Aston Villa were held to a goalless draw by Man Utd on Sunday, and although there was disappointment over dropping points, it’s been a strong start to the season from Unai Emery and his players.
It was a scrappy encounter with Erik ten Hag’s side with neither team able to find a breakthrough, as the point kept us in fifth place in the Premier League table with 14 points from our opening seven outings.
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The international break precedes a busy run in our fixture schedule to end October, with Villa playing four games in 11 days across three competitions, and so it’s imperative that we’re ready for that stretch and in the best possible shape.
Emery was keen to focus on the positives after the game and rightly so, but although he insisted that a draw was a fair result, there will be frustration that it wasn’t something more.
Opportunity missed, but decent point in context
After all the hype and the magnitude of the game in midweek, coupled with the fact that we put in an excellent performance to defeat Bayern Munich, it was always going to be difficult to show that same level of intensity and quality just a few days later, particularly with a weakened squad.
Villa are going through it early on with injuries and fitness issues, and so while there is disappointment that we couldn’t go through the gears and find a winner with the game there to be won, there are certainly factors that support the argument that a point was a decent outcome in the end.
This season is going to take its toll on the players, but it’s a sign of the times that we’re left disappointed with a point at home against Man Utd, as we’ve progressed and improved to a level where the expectation and demand is now more.
Growing injury list a concern
Losing Ezri Konsa to a hamstring injury after just 11 minutes was a real blow, as he became the latest key figure to pick up a setback and face a potential spell on the sidelines as he recovers.
With John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey, Amadou Onana, Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara all missing too, while Leon Bailey is clearly not fully fit either, it’s stretching the squad already, and that’s a concern just a handful of games into the season.
Still, we had the quality and depth to cope this weekend as we saw the likes of Ross Barkley and Jaden Philogene step in and play their part, and so it’s hoped that we can continue to find solutions when faced with adversity.
International break comes at a crucial time
There’s no denying that the break comes at a great time for Villa, as it now gives us an opportunity to rest, recover and regroup after a challenging start to the campaign, both physically and mentally.
With a number of players set to travel for international duty, it’s not ideal, but the next fortnight gives those named above an opportunity to step up their respective recoveries from injury and hopefully come back into contention when we face Fulham on October 19.
It will be a key period at Bodymoor Heath for the squad, as it’s hoped that we come out firing after the break and return to our usual level of intensity and energy, which in turn will also allow us to play with rhythm and quality to get back to playing our best football.
Learning curve after high of Bayern win, schedule management
While Villa had experience of the schedule challenges last season too with our Europa Conference League run, the Champions League and our opponents are at a different level in terms of what it requires from the players to compete with the best sides in Europe.
Emery is vastly experienced in this arena given his success in European competitions over the years, but it still must take some getting used to for the squad to adapt and be at their best in midweek and to then go again in the league.
Our win over Bayern was perhaps an anomaly in that it was just a huge game in every context and that took a lot out of everyone. The hope is that we’ll be able to rotate more and have fresher minds and legs later this month as and when players return from injury.
Positive overall start to the season
As noted above, Emery was keen to focus on the positives after the game, and one of them was our overall start to the season.
14 points from our opening seven Premier League games and a maximum six-point haul from our two Champions League outings, we’ve undoubtedly started strongly, despite our injury list growing increasingly longer.
It’s a foundation on which we can build in both competitions as we look to kick on this year and compete at the top, and having also advanced in the Carabao Cup, we’ve had a successful run to start this season and that should keep spirits high going into the break.
