It has been a tough two years for Tyrone Mings. The defender suffered a serious knee injury in the Premier League opener against Newcastle United in 2023. He was out of action for over a year, and after his return, he only appeared 14 times for the Villans in the English top tier during last campaign.
So, he may have been a little surprised to be in the partnership at the back instead of Pau Torres. But he rewarded the faith of Unai Emery, expressing that he was "proud of how we defended" for a point.
‘We were very happy with a point’
Mings moved to the Midlands permanently from Bournemouth, where he worked with Eddie Howe. He knows from firsthand experience that the manager puts his players through their paces in preseason, and the intensity from the visitors at Villa Park lived up to the billing on Saturday.
It was quite a tough game, especially in the second half. We knew Newcastle were going to be high energy, on the front foot, very fit and willing to press, so we had to be smart about how we played.”
The Villans did not register a single shot in the first half: it was the first time that a club had failed to have any efforts before the break at home in the Premier League since a 4-0 loss for **Fulham**last May against Manchester City. The second half started better, but disaster struck in the 66th minute.
The defender described how the whole group had to dig deep to hold onto a point in this contest.
“They committed a lot of people to the backline up against us defenders, so it was very difficult, but I think we can be proud of how we defended as well. At the end of the day, I think it was a fairly even game, and when we go down to 10 men, we were very happy with a point.”
The side had to show their spirit to make up for the lack of sharpness they had at the start of a new season. Their 4-4-1 block brought them to the final whistle with Ollie Watkins working tirelessly from the front and Mings standing next to Boubacar Kamara to try to command the penalty area.
“Tweaking the gameplan when you get an understanding of what the opposition are doing is a good time to do that, at half-time, and that’s what we did. It was a tough first half, of course, because everybody’s also trying to find their feet in the first game of the season and get up to speed.
The 32-year-old was happy to be involved again, and above all, Villa have held onto an outstanding record. They have still not lost at home since a 2-0 defeat to **Arsenal**in their first home fixture last August. Hopefully, that momentum stands them in good stead to take three points away at Brentford.
*“I thoroughly enjoyed the game, thoroughly enjoyed our performance, it was great to be back at Villa Park. We’ll look forward to the next game.”*