Hull City 0 Aston Villa 0 Post-Mortem
Aston Villa were held to a goalless draw away at Hull City in the Premier League, a result that flattered the hosts on the day. Villa finished with the better expected goals (1.74 to 0.58), thirteen shots to Hull’s four, and three big chances missed to Hull’s two, but only one shot on target across the whole 90 minutes was enough to explain the scoreline. It’s the same one shot that they’ve had in all of their three games so far this season, that’s headlined Villa’s stuttering start to the season.
If there’s been one highlight of a depleted team, over the last couple of games, both Ross Barkley and Boubacar Kamara have absorbed the loss of Villa’s old midfield spine so effectively that it barely shows. With Youri Tielemans gone and Amadou Onana expected to be out for the season, replacing that platform looked like one of the summer’s biggest issues. Instead, the pairing has controlled games at both ends of the pitch — Kamara’s calm, low-error footballing and Barkley’s underrated range of passing turning what should be a weakness into one of the few settled parts of the team. Barkley in particular remains a target for outside criticism that doesn’t match what’s actually happening on the pitch match by match. Once the more forward elements of the midfield are fit, namely, Johan Manzambi and Leon Goretzka, hopefully it will translate into goals.
This My Old Man Said podcast post-mortem episode centres on Unai Emery’s approach of not throwing new signings in, Buendia’s missing out on his chance to be a main man, and how Barkley, at least, is helping provide Villa some semblance of normality.
The show also looks ahead to a Champions League trip to Club Brugge, and explains a squad-registration decision that’s raised eyebrows: why Taylor Harwood-Bellis, one of Villa’s deadline day’s headline signings, isn’t in Villa’s European squad at all.
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Credits:
David Michael – @myoldmansaid
Chris Budd – @BUDD_music
Phillip Shaw – @prsgame