Rudy Gestede looks to be a
fantastic signing for Aston Villa, his strength in the air highlighted as he
grabbed Villa’s winning goal in their season opener against Premier League new
boys Bournemouth. The Cherries’ attacking mentality has been expected to test
defences this season and the Villa defence, now lead by ex-Manchester City
defender Micah Richards, managed to withstand all that was thrown at them. The
1-0 away victory will please manager Tim Sherwood, who is looking for an
improvement this season despite the losses of former captain Fabian Delph to
Manchester City and star striker Christian Benteke to Liverpool. With over half
of their starting line-up making their Villa debuts it was important for the
team to gel quickly and they appear to have done just that, securing an
important 3 points.
In their first game of the new season back at home however, Villa faced the tough task of the transfer window’s heavy spenders Manchester United. Having fought valiantly, Villa were unlucky to lose the game to a deflected Adnan Januzaj goal in the first half. Questions seem to have risen over Villa’s attacking qualities as they seek to find a way to move forward from Benteke’s departure. Agbonlahor seems to be struggling to get in amongst the goals again and Gestede had a limited impact on the game with his appearance from the bench. Villa rarely threatened the United goal, so Sherwood may want to put a bid in for a striker before the end of August – QPR’s Charlie Austin has a proven record in the Premier League so there may be a late swoop for him.
Villa need to find a solution to
their attacking problem if they are to improve on last season’s performance –
if not they may find themselves in a relegation scrap once more. With matches
against Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Leicester on the horizon, Sherwood will
be looking for far more convincing performances than those seen so far.
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