The Good Bad and Ugly – Moving On Up
After two comeback wins sandwiched the First European Cup tie in four decades and a 1% Pep Guardiola-style effort in the League Cup dispatched Wycombe, you’d think things are all rosy in the Villaverse…
The Good
On the pitch, Aston Villa continue to get the job done without needing to put in a full 90-minute performance.
Against Everton and Wolves especially, the first-half performances were to quote Unai Emery, “Really sh*t!”
Of course, games are decided over 90 minutes or more, if you’re playing Wolves. The Dogheads managed to help set a season-high 47.3 seconds on average for restarts as they tried to hold on to their one-goal lead.
Unai Emery’s Aston Villa side has patience and a swagger that allows them to keep going, like good sides do, until they persevere.
They remind me of Klopp’s Liverpool, who battered Dean Smith’s Villa side for 90 minutes to eventually overturn a one-goal lead in stoppage time in November 2019.
It’s a good sign, and it means that the old ‘typical Villa,’ when something goes wrong, is starting to be eroded away. Those of us who lived through Villa in the ’90s will need a few more seasons of results like this to be fully cleansed.
The tributes to the late Gary Shaw, away in Bern and at the Wolves game, were good to see. Hopefully, something more permanent will follow in due course.
Villan of the Week – Youri Tielemans
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. That would be a good lyric to sum up Villa’s midfield against Wycombe.
Tielemans has been on another level this season, and Barkley, Onana and Rogers are all benefiting and shining because Tielemans is the heartbeat of the team.
It was fitting he scored the first goal in the Champions League, as his performances have been up there with the best in Europe.
If Villa are to keep pace this season, Tielemans must be protected at all costs.
The Bad
Aside from the Young Boys game, clean sheets are as rare as a cheap ticket for Villa Park.
While performances have been excellent, the pattern mirrors last season. The team are outscoring the opposition, but it’s unnecessarily risky.
In a parallel world, Aston Villa may have beaten Arsenal, but they could have drawn the rest of the games.
West Ham were a Konsa clearance from equalising, Everton missed two decent chances, Leicester could have had a last-second penalty and Wolves would’ve been good value for more than a one-goal lead at halftime.
The lapses in concentration will be punished at any level and Villa’s defence are being bailed out by the forwards at present.
Slack marking on set pieces, poor passing and being outmuscled are weaknesses that need to be cut out, because there will be points of the season where the goals dry up and a one-goal lead will need to be defended.
Aside from the Young Boys game, clean sheets are as rare as a cheap ticket for Villa Park.
While performances have been excellent, the pattern mirrors last season. The team is outscoring the opposition, but it’s unnecessarily risky.
In a parallel world, Aston Villa may have beaten Arsenal, but they could have drawn the rest of the games.
West Ham were a Konsa clearance away from equalising, Everton missed two decent chances, Leicester could have had a last-second penalty, and Wolves would’ve been good value for more than a one-goal lead at half-time.
Lapses in concentration will be punished at any level, and Villa’s defence is currently being bailed out by the forwards.
Slack marking on set pieces, poor passing, and being outmuscled are weaknesses that need to be cut out because there will be points in the season where the goals dry up, and a one-goal lead will need to be defended.
The Ugly
Currently, the big story in politics is the removal of pensioners’ winter fuel payments by the new Labour Government.
The Chancellor says they need to raise revenue, while opponents argue that they are targeting a group who have paid their dues for decades and are being squeezed harder at a time when things are toughest.
Sound familiar?
It should.
The ticket prices for Aston Villa’s home Champions League games are punishing a fan base that has endured plenty of heartache and stuck by the team, especially during the three seasons in the Championship.
What’s worse is that any sign of complaint—any mere hint of opposition—is being shut down due to a misguided belief that protesting against the club is the same as protesting against Unai Emery and the players.
The online opposition to the planned protest against Everton was almost cult-like.
Protesting against disproportionately increased ticket prices is intended to safeguard every fan’s future, whether they see it or not.
If prices continue to rise as they have, it will soon cost three figures for a ticket to any game, all in the name of paying one player’s wage for half a season.
The effects of Wolves being a Category A game are already visible.
Hundreds of seats that would have been filled with reasonably priced tickets were left unsold because they were simply too expensive for fans.
How does that sit with the revenue argument?
There are currently two camps online: fans of Aston Villa the football club, and fans of Aston Villa’s commercial team. Even if they started selling a half-and-half scarf with Chris Heck on one side and Unai Emery on the other for £80, there wouldn’t be a resolution.
At a time when the on-pitch performances are setting new standards, some fans are happy to behave like turkeys voting for Christmas, encouraging the club to charge whatever they want for tickets.
If you don’t believe in protests or deride people standing up for themselves and their families, that’s your prerogative. Just don’t complain and cause an ugly scene when you’re eventually priced out of anything to do with Aston Villa.
UTV
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