Quick Takeaways from Villa’s Summer Tour

Villa’s summer tour in America came to a close with another 3-3 draw, this time against Brentford. Good game for the neutrals, and a lot of hard minutes out there. The conditions have been tough, so as far as the ‘it’s all about fitness’ view goes, they’ve sweated off a lot of whatever extra they might have been carrying. And no one’s seemed to suffer any ill effects.

So, three PL-level games and five points out of nine against Newcastle, Fulham and Brentford. Not the worst return from training, though we could’ve won them all, and Emery seems upbeat about it all.

Tactics
Naturally, the biggest thing Emery was looking at was the back line, and varying combinations of three CBs and a fullback. When Digne was in, we saw him doing the attacking width thing. Digne out and Cash in, then Cash was driving forward and obviously netted once.

So, perhaps that was just rotation and needs must, but may well be the case that Emery wants to expand from the more predictable roles we saw the from the FBs, and be able to play the attacking FB from either side rather than predominantly down the left.

The CBs, of course, had varying roles as a result. When you have a left FB in, Konsa played more as a RB. You have a RB in, then Torres or Mings was covering a lot more of the LB responsibility. Overall, Emery had Carlos central, which could be down to a number of things…fitness, not overrunning and stretching out wide as he continues his return, or simply not being suited to playing wide. But he had some covering to do when he replaced Konsa before Chambers came in for Cash.

At the end of the day, all of it was maybe not terribly different idea-wise to having a RB stay home and tuck in like a third CB. But, it was three CBs and a back three going forward, and we saw it loaded to different sides.

Overall, apart from the back, the structure up top didn’t really change much, but different players in different spots bring different qualities. McGinn is perhaps a more effective playmaker in that ’second striker’ role to the right than Buendia is, and maybe only down to left and right-footedness.

But it really is an interesting structure with lots of fluidity. It’s harder to pin down traditional roles than in other setups, and a lot depends on the different qualities given players bring to it.

Performances
Individually, Jaden Philogene (and I need help here, because he apparently dropped the ‘Bidace’, yet it’s still on his shirt) got his opportunity and took it. He won’t be going out on loan for at least the first half of season. McGinn got time playing further up, and did it well. Diaby has certainly taken his chances, so at least he seems to know where the goal is. Tielemans has looked quality, very composed and effective.

Bailey again couldn’t seem to catch fire. Me, I’d be more likely to use Jaden in his place. Ramsey’s return obviously changes things up, so I’m guessing we could see Jaden either side as we did in these three games.

The rest? Not terribly different than what we’ve come to expect. Which is good. There were very effective minutes with Buendia, particularly on the left coming inside. Played right and higher up, less so. Phil didn’t rack up big minutes, in the end, and didn’t really do much with the time he had. Dougie was Dougie. Kamara had a couple mental slips. Cash did pretty well going forward, still a bit of a liability defensively. Digne seemed like Digne.

The starting lineup against Brentford also looked fairly close to what I might expect as a preferred XI. But I think we’ll see more variations in personnel, depending on opponents, than we did last season.

Final Thoughts
Anyway, all in all a very useful trip. Good competition and no catching anyone by surprise. Think that will really help keep their minds focused, and much better than going through the motions to beat an MLS side 2-0. Will also help Diaby and Torres have a better idea what’s coming.

I was encouraged by the way we opened Newcastle up, and Brentford, too, when we were in full flow. This team can be very dangerous, and the best moves happen quickly. We also left a few chances begging. I expect it will all tighten up come kickoff on opening day.

Are we deep enough yet, is the only real question I have. Don’t think any of the youngsters played badly, though Archer was having some trouble getting into games. As always with strikers, not entirely his fault, and he’s got some learning to do to fit into the set-up. But from what I’ve seen so far, I think we can probably rotate our way through early-round games without relying too heavily on all of the starting XI. And there are now a couple more options in each area. Philogene, naturally, is the one with the biggest chance to step up.

So roll on, Lazio, and over to you.