Bournemouth 0-1 Aston Villa: the key points

Bournemouth v Aston Villa: the key points

It wasn't pretty. it wasn't even enjoyable at times.  But Aston Villa came away with their third opening day win in a row. Here's what we can take from the game.

Rudy Gestede can fill the Benteke-shaped hole in Villa’s attack. The fans chanted his name like a cult hero even before he made an impression on the pitch.  His style is reminiscent of another cult favourite, John Carew. He battered through four defenders to power a forceful bullet header into the net. Not just a battering ram, his hold up play was excellent and he was committed in defence with some great tackles.

Idrissa Gueye played the kind of assured game that made Delph’s antics a distant memory. To say he is an ideal replacement for Fabian Delph sells him short as he possesses more defensive steel than Delph ever did and more discipline than the Man City turncoat.  His controlled passing and positional sense gave Villa a steady foundation  to build upon.

 Jordan Amavi is the best Villa left back since Alan Wright showing an abundance of pace, pinpoint crossing and great awareness of team mates.  His willingness to surge forward and his great crossing ability creates an excitement not provided by Kieran Richardson and Sissoko before that. One of the new recruits who settled quickly and looked composed.

Ray Wilkins’ influence showed in Villa’s first half performance. And not in a good way.  The Crabs’ former playing style was written all over the first half display, as the ball was passed from side to side, front to back, with little penetration or purpose. One lone shot by Scott Sinclair in the half told a story of caution. It took a half time team talk by Sherwood to change the approach of the team.

The new signings will need time to settle.  Veretout and Ayew in particular looked like they will need time to get match fitness and acclimatise to their Premier League surroundings. Veretout was a shadow of the inventive, surging displays that he showed for Nantes. Ayew lacked flair and didn’t get into the dangerous positions.  Tim Sherwood recognised this even before this match and double training sessions are the order of the day.

Villa can win ugly. This was the kind of smash and grab from a boisterous Bournemouth that Villa were just not capable of last season.  Under Lambert, the order of the day was to play ugly, lose uglier.   The game had the feel of a cup match and Bournmouth had the superior first half.  Sherwood’s decision to send on Gestede with a half hour remaining proved to be a crucial tactical masterstroke. 

Five reasons why Manchester United will not win the title this year.

Heaven knows, why Louis Van Gaal?

Five reasons why Manchester United will not win the title this year.

1.    “Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” warned Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s gothic classic: words which could quite easily have been spoken by Louis Van Gaal in one of his press conferences.  The Manchester United manager is going the ‘galactico’ route and assembling his own Frankenstein, having been entrusted to spend the vast amounts of money that David Moyes was pointedly not. Whether or not his Manchester United will be the shambling, confused wreck they resembled at times last season or a cohesive unit remains to be seen. Whether the new policy of crudely stitching together this ‘Real Manc-drid’ will pay dividends over the ‘winning absolutely everything with kids’ policy of the past should become clear this season.

2.     Van Gaal has people skills. Skills that are severely lacking. An oft-shared video snippet hinted at tension with assistant Ryan Giggs last year.  A withering and irritable style has not endeared him to the media. His alienation of the ‘galactico’ acquisitions of last season. Falcao and Di Maria, raises questions about his willingness to accommodate and handle differing personalities. The latter having been sold to PSG at a huge loss.  Witness this recent summary of Ashley Young: “You can expect things from Ashley Young. He had a fantastic season. But he is not a Neymar and we have to compete with that kind of class.”. Presumably, Young is keeping his own counsel about his manager’s failure to emulate Alex Ferguson’s success by any degree.

3.     There have been some exciting signings  this summer.  Memphis Depay; Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, a real player of pedigree and experience; Pedro rumoured.  Despite these, their title rivals still look better placed to mount a challenge.  Other rivals look better organised (Chelsea), more settled (Arsenal, who have added only Peter Cech) and more sure in their roles to mount a title challenge (Man City, if the spine of Kompany, Yaya Toure and Silva can find previous heights).  It will take some weeks for the new team to gel and Chelsea could be long out of sight by then.

