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Aston Villa 0-3 Swansea: Player ratings in FA Cup third-round defeat

By Josh Tonti

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - JANUARY 05: Joe Rodon and Kyle Naughton of Swansea City argues with Jonathan Kodjia of Aston Villa during the FA Cup Third Round match between Aston Villa and Swansea City at Villa Park on January 5, 2019 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - JANUARY 05: Joe Rodon and Kyle Naughton of Swansea City argues with Jonathan Kodjia of Aston Villa during the FA Cup Third Round match between Aston Villa and Swansea City at Villa Park on January 5, 2019 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images) /
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Aston Villa was trounced in the FA Cup third-round for a third consecutive season. Here are the match ratings:

Aston Villa Football Club has not won an FA Cup match since 2016, when the claret and blues downed Wycombe Wanderers during that disastrous Premier League campaign. Just the year prior they were in the Final against Arsenal after victories over West Brom, Liverpool, etc.

We’re in a far different time now. Villa have won a total of three cup matches in three years. Three! Spread across the EFL and FA Cup. The last victory against an opponent in the same league or higher was Liverpool in 2015. Frankly, it’s embarrassing.

Swansea traveled from Wales and embarrassed a rotated Villa side that still had quite a few starters in the lineup.

Aston Villa. LOVRE KALINIC. 4.5. Three goals against, none egregious, but Kalinic should have done much better on two of them. He looked nervous and this game did him good to get some experience playing behind such a horrid defense. Villa will need the Croatian shot-stopper to be great.. GK

Pretty decent defensively, but James Bree offered nothing going forward. He shanked two good crossing opportunities out-of-play.. RB. Aston Villa. JAMES BREE. 4.5

TOMMY ELPHICK. 4.5. Elphick threw his body towards some good blocks, but three goals against just isn’t good enough. Had trouble in possession, too.. RCB. Aston Villa

4.0. Forced into centre-back duty.<p>Isn’t a centre-back.</p>. LCB. Aston Villa. ALAN HUTTON

4.0. It’s good to see Neil Taylor back from injury. Unfortunately, akin to the backline as a whole, he was not good.. LB. Aston Villa. NEIL TAYLOR

3.5. Glenn Whelan is inserted into a starting lineup to shield a backline. Consistently, every week, opponents walk around him into Zone 14 without fail. I’m shocked he even started the second-half as his positioning was woeful.. CDM. Aston Villa. GLENN WHELAN

5.5. Ran his socks off with little effect. McGinn was the best of the bunch, but that isn’t saying much. Moving forward, it would help Villa if he were cleaner on the ball.. CM. Aston Villa. JOHN MCGINN

CM. Aston Villa. CALLUM O'HARE. 5.0. Sacrificed in the 55th-minute for Jonathan Kodjia as Dean Smith did not trust him to defend in a midfield duo. He had spurts of awesomeness, but he was over-matched physically.

RW. Aston Villa. ALBERT ADOMAH. 4.5. Was he on the pitch?

SCOTT HOGAN. 4.5. Gets a 7 if the game ended after 15 minutes. Scott Hogan was lively, active, and had intent with the ball. After Erwin Mulder denied him a goal, it all went downhill.. CF. Aston Villa

One of the few that looked for the ball. He wasn’t very effective with it, but you could see Anwar El Ghazi trying to spark life into the attack. Probably denied a goal with a solid Swansea block.. LW. Aston Villa. ANWAR EL GHAZI. 5.0

All substitutes: Keinan Davis, Henri Lansbury, and Jonathan Kodjia earns ‘6’s.

Let’s put this loss behind us and focus on next Saturday’s league game away to Wigan. Villa have to take advantage of an easy run of games upcoming.

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