Nicolo Zaniolo must not start for Aston Villa again after anonymous display against AZ Alkmaar
Aston Villa came from behind to win their Europa League clash against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday 9 November, thanks to goals from Diego Carlos and Ollie Watkins.
It was far from plain sailing for Unai Emery’s side as they fell behind early in the second period courtesy of a goal from Evangelos Pavlidis, but ultimately they had enough quality to bounce back from their defeat to Nottingham Forest.
One player that was introduced late in the contest by Emery as he looked to salvage a result was Nicolo Zaniolo, with the Italian replacing Moussa Diaby with just over 15 minutes left in the match and it was a night to forget for the 24-year-old.
In his brief cameo, Zaniolo only managed to complete two accurate passes from his 14 touches and failed to carry any sort of goal threat as he saw his only shot comfortably saved from the edge of the penalty area by Mathew Ryan [Fotmob].
The Italian is known for his technical ability on the ball and is a very technically gifted dribbler, but only completed one of his three attempted efforts at Villa Park as he was dispossessed four times, more than any other attacker playing in claret and blue.
In total, the Villa midfielder lost possession six times in the match, meaning he was losing the ball more than once every three minutes as Emery’s side desperately searched for a crucial winning goal.
Zaniolo was unable to provide a defensive presence from the right wing either, as he failed to win his only tackle, while he also lost both of his aerial duels in the match. Perhaps most worryingly for Emery and Aston Villa supporters, the 24-year-old only won two of his eight ground battles.
Sadly, this sloppiness is by no means a new issue for the Italian international. Over the last year, he has placed in the bottom two per cent of Europe’s attacking midfielders in terms of passes attempted and pass completion percentage per 90 minutes [Fbref].
Despite his tendency to attempt to run at defenders with the ball at his feet, he’s only successful with 1.27 take-ons per game, a figure that places him in the 28th percentile of his positional peers in Europe’s top five leagues.
Given the immense attacking talent at the disposal of Emery, Zaniolo cannot start for Aston Villa against Fulham on Sunday (12 November) especially ahead of the likes of Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby. Too often he has been far too wasteful both in and out of possession.
The Italian didn’t fare much better against Forest last time out in the Premier League, losing the most duels in the match and you have to wonder if he spurned his chance to return to the starting XI with his anonymous cameo against AZ Alkmaar.
In other Aston Villa news, Lucas Digne failed to convert any of his 10 attempted crosses on Thursday in one of three things learned against AZ Alkmaar