The Next Step for Villa This Season?

Is the Unai Emery new manager bounce over? Are we now in the territory of legitimate progress for Aston Villa? Can Villa supporters now finally start to think about finishing in the top half of the Premier League…and maybe more?

Wedged in 11th place in the Premier League table, Villa are now just three points away from a European spot and suddenly there’s a world of possibilities in terms of how the 2022/23 season could pan out.

A few months ago in a Fan Consultation Group meeting with Villa CEO Christian Purslow, the Villa CEO had stated to MOMS that he wanted the club to be at least “in the mix” before the World Cup break. A week later, he soon realised for that to have any chance of happening, he knew he needed to pull the plug on the then manager. With Steven Gerrard gone, Villa had now sacked two managers that the board felt couldn’t do the requested job (finish circa 8th in the league) in not only the present season of their employment, but also the next.

You get a sense that the word from the owners above was lets stop trying to be cute with our manager/head coach choices and let’s get a top level experienced man in. If reports are to believed, Nassef Sawiris met with Mauricio Pochettino a couple of times, but it was the man from Villarreal that said, ‘yes’.

This week Purslow told MOMS, Unai Emery didn’t come to Villa to be a mid-table manager. So what are the immediate aims for this season? Before the World Cup, it surely would have been a surprise to be just three points off the European places come January. So, are the club seizing the current situation as a potential ‘opportunity knocks’ moment and will they act accordingly before the January window closes?

Episode 222

In the latest My Old Man Said podcast show, Villa’s current position is very much in the background of everything we speak about, not least the sale of Danny Ings. Villa are now arguably weaker without him, despite the signing of 19-year-old Jhon Duran, so surely they have something else in the pipeline, if they want to make a real fist of this season?

Also in the show, we look back at the Southampton away win, catch up on the latest Villa news, Media Muppets and in Three Points, look at the concept of having a White Card. Listen below and don’t forget to follow the podcast on whatever app you use to listen to the show with.

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Credits:

David Michael – @oldmansaid 

Chris Budd – @BUDD_music

Phillip Shaw – @prsgame

My Old Man Said – https://myoldmansaid.com

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