4.     Van Gaal’s people skills.  He cuts a slightly terrifying figure, as witnessed in this Manchester United club awards ceremony ‘comedy sketch’ at the end of last season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBYohmqooGI

5.     The season-long exile from the Champions League wounded players and fans incredibly badly.  Unthinkable for a club so enraptured with the trophy they most dramatically ripped from Bayern Munich’s cold, dead hands in 1999.  They simply cannot afford to miss out on the £9 million prize pot for getting through their qualifier to the group stage and indeed the further financial gains that reward progression. Van Gaal, as neurotically obsessed with his legacy in Europe as the club is, could take his focus off the league and be distracted in his pursuit of European success.

Can the Delph and Benteke Exodus restore faith for Aston Villa?

Is the Benteke and Delph exodus from Aston Villa such a bad thing?

Aston Villa’s pre-season plans were undoubtedly rocked after the shock departure of Fabian Delph to Manchester City and Christian Benteke to Liverpool.

Tim Sherwood’s media silence particularly during the Delph saga was fascinating: was he hiding a simmering resentment towards the players in question and/or the club itself? Or was he tactfully avoiding the inevitable questions whilst concentrating on bringing new players in?

Delph’s shocking U-turn on his Villa future, just six days after pledging loyalty to the Midlands club, left fans and the wider football community outraged. It is without doubt one of the most incredible transfer stories in recent years. It’s hard to imagine how Delph will recover from this PR disaster and the ferocity of abuse he will face at grounds up and down the country this season.

Benteke’s transfer to Liverpool is less shocking as he stated his desire for a move to a club with European ambitions and Manchester United were also linked with the muscular Belgian striker.  He had already shown loyalty to Villa by agreeing to stay in the 2013/2014 season under Paul Lambert and he clearly felt it was time for a new challenge.

Many have suggested that Villa will struggle this season after losing two players who form the midfield and attacking spine of their team. Does this necessarily spell trouble for Aston Villa?

Delph was praised for his high energy displays last term but only managed a paltry 3 assists and no goals in the Premier League.  He is arguably neither an effective attacking midfielder nor a defensive midfielder.  

Villa acted quickly and have bolstered their midfield by acquiring Idrissa Gueye from Lille: a promising,  highly rated U21 French midfielder who has looked sure-footed in pre-season.

Jordan Veretout, an exciting and dynamic French midfielder from Nantes will add the guile and elegance that has been sorely missing in recent years from Villa’s midfield.  His stats are superior to Delph’s, scoring seven goals, providing six assists last season, contributing 44% of Nante’s total goals and assists in the league.

Benteke performed poorly for most of the season under Paul Lambert. Often out of sorts and forlorn, Benteke’s form picked up dramatically under Sherwood. Villa’s play was often one dimensional, relying on the Belgian’s physical attributes, firing long balls in the air. They also relied far too heavily on his goals to rescue them from relegation trouble.

            

The £32.5 million has been reinvested in Rudy Gestede,26, from Blackburn Rovers. He is a player with similar attributes to Benteke and an impressive goal ratio of 32 goals in 50 appearances albeit at Championship level.  Jordan Ayew from Lorient is a versatile attacker who can play across the front.   Rumours of Berbatov and/or Adebayor on loan are also tweeting loudly currently.

Benteke and Delph leaving has has also allowed other areas to be strengthened; the marauding Jordan Amavi is a significant upgrade on Kieran Richardson, Jose Crespo comes in as a defensive squad player to push Alan Hutton all the way out of the exit some would hope and Mark Bunn will fight with Brad Guzan for the goalkeeping berth.

Although largely untested, the new players represent a number of things for Aston Villa: a broom that sweeps out the sense of failure and defeat that has lingered for many seasons now; a change in policy to spending on young, promising talent  instead of costly British players (Nigel Reo Coker?) and young, cheap, dismal talent (apologies to Enda Stevens, Aleksander Tonev).

In the first few months of this season Villa have, arguably, an easier set of fixtures than most, opening with Bournmouth away and Crystal Palace and Leicester amongst these fixtures.  After this run it will become more apparent whether the new players can gel effectively and indeed what shape the club’s fortunes are in.  After Exodus, faith might well be restored in Jordan. Three of them. Clumsy metaphor indeed, but Aston Villa will cling to it nonetheless.