Analysis: Danks brings some joy to Aston Villa after a tough run
Aaron Danks’ impressive start to life as caretaker manager at Villa has bought the hierarchy time as they mull over their next manager.
Villa thrashed the Bees 4-0 at Villa Park yesterday, mainly due to three goals in the first 14 minutes – which saw the home side get off to an absolute flyer.
And Danks, who has grown up locally, set the team up well as they registered their third win of the season.
Perhaps the result buys the board time to make a more informed decision on who takes the hotseat at Villa Park now they know the team are in capable hands given the absence of a manager.
Danks was poached from Anderlecht last September, where he was working with Vincent Kompany.
He arrived in the West Midlands when Dean Smith was still at the helm.
But as it happened, Smith was sacked two months later, and when Steven Gerrard was appointed, Danks became one of many coaches at the club. But after taking the reigns on the back of the club’s decision to sack Gerrard, he made a fantastic start – bringing some joy back to Villa Park.
He made several bold calls ahead of the game, dropping John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey to the bench – two players who were mainstays in the previous regime.
Even though Villa’s position before the game was perilous, sitting in 17th place in the Premier League table, it was a free hit for the caretaker boss.
Danks awarded Emiliano Martinez the captaincy for the game, and it was the first time Danny Ings, Emiliano Buendia and Leon Bailey – who signed for a combined total of £83 million in 2021 – had started a Premier League match together due to injuries and selection.
Matty Cash returned to the starting line-up and the back four, alongside Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Ashley Young.
Leander Dendoncker and Douglas Luiz played at the base of midfield with Buendia just in front of them.
But the front three remained the same as at Craven Cottage – Bailey, Ings and Ollie Watkins.
They could not have gotten off to a better start, taking the lead inside the first two minutes. Villa worked a corner well, and Luiz got to the byline, pulling it back before Bailey smashed it home past David Raya.
And moments later it was 2-0.
Bailey was this time the provider. After he was played in by Young, he squared it to Ings, who had the simple task of finishing it off.
A Villa side who had only scored seven Premier League goals in 11 games before the clash then found themselves 3-0 up inside 14 minutes.
A moment of madness from Kristoffer Ajer in the Brentford penalty area, as he pulled down Mings, saw referee Darren England point to the penalty spot.
Danny Ings had the responsibility of taking the kick and he smashed it past Raya for his second of the game.
The game was quieter from then onwards after a frantic opening 20 minutes, Brentford did threaten on rare occasions.
A brilliant pass from Ivan Toney found Mbeumo in the box, but the Villa skipper came out and made an important save.
In truth, the Bees could not have complained if they were five or six down at the break.
Luiz hit the bar directly from a corner, and Raya was forced into smart stops to deny Watkins and Cash all in the move. Villa won the second balls, looking bang up for the clash, and the visitors were abject.
It was the first time Ings, Buendia and Bailey, who signed for a combined total of £83 million in 2021, had started a Premier League match together due to injuries and selection.
It was a quiet opening 15 minutes of the second half.
But just before the hour mark Ollie Watkins got in on the act.
Bailey got away down the left and crossed to the back post to Watkins. After two failed attempts being saved by Raya and the post, eventually, he bundled it into the net.
The visitors’ day went from bad to worse when Mbeumo missed a sitter from two yards out after Martinez had pushed the ball into a dangerous area.
McGinn, Ramsey and Coutinho were introduced to the action, and even though the Bees were marginally better in the second period, the game was well and truly over.
It has been a difficult start to the season for Villa, so it was a much-needed win and performance in front of the home crowd.
The players had a real energy about them, they will hope continues through Danks’ interim period and then into the new era of a new boss – whoever that ends up being.
