Aston Villa concluded their pre-season schedule with a 2-0 win over Villarreal in both a productive and pleasing end to our summer preparations.
In contrast to our fiery encounter with Marseille on Saturday night, Villa got another important run-out in Spain a day later with goals from Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Buendia securing victory.
READ MORE: Five key talking points as Villa fall to defeat in fiery pre-season clash with Marseille
While it’s hoped that we came through the weekend unscathed in terms of being injury free, full focus will now shift to Newcastle United in our Premier League season opener on Saturday, and we’ve hopefully had the ideal preparation for the new campaign.
Naturally, there were plenty of talking points over the summer as a whole, which will be discussed further in the TalkVilla+ newsletter which is out on Monday night, but here are five points from our win at Villarreal on Sunday.
Watkins looking sharp, lauds having full pre-season
In complete contrast to last summer, Watkins has had a full pre-season and looks all the better for it. The Villa talisman bagged five goals across our summer schedule, and emphasised the importance of having these run-outs to build a foundation for the season ahead after our win at Villarreal.
That in turn will hopefully see him fully-fit and at his sharpest to start the season, while his confidence in his own body and form will be high. In turn, it’s hoped that he’s able to make a fast start and immediately get back to being a decisive leading man for us.
Unai Emery does have alternative options to lead the line for us if necessary, but there is little doubt that it will be Watkins who spearheads our attack this season, and he’s hopefully in a great place to make a positive start.
Buendia ends his case with another decisive showing
After his devastating injury and subsequent loan spell last season, Buendia has battled hard this summer to earn a spot in Emery’s plans again and reintegrate back into the Villa squad.
While we can never question his desire, commitment and work ethic, that was not going to be enough to get him back into the fold, and so having added a decisive quality to his play to find pockets of space and influence games, the Argentine playmaker has potentially filled an important void.
Whether it’s a lack of suitable offers from elsewhere or an inability to agree terms with possible targets, it looks as though he’ll begin the season with us as our creative spark through the middle, and as a long-time admirer of Buendia, it’s hoped that he grabs the opportunity with both hands and puts an exclamation mark in his case to become a key player for us again.
Villa youngsters continue to impress
This summer has provided an important opportunity for some of our young players to gain valuable experience and to try and make a positive impression at senior level, and they’ve all had their moments to showcase their potential.
However, Triston Rowe, George Hemmings and Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba in particular have stood out, and it shows that we’re continuing to bring through talented Academy products.
It also perhaps partly explains the openness from Villa to allow Kosta Nedeljkovic and Enzo Barrenechea to leave with Rowe and Hemmings emerging as potential options, and we’ll hope to see more of them this season if they don’t depart on loan with opportunities possibly presenting themselves in the Carabao Cup and Europa League.
Emery still has defensive flaws to fix
For all the positives that we’ve seen this summer, there is still work to be done to improve our defensive structure and solidity at the back as we’ve been carved open consistently in pre-season.
While it’s expected to an extent given our intensity and urgency isn’t going to be as high at this stage, we’ve seen flaws and holes in our backline that are a concern, and so it’s hoped that we can find solutions and fixes for those when the competitive action returns.
Villa were far too porous defensively last season and so that has to improve, but there must be a balance between being hard to break down and continuing to show plenty of quality in the final third ourselves.
Valuable minutes for Guessand
With a lack of time training with his new teammates, it was always going to be difficult for our latest recruit Evann Guessand to settle immediately ahead of a big season for him.
However, he gained valuable playing time this weekend with appearances off the bench, and that will be crucial in helping his adaptation process and integrating into the group.
He showed some glimpses of his quality against Villarreal with his ability to take his defender on and beat him, and so we’ll hopefully see plenty more of that as he continues to grow in confidence and settles into his new environment.
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