The era from 2011 to 2019 were truly dark times for Aston Villa and perhaps the worst in the club’s history.
In 2016, Aston Villa were relegated to England’s second tier for the first time in nearly three decades, with a certain Micah Richards donning the Claret & Blue colours to embarrassing effect.
Now, the former defender is a well-known pundit across many platforms, with that Villa spell killing and ending his career.
Richards was open and honest enough to say that the times ‘weren’t great’ when he was at the club as he was reacting to Unai Emery’s side beating Young Boys 3-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
After a bright start from the Swiss champions, the away team got a grip on the game and then Young Boys just couldn’t cope.
Aston Villa were all over their opponents, with Youri Tielemans opening the scoring after another well-worked set-piece, before Jacob Ramsey pounced on a second after utterly embarrassing defending.
Ollie Watkins thought he had scored his first Champions League goal just before the break, but his effort was ruled out for handball, even though replays showed otherwise.
Jhon Duran can’t stop scoring, and he also thought he had netted again from the bench, but his effort was rightfully ruled out for handball in the build up, before Amadou Onana scored yet another goal following his club-record transfer from Everton.
This was a stunning opening win from Villa and Richards labelled the performance as ‘brilliant’, whilst lauding Tielemans for his ‘wonderful’ and ‘real quality’ opening strike, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (17/09/24 at 10:35 pm).
Youri Tielemans fires Aston Villa to Champions League win
“Brilliant,” said Richards about Villa’s win. “It’s good to see my old club back to where it once was. The football at the time when I was there wasn’t great, but great times for them (now).
“That’s a wonderful finish from Tielemans. We have seen this a lot from outside the box. A real quality strike.”
Back to Premier League matters
Villa fan’ eyes will now be on that Bayern Munich game, but there are other matters to deal with before then, including continuing their Premier League form.
It’s a Midlands derby at the weekend when Wolves make the short trip, followed by League Cup action and then an away clash against Ipswich.
On paper, even with changes and a weaker side, Aston Villa should be winning these games and it will be interesting to see what type of changes are made.
Emery kept the same XI against Young Boys to the one that beat Everton, but you suspect rotation is now needed.
