Aston Villa News 24/7Kevin Macdonald’s first game in charge of Aston Villa launched a new era with a thrilling 3-0 victory over an almost bewildered West Ham side with goals from Stewart Downing, Stiliyan Petrov and, of course, James Milner. New Hammers manager, Avram Grant, will head back down the M40 grateful it was only three, it really could have been six.
Villa were firing on all cylinders from the opening whistle, attacking down both flanks, winning 3 corners in the opening 2 minutes, Dunne heading the third over the bar while Rob Green was flapping in the wind, a theme for the rest of the half.
Villa continued the pressure with some quite beautiful football at times, the movement superb, the passing crisp and accurate, Marc Albrighton proving he’s very much ready for first team action. By the time Stewart Downing scored the first goal of the 2010/11 Premiership season, West Ham had barely had a sniff.
Rob Green had punched Ash’s left sided cross, but only as far as Albrighton who shot to the far post. Green parried, but it fell to Stewart Downing who couldn’t miss, although he was probably a shade offside in all honesty.
When West Ham finally threatened enough to win their first corner of the match, on the half hour mark, Villa were already in double figures, such was the dominance of Albrighton and Downing on the wings, with Warnock and Luke Young provided committed over lapping runs.
Stiliyan Petrov scored an unlikely and highly impressive second, five minutes from the break, charging into the box to nod in Albrighton’s Ashley Young’s right sided cross, giving the hapless Green no chance.
West Ham closed out the half with a little possession, but never looked likely of threatening. Special mention for Petrov and Milner playing with composure and discipline in the middle, Ashley Young just ahead, putting himself everywhere, and John Carew leading from the front, definitely having one of his “on” days.
West Ham came out for the second half much brighter and looked to stretch Villa at the back as a torrential down pour engulfed Villa Park. It worked for a short while, they certainly looked to have some intent about their play, but Villa were soon able to respond, demonstrating that we’re still as lethal on the break as we always were.
The almost inevitable happened in the 66th minute when some determined and skillful play from Marc Albrighton down the left resulted in the winger emerging in the box with the opportunity to shoot from a tight angle with his right boot, but he intelligently cut the ball back to James Milner who fired in a low screamer from the edge of the box, just to the left of the D. It had to happen, didn’t it?
John Carew will wonder how he didn’t grab himself a hat-trick, going close in the first half in a one-on-one with Green that replays revealed a possible foul, a gilt edged chance with his head that he somehow managed to steer yards wide and he also struck the woodwork with an effort that he probably should have been awarded a penalty with a defender climbing all over him.
Kevin MacDonald showed some excellent stage management skills supplementing his football management, bringing Nigel Reo-Coker on for James Milner with 5 minutes to go, the home crowd rising to their feet showing their appreciation for an excellent and extremely professional performance. He did the same two minutes later for Ash, Andreas Weimann stretching his legs and finally, Marc Albrighton also got his chance to take the plaudits with Barry Bannan coming on for the last minute.
Stewart Downing took the official Man of the Match, but it could easily have gone to any of the forward players, such was the all round level of performance.
Not going to get carried away just yet, West Ham were awful, but this was just the tonic we needed to lift the gloom. That was an excellent performance from every single player, even Friedel made a fine save when called upon to prove he was awake.
Time for some optimism again after a terrible week.
UTV!!
Starting XI: Friedel; L Young, Dunne, Clark, Warnock; Albrighton, Petrov, Milner, Downing; A Young, Carew.
Subs: Weimann, Bannan, Lichaj, Heskey, Guzan, Beye, Reo-Coker.
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15 Comments to “Aston Villa 3 West Ham 0 – The New Era Starts With A Bang”
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Absolutely fantastic game from Villa! Despite West Ham clearly under-performing, it was good to see Villa really firing, they could have coasted to an easy 1-0 defensive victory, but instead they played with class and style. The entire Villa Midfield was deserving of man of the match, hell, the entire team was. Albrighton was definitely the star though, he was involved with every goal, and just demolished the Hammers defences. Very positive start to the season, especially after such a tumultuous week. The same game under MON I feel it might have only been 1-0 for Villa, but perhaps the breath of fresh air in the managers seat will prove to be a positive to come from the whole drama.
