Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has again overseen a very mixed bag of performances in the 2025/26 campaign and for large periods our first team squad has been blowing out of its last legs, but with two games remaining in the domestic calendar securing 5th place and a Champions League spot remains in our hands – and there is the small distraction of a first Europa League Final since we last ruled Europe with a shin.
Few using Bet442 for their predictions at the start of the year would have bet on that as we all know the financial constraints that we have been forced to operate under for the last few years, not least losing out on Champions League football for this term by the smallest of margins, and we are also well aware that our transfer policy could well have been bettered by a 2 year old randomly pointing at a book of player names – however, in many cases both of those issues make what Emery has achieved all the more sweeter.
It is quite bizarre now to think that some fans seem to forget that we went without our entire preferred first team midfield for a number of games whilst we dallied with the top two spots, so surprise, the challenge did not last as most expected. Further that we have not already tied up CL football for the year as we are now very much in the stage of going through the motions until we absolutely have to raise ourselves for key matches that matter.
It is far from ideal obviously, we would all like less of a rollercoaster, but 5th place is still in our hands…is there a preference for securing it mathematically a few games earlier but then having nothing in the tank to reach the Europa League Final?
I do not think so somehow.
So here we again, another year of tangible on pitch improvement whilst still batting a net profit transfer balance that displeases the authorities, and it is time for yet more media meltdown Profit and Sustainability Rules stories and claims and probably given his current form, Morgan Rogers gets a break this week, and Youri Tieleman’s comes front and centre.
It is not much of an educated guess to think top European teams would be looking at him given the form he has shown, but why some outlets feel the need to talk about a hypothetical ‘huge’ offer coming in that we would ‘now accept’ whilst the very same headline qualifies that firm decision as being nothing more than a possibility because we ‘could’ ‘accept’ a ‘huge’ offer if it ever becomes a reality, is beyond me.
Presenting it as real news and as if it is already a done deal is mindboggling.
Sports journalism has always been an oxymoron, but facts used to matter even in the toy department of news. It appears to be something the current bunch of Oxy’s have wilfully forgotten as it is not even sports journalism anymore – it is invented opinion to hit a wordcount and nothing more than that.
Give it a wand and call it Harry and then you have what it is, fantasy.
Which is exactly what fans in the wider world of football would have said about claims that Villa would again grab the top five and reach a European final back in August.
Difference is we have a real wizard and our Villan with a black hat knows that PSR does not exist come the summer, so selling Youri to fix financial regulations that no longer apply makes as much sense as the reports claiming it.
Image Source: unsplash.com
