The 28-year-old winger played 63 minutes as Roberto Di Matteo’s men drew 1-1 with Newcastle United at Villa Park on Saturday.
Aston Villa fans got their first proper glimpse of Albert Adomah in action on Saturday evening as the deadline day signing from Middlesbrough made his home debut for the club in their 1-1 draw with Newcastle United.
The 28-year-old winger was forced to wait until last weekend’s 0-0 draw at Ipswich Town to earn his claret and blue bow as a late substitute after missing the previous two games through injury, but he was finally deemed fit enough to take his place in the line-up for the visit of Rafa Benitez’s men.
However, while he was initially expected to start as part of a three-man frontline alongside Jonathan Kodjia and Jordan Ayew, the Ghana international actually began the match in an unfamiliar right wing-back role.
It did not appear to have a detrimental effect on his performance to begin with after his first real involvement saw him play Kodjia through on goal with an intelligent pass, but that was about the only genuine moment of creativity the pacey wide man offered during the first half.
He did manage to get onto the end of a Jordan Amavi cross shortly after the half-hour mark after Newcastle had taken a 28th minute lead through Tommy Elphick’s own goal, but the Frenchman’s teasing ball was just slightly too high for his fellow wing-back to make proper contact at the far post.
With Roberto Di Matteo switching around his tactics at the break, the former Boro man was allowed to push forward into a more advanced role from the start of the second half, but he only lasted 18 more minutes before being withdrawn for Rudy Gestede as the hosts searched for an equaliser.
In total, the 18-time capped Ghanaian recorded one shot, two crosses, one tackle and one dribble during his 63-minute run-out, while also winning two duels and completing 12 of his 14 passes – two of which were long balls.
| Vs Newcastle | Total Shots | Shots Ontarget | Key Passes | Total Passes | Passing Accuracy | Total Crosses | Accurate Crosses | Total Tackles | Total Dribbles | Touches | Unsuccesful Touches | Mins Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albert Adomah | 1 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 86% | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 34 | 4 | 63 |
He was certainly not involved in the action as much as he would have liked on the day – partly because of Di Matteo’s tactics – but his new boss nevertheless had some words of encouragement for him after the match.
“He started as a wing back,” the Italian told avfc.co.uk when asked about Adomah’s impact. “Then we changed our formation and he was a little bit further forward as a winger. He obviously hasn’t played a full game for a long time and you could see that a little bit in the second half.
“But every week that goes past helps us. The last three or four games have been a little bit like that with new players. The weeks will certainly be in our favour.”
Villa’s now face a trip to Barnsley on Tuesday night, but it remains to be seen whether Adomah will retain his starting spot with Jack Grealish set to be back and available for selection.
The 21-year-old midfielder missed Saturday’s game after he was fined and suspended by the club while they conducted an internal investigation into his recent off-field behaviour, but Di Matteo later confirmed that he would be back with the first-team squad for the match at Oakwell.
“We have fined the boy and he was suspended for today’s game,” Di Matteo added to avfc.co.uk after the draw with Newcastle. “Tomorrow he will be back with the group, available for selection and we will move on.”
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