Praise the lord, we scored twice from corners!
I sadly couldn’t watch the game last night, due to an early start this morning. I’ve just caught up on some of the highlights though, and forget Tom Hanks being at the game (though that is super cool), I was more amazed we scored not once, but twice from set pieces!
The first came after a long shot from Barry Bannan was tipped over the bar. The wee man, who has been very impressive this summer, took the corner, played it to the back post and Ciaran Clark was there to nod in. I was kinda hoping for a mass celebration from the team, even in a preseason game, but alas it was all rather subdued.
We then went to concede from a set-piece, but we’ll brush over that before retaking the lead from yet another corner. It was Bannan who once again played the ball in to the back post, Baker headed it back across the box before new boy Lowton headed in. After the last few seasons, to score from two set-pieces is heading towards unchartered territory, all very welcome though.
I didn’t see the majority of the game, so if anyone wants to offer some thoughts on how we played that be very welcome. The Portland commentators mentioned Bannan as a potential man of the match though. After going 2-1 up we conceded nearly immediately due to a super lucky goal that went in via a huge deflection. The game finished 2-2 and this meant penalties would decide the outcome.
All five were despatched by the Villa, which is always nice to see. Guzan saved the Timbers fifth pen, meaning young Samir Carruthers had the chance to win the game for us, which he duly did with arguably the best penalty of the lot. The fact all our players stepped up in front of a pretty loud Portland fan base made it all the more satisfying.
The US tour is winding to a close now, and I think the team are due back tomorrow. The transfer links are heating up, the players are continuing to talk about how good the atmosphere is and how excited they are and the fans are by and large happy. It’s been a extremely successful preseason to date, hoping it continues as we get closer to the big kick-off.
UTV.
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Things obviously became a bit less fluid once PL started making substitutions, but Villa looked a class act in the first half lastnight. In the last game we were playing passing football but we werent making much of it once we reached the edge the opposition box. Last night was different and it made me believe that Villa are actually getting better and better with every training session under Lambert. We were playing the ball around beautifully with calmness and patience, getting shots on goal or waiting for gaps to open in the Timbers defence. When gaps did eventually appear, we exploited them. We were very incisive and we had two goals disallowed, one scored by and one set up by Stephen Ireland who was ruled offside for both of them. The linesman’s decisions were debatable in my opinion, but then again, there was only one camera angle and it wasnt in the best of positions for making offside judgements.
Theres still a bit of fine tuning to be done before we get back playing against Premiership teams without a doubt, but all in all it was an impressive performance from the lads. Nobody had a bad game, each player worked perfectly in the new system. Cant wait for the new season!
UTV
Thanks for that mate, sounds very encouraging. Really excited by this new approach, because we do have a number of players, who shock horror can actually keep hold of possession!