Cup-winners Villa need a flying start
WHAT a pity Aston Villa’s pre-season tour to Germany ended on a sour note. A last-minute cancellation saw Tuesday night’s friendly with Arminia Bielefeld called off because of a waterlogged pitch.
And just when everything was going so well. Maybe the Bundesliga 2 side didn’t fancy playing the Cup of Traditions winners!
They would have been fearing the worst after watching Villa in action at the MSV Arena on Sunday.
But as the rain belted down on the pitch overnight it was always going to be touch and go as to whether the match went ahead. The Heidewaldstadion in Gutersloh is effectively a non-league ground so the playing surface is below the standard Villa are used to playing on. There is no undersoil heating or modern drainage system, which means adverse weather conditions will always pose a threat.
Unfortunately, because of the timing of the cancellation, some supporters had already paid for coach and train travel to the ground and will now be left out of pocket.
Fans, who based themselves in Dusseldorf for the trip, were also looking forward to seeing their side in action.
The victories over Duisburg and Hertha Berlin were so pleasing and another game would have given Villa further practice ahead of the season opener, which is now just nine days away.
But this trip was satisfying for so many reasons. Villa based themselves in a quiet village near Dortmund. There was no on-site golf course, like in Portugal, and very little down-time.
On Friday and Saturday Villa trained hard before the tournament on Sunday. Two 45-minute outings went well as Steve Bruce gave nearly all of his players a run-out.
Goalkeeper Jed Steer was the only player to feature for the full 90 minutes and his performance was impressive on his first game back for almost a year.
In defence there were typically strong performances from John Terry, James Chester and Chris Samba.
Youngsters Jake Doyle-Hayes and Callum O’Hare were the pick of the bunch in attack as Andre Green and Scott Hogan (two) fired in the goals during the 3-0 win.
That victory sent final.
Samba scored against his former side, Hertha, before Gabby Agbonlahor wrapped up a comfortable win.
Terry lifted his first trophy as a Villa player – he looked right at home with the cup in his hands, even if the piece of silverware itself looked like something that was awarded at an U10s end-of-season presentation night.
He offered wise words to the younger members of the group during training sessions, which continued into Monday and Tuesday before Villa jetted back to Birmingham. Villa into the
Jack Grealish made his return after an extended break following his international commitments over the summer.
And we saw both Glenn Whelan and Ahmed Elmohamady make their first starts in claret and blue. You know what you’re going to get with Whelan, a seasoned Premier League performer and reliable Republic of Ireland international.
He’s a workhorse who plays every game as if it’s his last. Just look at the way he flew into tackles during the win over Hertha.
It’s a stark contrast to Elmohamady, who blows hot and cold. We’ll see him ghost through games this season and also light up others.
If he can have the same impact he had here in Germany, where he set up Hogan for his first goal on Sun- day and laid on a number of other opportunities, then Villa fans will be in for a treat. It’s been a while since they witnessed a good old-fashioned winger getting round the back of defenders.
To think, with so many positives to mention, we’re almost forgetting about Mile Jedinak and Jonathan Kodjia – the two best players from last season.
The pair are still working their way back to full fitness and will, hopefully, be back for the Championship opener against Hull City.
If Villa can build on their trip to Germany and continue where they left off when Watford come to town this weekend, they might not need the two key players from last season as much as they did in the previous campaign.