Villa Big Picture Progress
It what was an end-to-end game at times at the London Stadium, Unai Emery’s evolution of Aston Villa’s play and approach to games showed a lot more positive progress than was witnessed a week earlier at Villa Park against Crystal Palace.
But for an extremely soft penalty, Villa would have had a third consecutive clean sheet to go with their 59% possession in the away game. Admittedly, West Ham went into the game with the third lowest possession tally in the Premier League, but it would have been encouraging for Emery to see his team comfortable and progressive in possession.
The active contribution of John McGinn in a deeper more central midfield role, to cover the absent Boubacar Kamara, was pleasing, after he had struggled in a similar role under previous Villa managers.
Ollie Watkins did go decidedly close to bag Villa a second against the Hammers and perhaps the three points, but at least his game opener took his tally to nine for the season. If the Villa striker nets one more, he’ll be the first Villa player to get to double figures in three consecutive seasons since Christian Benteke.
When you zoom out, there were plenty of positives to feed into the improving bigger picture. Also, the sight of the returning Diego Carlos on the bench, was a further boost.
With seven games to play in April, Villa would certainly appreciate the match squad getting closer to full strength on the other side of the international break. With both Boubcar Kamara and Philippe Coutinho likely to be back in early April, it’ll certainly fire them up to try and reign in the points advantage the likes of Brighton, Brentford and Fulham currently hold over them.
Episode 229
In the latest episode of the My Old Man Said podcast, we look at the visible progress of Unai Emery’s long-term plan and the aforementioned difference of John McGinn under the new Villa manager, along with many other positive manifestations within the team.
Also, we look at the latest Media Muppet activity trying to sell off Emi Martinez in order to get an ‘upgrade’ in, while catching up with the latest Three Points and Villa News.
Listen to the Show
Look After Your Long-term Future and get a £50 Bonus
This episode of the My Old Man Said podcast is brought to you by Penfold, pension experts for the self-employed and pensionless. Sign-up to get yourself a flexible and easy-to-set up pension and take advantage of the 25% Government tax bonus and compound interest from an expertly managed fund to build your long-term future.
Get yourself a bonus £50 on MOMS in your pension fund, by signing up here – getpenfold.com/refer/moms .
Until March 19th 23:59 Penfold are also running a £40,000 pension fund giveaway, which pension holders will automatically be entered into. You can also gain more entries by transferring old pensions and doing a pension forecast on their app.
T&C’s: https://getpenfold.com/terms/40k-giveaway-2023
With pensions, as with all investments your capital is at risk. The value of what you put in may go up as well as down.
Episode 229 notes
GET THE EXCLUSIVE MOMS PATRON PODCAST CHANNEL and JOIN MATCH CLUB
If you want ad-free advance versions of the shows and extra exclusive shows during the month and to join My Old Man Said’s 24/7 Villa community, Match Club, please do support the show by becoming a MOMS Member.
For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS Member
Follow the show on Twitter at @myoldmansaid and join the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.
T-Shirt, Mugs & Merch Listeners can now buy a MOMS Podcast T-shirt or mug to show their support of the show and look cool, check out the MOMS SHOP to buy.
Credits:
David Michael – @oldmansaid
Chris Budd – @BUDD_music
Phillip Shaw – @prsgame
My Old Man Said – https://myoldmansaid.com
This Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT
