Aston Villa can't escape as worrying issue hits home again - 'This is clear'
Aston Villa can't escape as worrying issue hits home again - 'This is clear'
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Aston Villa’s Champions League exploits are one thing. Their form after those matches is another. As the club rejoiced in securing a top-eight berth this week - and all the riches that come with it - the focus switched to domestic matters. And they don’t make pretty reading: Eight Premier League fixtures have yielded just six points. A victory over Wolves in the reverse fixture back in September has been their only triumph. It was always going to take time for this group of players to marry up the twin challenges at home and abroad. They haven’t done so. Villa are slipping away from this season’s race for the top four.
Defender Ezri Konsa said: “We just weren’t good enough. Simple as that. We performed better in the second half, but we didn’t have enough. We can make excuses about being fatigued, but if we want to play in the Champions League, we have to be prepared to play in games like this.”. More worryingly for Villa, Konsa instead pointed to a negative trend that is impacting their campaign. He added: “This season, away from home, we have conceded early goals quite a lot. It’s something we have to work on.
“We have to stop conceding goals - I feel like we are conceding every game and me, being in the back line, I have to go back, look on it, and change it. And I don’t think we troubled their back four or goalkeeper enough. We have to improve - and we have to do it now.”. Emery is in danger of losing the balance in his squad. A group of players who were growing into the Premier League seized upon his direction, tactics, and demands and went with it. After two stellar years, the narrative has changed. So have the personnel.
The core of the squad remains intact. But for how much longer?. Ollie Watkins will stay put - at least until the summer - and Emery’s signings have featured the very good, (Morgan Rogers) and not-so-good (Amadou Onana & Ian Maatsen). Turning regular Champions League qualification into the norm, you suspect, appears beyond them. “We were enjoying Wednesday in the Champions League,” said Emery, “we were very happy to get to the last 16. The next step is for this to be a normal way for us.
“Last year, we did it because we were in the Conference League. We achieved the semi-final and we got into the Champions League position through the league. This year, we are going in this direction. But it’s been more difficult. “We have to be intelligent as well because we don’t have the power some teams have. This is clear. We are not Arsenal, we are not Liverpool, we are not Manchester City. To be competing with them - wow - we make big efforts to do so. Sometimes, we are not getting that.”.
The campaign is far from finished. With a home tie in the FA Cup next Sunday against Spurs, a last-16 tie in the Champions League next month, and the fight for the top four not yet over, the campaign has plenty of life left in it. Exciting additions to the squad such as Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio will breathe fresh life into the club. But when the time comes to review the season, Villa fans will know that the battle-hardened edge to eke out victories after Champions League fixtures has cost them.
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