Villa beat Basel in the Europa League with Dave Woodhall reflecting.
It’s been a significant few days in the evolution of what’s likely to soon be called Unai Emery’s Aston Villa. On Saturday the team showed how well they can play against the best opposition, with the added bonus of a dramatic last-kick winner and the ensuing pandemonium bringing widespread publicity.
Then on Thursday a much-changed team went to Switzerland to play the latest Europa League game. It’s seemed as though Villa have struggled when making so many changes but against Basel, Unai got the balance more or less right. The team kicked off, largely played within themselves, scored more than the opposition and now they’re on their way home.
There was the usual big match atmosphere when the big opponents come to town, with flags, banners and drums from the home supporters but Villa’s comparatively inexperienced line-up were never overawed and took control from the off. Marco Bizot had the confidence boost of a good early save before a corner wasn’t cleared properly and Evann Guessand did well to turn and squeeze his shot past the Basel keeper.
A goal up after twelve minutes, Villa could have been looking forward to a decisive victory but from then on the team seemed to drop down a gear with a quick break appearing to have given the home side an equaliser until VAR stepped in. The relief didn’t last long, because a Basel free-kick caught Bizot hesitating and the ball in the back of the Villa net.
It was no great surprise that a substitution was made at half-time, with Youri Tielemans replacing Matty Cash. Given what’s happened recently it wasn’t much more of another surprise when the new arrival soon put Villa into the lead, with Emiliano Buendia’s short pass teeing the Belgian up for a perfectly-placed shot from twenty yards.
Again it seemed that this could be the start of a goal spree, and again Villa appeared happy to settle for what they’d already got. There were a few more substitutions, although they seemed to be more to retain the lead than do anything inspirational, with the team taking on a more familiar appearance as the game progressed. There were still few attacking ideas and the closing stages saw a few hairy moments as Basel failed to make the most of a couple of chances while substitute Morgan Rodgers got in the way of a goalbound header that he didn’t seem to know much about. But Villa held out and the final whistle came round without further incident. Another day, another three points. That’s eight successive wins and you could say it’s becoming a habit.
Once more, it was hardly a vintage performance. Of the players who were particularly looking to impress Guessand didn’t do much apart from score, while Jadon Sancho just didn’t do much. Having said that, though, and with the usual caveat that a team who can win without playing well is onto something, the opposition were a harder team to beat than they may have appeared. They’ve got a good record at home and they’re used to playing in Europe. Villa are getting there and weeks like this are about more than just getting the points.
