Ings stunner is straight from playbook of Villa’s new ‘set-piece specialist’
Hwonderful scissor kick and El Ghazi penalty seal 2-0 home win but Newcastle left to rue two crucial refereeing decisions
The acrobatics and predatory instincts of Danny Ings cannot be coached, but the strategy behind his wonderful goal on Saturday was devised at Aston Villa’s training ground.
Ings’s scissor kick was a sublime moment of invention, yet the setpiece routine was the work of a new appointment who Villa are hoping will further the club’s progress.
After the departure of former England captain John Terry and Dean Smith’s long-serving deputy Richard O’kelly, Austin Macphee was recruited this summer.
A 41-year-old Scot, Macphee has worked with the Mexico and Northern Ireland national teams and is Villa’s “set-piece specialist”, doing his job alongside Smith and Craig Shakespeare. For the Ings goal, it was Macphee’s decision to make more of defender Matty Cash’s long throw, with Tyrone Mings told to head the ball back into the danger area. Ings was then presented with the opportunity to deliver a brilliant overhead kick into the top corner, admitting after the game that the build-up was all down to the work of Macphee. Villa are also close to appointing another first-team coach, who will effectively be the No3 behind Shakespeare.
The new coaching set-up underlines Villa’s focus on innovation and the recognition that the key ingredient in coaching and fitness is data and analytics.
Macphee was also involved in the thinking behind Villa’s second goal, again from a set-piece, which resulted in Newcastle’s Jamaal Lascelles handling a Mings header in the penalty area.
Anwar El Ghazi put away the penalty to secure a comfortable victory for Villa, who performed badly at Watford in their first match of the season. With Villa spending £93million this summer on new players, it will take time for Smith’s team to gel, but they undoubtedly possess a broader and deeper squad than before. Ashley Young and Axel Tuanzebe are already a huge
upgrade for the back four, while Ings and Ollie Watkins – who missed Saturday’s win with a knee injury – are effectively replacing the goals of Jack Grealish.
Leon Bailey, the £25 million signing from Bayer Leverkusen, was also absent with a hamstring issue so Smith has a variety of options.
There is no doubt that Ings is already paying back his own £25million fee, with two goals in as many games since moving from Southampton.
Smith said: “He has a great personality. You speak to coaches he has worked with and everyone is very complimentary about the sort of lad he is.
“He has settled into our dressing room and the standards he has will lift the dressing room.
“I’m not only pleased with Danny Ings the player, but Danny Ings the person. He is a regular goalscorer at this level, regularly up in the top goalscorers’ chart.
“We also have Ollie, who has missed the first couple of games, but scored 16 goals last season.
“I expect him to be up there as well. Hopefully we will have him back for next week.”
This was a difficult afternoon for Newcastle and manager Steve Bruce, with referee David Coote the focus of his ire after two crucial decisions went against them.
Callum Wilson was harshly judged to have been offside late in the second half, after he was upended by Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the area, and Bruce had a point when demanding more consistency from officials.