With six new debutants in Saturday’s victory over Bournemouth there was certainly a fresh new look about Tim Sherwood’s side.
But of all the new signings there was one who stole the show, and he only played half an hour – Rudy Gestede.
He came off the bench and and rose highest and powered a superb header past Artur Boruc in the Cherries goal. It was a classic battering ram type of goal by an old fashioned centre forward.
However, Villa boss Tim Sherwood insists that he is “more than just a battering ram,” The former Spurs boss went on to say: “He attacks the ball for his life and throws everything at it.
“He flies in, he hurts people if they get in his way, but he seems to get up himself.
“He terrorises defenders – he doesn’t give them a minute – but he is more than just a battering ram.”
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And it does indeed look like that first, albeit early glimpses, of the former Blackburn man in a Villa shirt that the £6m fee paid for the striker was an absolute bargain.
But the real question Villa supporters will be asking is can Gestede replace the void left by losing Christian Benteke to Liverpool?
And given all of his key attributes, the mould and build of the Frenchman, he certainly looks like the perfect replacement for Benteke at least.
He is strong, powerful, equally as strong in the air as Benteke, if not better, he can hold the ball up and is a real handful defenders due to the way he “attacks the ball with his life.” His no fear approach will reap its rewards in the Premier League and the big striker will score goals for Sherwood’s side, providing he gets the service from the likes of Scott Sinclair, Leonardo Bacuna and Jordan Amavi is on the money.
If they get it right the Villa fans will get to see many more goals like the 6ft 4in striker notched on his debut on Saturday, it really is that simple.
Perhaps in the past it wasn’t for Gestede as he had chances to prove himself in the Premier League with Cardiff, but it didn’t quite work out. He went back to the Championship with Blackburn and transformed himself into a prolific goal scorer – scoring 22 goals in 44 games for Rovers last season.
He transformed and turned his career around as he had attitude problems, and didn’t really apply himself properly and we never got to see the best of the striker, but now we could well get to see the best of Gestede this season.
But for all the positives about Gestede, there is one negative when comparing the Frenchman to Benteke and that is he hasn’t got the turn of speed of the Belgian. That does restrict his ability in terms of running in behind defences and scoring goals from through balls.
That is an issue if Villa choose to solely rely on Gestede for goals, however the signing of Jordan Ayew from Lorient will provide Sherwood’s side with the pace to get in behind defences, and there could even be the possibility to play the two strikers at the same time as they could well complement each other’s game well.
Finally, Gestede is in the mould of Benteke and in many ways is a like for like replacement and given his good promising start there is every chance the new Villa man can replace Benteke.
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