The Villa Match Zone

New Season, New Owners, New Players, New Optimism, Same Old Travel Problems.

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Kick off

Decent start, moving the ball quickly and Bikir dropping deep to collect the ball and work it out of defence. New signing John McGinn, got a big cheer the first time he rattled into a hard challenge, something that happened a lot throughout the game. I am struggling to think of a player’s debut that was as impressive as McGinns. He reminds me of Ashley Westwood on speed and very, very angry. The Holte loved him instantly; his set piece for the opening goal was inch perfect and straight after he flashed a snapshot just wide.

Throughout the game, when we played football, we were much better than Wigan, to their credit, they pressured us for around 30 mins in the second half. During that time, we lost our composure and stopped playing. I thought it was noticeable that we didn’t seem to have a leader on the pitch that, took control, and forced the team to slow it down and play. Terry did it brilliantly last season, we need to find that personality in the team as soon as possible.

To win the game, in the manner we did, is not something that happens often at Villa, in recent history, we have conceded late on and dropped points turning the atmosphere during the exit from the ground sour.

Winning at the death, does a lot more for team spirit and supporter attitude than an easy 3-0 win. We can build momentum, drawing on the belief that we can turn it around, the crowd believes, and this resonates to the players, ours and the opposition.

Even though I have a long drive, I have only once ever left before the final whistle, and on Saturday, I wondered how the early leavers felt walking away from the ground and hearing the roar as that late winner hit the back of the net right in front of the Holte end. Why would you leave?

The walk back to the car was fantastic, chatting to loads of people all happy, smiling, laughing. John McGinn’s name was bouncing along the crowds like it was surfing, everyone agreeing that he could be something very special for us.

I got to the car, was out of the car park within 5 minutes and bizarrely, the single lane actually seemed to help the traffic getting out. 10 minutes later, I was Northbound on the M6, for once the journey home was smooth, no traffic jams, it just felt like that late winner had aligned my Karma and everything was going to be OK.

Can’t wait for the next game.

Up the Villa

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Walking Where Angels Fear To Tread