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da bet sport： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.
Aston Villa’s poor run in the Premier League continued on Monday night as they were held to a goalless draw by a ten-man West Ham United.
Snapshot
The critical moment in the match came in the 67th minute when Hammers left-back Arthur Masuaku picked up his second yellow card of the game thus duly receiving his marching orders from referee Mike Dean.
Whether it was deserved or not is another story to tell, but after a couple of glances, it did look rather harsh on the 25-year-old.
At this stage, West Ham had been well on top without looking particularly threatening, recording 59.4% possession as well as just one shot on target.
With the visitors losing a man, you could say the game was there for the taking.
Off the Bench
Just a minute before the crucial incident, Dean Smith had brought on Ahmed Elmohamady in place of Jota, who had a particularly poor game all round, recording a rating of just 6.11 while also being dispossessed five times, per WhoScored.
The Egyptian was actually the man felled by Masuaku in what was his first contribution to the match.
But then the Villa boss made a huge blunder by not capitalising on their man advantage – his next substitution came some 14 minutes later – replacing defensive midfielder Marvelous Nakamba with a similar player in Douglas Luiz.
A truly bizarre move.
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As soon as the Congo international headed down the tunnel, striker Keinan Davis should have been stripped and ready to go, but instead, he was brought on in a mark of desperation with just five minutes remaining – like he was ever going to have an impact in such a short space of time.
The burly forward would have added a new dimension to Villa’s attack as his mere 33 minutes of Premier League action this season has seen him win three aerial duels, which is more than the zero Wesley managed in this game.
By leaving it too late, Smith squandered the chance to take full advantage and ultimately his decision, or lack of, contributed towards the drab stalemate at Villa Park.