Aston Villa: 3 parting thoughts following Burton Albion victory
By Josh Tonti
Aston Villa won their sixth league match in a row on Saturday. Here are my three parting thoughts following an entertaining 3-2 victory over Burton Albion.
This is fun, isn’t it?
Aston Villa won for a sixth consecutive time in league play – the first occurrence since 1990. They have shown no signs of slowing down, either. Albert Adomah, Jack Grealish, and Robert Snodgrass are on another level in terms of technical quality and cohesiveness in an attacking trio.
James Chester and Sam Johnstone have played every minute of Championship action, Conor Hourihane is perhaps the league’s best central midfielder, and, oh, John Terry is a Villan. Still fun to say even 6-7 months later.
Here we go:
1. Jack Grealish deserves serious consideration for an England call-up.
I mean, he probably won’t, because the England National Team is usually, (and often unfairly, I might add), extremely biased against the EFL Championship. Ben Gibson received a call-up after Middlesbrough had been relegated and Tom Heaton made England’s Euro 2016 squad as the third goalkeeper, after Burnley had been promoted that 2015/2016 season. Those are the only recent call-ups I seem to recall featuring players in the second division.
But Jack Grealish is playing on another level right now. If Grealish stays fit for the remainder of the season, Gareth Southgate would be a fool to not take a look at the 22-year old before this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
England is so strong at the moment, the only true question mark in the squad seems to be the number one goalkeeper position, of which there is a lot of depth and competition. Behind Dele Alli in attacking midfield is a question too. Enter, Grealish, a perfect candidate for England.
Who’s he competing with? Ross Barkley? Who has not been great in 18 months? Adam Lallana? – who drops deeper in midfield or features from the wing. Wayne Rooney was England’s #10 for a decade, but has since retired. Jack Grealish, in his current form, deserves a long look for a seat to Russia.
2. Aston Villa’s schedule gets more difficult…then it gets easier again.
The fixture list for the remainder of February isn’t exactly a gauntlet, but each match should be a challenge, at least on paper.
Feb. 11th, Birmingham City (H)
Feb. 17th, Fulham (A)
Feb. 20th, Preston North End (H)
Feb. 24th, Sheffield Wednesday (A)
Blues are inferior opponents, but they have crawled out of the relegation zone and represent a challenge in the Second City Derby. Then, a trip to Craven Cottage where Fulham sit just five points behind Villa in the table. Preston, too, are fighting for a promotion playoff spot, just three points off of sixth-place. Moreover, they are a scrappy team with a joint league-high twelve draws and only 29 goals conceded. Sheffield Wednesday, though vastly under-performing, remain a tricky away trip.
Contrast that to March’s fixture list:
March 3rd, Queens Park Rangers (H)
March 6th, Sunderland (A)
March 10th, Wolverhampton Wanderers (H)
March 17th, Bolton (A)
March 31st, Hull City (A)
A home matchup against league leaders Wolves is the highlight of March, but that’s three matches against clubs currently in: 20th, 22nd, 23rd, and a QPR team with a -10 goal differential at home.
3. The positives and negatives to Axel Tuanzebe’s RB debut.
I liked what I saw out of Axel Tuanzebe’s 23-minute cameo debut. He won two tackles, made one clearance, and helped set-up Aston Villa’s third goal with decent vision. He also had trouble containing Lloyd Dyer’s pace, but he gets a pass as Ahmed Elmohamady struggled as well. Tuanzebe doesn’t look like a burner though, in terms of foot speed.
Next: Player Grades: Aston Villa vs. Burton
As a whole, Tuanzebe looked like a promising piece. For a 20-year old not playing in his most natural position, really good. He will push Elmo for match time after two sub-par outings from the Egyptian international.