Dean Smith’s Aston Villa are praying for Premier League survival while Jhon Cordoba bangs in the Bundesliga goal for Cologne.
An error-prone backline and a wasteful attack doesn’t often make for a very palateable cocktail. Just ask Aston Villa fans.
For every ill-timed blunder from a Bjorn Engels, a Tyrone Mings or a Kortney Hause, there has been a golden chance spooned over the bar at the other end.
Mbwana Samatta might have won over supporters with his heart-on-the-sleeve, hard-running approach since joining in January but, if Wesley Moraes, Anwar El Ghazi, Trezeguet and co had been a little more ruthless in the final third, Dean Smith’s side wouldn’t be hovering just two points off the bottom of the table right now.
To make matters worse, a striker Aston Villa could have signed for £13 million (around £10 million less than they paid for Wesley) is in the form of his life (Sun).
Jhon Cordoba was a target for the Midland giants a few years ago and, with ten goals in his last 13 games, has dragged a previously doomed Cologne side up into the heady lands of relative safety in the Bundesliga table.
A powerhouse Colombian has been so impressive that, according to former Germany international Dietmar Hamann, he should be in the conversation to replace, or at least provide competition for, the lethal Robert Lewandowski at Bayern Munich.
“For the centre-forward position, Cologne’s Cordoba,” Hamann told Kicker when discussing who in German football could step into Lewandowski’s shoes in Bavaria.
It’s fair to say Aston Villa could do with a similar stream of goals from Samatta and co when the 2019/20 campaign is safe to resume.
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