The Good, Bad and Ugly Of Villa’s Week
A week that began with Aston Villa turning a corner, ended with them running into a speed bump near the twisting street circuit of Monaco, it’s the Good, Bad and Ugly of the week.
The Good
Four points from Everton and Arsenal might seem like the expected par score for a side with European ambitions, but both games were satisfying in their own way for different reasons.
The win against Everton finally delivered Villa’s first away clean sheet of the season, although a last-minute miss by Calvert-Lewin was needed to preserve it. In truth, Villa should have been home and dry by halftime.
In a recurring theme, big misses from Watkins and Ramsey could have put the game to bed with a bit more composure. However, both showed good character by putting in strong shifts in the second half, and Watkins finished clinically to secure the win.
Against Arsenal, a completely different type of game highlighted the potential of this Villa side when it clicks.
After conceding two poor goals either side of the halftime break, the game looked lost until Tielemans and Watkins brought the entitled Gunners back down to earth.
The drama of a ruled-out VAR goal for the hosts, combined with both sides hitting the post, showed Villa’s resilience and character. Heading into a real opportunity in Monaco, Villa look good, strong, and full of belief. What could possibly go wrong?
Villan of the Week – Boubacar Kamara
The Everton clean sheet was notable for two things, Mings clearing the aerial threat and Kamara mopping up everything else in a monster performance.
Following it up with another composed and tough tackling performance at the Emirates, and Kamara is starting to show the swagger his hype always threatened to turn into.
While nobody did anything of note against Monaco, Kamara was forced to play as right centre-back/right-back near the end showing his versatility again.
The Bad
The game against Monaco was an opportunity for Aston Villa to control their own destiny and almost certainly book their place in the top eight of the Champions League. A draw would have been very useful, while a win would put them firmly in a box seat.
After a great victory in Leipzig the round before, the last thing anyone expected was another performance on the level of the Brugge defeat.
While it wasn’t as bad as that, it was a disappointing and frustrating showing, considering the stakes involved. It was perhaps Villa’s most pivotal game of the season, so far, with the prize being top eight, a €10 million bonus guaranteed, and two fewer games in February (affording more time for Emery to lift his player’s levels).
Despite a bright start, the flatness and lack of belief that swept through the team became noticeable as soon as Monaco scored.
A lack of conviction, aimless passing, and the absence of urgency – issues that have plagued the team all season – returned at the worst possible time.
Mings and Konsa gave the ball away carelessly, Rogers ran into blind alleys, and the drive and belief seen in the previous performance against Arsenal was replaced by what appeared to be fear. Even usually reliable performers like Digne and Tielemans struggled, failing to deliver effective set pieces.
The clearest example of Villa’s poor performance came when Bailey fluffed a header from four yards out, only to nearly knock himself out in a collision with the defender immediately afterward.
Ollie Watkins, despite being on a scoring streak, was put through by the hard-working Buendia, only to miss yet again when one-on-one with the opposition goalkeeper.
Simply not good enough.
What followed Monaco’s goal was 80 minutes of everything that has been wrong with Unai Emery’s team this season. The result leaves the team with regrets and a manager who seems to be running out of patience with these unexpected failures at the worst possible moments.
The Ugly
When asked about the defeat, Unai Emery stated that some players weren’t following the plan. When pressed further, he simply pointed to his temple.
“Mentality” is one of the astute Spaniard’s buzzwords, so a performance that showed no mentality must have been as ugly to his eyes as it was to every Villa fan who understood what even a single point could mean for the rest of the season.
Emery even blamed himself for bringing on Jhon Duran and pairing him up top with Watkins. But why did he make that decision?
Necessity and a lack of options are the easy answers, but desperation also played a role. Emery knew how vital the result was and abandoned his usual preference for control.
It didn’t work, and if anything, Villa got worse and more disjointed.
Now, they face the ugliest feeling of all: regret. No-shows against Brugge and Monaco, combined with a poor refereeing decision in the Juventus game, have threatened to undo all the good work in the other matches.
With matters now out of their hands, Villa must show even more character – not only to navigate a Premier League home game against West Ham but to deliver a true grandstand finish (with plenty of goals) against Celtic.
As always, Aston Villa never do things the easy way. Yet, an ugly end to the week cannot overshadow the fact that, at the very least, a Champions League play-off is still to come.
UTV
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