Aston Villa returned to action as they kicked off their pre-season with a comfortable 0-4 win over Walsall at the Poundland Stadium.
Many fans, myself included, were excited to see the return of live football and although it was a typical pre-season game, Steven Gerrard’s men put on a good show.
There was a mixture of first-team and youth players on show as the manager opted for two different outfield sides in either half. All those you would have expected to see got a run-out except the internationals who don’t return to pre-season until tomorrow (in Australia). There was no sign of Fredrick Guilbert either who many expected to see.
The opening XI was: Viljami Sinisalo, Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Diego Carlos, Tyrone Mings, Seb Revan, Finn Azaz, Marvelous Nakamba, Bertrand Traore, Anwar El Ghazi, Leon Bailey and Cameron Archer.
It took just 8 minutes for the 4,000 travelling supporters to see their first goal of the pre-season campaign. Kesler-Hayden crossed the ball from the right and found El Ghazi who nodded it down for Bailey to smash it into the back of the net.
Despite a reasonable effort from Walsall, Villa always looked comfortable and they soon doubled their lead through Archer 7 minutes before half-time.
The striker who can’t stop scoring broke free from the Walsall defence before a nice little dink over the Walsall goalkeeper.
Gerrard made 10 changes at the break as the new outlook side lined up like: Sinisalo, Ashley Young, Calum Chambers, Josh Feeney, Ben Chrisene, Tommi O’Reilly, Douglas Luiz, Morgan Sanson, Emi Buendia, Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings.
And just like the first half, Villa were on the scoresheet inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
O’Reilly picked up the ball in the middle of the pitch and played a nice little pass to Watkins who fired first time into the corner to make it 3-0.
Douglas Luiz completed the scoring with a goal direct from a corner kick. Did he mean it? Only he will know.
Special Mentions
You can never really pay too much attention to pre-season games as we know it’s all about fitness but I felt that new signing Diego Carlos looked comfortable and composed on the ball. The big defender dealt with everything that game his way.
Azaz really impressed me also. He won Young player of the season in League 2 last season while on loan at Newport. The midfielder looked to control the midfield in the opening 45 minutes. Naturally, you would think another loan this season with a move to a League 1 or Championship side but I am sure all will be revealed in due course.
[…] Comfortable win for Villa over Walsall as pre-season kicks off […]