Aston Villa began their 2017/18 Championship season at home to a tricky opponent in Hull City on Saturday, and they ended up drawing 1-1. Here are three things we learned about the Villans:
Agbonlahor starts well
It’s been a few years, but Gabby Agbonlahor is showing that he’s not quite finished as of yet.
The veteran striker, formerly a speed demon and real impact player back in the glory days of he club, had a chance to score shortly before dispatching the second chance into the back of the net from a tough angle.
His finish will bring him and his side some much-needed confidence, and they’ll each be hoping this is the beginning of a new era of good form for him.
Defence once again suspect
Hull City grew into the game in the second half, and they made that pressure tell when they came up with the equalizing goal on 62 minutes.
Villa’s defence was at six and sevens when Hutton cleared the ball, quite poorly, half the away from danger, and when the ball came back in, he wasn’t set and Jarrod Bowen thumped in to the net with aplomb to take a point from Villa Park.
This set of sloppy defending just won’t be good enough over the course of the year, even at this level, and getting back to basics appears a necessity
Terry’s decent debut
It was hardly world-changing stuff from the 37 year old, but he and the club will be happy to get this debut out of the way. Terry was rarely troubled, along with his team as a whole in the first half but was forced to work harder in the second half.
While the goal wasn’t his fault, he’ll feel like he could better marshal his side defensively in similar situations from here on in. The former Chelsea man did look dangerous in attacking positions, which will be a nice bonus for them as well.
