'A season teetering between defining glory and missed opportunity'

[ASFN Admin]

You must be registered for see images attach

[BBC]

You must be registered for see images attach

[PA Media]

Aston Villa's FA Cup semi-final place at Wembley brings a sheen of success to a season that is fascinatingly teetering between defining glory and missed opportunity.

It also drops yet another fixture into a jam-packed April that already includes a two-legged Champions League quarter-final against Paris St-Germain and pivotal Premier League games. It is the kind of congested calendar that can either forge heroes or drain momentum.

For Villa, the first of hopefully two trips to Wembley offers a vital safety net. Even if their Champions League push falters in the league and they come unstuck against PSG, the FA Cup provides a tangible shot at silverware and, crucially, a route to European football next season.

With Unai Emery having coached in European competition for 16 consecutive seasons, you sense it is almost non-negotiable - for him, for the club's upward trajectory and for a fan base now used to midweek continental nights.

Yet the stakes remain cruelly high. This team could end up in two finals and still walk away with nothing - no trophy, no Europe. That uncertainty might explain why Villa have not released their ticket prices for next season yet; the persona of next season could be entirely different depending on how this one finishes.

If you are Emery looking at the run-in, the first priority now is restoring clarity and calm. Strip back the noise. Nail down the strongest XI. Introduce rotation only where necessary, not for the sake of it.

And, most importantly, get the players believing again that this is not a campaign to survive - it is one they can define. Because the moment the fear of failure overtakes the opportunity of glory, it has already gone.

Find more from David Michael at My Old Man Said

You must be registered for see images

Continue reading...