Well the day is finally here, Aston Villa kick off their 2020/21 Premier League campaign on home soil against Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United side.
We got the campaign up and running with victory over Burton Albion but it wasn’t as emphatic as the scoreline suggests, so tonight fans are looking for more organisation and more understanding in the group to show that we can kick on towards the roughly midtable finish we all want this season.
It was roughly the starting XI most expected, with Emi, Cash and Watkins coming in for their PL debuts with us, so, game on!
It was definitely a bright start, from both sides really but the chances fell our way and 12 minutes into the tie we had another advantage as the visitors went down to ten men as John Egan impeded Ollie Watkins who would’ve otherwise been clean through on goal.
We were then all over them with plenty of crosses going in but no moment of magic – surely it was only a matter of time? Maybe not, United broke and the softest penalty I’ve ever seen was given against Matt Targett.
Three hours later it was taken and Emi got his gloves to it – just reward for their thuggish approach to the game so far.
0-0 at half time, totally on top but no end product – we had to do better.
It took over an hour but Ezri Konsa finally gave us the breakthrough and the advantage and it was nothing less than we deserved – however, it was only our second shot on target which tells you how poor it was, despite our dominance and control. And it should’ve been two as Jack curled an effort in a few minutes later, but it snuck outside the post.
There were other good chances as well and we really should’ve walked away with a two or three goal win, but after last season we take the positives.
Improvement as the game went on, almost total control, plenty of good chances just lacking that bit of composure, or sharpness or luck and a clean sheet.
Three points on the board, onto the next one and further improvement please.
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Villa Park
Premier League
21/09/2020 7:00 pm
Attendance: 0
Referee: Graham Scott
| Aston Villa | Sheffield United | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Konsa (63) | |||||||
| Martinez | Ramsdale | ||||||
| Cash | Basham | 68 | |||||
| Konsa | Egan | ||||||
| Mings | O'Connell | ||||||
| Targett | Baldock | ||||||
| Hourihane | 62 | Lundstram | |||||
| Douglas Luiz | Berge | ||||||
| McGinn | Fleck | 63 | |||||
| Trezeguet | Stevens | ||||||
| Watkins | McGoldrick | 31 | |||||
| Grealish | Burke | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Taylor | McBurnie | 68 | |||||
| Steer | Sharp | ||||||
| Nakamba | Norwood | ||||||
| El Ghazi | Foderingham | ||||||
| Elmohamady | Robinson | ||||||
| Hause | Ampadu | 31 | |||||
| Davis | 62 | Osborn | 63 | ||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 18 | Goal attempts | 4 |
| 2 | On Target | 1 |
| 10 | Corners | 4 |
| 12 | Fouls | 12 |
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 1 |
| 72 | % | 28 |
Ugly yes but we will take it, improvement obviously needed, but 3 points is a brilliant start. Still time for another quality signing which I think we definitely need.
On to the next game then Up the Villa
Yup, type of game we’d have lost late on last year for me with us not taking our chances. Good start, we can certainly improve, a bit more attacking intent I thought (not just them down at ten men) but also plenty of rustiness that will pass. Now to keep it up.
Cash and martinez were class. My only concern is way too much pressure on Watkins. Looks the business though.
I’m over the moon with the owners we got. 🎖🌹
I’d like to see Ollie and Kienan play the first 5 or 6 matches alongside one another as twin strikers. It’s early in the season so I think it’s worth a try. This would take the pressure off Ollie with Kienan providing the option of main target man. I reckon the two together if given time would be a real handful for opposition defences. Brilliant performance tonight from Ezri.