Aston Villa have two huge home games coming up this week.
Starting with Villa’s clash against Brentford on Wednesday night, before newly-promoted Southampton visit town hoping to pile more misery on Unai Emery’s side.
Villa are winless in eight games in all competitions – the Premier League, EFL Cup and Champions League – and have slipped into the bottom-half of the table.
Over the weekend, Chelsea inflicted a 3-0 defeat on Aston Villa to raise questions as to what has happened to the Midlands side this term.
Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer shared their pennies worth as the team have now conceded 22 goals from 13 matches, including not scoring in four out of the last five matches.
Whilst Chelsea had Europa Conference League matters to deal with in midweek – and are able to change their whole XI – their Sunday opponents can’t do such a thing because they are competing in the Champions League.
Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer slam financial rules hurting Aston Villa
Villa reached the Champions League last season and the reward for all of that was to be forced to sell several players.
From academy products Omari Kellyman and Tim Iroegbunam to first-team starters Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby.
The sale of Luiz to Juventus and Diaby moving to Saudi Arabia – in order to meet Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) and Financial Fair Play (FFP) – meant that Emery lost stability and Lineker thinks it’s ‘unfair’.
Shearer explained how Aston Villa just don’t have the bodies to compete on both fronts – the Premier League and the Champions League – and how it ‘makes it worse’ when you have to sell key players in the summer, as he told The Rest is Football.
“They (Chelsea) had too much energy for Aston Villa, they just pressed them all over the pitch at every opportunity,” said Shearer and Lineker added: “Aston Villa can’t, can they?! (Rotate freely) because they are in the Champions League.”
Shearer agreed: “Absolutely. They haven’t got the bodies to do that. They can’t do it because of the quality they are up against. It showed with Aston Villa. It reminds me a bit of what Newcastle were last season when they got into the Champions League. The energy they had to put in on a Tuesday and a Wednesday. It’s bound to take it out of you at the weekend and that affected their league position. That’s what’s happening to Aston Villa.”
Lineker added: “Villa now are in the bottom half. They are suffering because of the nature of matches. They have been going well in the Champions League as well. Coming from those huge games that they have been playing. Bayern Munich and Juventus etc… It is difficult. It’s difficult for clubs who haven’t got the strength in depth that Manchester City, Liverpool or Arsenal have.”
Shearer pointed out: “Makes it even worse when you get there (Champions League) and then the following summer, you have to sell one of your best players because of financial rules. That makes it difficult as well.”
Lineker stated: “We have made our point clear on that. We think it’s a tad unfair.”
What Aston Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris has said about Premier League PSR
Villa’s co-owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens are very popular amongst the Villa fanbase because of where they have taken the club.
After losing the 2018 Championship play-off final, the club was in a financial mess and heading towards administration before they were taken over and transformed by the duo.
There is no doubt that year after year, the powers that be have invested in improving the club in every sense, from the players to the stadium.
But Sawiris told the Financial Times in June that the Premier League’s PSR ‘doesn’t make sense’.
“Some of the rules have actually resulted in cementing the status quo more than creating upward mobility and fluidity in the sport,” explained the Villa co-owner.
“The rules do not make sense and are not good for football. Managing a sports team has become more like being a treasurer or a bean counter rather than looking at what your team needs,
“It’s more about creating paper profits, not real profits. It becomes a financial game, not a sporting game.”
