Unai Emery excluded £65m-worth of players from the 18-man squad that dished out a lesson in black and white. Aston Villa ’s boss had to pull Leon Bailey and Pau Torres to one side before kick-off to explain himself.
That, in itself, is staggering. But taking a glance at the strength of Villa’s substitutes’ bench on Saturday evening reinforced the feeling that this is the best squad ever seen at Villa Park.
Record signing Amadou Onana, (£50m) was joined by Lucas Digne (£25m) and Donyell Malen (£18m) in waiting for the call to join the action. And how can you put a value on Marcus Rashford or Jacob Ramsey, who were also sitting waiting patiently for their chance?
Add Axel Disasi and Ross Barkley into the conversation, who also made the 18-man cut, and there is some serious talent waiting in the wings. Villa are coming to the boil. For the first time since taking over two and a half years ago, Emery has an empty treatment room.
It’s Manchester City on Tuesday. And Villa are in just the kind of mood to test Pep Guardiola ’s side at a venue that has been a claret and blue killing ground in seasons past. Emery said: “When I arrived here, it was my objective to play more matches in the season, Europe, like now in the FA Cup, playing in the semi-final.
“Our levels have increased. They have increased, clearly. We are going to be playing more than 55 matches this year. Last season, we played more than 55.
“There are more players in the national team. We had problems before because we didn’t have enough players available to play, we weren’t achieving points because we didn’t have some players fit, or they were injured, or they were not getting the level we needed.
“Now – and always in my career as a coach – when I perform better, it is when I have players available and two players per position, more or less, playing and performing well.
“We are in this moment, and our momentum is the squad’s momentum, not only the 11 players. They are showing it, and it is necessary to have players ready to play, and some players as well on the bench.
“This was the first time this season I had to take players out of the squad because every player was available for today. It was for different circumstances that I decided to leave out Pau (Torres), Leon Bailey and Lamare Bogarde.
“Of course, it’s good for me to make this decision. I want moments like that .” Emery’s programme notes were unusually strident in pointing out the value of defeating the Toon. His right-hand man, Damian Vidagany, amplified it on his Twitter feed, saying: “This is as important as a Champions League semi-final.”
There was no suggestion of any hangover from the painful defeat to PSG. With such a quick turnaround, there wasn’t time for anyone to feel sorry for themselves.
Villa’s boss added: “We played in the Champions League in the first part of the season. After those matches, we weren’t performing well. After we lost against PSG, we reacted so quickly because our objective again is to be in Europe and to get there through the Premier League.
“There are still 15 points to play for, and we are behind other teams. The players are aware of how difficult it is going to be and of their responsibility to respond as they did today.”
There was a glint in Emery’s eye when he was quizzed about his selection conundrum at the pre-match press conference ahead of Newcastle ’s visit.
“I like my players angry,” he said. Angry? The response he received from striker Ollie Watkins showed that the England international was little short of livid at being omitted from the side to face PSG in midweek.
The forward has spearheaded Villa’s revival and was ‘furious’ at being sidelined for what should have been the crowning moment of his club career so far.
Watkins said: “I’ve put in a lot of hard graft in the last few years to get in that position. I wanted to start the important games because I’ve played a big part in getting to where we are today.
“Obviously, I played 20 minutes in both games against PSG – so I’m not going to lie – I was fuming I wasn’t playing. I let him know that.
“He’s the manager at the end of the day. I respect his decision. But I’m not one of the players happy to sit on the bench. Rather than let it hinder you, you have to use that anger and let it spur you on to prove the manager different.”
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