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Is there a priority, or a choice that Aston Villa need to be focussing on during the rest of the season?
Words: Ivan McDouall | @Ivan_McDouall
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Ever since the FA Cup Replay defeat to Chelsea, Aston Villa podcasts, X feeds and phone-ins have debated a seemingly key issue or ‘choice’ – whether the club should be more focussed on achieving Champions League qualification or trying to win the Europa Conference League. It says a lot about a well ingrained wariness amongst the Villa public that there is a perception that the 2023/24 season will distil down to this choice. The idea of ‘a choice’ also gives lie to the progress – and crucially consistency – made and found under Unai Emery. A simplified version of ‘the choice’ is around financial sustainability and long-term solidity that Champions League participation can bring versus the short-term glory of the trophy win. Personally, I can appreciate both sides but, not for nothing, my high points as an Aston Villa fan remain the 1994 and 1996 League Cup wins.
This choice – imagined or real – is nothing new and has reared its head a number of times in Aston Villa’s modern history. As the second leg of the Conference League tie with Ajax looms large, time is ripe to look back to the last time Villa competed with Ajax in Europe at Villa Park, in the midst of a season that would be defined by a choice between league standing and European progress.
The 2008-2009 season was Martin O’Neill’s third as Villa manager since replacing the much-maligned David O’Leary, and the club had seen steady progress under the Northern Irishman. A sixth-place finish in the previous term meant Villa would compete in Europe for the first time in six seasons, albeit through the circuitous route of the now defunct Intertoto Cup. The close season had seen, as was always the case under O’Neill, several comings and goings with Brad Friedel, James Milner amongst others added to the core of Ashley Young, John Carew, Gareth Barry et al. It was a strong and balanced squad, blessed with experience and excitement. Accordingly, the season got off to a rip-roaring start with a 4-2 win against Manchester City and a Gabby Agbonlahor hat trick, and September was populated with good home wins against Spurs, West Brom and Sunderland (all, bizarrely 2-1).
Alongside the strong league start, the first European adventure under O’Neill was well underway. It had all begun in July against Odense Boldklub, with a 3-2 aggregate win ensuring Villa jointly won the Intertoto and then entered UEFA Cup qualifying proper. It all had a sense of going through the motions, but goals from Martin Laursen, John Carew and Ashely Young gave a sense of some key figures for the upcoming season. Next up was a trip to Iceland where Hafnarfjaroar were dispatched 4-1 in the national stadium, Young and Laursen at it again supplemented by Gabby and Barry. A routine draw back in B6 ensured that Villa found themselves in the first-round proper. October led Aston Villa to Litex Lovech, in Bulgaria, where again a strong first leg away ensured progress, although again Villa fans were treated to a weakened team in a drawn home leg, Marlon Harewood with the goal. The detail of this campaign will have been lost for many but considering what came later its remarkable to note the geography and frequency of matches that Villa put themselves through. There was clearly, it appeared, a desire to progress in Europe.
And so, we come to Ajax. Writing in March 2024, Aston Villa are halfway through a two-legged affair with genuine European royalty, albeit rooted in the past. Things were a little different back in 2008 as UEFA fiddled constantly with their formats, meaning that although the defeat of Lovech saw Villa enter a ‘group stage’, it was a group where teams would only play one another once. Villa and Ajax were joined by Slavia Prague, MSK Zilina and Hamburg. The first group game against Ajax at Villa Park remains an iconic B6 night, a 2-1 win vindicating the elongated European campaign that had led them to this point. The Ajax team that Villa will face this month is no longer dominated by household names, but the 2008 vintage certainly was – Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Suarez and Huntelaar would all be players at the forefront of World football for the next years. Duly, Ajax started well that night but had little to show from their incisive passing and movement. When Martin Laursen powered in Ashley Young’s corner in the eighth minute, it was wholly against the run of play, not that it mattered to those inside the stadium as wild scenes ensued. Vermaelen equalised, but Young was provider again for Gareth Barry to slot in what would be the winner. From that point Villa built control although couldn’t extend the advantage, although a top performance from Brad Friedel ensured that they didn’t regret that. As O’Neill reminded everyone afterwards, yes, Ajax had some talented players but Villa “also had excellent players, and that should not be forgotten”.
