The Talk Villa Newsletter: #6
Wins in Europe and the Premier League cap off another excellent week for Villa...
Fall behind at home. Stay composed. Launch comeback. It’s just so 2024 Aston Villa, isn’t it? What a thrill it is, too.
Villa came storming back to secure a 3-1 win over Wolves this past weekend, as we followed up victory in our Champions League opener with another haul of maximum points.
It’s been some start to the season as we sit in third place in the league standings after four wins from our first five games, while we were excellent in midweek too.
With another busy week ahead, we’ll look to sustain that excellent start as we also begin our Carabao Cup run, but there are plenty more positives to take from what has been a successful week.
Just don’t ask Unai Emery what he thought of our first-half performance on Saturday though, as we saw on Match of the Day with his bleeped-out expletive, he doesn’t mince his words. Never change, Unai.
Five key talking points as Villa produce another brilliant comeback vs Wolves
Emery management, substitutions decisive once again
The Villa boss was highly critical of our first-half performance, even going as far as to label it the worst half he's seen us play at home since he arrived. With no shots on target, we looked off the pace, sloppy and fell behind to a soft goal born from our own mistake, and so it was no surprise that he was displeased.
However, once again his managerial brilliance came to the fore, as aside from inspiring a reaction from his players after the break to step up our tempo and intensity, his changes were crucial in helping us turn it around to secure all three points.
From the introductions of Leon Bailey and Ian Maatsen at half-time to Ross Barkley and Jhon Duran coming on around the hour mark to give us another big push and to maintain our sustained pressure to break Wolves down, it was another masterclass from Emery in helping produce another big comeback. Ideally though, he'd probably quite like to take a lead at home and have something to protect more often.
Morgan Rogers finally makes breakthrough with goal contributions
The 22-year-old conceded in the week that he was missing an end product to his play so far this season, having failed to register a goal or assist in our opening five games.
Some of that was out of his control in terms of wayward finishing from his teammates at times, but Rogers has lacked a clinical edge to his play in front of goal, despite enjoying a really positive and impressive start to the season to follow on from his exceptional development last year as he has been a huge threat for us in attacking areas.
However, he produced two excellent assists in this one to help Watkins and Duran get on the scoresheet, and he'll hopefully take a lot of confidence from that and find more consistency in the final third moving forward.
Is Ezri Konsa at right-back the best option?
Given we won the game and Konsa scored one of our three goals, it's perhaps hard to argue that it wasn't a good decision from Emery in the end.
However, there is still something not quite right about the Villa defender being shifted across, and it certainly doesn't help when Diego Carlos comes in and makes a costly mistake that leads to a goal.
It surely can be argued that Konsa is at his best as a centre-half and shouldn't be moved over, particularly when we have right-back options available. Nevertheless, we'll need rotation and different tactical solutions at different times this season, and it's something that Emery will likely utilise again in the coming weeks and months.
MORE: What is Villa's best option in key position as Emery utilises various solutions?
Villa's strength in depth inspiring our early-season form
After a busy summer trying to build and improve the Villa squad, we're seeing the rewards of that with so many important contributions from across the group, particularly those coming off the bench to make a positive impact.
Aside from the obvious choice in Duran who is enjoying a superb run of form, Villa brought on Ian Maatsen, Leon Bailey, Duran and Ross Barkley against Wolves, all of whom had an influential role to play in our comeback.
The starting XI is doing a great job too, but with the tactical solutions and individual strengths and characteristics that Emery can call upon, with Matty Cash, Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara still to come back, we've not just got strength in depth on paper, but the Villa boss is finding ways to get decisive contributions from them.
MORE: Impressive Villa trio make strong claim to break into Emery's starting XI
John McGinn injury concern
There was one sour note in the win this weekend, as John McGinn went off with a hamstring injury at half-time, and it's expected that he will miss our upcoming games, perhaps including Bayern Munich's visit in the Champions League.
It's hoped that further tests and treatment can reduce his time out, but the Villa skipper will be a big miss given what he adds to the team both in terms of his quality and leadership.
As noted above, Villa have the strength in depth to cope with the setback and Bailey will probably come in and fill that void, but it's hoped McGinn can make a speedy recovery as we'll need his presence and ability to set the standard on the pitch for big games in the next few weeks.
EuroVilla impress on return to Europe’s top table
Given we haven’t had a chance to catch up since last week, it’s certainly worth a word on our Champions League return at Young Boys last Tuesday.
Aside from being a thoroughly enjoyable experience, Villa were so impressive in our 3-0 win in Bern, given the maturity and quality with which we played on our return to the big time.
The synthetic pitch was challenging early on and our hosts had their moments, but on the whole, it was a dominant and deserved win as we made a perfect start to kick-off our European campaign.
Dare I say it, but it might be less - ‘Are Villa ready for the Champions League?’ - and more - ‘Is the Champions League ready for Villa?!’
Naturally, there will be tougher tests ahead, but given the way in which many of our players stepped up and showed that they’re ready for this level, it will continue to build optimism and belief in our prospects this season. Either way, if in doubt, give it to Youri Tielemans and everything will be ok.
Villa injury news - a never ending story
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
With Matty Cash, Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara back training with the group and closing in on returns from their respective injury setbacks, we were able to finally start dreaming about a potentially fully-fit squad being at Emery’s disposal.
Instead, here we are. Villa skipper John McGinn is now expected to be ruled out for a few weeks after sustaining a hamstring injury at the weekend. That in turn raises real doubts over his availability for our Champions League home opener against Bayern Munich on October 2, in a game not a single Villa player wants to miss.
Given his leadership, experience, quality in both phases and ability to set the standard for his teammates, we’ll miss him in the next few games, and hopefully we can avoid a scenario where he’s joined in the treatment room by others.
Emery is expected to ring the changes against Wycombe Wanderers in the Carabao Cup and rotate, but there are some intriguing long-term decisions ahead for him when we do have everyone available. Have your say in the polls below…
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