Although Roberto Di Matteo will no doubt be pleased by Villa’s result against Nantes, he will be less pleased with the performance of his team against the Ligue 1 side.
The trip back to mainland Europe offered Di Matteo a chance to see how his side are progressing, with the new season only two weeks away.
However, he will not have been encouraged by Villa’s first-half performance, with Villa failing to offer an attacking threat with Ashley Westwood pinpointed as one of the most dissapointing players in the first-half.
The second-half saw Di Matteo make two changes, with Grealish and Tshibola replacing Westwood and the anoymous Veretout. The changes seemed give Villa more attacking impetus, with Grealish in particular a handful for the Nantes defence.
In the 71st minute, Villa took the lead, with Rudy Gestede scoring from Nathan Baker’s knockdown from Grealish’s corner.
Villa managed to see out the game without too much trouble, with Roberto Di Matteo’s attention now turning to the friendly against Cambridge United on Tuesday.
