A great start to life in South Asia… onto Bayern Munich!

So far, so good in South Asia.

On Saturday, Aston Villa defeated Indonesia All Stars 1-3 in a friendly. Villa took the lead early on, with many thinking a cricket score was inevitable, however the hosts came inches off drawing level at around the half hour mark and the scoreline was lucky to stay put. However, just before half time, Ross Barkley struck the bottom corner and doubled our lead and Villa went into the break 2 goals to the good. Following half-time changes, Villa grabbed one more courtesy of Brian Madjo, who was fed by Luka Lynch for his fourth goal of the pre-season campaign. The hosts grabbed a consolation and the score ended 1-3.

I must confess, I only watched the first half courtesy of an Indonesian Youtube channel who were streaming the game, and I thought we looked uninspiring, prompting me to think that we needed a bit more practice against high level opposition going into the season, which I actually think, not to disrespect the Super Cup competition, will come against Paris Saint Germain on August 12th. I was pleased to see Madjo on the scoresheet and to see us get the win.

On Tuesday, or today if you’re reading on publish date, Villa defeated BG Pathum United by the same score of 1-3. Courtesy of a brilliant app brought to my attention by a contributor on the blog, I was able to watch the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half of the match on a fantastic stream. Before I switched on, goals from Buendia and Lindelof saw us 0-2 up at half time – two players who had a great finish to the 25/26 campaign and played parts in our historic Europa League success (I had to find a way to bring that up!). The big story was Kamara being back in the squad for the first time since January, wearing his Number 8 shirt, and would you believe he actually found the net on his first game back one minute into his cameo! A fantastic touch by Hemmings and a steady strike into the bottom right corner, which saw Pathum finished off. Mind you, in similar fashion to All Stars, Pathum netted a consolation courtesy of an unstoppable goal which I had no option but to applaud.

Overall, a great day. The day begun with Brian Madjo’s appeal being upheld, in which I logged straight onto the site to deliver the fantastic news. Despite a delayal in kick-off, I was able to watch a decent chunk of the game and saw some really promising individual performances in the second half. We have to talk about Madjo’s strength as well, bodying the Pathum player to the floor in the penalty area! I’d love to know actually, would a Premiership referee have bottled it and given a foul, I absolutely think yes.

Our final pre-season outing before the Super Cup final, Villa relive a special but recent memory of us all – Bayern Munich. This time in Hong Kong, which I’d have actually loved to have gone to. Whatever the result, just remember we beat them in the one that mattered! I hope both teams go strong, and I imagine we will as it is our last test before the Super Cup final so Emery should be looking for the starters in the final to have a chance to gel together before the big game.

Hopefully I’ll be able to tune into that one!

UTV! COYL!