Aston Villa news round-up: Unai Emery may be forced into change as John McGinn sends emotional message
Aston Villa’s start to the new season has not gone exactly to plan.
Two draws and two defeats from their opening four Premier League matches ensures Unai Emery’s men spend another week in the relegation zone at this early stage of the season.
The Villans have another opportunity to pick up their first win of the season when they travel down south to take on Brentford in the Carabao Cup.
Before Villa’s third round Carabao Cup clash, Villa News brings you the biggest talking points surrounding the Villans.
John McGinn sends emotional message following Villa’s draw with Everton
McGinn and Co. were firmly second best throughout the bulk of the contest over the weekend and were lucky they left the Hill Dickinson Stadium with a point.
The Scottish midfielder acknowledged the Villans’ poor start to the season as he posted the following message on X: “A rough start to the season that we are working hard to put right.
“This can only be done by becoming stronger and together as one! Thanks for the support and see you Tuesday at Brentford.”
Although McGinn’s heartfelt message will not fix the results on its own, it provides an insight into how the dressing room is perhaps prepared to fight for a manager who has given them so much in recent years.
Everton supporters are fuming with Simon Hooper
Aside from Everton’s wayward finishing, Hooper also made some questionable decisions that riled up the home fans in attendance.
The Toffees supporters took to social media after the game to share their discontent with Hooper’s refereeing performance.
One incident in particular left the referee under fire, after he blew for a foul after James Tarkowski put in a crunching tackle on Morgan Rogers.
Indeed, one Everton fan labelled referee Hooper’s decision as “horrific”.
However, if anyone deserves a decision or two to go their way, it’s Villa, after they were on the receiving end of the most refereeing errors last season.
Richard Keys shares shocking NSWE opinion
On his personal blog, Keys shared his thoughts on Villa’s underwhelming start to the season, blaming their lack of investment over the summer, whilst rivals around them continued to spend.
“In a year when Premier League clubs spent a record £3.29billion in the window, Villa shelled out just £40m,” Keys wrote.
“They haven’t stood still – they’ve gone backwards, and every single one of the teams they might see as rivals has streaked away from them.”
Despite the constant narrative regarding PSR holding Villa back in the market, the former Sky Sports presenter does not believe this is the reason for Villa refusing to splash the cash.
“I have no evidence to support this theory, but my feeling is the owners – Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris and American billionaire Wes Edens – don’t want to spend,” Keys said.
“They’re hiding behind PSR excuses.”
Villa supporters will be hoping his baseless claims do turn out to be false, or NSWE will risk undoing all the hard work Emery has done since he took over in 2022.
Morgan Rogers could be left on bench against Brentford
Rogers is a member of the Villa frontline who have yet to find the back of the net so far this season.
- Rogers’ poor form continued against Everton, as the 23-year-old lost possession 19 times
- He was also poor in his duels, winning just one of the nine ground duels he was involved in
- Out of the four dribbles he attempted, none were successful
Although Rogers has continued to impress for England, his performances for Villa have deteriorated by a concerning amount compared to last season.
As a result, Emery could opt to bench Rogers in favour of deploying his new signing, Harvey Elliott, in the number ten role and seeing what he can do there instead.
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