Villa lose at home to Arsenal and Dave Woodhall remains optimistic.
Football’s a fast-moving world and never was that more true than at Villa Park on Monday evening, where a trophy-winning side has been dismantled and replacements brought in at lightning speed. Not quickly enough to have them all available to play, but the latest arrivals were there and must have liked a lot of what they saw.
Of course, some things never change and so Villa’s start to the season continued in customary fashion – two games, two defeats, no goals scored. But, and this is the important thing, there were more than enough encouraging signs to show that the final 36 league games will be interesting. There were a couple of new arrivals in the team, three more on the bench and just as interestingly George Hemmings kept his place in the starting line-up.
For all the anticipation that a new season brings there wasn’t a great deal to look at in the first half. Arsenal, as expected, knew what they were doing while Villa were less prepared and at times resorted to chasing shadows. But for that, it was Emiliano Buendia who came closest to scoring when his shot hit the bar.
Goalless at half-time and the visitors started to up the pace after the break. They had a penalty decision overturned and not long afterwards took the lead with the Villa defence unable to do much about the goal. From then on Arsenal did what they do best; defending a lead without showing much inclination to increase it or to allow the opposition any opportunity to get back into the match. The ref also did what refs do best in these circumstances – helping Arsenal at every opportunity and doing their best to stop any momentum Villa might have built up.
Unai’s substitutions gave the opportunity to witness a couple more glimpses of the future. Aaron Wan-Bissaka came on for Matty Cash and showed that our veteran right-back finally has some decent competition while Alejandro Garnacho still seemed a bit off the pace. Unfortunately the nearly-new Tammy Abraham and Alysson didn’t get much chance to threaten the Arsenal defence. On the other side, one of the visiting substitutes got a bit of a mixed reception.
And so the match ended much as expected. Villa lost, which was hardly a surprise, but it was a long ay from the disappointments of twelve months ago, when it seemed Villa’s revival was starting to slow down. New goalkeeper Zion Suzuki looked confident, and reacted quickly enough to a couple of mishandles to stop any danger. Up front, Nicolas Jackson was equally impressive given the limited service he received and lack of training time with his new team-mates.
Looking around throughout the match, the ground was a perfect metaphor for the team. The North Stand, which has had so many reprieves that it seemed as though it would last forever, is finally (largely) going and its replacement is taking shape nicely. Alongside this overdue redevelopment, the revamped Trinity Road stand was looking magnificent. The new Villa Park will soon be an enviable sight for years to come. Before long we’ll have a team to match.
