Returning to action today at Craven Cottage are Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana. Ezri Konsa, Jaden Philogene and John McGinn all make the bench. Good news. But the big surprise is Boubacar Kamara. That’s obviously very good news, while also pointing to the long road faced by Tyrone Mings.
Aston Villa left Switzerland worthy 3-0 winners over Young Boys in their first appearance in the Champions League, such as it’s become. And just like that it’s back to the league and an opponent in Wolves who’ll likely give us more trouble than Young Boys, especially given they’re still looking for their first win of the season; no matter how they’re going, it’s always a difficult fixture.
First off, most everyone likes to say preseason is meaningless and that the games are just to get minutes in the legs. While both are somewhat true, you actually do want to play ‘well’ in context. And Villa haven’t really so far in America.
Now that the dust has settled and the links are flying fast and furious, it’s probably time to turn our heads to the rumors gaining steam. It’s also probably not overly dramatic to say this may well be a crucial summer for Villa’s and Emery’s project.
Funny thing, was reading Emery’s pre-match, and as I digested, “I don’t remember the last match we played against one team being very demanding against us in duels and man-to-man,” I thought, “Well, how about Newcastle?” Which is who he brought up next.
