Marvelous Nakamba started in midfield as Dean Smith’s side were held to a 0-0 draw by Manuel Pellegrini’s Hammers in the Premier League.
Two key statistics sum up Marvelous Nakamba’s Premier League debut in Aston Villa colours.
The Zimbabwean ball-winner completed five tackles in his 81 minutes on the pitch against West Ham United in a Monday night draw high on energy but drastically low on quality.
But he also managed a pass completion rate of 81 per cent. Not bad, but far from Marvelous either.
Yet if the £11 million summer signing from Club Brugge is to establish himself as Aston Villa’s number one holding midfielder in the months ahead, he will need to make sure his distribution of the ball matches his ability to win it back.
In Douglas Luiz, who completed 92 per cent of his passes off the bench and set up Villa’s best chance with a pinpoint cross for a stretching Jack Grealish, Villa have an enforcer who has honed his trade under none other than Pep Guardiola. And then there’s Conor Hourihane too, a deep-lying playmaker rather than a shuttling ankle-biter.
So Dean Smith, a manager who builds his sides to dominate possession, will be desperate to get Nakamba onto the training ground and smooth out these rough edges.
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