Warnock shocked by Aston Villa after what Lineker said on MOTD
Stephen Warnock was taken aback by what Gary Lineker said about Aston Villa in their 4-1 defeat against Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
The Villans added yet another loss to their Premier League tally in their game at Selhurst Park and have now only won one top-flight game in their last five outings.
At the moment, Unai Emery’s men are 10th in the league and while there are only five points between them and fourth-placed Manchester City, their hopes of a second successive season of Champions League football are getting slimmer.
Although Villa weren’t at their best against the Eagles on 26 February, it wasn’t that what Warnock was left baffled by from the game.
Warnock left confused by Aston Villa formation v Crystal Palace
While managers are more than welcome to try out new formations they’ve been testing in the week, Villa’s experiment against Oliver Glasner’s men backfired.
Emery attempted to use a 3-4-3 to try and combat Palace’s version of the formation.
However, by the start of the second half, it was abundantly clear that the Spaniard’s experiment wasn’t working out which is why Leon Bailey was brought on for Andres Garcia.
| Team | Position | Points |
| Bournemouth | 7th | 43 |
| Brighton | 8th | 43 |
| Fulham | 9th | 42 |
| Aston Villa | 10th | 42 |
And, speaking live on Match of the Day (26 February, 1h05m40s), both Lineker and Warnock gave their verdicts on Emery’s choice.
“Villa changed their tactic [against Palace],” Lineker said.
To which Warnock replied: “Yeah they did and I think it was quite surprising to many, especially away from home and a game of this magnitude.
“They almost needed to win this to stay in that hunt for the top four, I just wonder how much they worked on that system and formation during the week.
“It looked like it didn’t work, they changed it at half-time and took Garcia off and reverted to a back four.”
Emery needs to pick Aston Villa back up
While the Villans may have put on some impressive performances in the league stage of the Champions League, that form hasn’t often carried over to the Premier League this term.
At the moment, they’re 10th in the top flight and although they’re only five points adrift of fourth-place, it’s hard to see how they’ll manage to make their way back up the table if they keep up this level of form.
So far this season, they’ve lost eight Premier League games which is only two less than they lost out of the entirety of the 2023/24 campaign.
Not only does that show how much worse Emery’s defensive line has been this term, but it also makes it hard to see how there’s a way for them into the Champions League spots.
In football, of course, everything is subject to change and teams can rise or fall in the space of a week or two.
But, if we’re being honest, during their last few games in particular, Villa haven’t managed to get out of second gear.
Which, for a team of their quality, is far from ideal.