The Talk Villa Newsletter: #2

A winning start to the 2024/25 campaign as Villa see off West Ham in Premier League opener...

We are so back. After a summer suffering with Aston Villa withdrawal symptoms, Unai Emery and his side returned to competitive action this past weekend, and secured a 2-1 win over West Ham Utd.

It took Amadou Onana just four minutes to open his Villa account as he powered home a header to break the deadlock, and while our opponents rallied before half-time, Jhon Duran eventually sealed the three points as he struck home a 79th-minute winner.

It was less ‘wild boy’ and more having ‘a view to a kill’, while being ‘hungry like the wolf’ after living in his not so ‘ordinary world’ this past summer. The completely unnecessary Duran Duran puns quota met, get in.

“It’s fantastic,” Emery said in his post-match interview. “Our victory feels very good and I’m very proud of our supporters, they were here with us for our first match, travelling from Birmingham to London to support us.

“We felt their support in 90 minutes. The three points are very important for us and how we achieved that here, where it’s very difficult in West Ham’s stadium.

“The performance we got with different players in 90 minutes was fantastic, the commitment, the behaviour before the match, how they were focusing was fantastic.

“I am happy because we started the first match with three points, but now I’m focusing on the next match against Arsenal at home in Villa Park. I am very pleased with every player and how they played today.”

Five key talking points in Villa’s win over West Ham

Amadou Onana a crucial midfield presence

Aside from his goal just four minutes into his debut, Onana produced an excellent performance in the heart of the Villa midfield to give us control in both phases of the game.

His ability to break play up and disrupt West Ham’s rhythm coupled with his accurate distribution to retain possession and move us up the pitch was fundamental in how we were able to both limit West Ham’s threat and hurt them in transition.

Amadou Onana vs West Ham:
⚽️ Goals: 1
🥇 Passing accuracy: 97%
🥇 Duels: 15
🥇 Duels won: 9
🥇 Possession won: 6

*🥇 team-high ranking

In turn, it was a really impressive first look at the Belgian international in competitive action, and he will hopefully address some glaring issues in our midfield, and ultimately team as a whole, as a long-term solution with his physical attributes.

For more on Onana’s debut, check out my analysis piece on his performance…

Onana-Tielemans partnership fundamental

Staying on the theme of our midfield, Onana worked really effectively in his partnership with compatriot Youri Tielemans, as the combination of the Belgian duo helped us maintain control, particularly in a very impressive opening 35 minutes to the game.

It not only adds composure and calmness to our play as we probe for openings, but it has the right balance of being tenacious out of possession to break play up, but then also to have the technical quality to break the lines and set the likes of Morgan Rogers away into the final third running directly at the opposition’s defence.

Tielemans was critical in adding a cohesiveness and fluidity to our play against the Hammers, and while teams will work that out and target him to try and stop us from playing, it’s imperative we keep feeding him the ball but balance that with alternative solutions to break teams down.

Depth off the bench now looks very impressive

Villa’s bench stood out ahead of kick-off, as it looked much more experienced, talented and deeper than we’ve seen for some time.

It wasn’t long ago that Emery was naming two goalkeepers on the sidelines every week, while sometimes not even filling the entire bench out.

However, following some smart acquisitions this summer coupled with key players returning from injury, we now have options on the bench that can impact the game if needed, and we saw that with Ian Maatsen, Jacob Ramsey and Duran linking up for the winning goal.

Emery made it clear this summer that he wanted to build a squad capable of competing on multiple fronts, and we’ve gone for younger, more athletic and more dynamic individuals to help evolve our style of play and become more impactful.

Analysis: Key factor in Villa win marks big change as part of Emery vision

Duran Duran, it had to be him

After all the talk this summer, the fear was that Duran would end up scoring against us in this fixture amid intense speculation that he was potentially set to join the Hammers.

However, the script was slightly different, as the result went in our favour as he came off the bench and bagged the winner to secure all three points for Villa.

His all-round play was excellent in the latter stages as aside from his goal, he showed good movement and desire out of possession to make himself available and be a nuisance to the West Ham defence. It’s hoped his celebration went some way to repairing some of the damage done to his relationship with supporters, but if he continues to make important contributions, works hard and adds consistency to his game, we’ll all be back on side in no time.

Performance to build on, perfect start to new season

While last season proved that a nightmare start to a campaign isn’t the end of the world, it’s always nice to get off to a winning start and build some early confidence and momentum, particularly with all the positivity and optimism around the club.

After an underwhelming pre-season, which created some concern beyond just the results, it was reassuring to see Villa make a convincing start in the Premier League in a tough assignment.

The challenge now will be to follow that up next Saturday against Arsenal, and with the Champions League schedule to consider in the coming months as well as the Carabao Cup, it’s crucial we get points on the board and continue to get key contributions from across the squad as everyone will be needed.

Other notable news

Vidagany explains complexity of PSR, Villa’s transfer strategy

Prior to the season kicking off, Villa’s Director of Football Operations, Damian Vidagany, joined Emery and Monchi on talkSPORT to discuss the club’s current financial status and the impact on our transfer strategy.

While the Villa chief was critical of the rules, he got his points across in a classy and succinct way to make his argument passionately but fairly.

“We, as a club, have the ambition to get there, amongst the best, I don’t like the concept of top six, to get there is very difficult because the clubs who have more resources it’s easier to stick to PSR, it’s like an establishment that we’re trying to break but the system is not allowing us to do it. 

“We’re lucky to have one of the best managers in the world that is helping to break this wall we have in front.

“Important that the fans must know, that there is another PSR, UEFA’s SCR. Completely different to PSR. It’s like trying to do two puzzles, it’s very difficult.” 

Listening to Emery, Monchi, but particularly Vidagany on this subject, emphasised the difficulty and complexity of the job that they've had to do, especially this summer.

We're certainly not being reckless, everything is strategically thought out and we're making the difficult decisions when necessary for the good of the club and making the squad as strong as possible within the current system and rules.

They’re not always going to be able to make the popular decisions and please everyone, but I’ve never been more reassured that we've got a solid, trustworthy and professional hierarchy in place to do the best job possible for the club.

You can read the full quotes from that interview here, while there was some fascinating insight from Monchi this week too, which can be found here.

Villa’s transfer activity continues

While Cameron Archer completed a permanent move to Southampton, in a deal reported to be worth around £15m, Alex Moreno continues to be paired with an exit this summer.

Having cashed in on Archer and with long-time reported target Joao Felix seemingly moving elsewhere, it could set up a fascinating end to the window as we wait to see if additional reinforcements arrive.

Although Emery poured cold water on speculation linking Diego Carlos with an exit, he did hint that a good offer could still convince us to sell, with Feyenoord’s Lutsharel Geertruida touted as our priority target to fill that potential void.

Injury news…double boost

Emery confirmed this past week that he expects both Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara to resume group training next month.

Given the influence, leadership and quality that that duo bring to the side, it will be a massive boost to have them available again, as our squad continues to grow stronger.

Neither Enzo Barrenechea nor Samuel Iling-Junior made the bench on Saturday, and so when we add this quartet to the mix too, Emery will be relishing having these tactical alternatives and solutions at his disposal as we look to compete across multiple fronts.

Got a question or opinion on the topics above? Leave a comment below and we’ll share in the following week’s mailbag feature.

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