Huge setback: fans stunned as Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery just announce resignation and departure to…

admin January 9, 2025

On a grimly cold afternoon, a slow-paced game had done little to stir the blood for long spells and, while reporters fidgeted about getting home before the forecast snow arrived, Emery had another injury to a key player on his mind.

“I think it’s hamstring,” he explained of John McGinn’s withdrawal in the first half. “Hopefully not a lot, but I don’t know exactly if two, three or four weeks he could be out of the team.”

McGinn’s absence is unhelpful but not disastrous. Emery has enough midfielders with overlapping skillsets to cover adequately, although the team is certainly better when an in-form and fit McGinn is available.

The absence of Pau Torres for a longer period is a bigger problem, not least because Villa are not so well-stocked in defence. The unavailability of Diego Carlos last Saturday appeared to pick Emery’s back four for him.

As David Michael argued persuasively on this page yesterday however, the enforced reunion of Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa as Villa’s central defence is perhaps no bad thing in the short term. It may simplify Villa’s style in possession, and place a greater emphasis on defensive sturdiness in a season when Villa have proved surprisingly brittle.

Callers to BBC Radio WM on their way home from the match were grudging in their praise, and having shivered among them, you took their point.

Back indoors later, there were reasons to be more generous. Without arguably their most significant player this season in the suspended Morgan Rogers, Villa eventually found other ways – Ross Barkley scored and had a hand in most of their best work.

Although Leon Bailey featured only occasionally, he showed the right instincts at the decisive moment of the match, sensing the chance to score a goal that might give his season belated spark.

For much of Emery’s time in charge, Villa have won and been stylish. On dark midwinter days, one of those things is more important than the other.

Amid patchy form and without several key players, they avoided some of the traps that cost them points in previous weeks.

Sometimes, being just good enough is, well, good enough.

Listen to full commentary of Aston Villa v West Ham at 20:00 on Friday on BBC Radio WM [frequency/ies]

Tune into The West Midlands Football Phone-In from 18:00 on weeknights