Striker John Carew revealed Ruud van Nistelrooy was the inspiration for his goal in Villa’s derby day win at Albion.
Man of the match Carew marked his return from injury with a brilliant goal, to set Martin O’Neill’s side on their way to a 2-1 success at the Hawthorns.
The Norwegian forward outfoxed marker Leon Barnett by staying offside until just before Ashley Young’s set-piece delivery, then planting a powerful header in off the post.
He admits it is a trick he picked up from ex-Manchester United star Van Nistelrooy, who now plays for Real Madrid.
He said: “They don’t know what to do, because they have to drop. It’s almost impossible to defend. Ruud Van Nistelrooy started it and scored a lot of goals. He is a very, very clever guy.
“As long as it is working I’m going to try and use it as often as I can. I won’t talk too much about it though because then the defenders will know all about it!”
The former Roma and Valencia forward could easily have walked away with the matchball, after twice hitting the post in the second half as well.
He said: “I could have had a hat-trick. I felt I hit the ball really well both times in the second half but the post just decided it was outside not inside.
“Fortunately the first one was on my side, it was just bad luck I didn’t get two more.”
The striker was delighted with Villa’s resilience in what was their third game in a week. He admits the importance of grinding our results cannot be underestimated.
He said: “It was a really hard game. Derby matches are always very tough, they are a physical team. It was perhaps not the most beautiful football game you will ever see, there was a lot of battling, but we created chances.
“We showed we can cope with games which require fight.”
He has moved to reassure supporters he is back to full fitness, after hobbling off with an ankle injury at Tottenham a week ago.
He said: “I was struggling after that game, they strapped me and I’m ok now. I got some good treatment from the physios who have been working really well with me all week preparing for the game.
“I was feeling the improvement every day.”
One Comment
I didn’t think Villa played to their full potential, there were a few tired legs out there and it affected their rhythm somewhat, which tells me that the bar has to be raised on the fitness levels.
After saying that, a good win, shame about Friedels boo boo though.