Aston Villas Champions League exploits are one thing. Their form after those competitions is another.
While the club was looking forward to securing a top -night berth this week – and all the wealth that goes with it – the focus on the Interior switched. And they don't make a good reading: eight Premier League luminaires have only yielded six points.
A victory over wolves in the reverse fixture in September was their only triumph. It would always take time before this group of players would marry the twin challenges at home and abroad. They didn't do that. Villa slides away from the race of this season for the top four.
Defender Ezri Konsa said: “We just were not good enough. Simple like that. We performed better in the second half, but we didn't have enough. We can apologize about fatigue, but if we want to play in the Champions League, we must be willing to play in games like this. “
More careful for Villa, Konsa, instead, pointed to a negative trend that influences their campaign. He added: “This season, away from home, we have admitted a lot of early goals. It is something we have to work on.
“We have to stop assigning goals – I feel that we are in the back line every game and I admit, I have to go back, look at it and change it. And I don't think we had their backs or keeper enough. We have to improve – and we have to do it now. “
Emery threatens to lose the balance in his team. A group of players who grew in the Premier League, grabbed his direction, tactics and requirements and entered it. The story has changed after two stellar years. So have the staff.
The core of the team remains intact. But for how much longer?
Ollie Watkins will remain in place – at least until the summer – and the signing sessions of Emery have characterized the very good (Morgan Rogers) and not so well (Amadou Onana & Ian Maatsen). Regular Champions League qualification converting into the standard, you suspect, appears beyond them.
“We enjoyed Wednesday in the Champions League,” said Emery, “we were very happy to reach the last 16. The next step is that this is a normal way for us.
“Last year we did it because we were in the Conference League. We have reached the semi-final and we arrived in the Champions League position through the competition. This year we are going in this direction. But it was harder.
“We must also be intelligent because we do not have the power that some teams have. This is clear. We are not an arsenal, we are not Liverpool, we are not a Manchester City. To compete with them – WOW – We make great efforts to do this. Sometimes we don't get that. “
The campaign is far from ready. With a home band in the FA Cup next Sunday against Spurs, a last 16 draw in the Champions League next month, and the fight for the top four is not over yet, the campaign has a lot of life in it. Exciting additions to the team such as Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio will bring new life to the club.
But when it is time to revise the season, Villa fans will know that the lead hardened by the battle to work out victories after Champions League matches cost them.
How expensive can still be seen.
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