Villa lose the Uefa Super Cup but Dave Woodhall is still impressed.
In the build-up to the Super Cup there was a body of thought that said if we win we’ve won a trophy, if we lose we’ve lost a friendly. Unai Emery seemed to have the same attitude by talking about how his aim is to take Villa up yet another level, to win more honours, and then putting out the sort of side we saw in the early stages of last season’s European adventure.
You can see his point of view – since That Night in Istanbul we’ve sold three players, which is something that’s always a possibility, and had five injured which is good going even for the Villa. The last thing we wanted is any more upheaval, which is why the players who took part in the later stages of the World Cup were absent and we started the match with two untried teenagers in the team.
Naturally enough, given the difference in the teams on paper, PSG started well and when they took the lead midway through the first half it look like a long, hot night was in store. Then came the Brian Madjo show. In 25 minutes he missed four chances ranging from difficult to straightforward, never hid, treated what might be the best defence in the world with disdain and equalised in stoppage time with the hardest chance of the lot. We’ll hear a lot of things said about him in the months to come but “had a quiet game” won’t be used very often.
PSG reacted to all this by bringing someone named Dembele on but Villa continued to have chances until a razor’s edge offside decision went the way of the French side for the first blatant VAR injustice of the season. It won’t be the last.
George Hemmings and John McGinn had shots that could have gone in on another night while Tammy Abraham was inches away from getting the touch that would have led to an equaliser. But it wasn’t to be and Villa did, indeed, lose a friendly, with the Champions League winners taking the trophy for the fifteenth time in sixteen years. We also got paid €4 million, which will pay a bit of the wage bill. It might also buy Unai something a bit better than the black Adidas t-shirt he was wearing, which took retro to ridiculous heights.
Maybe if Unai had taken the game a bit more seriously and Emiliano Martinez in particular had been playing, the result might have been different. We’ll never know, but what we could really see during the match, as has been clear during the rest of pre-season so far, is what a special squad Unai’s Villa 2.0 are shaping up to be. I’d even put my own money on Madjo being an England international within the next two years and Hemmings might beat him to it. Ian Maatsen was impressive, Joao Gomes is fitting in already, McGinn is his usual self.
Add the players who will be back by the time the league programme begins, plus a couple of new signings, and that quote about moving to another level will be more than just a soundbite.
