Aston Villa: ‘Frustration’ behind what Nicolo Zaniolo did after ‘Massive’ West Ham moment
Nicolo Zaniolo was probably displaying a bit of “frustration” when celebrating a “massive” equaliser for Aston Villa against West Ham, Alan Hutton has said.
The Italy international has struggled to make much of an impact since signing on loan from Galatasaray last August, finding himself on the periphery of the starting XI.
However, the 24-year-old popped up with an important equaliser at the London Stadium on Sunday (17 March) as Villa earned a 1-1 draw with David Moyes’ men.
Zaniolo made a shushing gesture after scoring, seemingly in the direction of the visiting Villa supporters, but Hutton – speaking exclusively to Villa News – is hopeful it was not intended to be aimed at the fans.
“I’m hoping it wasn’t exactly towards them. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, was he shushing the fans, was he not?” Hutton said.
“I’m not sure but it was a little bit of frustration on his side, he’s come in and he’s a talented footballer, he’s probably not the game time he was wanting.
“But he’s come up with a huge moment obviously off the back of a European game to score a goal and get them a massive point, there’s a lot of emotion involved as well so you need to consider that.
“Probably just a little bit of frustration if that’s what he was doing when celebrating.”
Was Nicolo Zaniolo shushing the Aston Villa fans?
As Hutton alludes to, it isn’t exactly certain that Zaniolo was aiming his celebration at the supporters, indeed it would be a strange thing to do if he was.
It might have been more the fact that he scored an important goal in a game where Villa really needed to take something having lost heavily in their previous Premier League fixture to Tottenham.
It’s unfortunate that it just hasn’t happened consistently in a Villa shirt for Zaniolo this season because he is undoubtedly a very talented player.
But the likes of Ollie Watkins, Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey to contend with, it was always going to be difficult to force his way into the starting XI.
In other Aston Villa news, a doctor has reacted to footage that emerged of Tyrone Mings.
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