It’s been a hugely successful pre-season tour for Aston Villa down in Australia both on and off the pitch. Villa have spread their global brand and have banked an estimated six-figure sum from their first-ever trip Down Under while, for Steven Gerrard, he’s learned everything he needed to know about his group of players for the season ahead.
It’s been two wins and a draw in Australia following today’s 2-2 result against Manchester United and, here, BirminghamLive’s man Down Under, Ashley Preece, picks out the winners and losers from a memorable couple of weeks.
THE WINNERS
Leon Bailey
We’ll start with the obvious one given the Jamaican’s impact at the Optus Stadium. It hasn’t just been in Perth, by the way, with Bailey making an impression in each of his four showings across pre-season. It’s two goals and an assist for the winger who’s given Gerrard plenty to think about with Bournemouth just two weeks away. He looks fit, fierce and bang up for the task at hand at Villa Park for the season ahead. Bailey, who brings pace and purpose to Gerrard’s side, could well be Villa’s ace in the pack. What a summer he has had.
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The defence
From Calum Chambers’ displays across pre-season to Ezri Konsa’s miraculous recovery from injury, it’s been a solid pre-season for Villa’s central defenders. Chambers has looked classy every time he’s played and popped up with a goal against United earlier today. Diego Carlos, by the way, looks strong, showing both sides of the game in terms of distribution and physicality, while Tyrone Mings hasn’t put a foot wrong. There’s a real depth to Villa’s centre-back department and that’ll bode well for the campaign ahead.
Kesler Hayden, Iroegbunam and Archer
You could quite easily add Ben Chrisene and Josh Feeney to this list given their impact behind the scenes during the tour. But Kaine Kesler Hayden, Tim Iroegbunam and Cameron Archer have all stepped forward for Gerrard, especially during that second half against Brisbane Roar in midweek. Kesler Hayden was at it again against United and looks a big, big talent at just 19, one who could quite easily explode onto the scene this season and really fight Matty Cash for a starting spot.
Christian Purslow
It’s been a huge trip commercially for Villa here in Australia, one which has been led by the club’s chief executive Christian Purslow. There’s been countless fan events, Q&A dinners, while building contacts has also been a success story with Villa playing both in Queensland and Western Australia. We’ve also had Castore reps out here alongside Villa’s chief commercial officer Nicola Ibbetson following the successful launch of Villa’s new away strip plus tour merchandise outside each stadium on match days. Villa would have pocketed handsome fees from participating both in the Queensland Champions Cup and the ICON Festival series here in Perth.
The fans
From Adelaide to Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, and from Sutton Coldfield, Great Barr, Halesowen and so on, the Villa following out here has been massive. Expats and Aussie fans have never had the chance to watch Villa live previously and boy did they all lap it up - and rightly so. It’s been one helluva claret and blue party over here and I can’t thank everyone enough for the support and love I’ve had as well. It’s been such a brilliant trip, I can’t stress that enough. From Davo and Jodie, Hatch, Julian, Bob and Steve Gough, Pam, Bridge, Dave Birt, Tom and June, Kevin, Noah, Troy, Andrew from Melbourne Lions and so on, it's been a real pleasure and I've met some mates for life.
THE LOSERS
Frederic Guilbert
The Frenchman was once again left out of Gerrard’s 25-man squad for the United game, as was the case against Brisbane Roar. Guilbert wasn’t on the squad bus to the airport earlier, either, and headed on the club’s media bus alongside those that didn’t feature in Perth. It’s been a really disappointing pre-season for the 27-year-old who failed to make his mark on his one big chance against Leeds United at the Suncorp Stadium. You’ve got to fear for his Villa future now as well given the emergence of Kesler Hayden at right-back.
Bertrand Traore
It’s the same scenario for Traore who, on his one big start, failed to do enough to really force Gerrard’s hand. Traore needed to make an impact like Bailey has done but, ultimately, struggled. Like Guilbert, Traore failed to make Villa’s 25-man squad against United. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the Burkinabe now knowing Gerrard will streamline his squad once they're back at Bodymoor Heath.
Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings
It’s probably a little harsh to pick out Villa’s front men, especially given the lack of clear-cut chances they’ve been given to feed off. Watkins, who failed to score out here in Australia, missed a glaring one-on-one in the opener against Leeds and, against United, was given plenty of time to shoot from 18 yards out but didn’t hit the target. As for Ings, he has just one penalty to his name and would have hoped for more. The pair started for the first time together this summer against United and, not for the first time, it didn’t really work.
Keinan Davis and Jaden Philogene-Bidace
We just haven’t seen them, sadly. The pair are currently out injured and are yet to feature this summer. It’ll be interesting to see just how much they’ve kicked on given their respective loans in the Championship last season. However, both Davis and Philogene-Bidace have continued to struggle with niggles recently which doesn’t bode too well for the season ahead.
Neil Critchley
Another loser of the tour has to be assistant head coach Critchley who, as we know, failed to make it to Australia due to a passport problem. It would have been precious time spent with the group following his appointment but, instead, he’s had to log on via Zoom at difficult times due to the time difference. As for Gerrard, he himself has said it’s been a blow.
“Yeah, it’s a blow but he’s very much still part of it,” he said. “We’re on Teams and Zoom calls a couple of times a day. He’s watching all of the sessions back. He’s giving feedback. He’s watching oppositions, we’re sharing game plan information, so he’s very much here but, obviously, he’s got a passport issue that we hope we can resolve as quickly as we can. It’s out of our control so it’ll take care of itself.”
The missus
And lastly, a shout-out to my better half for keeping everything all in order back home. It was a tough decision to leave my family, especially my two-year-old daughter, but I’ll be back on Monday afternoon… Oh, and then it’s France next weekend. Sorry!
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