Aston Villa journalist Gregg Evans has been sharing his criticism for Villa striker Mbwana Samatta.
This comes after Evans recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Villa-based podcast 1874 to discuss Villa’s 1-0 win over Wolves at the weekend.
During Evans’ assessment of the match, he revealed that he was particularly disappointed by Samatta’s performance in the defeat at Villa Park.
He said: “I thought Ally Samatta has really struggled since Project Restart. Struggling to see what he’s offering for Villa at the moment. I thought that before the break, he looked like he was going to cause problems.
“He looked very good in the air and was getting in behind, making clever runs and okay, he hasn’t had much service to work off, but I just can’t really see what he’s bringing to the team at the moment.
“Obviously, Dean Smith went with two up front [against Wolves], something that the supporters have been calling for, for some time. But it just made no difference. If ever there was a game to say, ‘that’s the reason why I haven’t been playing two up front’ then I think that was it. It was nothing to do with the opposition.”
Should Villa stick with playing two strikers in their next match?
Yes
No
According to WhoScored, Samatta, who is valued at £8.55 million (as per Transfermarkt), earned himself a match rating of 6.68/10, making him Villa’s fourth-highest rated player in the defeat.
Since signing for the Birmingham club in the previous January transfer window, Samatta has managed to score two goals in 10 total appearances for Villa (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts…
Despite picking up a respectable match rating for his display against Wolves at the weekend, it seems that Evans wasn’t impressed by what he saw from the striker.
With Villa in the middle of a relegation battle, they will need Samatta and other attacking players to be in top form so they can pick up some positive results before the end of the season.