Despite everything, the second half of the Aston Villa Europa League match against Feyenoord went particularly well.
The Emiliano Buendía and John McGinn goals proved to be enough for Villa to earn an additional three points in the European competition.
This victory, of course, came with the need for Unai Emery's side to persevere.
It started with the late exclusion of Emiliano Martínez. Marco Bizot did well in how he stepped up, though, and was able to maintain a clean sheet.
In general, Villa started off slow. While the visitors were fortunate that the officials spotted a foul on Matty Cash, Villa could have easily fallen behind by a goal early on.
More immediately on the attacking end, as has been the case for most of the season, the final ball and touch of quality in the final third were simply not present.
This was remedied, however, through the efforts of the aforementioned goal scorers. In general, Villa did a better job of pressing the issue and creating chances for themselves. While it is often nice to see the side enjoy a good amount of possession, they did a better job of progressing with it during the second 45-minute part of the match.
Encouraging signs from Aston Villa
Even if, for whatever reason, the game had ended in a 0-0 draw, the way in which Villa played should be enough to offer optimism that they can indeed keep their season on track.
This is particularly true when considering the squad that Emery opted for against Feyenoord. Although injuries are preventing Villa from being able to compete at full strength, the Villa boss did deploy a strong lineup that could easily feature as the starting XI against Burnley on Sunday.