Aston Villa’s 5-0 win over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup was not your usual run-of-the-mill game.
The visitor’s put out their youngest ever XI as they had to field a weakened side due to their commitments at the FIFA Club World Cup.
Villa showed no mercy as they swept them aside as Jonathan Kodjia and Wesley grabbed much-needed goals.
Those strikes will have done wonders for their confidence but so will the display of Orjan Nyland.
A man that found himself in the shadows in the second half of the Villans’ promotion-winning campaign, he’s recently jumped up in the goalkeeping pecking order because of Jed Steer’s injury.
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Villa fans believe he was absolutely pivotal during the game as certain individuals took to Twitter to claim he was their man of the match. WhoScored backed up those suggestions by rewarding him with a match rating of 8.8.
Other supporters focused on the Norwegian’s mentality, suggesting he looked confident and assured in his display.
Considering the fact he’d made just one appearance prior to Tuesday night, a substitute appearance in the defeat against Wolves, he showed no signs of lacking in confidence. One fan was in utter shock at the standard of Nyland’s display.
He made a total of eight saves throughout the 90 minutes, a number of which were deemed world-class by the adoring Villa Park faithful.
Nyland was so good that certain segments of the supporter base suggested they’d have lost without him. If you consider the stats, that may have been a real possibility.
Red Herring or Real Hero: Only hardcore Villa fans will get all of them right….
He was forced into two stops within the first ten minutes with the score still at 0-0. Villa would eventually prevail, but his early form ensured Dean Smith’s men had a platform to secure victory.
Had they gone a goal behind early, the encounter could have been totally different.
Tom Heaton has been the club’s number one throughout the season but Nyland staked his claim in superb fashion this week. Whether or not he’ll be rewarded with a place in the side for the semi-final remains to be seen.
In other Villa news, there was an incredibly suspect performance from one man against Liverpool…
