Ex-Aston Villa scout suggests huge off-pitch issue has caused Unai Emery form to ‘fall off a cliff’
Aston Villa are still chasing their first goal of the Premier League season.
Aston Villa are still chasing their first win and goal of the Premier League season. They will hope Sunday’s clash with newly promoted Sunderland will end this dismal duck that currently sees Unai Emery’s sides lingering in the bottom three.
Their latest no-show attacking performance ended 0-0 against Everton last time out. The result on Merseyside marked the first time in Villa’s history they have failed to score a single goal in their opening four league fixtures.
The Villans are also the only team in England’s top seven leagues still yet to find the back of the net. Emery will be desperate to break this dismal run but upcoming rivals Sunderland have posted a good account of themselves so far, with two wins and a draw on the board.
Aston Villa summer situation knock-on effect
The summer transfer window brought a lot of mixed emotions and some players have been left unsettled due to doubt being cast over their futures.
Emiliano Martinez and Ollie Watkins were both linked with exits over the summer, while Jacob Ramsey’s sale to Newcastle United has not sat well either.
Ramsey’s £40 million move to St James’ Park was not a popular decision in the Villa dressing room. The home-grown midfielder was essentially a sacrifice sale from the club and according to The Telegraph, his former teammates were not left best pleased by his departure.
Former Aston Villa chief scout Mick Brown has weighed in on the situation and discussed the key players who are sitting in an unsettled environment following transfer spotlight hanging over them.
“The situation in the summer has caused a lot of discontent among the players,” Brown told Football Insider. “Martinez had all the talk about his future, it was never clear whether he was staying or going, whether they wanted to cash in or he was part of the plans, that wasn’t just on his end.
“Watkins as well, all the talk was about Villa being willing to let him go and whether clubs like Arsenal, Man United, Newcastle might be interested. Morgan Rogers, there was a lot of interest in him and speculation about his future.
“Plus a load of other players in that team as well who there was so much uncertainty around, even the likes of John McGinn who was mentioned too.”
Behind-the-scenes issues affecting Aston Villa form
Brown believes the unrest behind the scenes has played a significant part in Villa’s poor start to the season.
The Villans ended last campaign with 58 goals on the board and a sixth-place finish Their start to the new term has raised alarm bells, with Brown suggesting the team unit has started to ‘drift away’.
“It’s no surprise their form has gone off a cliff, because none of the players during the summer knew whether they’d even be there at the start of the season,” he continued.
“That’s a major issue for Emery, because it’s a completely different dynamic to the one he had build up before where everybody was pulling in the same direction, it was a tight-knit unit with everybody fighting for the same thing.
“When you drift away from that, with a lot of unhappy players, it’s a very difficult position to be in.”