I am certainly looking forward to this season, it looks to be quite a wild ride ahead!
yes, the point about going for the throat when we were 1-0 was extremely pleasing and might well point to a key difference in the years that follow post-MON.
Yep, it should have been 6.
What a fantastic game, the best I can remember for ages and while West Ham were dire imo, there were lots of interesting points of note.
First off, the team looked invigorated or even liberated to me.
No crap first half, followed by a better second half.
I was just of the opinion that maybe the players didn’t really want to play for MON and had to be co-erced all the time???
Some of the footy was scintillating (still bearing in mind how poor WH were though) and it was a joy to behold. More of that please
While Milner played well, as did pretty much all of the team, I thought Albrighton was MOM by a country mile.
As it seems the crowd did too.
It’ll be interesting to see how we fare against better opposition, but I’m expecting Albrighton to be one of the surprises of the season.
Are the opposition going to double up on Ash and him?
How’s that work?
It bodes really well though, imo.
How did Carew not get a pen when he was being so blatantly held??
I had this one down as a draw, so am highly encouraged and one happy bunny today.
Maybe MacDonald should be given a chance after all?
They clearly seem to want to play for him.
Would Albrighton have been given a start and Bannan and Weimann some minutes?
I seriously doubt it.
lots there badger, but your question at the end: yes, i believe albrighton would have started. i think he must have the most minutes under his belt in pre-season, i’m sure MON would have played him.
the others, i don’t know, probably not. would we have been 3-0 up at the time? again, don’t know, but maybe not.
I thought 8-0 would have been a reasonable outcome, just based on penalties that weren’t called and posts that were hit.
Tremendous energy, most I have evern seen from Downing. But no weak AV performances that I could see. Maybe some case for a 4-5-1? It will be interesting to see when they play a good team.
What odds would the bookmakers have given 72 hours ago on Milner scoring today for Villa?
Meanwhile, a sluggish performance by Manchester City, with a lot of talent sitting on the bench, presumably waiting for Milner to join them.
i think most people watching that city game were scratching their heads and wondering where milner fits in.
maybe today wasn’t the best case to judge, but three holding mids, two wide players and tevez up top isn’t going to beat many teams of tottenham’s calibre.
Excelent game today, pressure, offense, defense and goals, we only need Cuellar and Collins, then, we can win EVERYTHING
i like that outlook!!
Make no judgements. This was a very predictable opener. How often have we seen this type of result from rudderless teams over the years? Don’t get my wrong, I’m over the moon with the result and performance and I’ve been talking all sorts of shite to my, non-Villa, supporting mates, bit this was not a season indication.
How was the crowd? Mood good, I guess?
the reports i had ahead of kick off were “relaxed”.
after the game, i was told the atmosphere was brilliant. that tends to be the case when you win so emphatically of course, but there’s also a symbiotic nature too.
for me, it’s one game at a time and so far, so good.
Oh hey, I guess it’s all good. We’re gonna be OK aren’t we? Tell me we’re gonna be OK? Yes?
What does Milner do now? He should watch a recording of the MC game, and see if that’s really the promised land, especially sitting on the bench, and compare that to what he experienced today.
He’s not going there for football. He’s going for money and trophies. You get both sitting on the bench.
But I think he really wants to play. Not to discount his interest in money and trophies, I think more than most players he wants to play. And I am not sure how much more the extra money means, given that Villa would probably pay him more than he can ever spend. If he watched that City game today, he would have to ask where he would fit in, and whether his chance for the Champions League is that much greater there.
I am wondering if this is still all in Stephen Ireland’s hands.
Ireland could just delay things, like the Barry saga. We need to get the pain over with.