Aston Villa podcaster Cole Pettem has been sharing his praise for Villa winger Anwar El Ghazi.
This comes after Pettem recently hosted the latest episode of Holtecast, a Villa-themed podcast where he reflected on the Birmingham club’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend.
Danny Welbeck opened the scoring for the visitors in the first half thanks to an assist from Adam Lallana. Ezri Konsa managed to equalise for Villa before Solly March put Brighton back in front (per BBC Sport).
Late on in the game, Villa were denied a penalty after the referee consulted with the pitchside monitor, overturning his original decision to award the penalty.
On the topic of El Ghazi, who came on as a substitute for Villa in the second half of the match, Pettem had this to say on the winger.
He said: “A lot of people are complaining that he looked like he put on a lot of weight but I thought he actually looked really good.
“He seemed to be a little bit more physical with it too which I like to see, he seemed very hungry.”
Villa signed the Dutchman on loan in the 2018 summer transfer window from French side LOSC Lille. In July 2019, Villa signed El Ghazi on a permanent basis for a fee of £8.1 million.
Overall, the 25-year-old, who is currently valued at £7.2 million, has made 81 appearances for Dean Smith’s side in which he has managed to score 13 goals and provide 13 assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).
Were you impressed by El Ghazi's cameo against Brighton?
Yes, he looked good
No, not really
TIF Thoughts on Cole Pettem’s comments on El Ghazi…
Even though El Ghazi only came on as a substitute in the second half of the match against Brighton, he did manage to make one key pass and provide four crosses in the game to try and win the match for his side, ultimately earning himself a match rating of 6.31/10 (per WhoScored).
Even though he couldn’t score a goal or provide an assist for Villa when he came on, it’s good that Smith put his trust in the winger and chose him to go out and try and gain something for the team when they needed it.