Villa 3 – 0 Bournemouth; As expected, but where are we going?

I got another call right then and it was that we would beat the Cherries soundly.
Wahey, I’m on a roll, with two consecutive good predictions.
We’ll gloss over the fact that I’m usually wrong.

It wasn’t particularly straightforward though and for long periods I don’t think we looked at all convincing and Bournemouth actually looked favourites to score.
Given how bad they are, I thought that was poor on our part, but we did at least go on to look very good in that last 10 minutes, where I always got the feeling that Bournemouth had capitulated.
They’re going down for certain, to my mind and while I don’t want to wish ill of any club, I do have this instinctive feeling that a ground with a capacity of 11,500 doesn’t really belong in the Prem and it won’t be a major loss to the game.

Do I think we played well?
Hmm, on the face of it, yes.
But we should remember who we were playing.

There were some very good performances, particularly from Luiz, who looks so much better when the game is played at a slower pace, as I thought it was yesterday. I suspect many of us will have forgot how much time and space our players were allowed. To be honest, I thought it was almost embarrassing on Bournemouth’s part, because they seemed to lack any real effort and didn’t at all look like they believed in what they were doing.
Certainly McGinn, Ramsey, Cash and others looked pretty decent, where I don’t quite think that would have been the case if we were playing a better side.

Not that I’m denigrating our players at all. What I mean is that given stiffer competition, they just wouldn’t have looked so good.

The more concerning part is that we actually managed to make Bournemouth look pretty competitive for long periods of the game.
That said, perhaps I need to remind myself that they actually beat Liverpool last week. I watched that game and while it was mostly a case of them digging in and grinding it out, I still find myself wondering “How did they manage that?”.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy.
I just try to stay realistic and not get carried away by us getting what we should have.

I’m not going to talk about the two handballs that were turned down, save to say the lack of consistency in the game continues to astound me. I don’t like VAR, as all I think it’s done is change the way in which mistaken decisions are made.
But if we’re going to stick with it, the rules need to be applied equally.
I see AI coming in fairly quickly. I’m not keen on that thought, but at least it will be consistent.

And then I find myself wondering where we can go under Unai Emery.
I’ve constantly said that I don’t think we’re good enough to play out from the back in the way that we do.
But hands up, I definitely think we’re getting better at it. I go back to the Bournemouth being rubbish point, but we are starting to be more comfortable with it and as much as the defenders weren’t being pressed much, I did actually get the feeling that they were looking around for options.

It’s clear that Emery has a pattern of play and while I often think it’s a bit too conservative, in holding possession and passing back, we are also a joy to watch when we do break forward.
It’s exciting stuff, even if it doesn’t happen often enough for my liking.
I fully expect that to improve though when the manager gets players in that he thinks will suit our system better.
Which is where I continue to wonder who will be gone.
Bailey, who I’ve massively criticised of late, did more in five minutes than he did the whole game last week, for example.
And Buendia was terrible. Until he got our third goal.

Who’d make predictions when it comes to the Villa, eh?

As much as I don’t think yesterday’s result was anywhere near approaching anything special, I think that’s actually a good time to wonder where we’re headed.
And I’m happy to say that I think we’re definitely on the up.

If we can improve on the 11th place that we’ve been at for months, who knows where we might finish?

And even if we stand still, next season looks very interesting indeed.