All of the top current Aston Villa stories including, Ajax’s weakness, golden opportunity missed and Unai Emery criticism.
Ajax weakness
Aston Villa host Ajax on Thursday night in the Europa Conference League. The first leg of the round of 16 tie ended 0-0 with Emery’s side now returning to Villa Park as the favourites to get into the quarter-finals.
However, Ajax will be no pushovers. The European giants could have easily won in Amsterdam with the chances they created and could well pose that threat again.
However, one suggestion that has been made is to return Leon Bailey to the starting XI. The winger did not start in the first leg despite being one of Villa’s best players this season.
You can read more about the analysis of Bailey and Ajax here.
Golden opportunity missed for Aston Villa
One part of the club that isn’t doing too well this season is its financial side. Villa announced that they lost £119.6 million in their end-of-year accounts despite increased gate and commercial income.
With poor financial management putting clubs such as Everton and Forest in the spotlight, it was thought Villa would look to get themselves back into the good books as soon as possible.
However, it has been revealed that Villa were one of many Premier League clubs to reject a £900 million settlement with the EFL.
You can read more about how Villa have missed this golden opportunity here.
Unai Emery criticism
Despite their recent success, Villa were humbled on the weekend. In a crucial game in the battle for the Champions League, Emery’s side fell to a 4-0 defeat against Spurs.
It was a terrible loss with many players in the squad underperforming. Captain John McGinn was also sent off to add further misery.
Emery was subject to much criticism for the display as he changed the system to a backline of five. When Jamie Carragher was quizzed on the display he said he understood why the manager was under scrutiny for the match.
You can what Carragher said about Emery here.
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