View: Marcos Acuna stat shows Aston Villa defender Matty Cash excelled in Poland defeat
Matty Cash’s international career has certainly been an interesting story to date, with the Aston Villa man currently representing Poland at the World Cup in Qatar.
Poland narrowly scraped through to the knockout stages of the competition, with holders France set to await them in the round of 16. It’s hard to see Czesław Michniewicz’s side making it much further in the competition, but for Cash, it will be an invaluable experience.
The former Nottingham Forest man has certainly mixed it with the world’s best already, with Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria the latest opponents the 25-year-old has faced up against. Remarkably, Cash could well face a tougher test, with PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe set to start on the left wing for France in Poland’s next fixture.
The 25-year-old is known for his attacking play, but how exactly did he match up against Argentina’s star-studded attacking lineup?
Marcos Acuna was the player Cash had to face up against with the Sevilla left-back spending most of his time in Poland’s half. Below is the 31-year-old’s heat map, which demonstrates just how far in the opposition half he ventured. For Cash, it was clear his defensive responsibilities had to be the priority.
The Villa man had to operate in a far deeper position compared to what he normally averages. The top image below demonstrates how much deeper the Aston Villa full-back had to play against Lionel Scaloni’s side.
Cash had to pick and choose when to get forward with Robert Lewandowski isolated at times. Considering the full-back was facing experienced attacking talent during the fixture, let’s see how he matched up against some of the best in the World.
When it came to defensive duels, the 25-year-old was sensible in his defensive actions and didn’t look to dive in, with Argentina’s attackers able to win fouls in and around the box. According to Wyscout, Cash won four out of his seven defensive duels. Considering the likes of Messi and Di Maria can move the ball around an opponent with ease, this is impressive.
The example below shows the Aston Villa defender closing down the space for Di Maria before eventually blocking the cross into the box. It would be easy to jump in and make a tackle, instead cash shows maturity and prevents the cross into the box.
The standout statistic from Cash’s display is the number of interceptions he managed during the group stage fixture. The Villa full-back has averaged just under five interceptions per 90 minutes in the 2022/23 season. Against the World Cup favourites, he amassed nine.
The image above is just one of a number of times the Villa defender utilised good defensive awareness to block crosses from Acuna. In fact, during the 90 minutes, the Argentina left-back failed to complete one cross which is a testament to Cash’s work in the right-back role.
With Villa looking to be defensively rigid under Unai Emery, this performance from Cash will be a big boost for the Spaniard. We are all aware of his attacking prowess, but to stand up for the most part against Argentina at World Cup shows he could be a vital cog in any success Villa have under their new manager.
In other Aston Villa news, Unai Emery has a long ball issue which needs resolving