Rhodes too hot for JT’s defence
Villa’s back line given runaround by Norwich
JORDAN RHODES struck two second-half goals for Norwich to inflict a first defeat on Aston Villa boss Dean Smith in his second game in charge.
Both were close-range efforts that will have been painful for Smith’s assistant John Terry to watch, in particular the first, which Rhodes nodded in from a corner. It was the 10th goal Villa have conceded from a set-piece, the highest in the Championship.
Villa’s goal, which opened the scoring, was also firmly in the preventable category. James Chester was credited with heading da home from a corner, although it may well have been an own goal.
‘ It went wrong by not defending two crosses,’ Smith said. ‘ Sometimes you have to takee that on the chin.
‘I’m not going too be too downhearted about the result. We all want to get good results to keep climbing the table but we’ve probably had a half- decent performance there which deserved more than it got.
‘The players will be disappointed that they didn’t defend the crosses well enough.’
A job for JT to sort out? ‘Not really, because he can’t go on and head it,’ Smith said. ‘On the coaching pitch, maybe, but that’s down to all of us. The players will have to take responsbility. ‘The goalkeepers, centre forwards, everyone who is there defending must do a bit better.’ Norwich made a hasty change before kick-off when Alex Tettey’s partner went into labour, so Timm Klose took the armband. Christoph Zimmermann was booked in the fourth minute for clattering Jack Grealish, with Conor Hourihane testing Norwich keeper Tim Krul with an angled drive from the free-kick. Norwich replied with efforts from Moritz Leitner and Todd Cantwell before Axel Tuanzebe cleared Klose’s header. Villa took the lead in the 19th minute from Hourihane’s corner. Chester’s head met it, although it looked like Norwich’s Tom Trybull got the finishing touch with his. Smith’s side almost doubled the lead in the 34th minute when Alan Hutton burst into the box and laid the ball back for Tammy Abraham, whose flicked shot took enough of a deflection off a defender to hit the far post and Albert Adomah’s follow-up was blocked.
Abraham needed treatment early in the second half when Klose’s boot caught him in the head but Adomah went off with a knee problem before play resumed.
Hourihane fired wide soon after but the dazed Abraham was soon down again and this time he was off, replaced by Scott Hogan.
Right away, Norwich equalised through Rhodes, who outjumped Hutton to meet Emi Buendia’s corner, although Villa keeper Orjan Nyland was at fault for coming to meet it but not making contact.
Rhodes struck again in the 73rd minute with another poacher’s strike. This time he got across Chester at the near post to meet Stiepermann’s low cross.
‘It was a well-deserved win,’ said Norwich manager Daniel Farke. ‘I’m happy for Jordan. It’s really a pleasure to work with him every day, even when he had to wait for a while on the bench.
‘Nobody deserves more than Jordan to be the hero. I’m pretty sure he can handle it.’
Norwich are up to fourth after their sixth win in nine games, while Villa slip to 16th — and below Birmingham in the table.