So It’s Yeovil In The EFL Cup – Does Brucie Turn To Our Young Lads
Soccer Football - Championship - Hull City v Aston Villa - KCOM Stadium, Hull, Britain - August 6, 2018 Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce Action Images/Craig Brough EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Most Aston Villa fans who follow the Under 23s to one degree or another weere expecting a changed crop to take to the pitch last night as we opened our Premier League 2 campaign at that level against Norwich City.
A number of youngsters, as we know, are carrying knocks from pre-season and others find themselves involved to one degree or another with the first team. The Under 23 squad was a bit barer than I expected at least though, and that instantly gave thoughts to tonight’s lineup.
7.45pm, Huish Park, Yeovil Town = the EFL Cup first round.
So did we guess right?
Team news: It's nine changes for #AVFC to take on @YTFC in the #CarabaoCup this evening…
There are starts for Jake Doyle-Hayes and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, as well as a competitive debut for Andre Moreira.#PartOfThePride pic.twitter.com/LWfIge3YLm
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) August 14, 2018
Well not quite as much as we’d have hoped, but this is where the injuries continue to play their part, unfortunately.
We do see Andre Moreira, Jake Doyle-Hayes, Andre Green and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy take to the pitch in the starting eleven and we have James Bree and Harry McKirdy amongst the substitutes on the bench, so for those who are convinced Steve Bruce won’t use the youth, it does slightly rebalance that conversation slightly.
Hopefully, it’ll be a good experience for the newer faces and we have enough in the squad to get us into the second round but with nine changes made, I wouldn’t expect a free-flowing performance.
With Doyle-Hayes though, he’s proven himself happy to be busy so we might be in for surprise – least that’s what I’m hoping.
Be a great boost if RHM can get amongst the goals, and if we are (fingers crossed) comfortable came the second half, end with a more youthful feel for the positivity that will bring.