View: Matty Cash is proving Aston Villa don’t need right-back reinforcements in January
Aston Villa right-back Matty Cash has taken to international football like a duck to water after impressing for Poland in the opening stages of the World Cup.
Just over a year after switching his international allegiances to Poland and making his debut against Andorra, the 25-year-old has helped his country reach the brink of the last-16 knockout stages in Qatar.
After their opening-day goalless draw against Mexico, they eased past a valiant Saudi Arabia 2-0 (Saturday 26 November), making it two clean sheets on the bounce and leaving themselves in a strong position before facing pre-tournament favourites Argentina.
For Cash, the tournament has been a chance to prove himself on the world stage and highlight why Aston Villa paid £16 million for the ex-Nottingham forest man.
The right-back’s attacking talents have never been questioned by Villa fans, having played as a winger through his youth career and possessing the tools to bomb forward and make match-defining impacts in the final third.
He highlighted this attacking intelligence in the build-up to Poland’s opener against Saudi Arabia as he cleverly found Robert Lewandowski with a neat cross before the ball was played to Piotr Zielinksi who opened the scoring.
The 25-year-old also proved himself just as astute defensively, making four clearances and winning 100% of his aerial duels (2/2) in an aggressive display against Saudi Arabian talisman Salem Al-Dawsari. [SofaScore]
If Cash can continue this rich vein of form, calls for Unai Emery to invest in another right-back at Villa Park might just be momentarily halted.
Although Villa have the Pole in their squad, there have still been calls for January investment after he struggled during the early stages of the season and picked up an untimely hamstring injury – which in turn led to one of Ashley Young or Ezri Konsa being fielded on the right side of the defence.
This drop in form can also be placed down to the gloomy atmosphere circulating the club under former manager Steven Gerrard – with a number of players struggling during the ex-Liverpool legend’s stint at Villa Park.
Now that Cash is fully fit and firing for his national time, he can return to the Premier League full of confidence and prove to Emery that he doesn’t need to dig deep into his pockets for a right-back replacement in January.
In other Aston Villa news, Alan Hutton believes Villa must shelve captaincy issue for the time being.