03 Aug 2023 21:50:40
When you consider Latzio 2nd in their league, that was a great performance. First half especially again, we played some lovely football .Tielemans is looking a complete bargain, he never looks rushed . A shout out to Chambers, once again, come in and did a good job . Why do we keep letting Ollie, take the pens, he never looks comfortable taking them .Really wanted Archer to score, but once again every through ball, was to long or behind him .Cortinio certainly looked a lot sharper, he was bringing out the tricks, hard luck with a couple of shots .
On now to Valencia Saturday and let's keep the run going .
UTV
03 Aug 2023 23:46:04
Thought we were very good tonight Dave, yes it's a pre-season game and ultimately will mean very little come next weekend but we were excellent tonight!
What amazes me the most is the fact that we can swap players in and out of the 11, or substitute players during the 90 minutes and we don't skip a beat, the level of coaching is something I've never seen before at Villa (in my time supporting them) . Players like Chambers (who you rightly called out) can come in and slot into their position so naturally, Dendonker against Newcastle, hadn't played for months then comes in and performs brilliantly! I think we are in a really good position for the upcoming campaign, my only concern is in the forward line, if we lose Watkins we are in big trouble, I love Archer but he hasn't really shone pre-season so I'd be reluctant to rely on him if Watkins was injured. I really think we need another forward!
Side note, thought Coutinho looked really sharp like you Dave! It's always a massive "if", but if we could keep him fit, a Emery coached Coutinho could be a real asset off the bench in the last 10 or 15 minutes. Again, it's pre-season so very hard to judge, and he has that massive "if" over his head but I have to say I was impressed by him tonight!