Nakamba runaway winner as Zim fans flood Villa poll

ZIMBABWEAN football fans bombarded the Aston Villa official Twitter page and left Marvelous Nakamba a runaway winner in the poll for the man-of-the-match award for the English Premiership match against Burnley on Saturday.

The game ended 2-2. Nakamba, who has forced his way into the starting XI at Villa after being given time to recover from the knock he received at the AFCON finals and also get himself into shape, was a clear winner of the poll with 57 percent of the vote.

Scotsman John McGinn, who scored for the Birmingham club on Saturday, came second in the poll with 38 percent of the vote.

Dutchman Anwar El Ghazi, who clipped Villa into the lead, finished last with just 2 percent of the vote, just behind Matty Target who had a 3 percent share of the poll.

A number of Zimbabwean football fans went onto the Villa official Twitter page to cast their vote, but to be fair, Nakamba was outstanding on the afternoon, a good number of others also voted for him.

Journalist Liam Bryan of SBNation had also named the Zimbabwean enforcer as his outstanding player during the match.

“It was another disappointing result at the true home of English football as Burnley came back twice from a goal down to draw with Aston Villa, a game that Dean Smith’s side should have realistically won,’’ Bryan wrote.

“One of the star men who marshalled the midfield throughout the fixture was my Manof-the-Match Marvelous Nakamba.

“The Zimbabwean was a pivotal figure in Dean Smith’s side with the midfielder consistently pressuring Burnley in possession and for the majority of the time successfully intercepting the ball.

“With the club only spending £11 million on the 25-year-old from Club Brugge, Nakamba has completely re-energised the midfield with his tenacity and artfulness impressing the Villa faithful and if he continues to make an impression on a consistent basis then he could become one of the most important players in the squad.’’ The Birmingham Mail were also impressed by Nakamba.

“Neat and tidy once again, possesses a pinging cross-field pass and hammered a couple out to John McGinn and then El Ghazi. Villa’s insurance policy and broke up the play.

“A tidy, tidy player in the middle of the park but imposed himself less as Villa chased for a winner,’’ they said as they gave him a rating of seven out of 10.’’

And, this is what others said:

Adam Theofilatos

“The man is a machine. A joy to watch!!’’ Emmerson Shongwe

“I keep refreshing to check the results. Now the Nakamba Cruise is in the waters. Let’s go sailing.’’

Rich Smith

“Marvellous didn’t put a foot wrong… the man was the best player on the pitch 10/10, McGinn is a 9 or 10/10 every game.’’

Zach Hart

“McGinn for me. Nakamba a close second. Cool head on Nakamba but McGinn just didn’t stop running or tackling.’’