The Good, Bad, and Ugly Start to the Season – Aston Villa’s Champions League Hopes and Villa Park Woes

The Good Bad and Ugly – Villa are Up and Running

With the first three games of the season out of the way and the transfer window eased shut, it’s time to take stock with the Good, Bad and Ugly around Villa Park.

The Good

It’s nice and simple. The on-pitch performances have been good. Not spectacular in an unsustainable way, but at a level that should be good enough to deal with most teams in the Premier League.

West Ham will be decent this season and Leicester City away will be a tricky enough game for most, yet Villa should have had both games dead and buried by half-time. The fact they still got them over the line with minimal fuss, is a testament to the Villa baseline under Unai Emery.

Three wins from three would be greedy, and it’s the game where Villa performed above baseline in, where they actually came undone against Arsenal.

Villa, and in particular Morgan Rogers, made fools of the Arsenal midfield and if Ollie Watkins had been up to speed, Villa would be sitting top of the table with Liverpool and Manchester City.

Alas, like failing to get Oasis tickets, there’s no point looking back in anger at the game. The performance level is in the tank for the challenges ahead, so there’s no Gas Panic here.

The other bright spot was the Uefa Champions League Draw.

From the novelty of being included to some of the blockbuster ties that came out, it’s a draw that in footballing terms, couldn’t have gone any better.

Aston Villa will fancy themselves to get enough points to progress from the inaugural ‘Super League by another name’ stage into the knockouts. If that happens, then be prepared for Villa to be really punching up.

Villan of the Week – Jhon Durán

It had to be. Jhon Durán is the definition of chaos at Aston Villa. His thunderbolt against Palace last season, his less-than-becoming tumble against Burnley, and of course, his double against Liverpool were all major points gained on Villa’s road to the Champions League.

This season his two winners and performances in the away games have been much more mature. His link-up play and general involvement with the team is noticeably improved, which makes you wonder why so many Villa fans wanted him out the door in the summer.

He didn’t cover himself in glory-seeking moves to Chelsea and then West Ham, when he did the now infamous crossed-arm Hammers gesture on a live Instagram video, but he’s not the first Villan to court other teams.

The main difference with Durán, is he’s raw. He hasn’t been at Villa for years, it’s not his club or his city.

Can anyone honestly look back at the decisions they made when they were 20 and say they were all well-considered?

It may be short-lived, but you don’t give up on an asset like Duran because of his off-field antics. You give up when he’s no longer benefiting on the pitch, if his form continues like this, he can have a Chelsea tattoo on his face for all it matters.

The Bad

I can’t remember a team qualifying for the Champions League and not being able to spend big in the transfer window.

This is the current status of Aston Villa, due to Premier League PSR and Uefa SCR.

Nobody can seriously say that Villa aren’t a couple of players short and the failed pursuit of Lutsharel Geertruida from Feyenoord, as well as the flirtation with Joao Felix for weeks, showed that Unai Emery recognised it as well.

Both these deals were dependent on players leaving, and in hindsight turning down Fulham’s offer for Diego Carlos could prove to be a fork in the road later on.

Either Carlos finds consistency in his form and has his redemption or the failure to land a defender costs Villa dearly.

Both options are equally likely at this point, but it’s a bad state of affairs when Chelsea can go out and sign players like they are trading crypto, while Aston Villa are hamstrung instead of rewarded for last season’s achievements.

In any case, the objective must be continued qualification, or the trolley dash to meet regulations will happen every summer.

The Ugly

The Villa Park facilities for the general admission fan made the headlines for all the wrong reasons in Aston Villa’s game against Arsenal.

A look online showed unacceptable queues to enter the game, lack of communication and stewarding, overflowing urinals and worst of all missing seats for fans who had paid to attend.

Further comment should be only from fans in attendance that day, but for other fans planning a trip, look at it without the Villa tinted glasses on.

Would you pay around Seventy pounds of your Great British Sterling to attend an event, that didn’t let you in on time to see it, had unusable facilities and after paying for a seat, arrived to find that it hadn’t been built, had been removed or else had bolts sticking out of it?

You wouldn’t, so criticising fellow fans for expressing their valid displeasure is not the way to improve the facilities for all. It’s sticking your head in the sand like an ostrich. Demand better for your money in these hard times.

UTV

Follow Phil on X/Twitter here – @prsgame

Follow MOMS on X/Twitter & Facebook & Threads