Aston Villa opened our pre season Premier League Summer Series out in the United States with a thrilling six goal clash with Newcastle United much earlier today.
Manager Unai Emery was clearly pleased with 90% of what he saw from a very mixed side, and fans in attendance at the Lincoln Financial Field got to cast their eyes over a number of our highly talented youngsters to boot.
Unai Emery: "Firstly, I'm thankful for our supporters, tonight the atmosphere was amazing, and we did our work." 👊 pic.twitter.com/3yovlDaVPR
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) July 24, 2023
Ollie Watkins got our opener seven minutes into the game, and Emi Buendia built on his assist by helping himself to a brace (11, 48). The only real downside was the manner of their three goals, but the positives will definitely outweigh any negatives at this stage and given the other chances we fashioned, with a bit more sharpness we could easily have added a couple more to our tally.
Aston Villa:
MartÃnez (Olsen 46), Cash, Konsa (Carlos 46), Mings (Torres 46), Digne (Revan 62), Kamara (Tielemans 62), Luiz (Chambers 71), Philogene (Young 71), McGinn (Kellyman 46), BuendÃa (A Ramsey 62), Watkins (Archer 62).
Highlights of the goals can be found by Clicking Here for anyone who hasn’t seen them.
Speaking after the game, our gaffer was largely content.
“Firstly, I’m thankful for our supporters, sharing with us here our tournament in the United States. Tonight, the atmosphere was amazing and we did our work. Everything we were practicing here, I think we did on the pitch in 90 minutes and we shared playing with experienced players and young players. I think we got the performance we were trying to get and I’m happy, really happy. The result is secondary for us. But to score three goals (against us), of course, is one thing we are going to analyse, why. But I am happy.”
Looking forward to the Fulham game on Wednesday, Emery confirmed that Philippe Coutinho and Moussa Diaby would be getting minutes in that one, and Leon Bailey would be joining up on Thursday.
Buendia added about his own performance.
“I’m quite happy to score goals and get an assist again. I think I should have scored another one in the second half but I hadn’t been in that situation too often, so I didn’t know what to do. I’ll keep training those situations so that I can score the next one. I’m happy with the game today.”
'@AVFCOfficial fans are LOVING what they're seeing from their squad! 🎉
📺: @Peacock | #PLSummerSeries pic.twitter.com/swxJbkGJ1y
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) July 23, 2023
