Aston Villa blog: Performances not quite there but wins are all that matters
There is no better feeling for any Villa fan than walking up to Villa park on the first home game of the season, and after the last week's events it was nice to get back to business.
While Wigan at home is hardly a blockbuster of a start, after their promotion last season I was expecting them to be very competitive and they didn’t disappoint - in fact, they didn’t look overawed at all, writes Justin Hawthorne.
Steve Bruce made the point in the run up to the game that he felt he didn’t utilise his squad enough last season, and he was true to his word with a much-changed side from Monday night's win over Hull.
Three new signings all making the starting XI, Green and Bjarnson also made starts in a side which showed plenty of difference to the league opener.
Looking at the whole game I still feel we didn't perform to the level we're capable of, but still showed enough spirit and just enough quality to get ourselves over the line.
Admittedly, Orjan Nyland did look very shaky in goal but I’m happy to give him time to settle as he’s only been in the UK for a short period of time and the back-pass from Mile Jedinak that led to the equaliser won't have done his confidence much good.
As for the other two signings, the returning Axel Tuanzebe did fine, but doesn’t look like a right back to me. He's probably best suited to a more central role, but that decision is down to Steve Bruce.
As for Jedinak in central defence - I'm not sure it's something worth exploring any more given his worrying display.
The big performer was John McGinn, brought in from Hibernian. I think we all saw enough to tell us that he's got a big future - he was tenacious in the tackle, can clearly pick out a pass and has energy to burn. Let's not forget it was his deliveries which led to two of the three goals too.
Overall, it’s great to win the first two games, however there is still a way to go in terms of performance as neither win was what you'd call comfortable.
Bruce is obviously keen to explore the loan market now too, so it might take a few weeks to bring in players and settle into the right formation, but as long as we keep picking the points up then all will be fine.
