Aston Villa: Don Goodman slams ‘absolute joke’ Nicolo Zaniolo after what happened
Don Goodman slammed Aston Villa winger Nicolo Zaniolo as an “absolute joke” after he turned his back on a free-kick in the loss to Manchester City.
Zaniolo was part of a five-man Villa wall that was breached as Phil Foden found the back of the net from 22 yards to put City 2-1 up in Tuesday’s (3 April) eventual 4-1 defeat.
The Italy international turned his back on the ball, leaving a big gap between himself and Ezri Konsa that Foden took full advantage of.
While that goal could have been avoided, Goodman insists there is no shame in losing to City and he still fully expects Villa to be in the Champions League next season.
“Unai Emery made a lot of changes for the game and, let’s face it, Manchester City were excellent,” Goodman told Villa News.
“Villa were not resolute enough to keep them out, albeit the second goal, when jumping out of the way from the wall, is an absolute joke.
“You can’t as a head coach or manager legislate for that happening. It was unfortunate and it proved costly because Manchester City cruised through the rest of the game.”
Aston Villa and Tottenham remaining Premier League fixtures
Goodman added: “But it’s not about what happened against Man City. When you look at the fixtures both Villa and Tottenham have to play, there’s some tough ones in there.
“Villa still have to play Arsenal and Brighton away, Liverpool and Chelsea at home. Brentford’s up next and will make it hard. So it’s not straightforward.
“But you also look at Spurs’ fixtures and you see a very tricky run of Chelsea and Newcastle away, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool – how can you predict how those games are going to go?
“I do think one crumb of comfort if Villa finish fifth is that it is looking highly likely the Premier League is going to be awarded a fifth Champions League spot.
“So although they’d like to finish in fourth, I do still think they’ll be playing Champions League football next season either way.”
Nicolo Zaniolo lets Aston Villa down
Villa held their own for the best part of 45 minutes at the Etihad Stadium after Jhon Duran cancelled out Rodri’s early opener.
Just as the players were getting ready to head down the tunnel for half-time all square, though, a free-kick was given away and Foden converted.
Exactly what Zaniolo was doing is a mystery. If you are put on the end of a wall, your job is to stand firm and block the ball.
To jump out of the way just makes you a redundant part of it. Emery no doubt had words with the loanee after the match.
The defeat was not exactly a shock, however, and the Villans will now look to respond against Brentford on home soil this weekend.
Fourth place remains the target, and there is no reason why that cannot be achieved on the basis of the 31 games as a whole so far this season.
In other Aston Villa news, a summer decision on Ollie Watkins could be out of the player’s hands.
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