The Good, Bad and Ugly of Emery’s Villa 2.0
The transfer window has come and gone, and so has the majority of Aston Villa’s starting line-up. As the window shuts, Aston Villa have squad depth, but do they have the cohesiveness to carry on evolving this season?
‘Somehow with the window shut there is a sense of cautious optimism that the jigsaw pieces are there in the squad, albeit they are scattered all over the floor at present.’
– Phil Shaw
The Good
From a position of catastrophe and disarray, Aston Villa and their recruitment team have managed to get intriguing bodies in the door.
Losing Konsa, Watkins, Tielemans, Digne, Martinez and Rogers in the space of six weeks is something that would happen to a relegated side, not one that should have been basking in the afterglow of a European trophy and strengthening to kick on.
Despite having their internal organs harvested, somehow with the window shut there is a sense of cautious optimism that the jigsaw pieces are there in the squad, albeit they are scattered all over the floor at present.
Every signing has its own story and intrigue, meaning the season will be anything but predictable. Whether it is seeing if there is a ‘last dance’ in Leon Goretzka or if Ibrahim Mbaye is the player that is promised. In between the oldest and youngest recruit, there is the entire spectrum.
It will be like watching a completely new side. God help John McGinn trying to captain all the new personalities and egos in the squad. This could be the biggest challenge of the season and one that will ultimately decide if it is a success or not.
Villain of the Week – Ollie Watkins
You will notice the spelling mistake in the header. Something the social media employee didn’t when Ollie Watkins released a leaving message.
This amateur and superficial act has become something of a fashion for leaving footballers, but more was expected of Aston Villa’s record Premier League Goalscorer.
Despite all the others around him leaving, there was an evident belief that Watkins would stay at Aston Villa within the club and the fanbase at large.
While others were coveted by higher revenue teams like Konsa, Tielemans and Rogers, or else moved home for a final stint like Digne, Watkins was different.
He wasn’t the maverick Emi Martinez, who could have left at any point a window was open. He was the hard-working forward who never got the acclaim from outside Villa Park that he got from all within.
His professionalism was expected to be a reflection of the player that fans had come to love on the pitch. Hard-working, flawed finisher, but ultimately honest, and as a result, he was given a lot of patience from both fans and Unai Emery when he went through periods where he visibly regressed to his non-league roots.
Through Emery’s patience and the credit Watkins had in the bank, the latter half of last season was a watershed. After being dropped by Thomas Tuchel for the last pre-World Cup friendlies, the scales dropped from Watkins eyes.
He started working hard again; he started showing aggression and the necessary attitude to succeed, and the goals flowed. 11 in 12 matches as Villa achieved fourth place and the Europa League.
This was the reason Emery showed faith. He knows the player that exists in Watkins, and finally it was being shown.
Then came the fall.
Watkins, courted by Al Hilal of the Saudi Pro League, went on strike to force a move, refusing to play in the first game of the season against Brighton.
Let that sink in.
Ollie Watkins, not Zlatan Ibrahimovic, not Vini Jnr, not Kyllian Mbappé, not even Emi Martinez.
Ollie Watkins went on strike.
A player whose attitude and professionalism were as much an attribute as his pace and work ethic.
From this point there was no way back with Villa fans or with Unai Emery. The four-goal humbling at Brighton will forever be linked to Watkins’ no-show, and the deal was done.
Instead of joining the Premier League 100 club with Aston Villa and seeing if he could continue his newfound ruthlessness to help lead the revolution, he jumped ship in the most out-of-character way.
Truly the Villain instead of the Villan of the window.
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The Bad and Ugly
Shipping four goals to Brighton and a narrow defeat against Arsenal are not great results, but the polar opposite levels of performance could be a sign of things to come.
This will be a season of inconsistency, which can only be expected when trying to bed in ten new signings. There will be plenty of ups and downs, especially when they are all getting up to speed.
The unfortunate comparison is the ill-fated Tim Sherwood season, where the sales of Benteke and Delph funded a complete reboot of the team, bringing in 11 players that ended infamously in relegation.
Naysayers will jokingly look at comparisons of signing a young pacy winger in 2015 called Adama Traore and the signing of Ibrahim Mbaye, but it’s the overall churn of the team that is a valid concern.
Thankfully the circumstances aren’t the same. Villa were circling relegation for a number of seasons prior to the Sherwood signing spree. Now they have recruited from a position of strength.
Champions League football. European trophy winners, and an elite manager in Unai Emery, mean the 2015-2016 comparisons should be short-lived. Just don’t expect the bad and ugly results and performances to completely disappear in the short term.
UTV
Follow Phil on X/Twitter here – @prsgame
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