Aston Villa’s 4-0 defeat against Leicester City was another blow to the Villans’ Premier League survival hopes.
They remain two points adrift of 17th place which, if the Midlands outfit can be compared to Jason and the Argonauts, is their golden fleece, and they have now wasted one of their two games in hand. Of course, beating the Foxes was always going to be a tough ask, but Brendan Rodgers’ side had failed to win their last five matches before the clash at the King Power stadium, which makes the margin of the scoreline even more crushing for Dean Smith’s men.
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Whilst the whole display from Villa left a lot to be desired, it was Pepe Reina who set them off in the wrong direction with his role in Harvey Barnes’ opener.
The English youngster had been played through into space, but he was still some way from goal when, for some reason, the former Liverpool shot-stopper decided to venture into no-man’s land, allowing the former West Brom man to easily take the ball around him, compose himself, and slot the ball into the back of the net from outside the penalty area.
This is not what Dean Smith will have expected when he signed the 37-year-old on loan until the end of the season.
When he arrived from Napoli, the Villa boss backed him to help the Villans avoid relegation. He said: “I wouldn’t have brought anybody in with 16 matches to go if I didn’t feel they could play straight away. Looking at the way he performs in training and listening to him speak – not a problem. He’s probably just what we need in the dressing room at the moment. His experience tells you all you need to know – he’s a World Cup winner. He’s got an air about him. He knows what he’s about. He certainly won’t accept fools, that’s for sure.”
Already, those words look like they are coming back to haunt the manager. Villa’s defensive woes cannot be totally blamed on him, but he has failed to keep a clean sheet since making the switch and has a mediocre save percentage ratio of 64.7%. He may be a World Cup winner, but that was a long time ago – 11 years to be exact – and he failed to make a single appearance in South Africa as Spain lifted the trophy anyway.
Like so many of Villa’s transfers this year – they spent well over £100m last summer yet are in the bottom three – Reina’s arrival is looking like a mistake, albeit not costly as he is only there temporarily.
Experience, it seems, will not be enough to get the Villa Park outfit out of this hole they have dug for themselves.
Meanwhile, Villa receive a big blow in their pursuit of this Ligue 1 ace.