The Ajax victory was followed up by a John Carew initiated win in Prague, although Villa then contrived to lose at home to MSK. In a sign of things to come, the team fielded at home against MSK was radically departed from the team that and beaten Ajax. Isiah Osbourne, Moustapha Salifou and Nathan Delfouneso all featured, alongside Brad Guzan in goal and Zat Knight in the centre of defence. In essence it worked out as Villa qualified for the last 32 anyway that evening due to other results. It meant Hamburg was a dead rubber and another weakened side lost 3-1. However, the fact Villa ended up third in the group meant they faced a group winner in the next round, and crucially, the opportunity for momentum in Europe seemed to have been lost. Many first choice players didn’t even travel to Germany, coupled with the fact that most of them hadn’t played against MSK either. There seemed to be a shift in O’Neill’s thinking and focus, meaning what happened in the round of 32 probably shouldn’t have been as much of a surprise as it seemed at the time.
In the league, a strong end to 2008 and an unbeaten January 2009 had catapulted Villa into the ‘top four’ and fans began dreaming that O’Neill could break the glass ceiling of Champions League qualification. Villa sat comfortably in the Champions League places when attention tuned back to UEFA Cup business in February 2009, and a two-legged tie against CSKA Moscow. In the first leg, at home, O’Neill played what was probably his strongest side – with the exception of Guzan in goal – with some injuries (including to Martin Laursen) forcing his hand. A 1-1 draw wasn’t a disaster but clearly Villa had hoped that they could secure the tie at home, so only having a single Carew goal to show for some overall dominance was disappointing.
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Now we come back to the concept of the ‘choice’. It is important to consider some of the circumstance that was impacting O’Neill. The first leg against CSKA was sandwiched between losses to Everton and Chelsea, ending Aston Villa’s unbeaten league run that had stretched back to November. There were clearly alarm bells ringing as to how the club could sustain a Champions League challenge, precipitated by these dual defeats. It seems that here O’Neill made his choice – to prioritise Champions League qualification above all else.
The side fielded in the second leg at CSKA resembled the sides that lost to MSK and Hamburg earlier on in the UEFA cup journey, albeit built on a relatively senior defensive line. Barry Bannan, Marc Albrighton and Craig Gardner all started, as did Salifou and Delfouneso. Villa’s second string battled well but were always at risk of falling behind. Once they did there was no way back, eventually losing 2-0 and crashing out of the very competition that they had worked so hard to get – and stay – in over the season. O’Neill was, as ever, honest about the choices made about team selection and told the BBC:
“It’s not a decision that was taken lightly. I am disappointed that we were beaten but I will have to wait to see what the rest of the season brings to see if that disappointment is worsened”.
One can only assume that the disappointment did worsen. A 2-2 draw off the back of CSKA was hardly immediate vindication for the ‘choice’ but that afternoon at Villa Park was halcyon compared to the four defeats that followed against teams around them – Manchester City, Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester United. Ultimately Villa wouldn’t win again in the league until May, an unconvincing home victory against Hull City. A season that promised so much ended exactly where the previous one had ended – in sixth place.
It’s easy in hindsight to fixate on and scorn O’Neill’s choice. His missteps at the helm were few and far between, and who knows whether results in ether the UEFA Cup or league would have been any different if a full-strength side played in Moscow. However, the season, retrospectively, does hinge on that moment and opens up that debate about choice and prioritisation that persists for many clubs in modern football.
If we return to today’s vintage, the ‘choice’ seems largely a debate for fans. There has been some rotation in Europe, although I suspect that was tempered after the defeat in Warsaw. The team selection for the first leg in Amsterdam did suggest ‘one eye’ being firmly on the pivotal league meeting with Spurs this Mothering Sunday. John McGinn, Leon Bailey and the first choice full backs all started on the bench – albeit you can only really argue that Tim Iroegbunam was not a first team regular amongst their replacements. Wholesale it was not.
Potentially, the ‘choice’ was made elsewhere though? Arguably Villa’s two most insipid showings have come in the domestic Cups, where defeats to Everton and Chelsea have quickly put an end to Villa’s participation. Perhaps, with the longer break in Europe these were not deemed a priority?
Whatever happens over the next week, following the drubbing to Spurs at home, and via the second leg with Ajax, we can be assured that Villa won’t be overwhelmed by a ‘choice’ as O’Neill was. In Unai Emery we have a seasoned European campaigner, who whilst not wanting to throw away hard work in the league has an innate understanding of the balance needed to compete on the continent.
Bring it on. UTV.
