Aston Villa secured a 2-0 win over Fulham in Orlando on Wednesday night, with goals from Jaden Philogene and Moussa Diaby sealing the victory.
Kick-off was delayed at the Exploria Stadium due to inclement weather, but that didn’t prevent Villa from putting in a positive performance with some solid individual performances.
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Unai Emery will have seen plenty to meticulously analyse and dissect as we continue our preparations for the new campaign, and similarly to the test against Newcastle Utd at the weekend, this was another important and positive run-out that allows us to build fitness and form.
While we’ll wrap up our participation in the Premier League Summer Series on Sunday against Brentford, Emery may well start to indicate what his starting line-up might look like on August 12 having shared out minutes across the squad thus far.
Diaby scores on pre-season debut
It didn’t take Diaby long to make his mark as he scored his first goal in a Villa shirt shortly after coming off the bench in the second half.
The Frenchman showed great movement and pace to break in behind the Fulham defence to latch onto a brilliant pass from Douglas Luiz, and although his control almost let him down, he did well to set himself and produce a top finish.
That is merely a hint of the threat that he will provide for us, and he looked sharp throughout with his running off the ball as well as showing he can track back and defend too.
Philogene continues to impress
After promising displays against Walsall and Newcastle, Philogene not only backed those up with another good shift, but he added a goal to his night’s work too.
It’s still unclear what the plan is for the 21-year-old this season, as Emery may still feel as though another loan spell at a high level could be the best option for his development, rather than a bit-part role off the bench for us where he won’t have any consistency in his playing time.
That said, Philogene is surely playing his way into his plans with Europe to consider too, as he’s not only offering a threat on the right side in the final third, but he’s showing a good understanding and awareness of the tactical and defensive demands put on him too.
Tielemans looks a brilliant fit in our midfield
It’s still early days, but Youri Tielemans is looking a classy addition to the Villa midfield, as he collected the Player of the Match award for his performance in Orlando.
The Belgian international was calm, composed and probing with his play in possession, as we’ve added more technical quality and a player capable of dictating tempo to either alternate with Luiz, or lessen the burden on him to do that for us while playing alongside each other.
Tielemans will certainly help Emery to continue to implement his preferred style of play, and it not only looks like great business to land him on a free transfer, but it’s clear that the Villa boss is being very specific with the quality he’s added to the squad in terms of what they’re capable of doing to improve us.
Konsa shows ability to play right-back
With the arrival of Pau Torres this summer, much has been said about the competition at centre-half in the squad, with Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Diego Carlos all fighting for a starting place.
One of the options available to Emery is to play Konsa at right-back. Having tested that out in midweek, there were certainly further signs that it’s a viable solution.
As we saw last season with Matty Cash and Ashley Young, our right-back can play a more reserved role and tuck inside to create a back-three to allow our left-back to push forward in attack. Konsa did that part of his role well as expected, and while there are some limitations in his game in that position, he also showed composure on the ball to help us build our attacks.
It’s hoped that it was just cramp for the 25-year-old, as he pulled up in the second half after making a tackle and had to be replaced as he was seen holding his hamstring.
Pau Torres, Diego Carlos stake their claim
It’s going to take a big effort to displace Mings and Konsa in the heart of our defence given their impressive displays last season gave us a solid foundation, but Torres and Carlos did well on Wednesday night.
Being an Emery signing and given his attributes help us play the style of football we want more efficiently to go along with his defensive strengths, Torres is likely to have a real chance of coming into the starting XI to start the season, albeit that would be harsh on Mings if he were to drop out.
Carlos offers similar strengths and is gradually getting rid of the rust in his game after such a lengthy layoff as he was one of the stand-out performers in our win, but the duo as a pairing put in a top display as they’ll hope to build on this and stay in the Villa line-up at the weekend.
