Last night Villarreal fans got the chance to see three of the summer signings. Pellegrini threw Ibagaza, Edmilson and Llorente straight into the XI. So did they impress?
Edmilson : Only played the first half but looked excellent in the process. He slotted right in alongside Eguren and they controlled the midfield. What impressed me most about the Brazilian was his dribbling skills, several times he weaved his way past several Liverpool players before delivering a pass. He looked extremely confident and seemed to be very comfortable in yellow. Looks like we have done a very good piece of business. Edmilson will definitely be utilised by Pellegrini.
Ibagaza : The new number 11 started out on the left wing and had a pretty nervy start. After about 15 minutes he was moved into the centre and looked much more at home. He demanded the ball and was good in general play. He played a delightful through ball to Llorente on one occasion which was wrongly ruled out for offside. Also hit the post in what can be seen as a satisfactory first 45 minutes in El Madrigal.
Llorente : The only one to play the full 90 and was unlucky not to score on two occasions, indeed he put the ball in the net both times but unfortunately both were ruled out due to dubious decisions. His movement was good and he was playing off the last defender. Will cause problems for most teams due to his physique and he did well when he was on his own in the first half. Another satisfactory performance.
So overall it was Edmilson that impressed me the most, he brings a bit of class to the side. We are really spoilt for choice now in midfield which in my opinion is very good news.
A note on the teams performance, I think we did very well considering Liverpool are much further on in their preseason than we are and for periods in the game we completely dominated and probably should have sneaked a goal. There's still work to do but we're beginning to click.