Martin Keown slams ‘out of sorts’ Aston Villa man Alex Moreno v Zrinjski Mostar
Aston Villa managed to top their Europa League group stage despite a disappointing 1-1 draw with Zrinjski Mostar on Thursday 14 December.
A point was enough to see Unai Emery’s side finish top of Group E to automatically advance to the next stage of the Europa Conference League after Nicolo Zaniolo’s second-half goal was cancelled out by a late strike from Matija Malekinusic.
Emery opted to rotate some parts of his squad to rest some crucial players and one man to earn a start was Alex Moreno. But the 30-year-old was replaced before the hour mark by Lucas Digne and Martin Keown was quick to slam his display.
Speaking on TNT Sport (14 December, 19:03) he said: “Again it’s Moreno isn’t it, he’s just not in sync, he just needs to wait just a little bit, he was in a little bit of a rush there. He just needs to hold onto it a little bit longer.
“That’s a call to arms from the manager, not quite happy with what he’s seen, we’ve seen Moreno out of sorts.”
There is perhaps no better way to describe Moreno’s performance than Keown’s verdict as “out of sorts”. The Spanish left-back didn’t do anything particularly awful on Thursday night, but he was unable to really have a huge influence on proceedings.
On the ball, the 30-year-old completed 27 of his 30 attempted passes in a reasonably accurate showing, but none of his efforts were particularly creative as he failed to fashion a single chance for his teammates before his early substitution [Fotmob].
Moreno attempted to replicate Digne’s style from the left flank but flattered to deceive as zero per cent of his three attempted crosses in the clash managed to find a teammate in the penalty area.
Few players in the Premier League last season attempted more crosses than the Spaniard, with the Villa man placing in the 96th percentile when compared to the division’s full-backs per 90 minutes and the 89th percentile for expected assisted goals per match [Fbref].
When the Aston Villa defender looked to aim long beyond the home side’s incredibly deep, low block he continued to struggle. Moreno only attempted one long pass in behind the Mostar defence, but like his crosses, it failed to find a player in claret and blue.
Defensively, the Spanish fullback didn’t have loads to do, given Villa’s dominance of possession, but he was only able to win one of his three duels in the match. The 30-year-old lost his only aerial battle in his 57 minutes of action and was even dribbled past once.
Emery will likely be concerned by Moreno’s weaknesses out of possession, especially when considering how poor he was out of possession last season. The Aston Villa defender only tackled 36.1 per cent of the players who attempted to dribble past him, less than 95 per cent of Premier League fullbacks.
The 30-year-old will have to start the Premier League clash with Brentford on Sunday (17 December) as Digne is sidelined through suspension, but Emery may well be second-guessing whether a change of system may be more beneficial.
If Moreno is as poor as he was on Thursday night against Thomas Frank’s side, they will tear Aston Villa apart down the right flank.
In other Aston Villa news, Garth Crooks has labelled John McGinn as Emery’s hero after his incredible recent performances