Aston Villa beat Middlesbrough 3-0 on Saturday night.
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has told the club’s official website that he thought Anwar El Ghazi was ‘excellent’ against Middlesbrough.
Villa were looking to hit back after a bizarre 5-5 draw with Nottingham Forest, and turned in arguably their most impressive victory under their new boss.
James Chester put Villa into a first-half lead at the Riverside Stadium, before Tammy Abraham and Glenn Whelan stuck in the second period to give Villa a thumping 3-0 win.
Villa now sit just three points off the play-offs, and are making real progress under Smith after a disappointing start to the season under predecessor Steve Bruce.
Bruce was even struggling to get the best out of flair signings like Yannick Bolasie and El Ghazi, but both started against Boro and played important roles in the victory.
El Ghazi scored against Forest and turned in his best display so far against Boro, leading to praise from manager Smith, who suggested that the former Ajax man was ‘excellent’ on Saturday.
Smith added that El Ghazi has been given ‘a lot of information’ of late, and didn’t only impress going forward but also defensively, with Smith praising him for both sides of his game.
“I thought he was excellent,” said Smith. “He understands the game tactically and has taken on a lot of information. He stopped them getting to our full-backs and closed the outside of their centre-halves. He helped make us very good at picking up second balls today,” he added.
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