With the signings Aston Villa have made this summer, there was plenty of optimism going into the Newcastle United opener, particularly with how we had performed under Unai Emery following his arrival last season, but quick injuries to Emi Buendia, and then Tyrone Mings in the game itself, added to the eventual defeat – forced everyone back down to earth.
Earlier today, it was time for our second game of the Premier League season and we hosted Everton at Villa Park, and everyone hoped we would quickly get back on track. We did just that with a commanding performance.
It may not have been perfect, but it was more than good enough to dispatch Everton 4-0, with barely a whimper coming from them.
Just like last weekend probably wasn’t as bas as it felt given the scoreline, Everton were poor, but we’d all rather feel this way wouldn’t we. A very good reaction, one that was much needed just to lift spirits, but now we need to get ourselves back on a run of positive results to really get confidence and momentum in the camp going.
Our gaffer had plenty of issues with our last performance, but following goals from John McGinn, a Douglas Luiz penalty, and further efforts from Leon Bailey and Jhon Duran in the second half, well, you have to be happy with that don’t you.
“We needed this reaction today because after the match we played against Newcastle it was really embarrassing for us and everybody. It can happen but in the last 30 minutes we lost our competitive way like we were doing in pre-season and last year. It was a match today when I was excited in the beginning to see how we were reacting, and we were really brilliant.”
As ever, Emery was very quick to praise the support from the fans, especially on the back of the previous walloping, and simply put, he was pleased the players responded and gave the faithful even more to cheer.
“We were trying to play with good control of the game and positions on the pitch. We were keeping ball possession for as long as possible and trying to be aggressive, trying to be demanding in the attacking third. We did it and we scored four goals. We had a clean sheet as well which was very important. This is the first step at home, the second step in the Premier League and we will stay balanced today like we did after last week.”
All eyes to Wednesday’s utterly stupid kick off time, as we return to European competition, and face Hibernian in the Europa Conference League Qualifying Play Offs.
Villa Park
Premier League
20/08/2023 3:00 pm
Attendance: 41694
Referee: Anthony Taylor
| Aston Villa | Everton | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McGinn (18), Douglas Luiz (pen 24), Bailey (51), Duran (75) | |||||||
| Martinez | Pickford | ||||||
| Cash | Patterson | ||||||
| Konsa | Keane | ||||||
| Torres | Tarkowski | ||||||
| Digne | Young | ||||||
| Kamara | Gueye | 45 | |||||
| Douglas Luiz | 64 | Garner | |||||
| Bailey | 63 | Doucoure | 90+8 | ||||
| Diaby | 64 | Onana | |||||
| McGinn | Iwobi | 51 | |||||
| Watkins | 74 | Calvert-Lewin | 38 | ||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Diego Carlos | 64 | Danjuma | 38 | ||||
| Tielemans | 63 | Neves Virginia | |||||
| Traore | Maupay | 51 | |||||
| Chambers | Mykolenko | ||||||
| Coutinho | 64/85 | Godfrey | |||||
| Duran | 74 | Branthwaite | |||||
| Olsen | Cannon | ||||||
| Archer | 85 | Dobbin | 45 | ||||
| Marschall | Onyango | 90+8 | |||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 13 | Goal attempts | 9 |
| 7 | On Target | 2 |
| 7 | Corners | 6 |
| 8 | Fouls | 12 |
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 4 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 60 | % | 40 |
All in all a most satisfying performance from all. The one disappointment was the injury to Coutino, I suspect any pending transfer will be put on hold. I have no axe to grind with the player but it’s apparent that he doesn’t figure highly in Emery’s plans and a departure would free up his wages and recoup some of the initial outlay.