It had been 18 days since the Emi Buendia inspired victory at Goodison Park, and in truth it had felt like double that. But on Wednesday night Aston Villa finally returned to action.
There had been successful friendly matches against Brentford and Molde and Steven Gerrard was pleased with a prolonged period of time to get his ideas and structure across to the players available at Bodymoor Heath.
Leeds United were the visitors to Villa Park. Marcelo Bielsa’s men have stuttered this season, and with various injuries to regular starters in recent months, pundits were beginning to throw the Yorkshire side in the relegation conversation.
Villa, despite only being four points better off than the Whites, have been seen as firmly mid-table but with an extremely outside chance of securing European football.
With both sides looking to return to Premier League action with an important three points, here is the line-ups the two managers put out:
Despite the long lay-off, both sides were unchanged from their matches in January. Leeds remained without key figures such as Patrick Bamford and Kalvin Phillips, whilst Villa are optimistic that Leon Bailey will be in contention soon, as will the AFCON hero Bertrand Traore, whose performances helped Burkina Faso to an impressive third place finish.
This game had been singled out as one for the neutral, and the pattern of the game was set from the off. Villa sprung an early onslaught and were unlucky not to lead as a clever corner found Tyrone Mings but he could not provide the finishing touch.
It was to be a mixed game for the Villa skipper and he could not stop Mateusz Klich and Rodrigo combining to free Welsh international Dan James inside ten minutes. The Leeds movement had pulled the Villa defence out of position and former Manchester United winger James, usually more known for his dribbling and speed than his finishing, toyed with Ezri Konsa before firing a fabulous low drive into the far corner.
Only ten minutes had passed, but it was clear that the desire of both side’s to spring forward readily and at pace would be the theme of the day. Whilst Villa looked threatening when they went forward, Leeds could easily have doubled their advantage after an arrowing effort from James smashed the Holte End crossbar.
As his side would later dig deep, early on TV cameras caught Bielsa doing some digging of his own. In a high tempo game, a distressed Marcelo Bielsa could be seen attempting to dislodge something substantial from his nostril. Joachim Low watch out, you have some competition!
Tackles were flying in, defenders were looking nervous and an air of anticipation filled the ground. Amongst all the chaos, one man kept his cool. After a number of crosses and through balls narrowly missed their desired destination, Matty Cash dug out a cross which landed at the feet of Philippe Coutinho. ‘Little Phil’, who had just returned from a hugely fruitful return to the Brazilian national side, controlled, swivelled his hips and picked out the bottom left to equalise.
This sparked a 13 minute salvo from Villa’s frontmen. Leeds, as they so often are, were caught high up the pitch as the Brazilian magician Coutinho added a sumptuous assist to his composed finish. He took the ball seamlessly on the turn after dragging right back Luke Ayling over to the middle of the pitch, took a subtle glance up and fed Jacob Ramsey with a perfectly-weighted pass. The young midfielder, who is finding that priceless habit of making penetrative runs into the penalty area, collected and held off Klich before beating Meslier.
The Coutinho and Ramsey show was just getting warmed up. On 43 minutes, after a couple of poor Leeds United challenges, the ball broke in the midfield. Almost everyone on the pitch expected a whistle, but Villa’s number 23 saw an opportunity arising with Leeds once more high up and devoid of any structure. He galloped forward and, with the aid of a clever and unselfish Ollie Watkins run, found Ramsey once more. The talented playmaker had plenty of the goal to aim for, but such is the confidence and ability of ‘JJ’, the ball was side-footed into an unsaveable spot in the top right corner.
As Steven Gerrard reflected at full time, a 3-1 scoreline would have flattered Villa slightly, who had only looked in command for around a third of the first 45 minutes. That, however, will have made the concession of a sloppy goal in first half added time all the more frustrating, as such promising positions in a game do not occur all that often.
Dan James had almost crashed in a stunning second earlier, but the goal for his brace was far scrappier, not that he will care one jot. Konsa was blindside by a drifting Mateusz Klich, Douglas Luiz could not get the required contact on a cut-back and Mings and Buendia seemed to get in each other’s way to allow the diminutive Leeds man to nod in from on the goal-line.
This kind of carelessness cannot become a feature of Steven Gerrard’s tenure if his side are to achieve success in the coming years. The goal was a conglomeration of errors and points when a goal could easily have been avoided and Gerrard, Beale and co. will be stressing this to the lads in the coming days.
With a half of breathless, scintillating attacking football in the rearview mirror, the second half would perhaps prove a bit of an anti-climax, particularly from a Villa perspective. The pace of the game continued as the two sides toed-and-froed, but if the Premier League break was meant to help sides with rest and recuperation then by the midway point of the half it was seemingly having the opposite effect.
The second 45 was marred by injuries, mainly muscular fatigue and Villa will be hoping that Emi Buendia, who was withdrawn on the hour mark, will be available for the weekend after what was yet another bruising evening for the skilful Argentinian. Carney Chukwuemeka, who replaced him, did not turn in a bad performance, but the loss of the man who has been a claret and blue catalyst in recent weeks turned the tide once more in the away side’s favour.
Leeds, just after the hour mark, got what was in truth a deserved equaliser. After performing heroics to keep his side ahead just moments before, Tyrone Mings could not get the required distance on a clearance and Diego Llorente lashed home.
As the game looked like it may just have finally petered out, with two exhausted teams dropping like flies with cramp, Ezri Konsa offered the visitors a chunk of hope on the 87th minute. Just like Mings, Konsa had turned in an uncharacteristically below par performance and, having been booked earlier in the game, barged into Meslier after he had collected the ball from a corner. Such a decision may have been understandable had he not received a yellow previously, but his decision left Jarred Gillett with little choice. The former Brentford centre back will now miss the trip to Newcastle this weekend.
Eight minutes of added time passed rather unproblematically and a point was the right result. At times both sides showed some real quality going forward but an error-laden night for defensive players meant that a 3-3 draw was a fair outcome.
Villa will perhaps be the slightly more disappointed of the teams after scoring three goals of quality before gift-wrapping two cheap ones in return. All of a sudden a trip to St. James’ Park next time out does not seem so straightforward with Newcastle on the mend and the Villans will have to be on top of their game to take three points there.
The positives from the game were, of course, the electric and at times unplayable duo of Coutinho and Ramsey, whilst Buendia looked dangerous once more. Mings, Konsa and Luiz will feel disappointed with a handful of mistakes, but they are all great players and will learn from this. Steven Gerrard may look to Danny Ings on the weekend, as Ollie Watkins found himself on the fringes of the action for much of the game, whilst Calum Chambers will surely deputise for the suspended Konsa.
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