, and two losses. Through the early part of the year, it’s the young players impressing over the “old guard.”

Aston Villa supporters have a lot of players to thank for the much-needed 4-2 victory over Norwich City. None more so than 19-year old attackers Keinan Davis and André Green, who engineered incision across The Canaries’ backline.

We are only five matches in, but the young players at Aston Villa are vastly outshining the veterans.

In his twenty-first professional appearance, André Green finally scored his first goal in the claret and blue shirt. It was a long-time coming. Green, 19, is among the club’s best dribblers as a teenager. He consistently beats out the likes of veterans, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Birkir Bjarnason as the preferred starting left winger.

Green is just the beginning. On average age, Aston Villa have an older squad, but that’s due in part because of several really old players. Mile Jedinak and Glenn Whelan typically anchor midfield – they are both 33. Chris Samba is the same age as well. Moreover, John Terry is the oldest at 36. Alan Hutton, Bruce’s preferred right fullback, turns 33 in two months’ time.

Against Colchester in The Carabao Cup, Callum O’Hare ran the show, all 5’6″ of him. At 19, O’Hare shows on-the-ball quality of someone ten years his senior. Aston Villa host Wigan Athletic in the cup’s second round on Tuesday. Another performance like the one he showed against Colchester, and O’Hare will be a near-lock for the Championship match-day 18.

Despite Hutton’s continued struggles at right back, James Bree has not received an extended look at the position. He started his only match in the cup, but Ritchie De Laet was preferred on the away trip to Reading.

Bree replaced Alan Hutton on the 63rd minute mark against Norwich City. Almost instantly, Josh Murphy was quieter than he had been against the aforementioned Hutton. At 19, one could argue that James Bree is the club’s best option at right back – right now.

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In goal, Aston Villa have a pair of reliable 24-year old shot stoppers to call upon. Sam Johnstone, the number one, is leaking goals in league play; though, almost none can be directly blamed on the Manchester United loanee. Nonetheless, he’s generally been solid through four matches. Jed Steer is the deputy, and had a man-of-the-match type game against Colchester United. He was so impressive, that he actually collected “Team of the Round” honors in net. He’ll have another chance on Tuesday as Villa’s cup goalkeeper.

Jack Grealish, 21, is out injured until December/January with a ruptured kidney. However, he still shows that attacking creativity that leaves Premier League teams wanting his signature.

Until Conor Hourihane’s hat-trick on Saturday, Aston Villa’s most impressive midfielder has been on-loan Tottenham youngster, Josh Onomah. Onomah went off with a muscle injury, but not before impressing in 30 minutes of play. At age 20, the Spurs midfielder will play a big part for Villa this year.

Up front, Aston Villa relied on Keinan Davis for hold-up play. The 19-year old may not have scored against Norwich City, but he collected a player grade of 8 nonetheless. In his full league debut, Davis played to Aston Villa’s strengths. He showed to be more of a threat in one match than Hogan did in the previous four (to Hogan’s credit he has been decent). Until he proves otherwise, Davis deserves the nod at striker until Jonathan Kodjia returns from injury.

Lastly, we have Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, 18. RHM came off the bench in Colchester to see out a 2-1 victory, and advance to the second-round.

It is early, but the Aston Villa youth is showing the veterans of the squad what they are capable of.