Aston Villa’s record signing Wesley Moraes will be hoping to get off the mark against Bournemouth on Saturday.
BBC Sport pundit Garry Thompson has insisted that he is not ‘hammering’ Aston Villa’s record signing Wesley, but he urged him to improve from his debut.
The Brazilian started Villa’s opening day Premier League defeat, as he will be looking to get off the mark when Dean Smith’s side take on Bournemouth on Saturday.
At times, Wesley showcased his brute strength, as was proven during McGinn’s goal, but then he was tested by a strong Spurs defence.
Speaking to BBC Radio West Midlands Football Phone-In, former Villa striker Thompson believes Wesley’s character will now be tested as he backed him to come through it.
“It sounds like I’m hammering Wesley,” Thompson told BBC Radio WM. “But he’ll learn from what happened on Saturday and he will get better. The young kid got bullied a little bit.
“But if he’s got anything about him, he’ll turn around and say ‘well, that ain’t happening again’ and he’ll be a better player for it.”
It was understandable that away at Tottenham, Villa were playing a lot deeper than they will play during their home matches this season or those teams outside of the top-six.
Villa’s potential higher line against Eddie Howe’s side at the weekend will benefit Wesley, who will have more attack-minded players surrounding him and more players running beyond him.
His hold up play against Tottenham was a positive, but if he can be more of a threat to the goalkeeper and Villa can replicate that first-half display at Tottenham then things will look up for Dean Smith’s men.
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