Aston Villa’s progress this season under Emery despite falling short in Champions League and FA Cup

National World - LocalTV

Aston Villa may have ended the season without a trophy, but the mood around the club remains overwhelmingly positive.  We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld to reflect on a campaign full of progress and promise under Unai Emery.

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00:00Now, Aston Villa may have ended the season without a trophy,

00:06but the mood around the club remains overwhelmingly positive.

00:10Villa have shown real growth, reaching the latter stages of the Champions League

00:14and making a strong push in the FA Cup.

00:17While falling short of silverware is a disappointment,

00:19the signs of long-term development are clear.

00:22MRA has built a resilient, tactically sharp squad

00:25capable of competing on multiple fronts.

00:27With European experience now under their belt and a core group settled,

00:32Villa are in an excellent position to come back stronger and aim even higher next season.

00:37We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham World to reflect on a positive campaign,

00:42one full of progress and promise under Unai Emre.

00:47Charlie, let's look at Aston Villa.

00:49And obviously, you know, so much has happened in the last month or so

00:53with their incredible rise to go and beat PSG at home

00:56and just fall short in the Champions League.

00:58FA Cup, Wembley, Tripp didn't go quite to plan.

01:01Crystal Palace were pretty impeccable on the day.

01:04Let's just reflect on their sort of season domestically,

01:07their achievements so far.

01:09I mean, you know, no matter how the end of the season goes,

01:13the race for Champions League, no matter how that goes,

01:15how that pans out, they can take so many positives from this season,

01:19from this campaign.

01:19And Unai Emre's, you know, words of saying Villa want to compete,

01:24Villa want to be a side back in the Champions League again.

01:27I mean, you can't really doubt him with how far they've come so far

01:31in such a, you know, such a short amount of time, really.

01:34It's incredible.

01:36When he took over from Steven Gerrard,

01:38they were down right in the relegation battle.

01:40He then got them up into top half in tension,

01:42got them to Europa Conference League,

01:44then the Champions League,

01:45then to go to the last eight of the Champions League

01:48and very nearly turn things around against PSG

01:50after that 3-1 defeat at the Parc de France.

01:53That victory at Villa Park was just incredible.

01:56The noise within the stadium,

01:57the belief that they could just go on to bigger and better things

02:00and try and replicate heroics of the early 1980s.

02:04Not quite happening in the end.

02:06FA Cup semi-final disappointment at Wembley.

02:09There's so much frustration from fans

02:10because Villa going into the games against Man City as well

02:13is a huge six-pointer for the Champions League race

02:15in the Premier League

02:15and then the game against Palace at Wembley.

02:17They were the best-formed team in the entirety of Europe

02:20over the last 10 matches,

02:22but they did manage to fall away at the key moments, unfortunately.

02:25So, as you say,

02:28so much incredible achievements this season,

02:30but they won't have a trophy to show for it

02:32and they might not even have Champions League football

02:35to show for it next season.

02:36So, a bit of a strange one, a bit of a mixed bag,

02:39but I think if you look at it on the whole

02:40and where Villa were a few seasons ago,

02:42they've taken another step this year,

02:45signing the likes of Asensio, Rashford.

02:47That wouldn't have been possible at that point in time

02:49and probably not even at the start of this season.

02:52The financial side, it's still a bit of a worry with PSR.

02:55They need to sort that out,

02:56maybe make a couple of sales this summer.

02:58But, yeah, the reputation of the football club

03:00is certainly on the rise again.

03:02Yeah, let's just look ahead to the summer plans.

03:05Obviously, you know, we've mentioned a number of times

03:07the core in terms of, you know,

03:09these players who've developed under Unai Emre

03:11is so important to keep hold of.

03:14You know, the likes of Morgan Rodgers,

03:15they're going to be attracting attention.

03:17That's just the way it works.

03:18You have a great season for a club

03:20that maybe isn't quite at the very elite level yet.

03:23Then those elite teams do come knocking.

03:25And, you know, in terms of the summer,

03:27how important is it that they keep players

03:29as much as adding a few more top-class additions

03:32if they can, obviously, with the financial restrictions?

03:34It is very important.

03:37Morgan Rodgers is the man you mentioned.

03:39It's been emerging that Chelsea are interested.

03:42But I think Chelsea are interested in most players

03:44that perform well for other Premier League clubs.

03:46It just happens every single season, doesn't it?

03:48Myself as a Brighton fan,

03:50it's happened with us and Chelsea in the past.

03:52It doesn't necessarily mean

03:53they're going to go and sign Morgan Rodgers.

03:55And what's to say that Rodgers

03:56would want to make that move anyway?

03:58He's from the West Midlands.

03:59He's near his family.

04:00He grew up around here.

04:02And he's loving his life at Villa being a key player

04:04under Unai Emery.

04:05And it's more of a system player as well, Rodgers.

04:08Would he fit into the Chelsea system

04:09as well as he would Villa?

04:11I'm not too sure.

04:12But it's not just him.

04:13It's the likes of Uri Tielemans as well.

04:15Oli Watkins up front.

04:17Can we maybe see Watkins leave this summer?

04:19Is his time up at Villa?

04:20His form this season hasn't quite been as it was.

04:23Like a Newcastle, for example.

04:25They're forced to make these big sales.

04:27Yet you've got Man City,

04:28who are spending a ridiculous amount every summer.

04:31Chelsea, Man United,

04:32they find ways to do it.

04:33Some sort of rule change

04:35needs to happen at some point soon

04:36because it's just not fair.

04:38But the reality is

04:39that they all need to make sales

04:40before they can even think about making new signings.

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