Aston Villa’s 2-0 win over Fulham in Orlando on Wednesday night saw all three of our summer signings feature, and the trio all impressed in a promising display.
Both Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans started our second outing of the Premier League Summer Series, with the latter being the only player to complete the full 90 minutes, while Moussa Diaby came off the bench in the second half and wasted little time in finding the back of the net.
Sign up for the new Talk Villa newsletter, a free weekly Villa round-up delivered straight to you!
Diaby already a threat in final third
Given the 24-year-old French international only started full training with the rest of the squad just two days prior to the game, it was an impressive cameo appearance as there were already signs of an understanding and chemistry being developed with his teammates, as seen with the assist from Luiz to find Diaby for his goal.
His pace, movement and clinical play in the final third are all going to have a big impact for us moving forward, and it’s hoped that he’s able to build on that performance with another outing this weekend against Brentford as we continue our preparations for the new campaign.
Torres a composed, accurate presence
Meanwhile, Torres looked assured and composed in possession as we expected, using his technical ability and passing range to retain possession and play probing passes that can help break the lines and set us off on swift attacks.
Further, we also saw a key aspect of our likely attacking strategy this season too, with the Spaniard’s ability to not only play it short and get the ball to our midfielders in space, but also to find our striker over the top with his ability to play accurate long passes too.
Unai Emery wants control in games through possession and tempo, and Torres certainly helps with it, as the Villa boss would have known from their time working together at Villarreal.
Coupled with the tactical tweak too with Ezri Konsa playing at right-back but forming a three-man backline in possession alongside Torres and Diego Carlos, it’s a system that appeared to be effective and suits our summer signing.
Tielemans stand-out performer
However, it was Tielemans who was awarded the Player of the Match award, with the classy Belgian midfielder running the game for us in midfield with his clever play and technical quality.
The 26-year-old was constantly looking to make himself available for a pass from defence, his quick-thinking and savvy play saw us move the ball with speed in our attacks to break Fulham’s shape and create space for others to exploit, and his long-range passing was on point for the most part – including in the build-up to our first goal.
Tielemans also showed great tenacity to add a presence in midfield out of possession, and while we had a good balance in the first half as he played alongside Boubacar Kamara, it was impressive to see him and Douglas Luiz do well together as well.
That could be an important solution for Emery at times this season, as if we’re facing opposition who we know we’ll dominate possession against and need to have that additional level of creativity to find a way to unlock a stubborn defence, Tielemans and Luiz together could be an ideal solution as they add that extra bit of class to our play in key areas.
It’s hoped we see more of the new trio on Sunday as well as in upcoming friendlies against Lazio and Valencia, as they’ll all have big roles in helping us kick on this season and significantly improving us.
Ran the show. ⭐ pic.twitter.com/paoi8EpN9r
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) July 27, 2023