SMITH PRAISES EXCELLENT NAKAMBA
ASTON VILLA coach Dean Smith has mentioned Zimbabwe international midfielder Marvelous Nakamba’s name as he praised his side after a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday.
Nakamba returned to the Villans’ starting team for the first time in over a month and his display impressed Smith who watched from the stands as he served a onematch touchline ban.
Speaking to Villa TV, Smith has called for consistency from him troops.
“. . . Team spirit, work-rate, effort, everything there is there for all to see. Our quality on the ball, I thought we controlled the ball really well.
“Marvelous has come in for John McGinn and I thought he had an excellent game on the ball,” said Smith.
Goals from Ollie Watkins, his ninth of the season in all competitions, and the in-form Bertrand Traore were enough for Villa to see off the Magpies at Villa Park.
“I’m really pleased because we’ve just lost a couple of games away from home against the two Manchester teams and this was one of our games in hand that had been cancelled with the outbreak that Newcastle had.
“So we knew how important it was to continue our consistency in the league this season,” he said.
Nakamba has been receiving praises from pundits and fans over his performance and the coach agrees to that.
The Zimbabwean came on for John McGinn who was serving a one-match suspension.
“It was a good, solid performance, certainly first half, second half I thought we overplayed a little bit too much at times.
“But for a final ball, I thought we could have scored a couple more as well,” he added.