The 26-year-old striker, who joined Villa from Bristol City last month, scored his first goal for the club in Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Brentford.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to Ipswich Town, Aston Villa manager Roberto Di Matteo has praised striker Jonathan Kodjia for the start he has made to life in the West Midlands.
Kodjia, 26, joined Villa from Championship counterparts Bristol City last month for a reported £11 million fee that could rise to £15 million with add-ons and went on to produce an impressive debut performance while leading the line in last weekend’s 2-2 home draw with Nottingham Forest.
The Ivory Coast international was subsequently moved out to the right wing for Wednesday night’s visit of Brentford and proved equally effective, scoring his first goal for the club in the 19th-minute after twisting his way to the edge of the box and firing a curling left-footed shot into the top corner.
A late John Egan equaliser meant that Roberto Di Matteo’s men ultimately had to settle for a 1-1 draw, but Kodjia’s lively display over the course of the 90 minutes remained an obvious positive for the hosts to take from the match.
The former Robins ace has already shown he knows how to find the back of the net in the second tier after scoring 19 times in 45 league games last season to help steer his old side away from relegation trouble, but Di Matteo was quick to stress ahead of the Ipswich match that his new star striker offers a lot more than just goals.
“We’ve been very impressed with him so far,” Di Matteo said of Kodjia at his press conference. “He’s a player that’s very unselfish as well. He plays for the team and obviously is a goal threat for us.
“He has different abilities to play different positions within the team, and he’s always an outlet for the team as well. He’s a very likable person within the group too.”
Wednesday night’s result, meanwhile, means Villa go into Saturday’s game at Ipswich sitting in 17th-place in the Championship table with just one win and seven points from their opening seven matches.
Their tendency to concede late goals has already seen them drop nine points from winning positions this season, which, to make matters all the more frustrating, is exactly how far they now find themselves behind league leaders Huddersfield Town.
“I think it’s a combination of reasons that we haven’t been able to finish off games with the lead that we’ve had,” Di Matteo added at his press conference. “We need to find solutions to overcome this. It’s a barrier that we have to break through.
“Whether it’s in the first half or in the second half, there’s always an opposition that has some quality moments in the game where you have to defend with a lot of numbers – that’s normal. For us, the fact it’s always happened in the last five minutes doesn’t really give you much time to react either.
“But we certainly have to find a solution to this problem. It’s certainly a reality that all the teams that play against us will play at full strength because obviously it’s one of the biggest games of the season for them, but this is something that we know and we have to deal with – there’s no other way around it.
“Our players have shown a lot of desire and commitment in the games where we have to dig in, but we do need to improve in certain aspects because the performances so far aren’t reflected in the table. Ultimately, we need to win games.”
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