That one was tough to take for the Aston Villa faithful.
The biggest issue about Aston Villa’s Boxing Day defeat is that, even at 2-0, many people saw it coming, even Manchester United fans and they have been beyond abject for weeks and hadn’t scored in four games before yesterday.
Being 2-0 up and losing 3-2, regardless of your standing, is just unacceptable and Unai Emery would have surely made those feelings clear behind closed doors to the Aston Villa players.
But the manager’s comments after the match, when comparing Villa to Manchester United, caught the eye of Michael Owen.
The Villa boss highlighted how Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United have ‘more experience’ than his team and it was a reason for the horror collapse or their comeback, as he told Amazon Prime.
But Michael Owen was seemingly having none of it, as he stated that it was ‘debatable’, as he told Premier League Productions (26/12/23 at 10:45 pm).
Look, when a 19-year-old Alejandro Garnacho is ripping you to shreds. Can we really moan or use the ‘experience’, or lack of it, as an excuse? I don’t think so!
Call this as it is, it was a pure bottle job and a result that has been coming for weeks and weeks now.
Aston Villa’s experience compared to Manchester United
“Definitely a learning experience,” said Owen. “He will be saying. He has already come out and said that Manchester United are more experienced. That’s debatable.
“What he did do was play into Manchester United’s hands. They gave the ball away. His team gave the ball away in dangerous areas with the high line.
“When you have got players like Marcus Rashford, one of the quickest players in the Premier League, they are going to punish you, so keeping that ball is absolute keep for them.”
Burnley is going to be tough
Make no bones about it, this is going to be a nervy game, especially given that Vincent Kompany’s side like to play the pretty stuff.
The team need that early goal. If that happens, then it will ease the pressure around Villa Park.
If not, then there will be a lot of nerves and that will translate to frustration, which simply won’t help the players, at all.
So, this is a massive, massive game in the context of the season so far because those behind us are now hunting us down.
