As fans begin to ponder the moments that changed the course of their team’s season for better or worse, Aston Villa supporters may well point towards two dominoes that fell before the campaign had even kicked off.
The first was Michael Beale’s departure for QPR. The second, just 10 days before their Premier League opener, saw John McGinn replace Tyrone Mings as club captain, with the latter not even a vice as Steven Gerrard suggested the demotion would help the defender “focus more on his own game”.
Both proved to be catalysts for Gerrard’s departure in October. Without Beale, Gerrard looked short of ideas in the dugout, while opting for transparency regarding his captaincy switch backfired, as it signalled tension in a dressing room that had got off to the shoddy start of four defeats in five league games.
It did not help either that the former Liverpool skipper had appeared to back the wrong horse as calls to drop McGinn grew. This blind faith, which went beyond just the midfielder, contributed to Gerrard’s downfall, and in the first game after his sacking came the change Villa fans had called for, with interim boss Aaron Danks relegating McGinn to the bench against Brentford. Villa won 4-0.
Supporters felt justified, although Villa would go on to lose 4-0 the very next game at Newcastle, meaning Danks’ two-game premiership ended a mere 4-4 on aggregate, and with McGinn among the subs once more it was proof the Scot was not solely to blame for their poor form after all.
Then in came Unai Emery, the defining moment of their season proper, an appointment that started with victory over Manchester United and now has Villa remarkably fighting for the European positions with just two games remaining.
And at the very heart of this transformation from relegation candidates to top-seven hopefuls? The two players at the very heart of Gerrard’s pre-season swap: McGinn and Mings.
Firstly, McGinn, who has bounced back from the mid-season benching and January injury setback in emphatic fashion, playing every minute of their last 14 Premier League games.
Be it on the right, left, or in central midfield, McGinn has grafted his way back into Villa fans’ hearts.
Sure, outlasting his team-mates when it comes to signatures and selfies outside Villa Park helps, as he did last weekend, but what has truly won Villa’s supporters over are his performances on the pitch – notably scoring their second in April’s win at Chelsea and standing out again in Saturday’s victory over Tottenham.
“He had a massive game,” Emery said after the Spurs game. “He’s very good every day, his commitment, he’s smiling every day and works every day with a really good spirit.”
Gerrard had, after all, stressed McGinn was a “popular member of the dressing room who sets high standards” when naming him captain in July last year, and this work ethic was soon noticed by Emery, even if it took a while to settle on a position for the 28-year-old.
“He’s very competitive in every position and now playing as a No 8, he’s playing very well. I changed his position and he did it,” Emery added.
“When I analysed him before I came here I watched him, his qualities. Progressively, the first match he started on the bench against Manchester United but he showed me his commitment, his capacity, and he’s a very important player for us.”
A few yards further back, Mings is enjoying arguably his best campaign in claret and blue, which is all the more impressive given how the season started.
Mings was named on the bench by Gerrard for the opening game, a 2-0 loss at Bournemouth, and was left staring at a season on the sidelines given Diego Carlos’ arrival from Sevilla. Gerrard would then go on to reinstate Mings in their second match, however, before Carlos was prevented from playing their third – an Achilles tendon rupture ruling the new signing out for months.
Carlos returned to the first team in March but has been reduced to just one appearance off the bench since, just 25 minutes in total, given Mings’ flourishing partnership with Ezri Konsa at the back.
Together Mings and Konsa have started 32 league games this season, including the past 14, while since beating Everton on 25 February they have kept seven clean sheets in 13 games, conceding no more than once in the other six matches.
This run has included away wins at Chelsea and Leicester, home victories over Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Fulham – in which Mings scored the winner – and Spurs, and has propelled Villa up the table. From 17th when Gerrard was sacked, now they are eighth and dreaming of a first European tour for 14 years.
Premier League table
“It feels like a really exciting moment in time. Things are in our hands to a certain extent, but it feels so much nicer than being in a relegation battle, I’ll tell you that for free,” Mings said earlier this month.
“We’re relishing it, we are, and to be in around the teams we’re around and fighting for a place to be in Europe next year is something that when the manager came in and you offered it to us, we would have absolutely snapped your hand off for it so it’s an exciting end to the season.”
Mings, like forward Ollie Watkins, remains on the periphery of Gareth Southgate’s plans at international level. Both missed out on the World Cup squad, and again in March, but an England recall could beckon for both in June’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.
It would be a rich reward for Mings’ steady improvement under Emery, where the unforced errors, while not totally eradicated, are being ironed out, with the 30-year-old still learning new tricks under an experienced head coach who boasts four Europa League winners’ medals among his collection.
There's someone we want you to meet.
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 16, 2023
Lucy wrote to us about her passion for football, her disabilities and one of her favourite players: @TyroneMings.
Her dream was to one day walk out at Villa Park and meet the squad.
On Saturday, that dream came true.pic.twitter.com/7c2gRFy6lB
“It’s still a steep learning curve, but one that I am really enjoying,” Mings said of Emery last week. “Just as I start to think that I understand how the manager wants us to play in a certain shape, he throws something else in and gives you something else to learn, so long may it continue.”
The sentiment was echoed by McGinn, who said: “He’s added so many bows to players, like myself, teaching things I didn’t think I was capable of doing things.
“I’m 28, Tyrone is 30, there’s players who are supposed to be at the peak of their powers but we’re learning every day. It’s a great environment to be in. He’s a top-class manager, his record speaks for itself and he’s really keen to be successful here. It’s great to be a part of.”
Both are leaders, regardless of who wears the armband, both are learning, both are contributing in major ways to the cause, and if not this season, given the prospect that eighth place means no European football, there is reason to believe Emery’s first full season in charge can go one better.
The Villa dream, shared by fans and owners alike, has not been this close since the Martin O’Neill days.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/Y4t18h6
Post a Comment