Aston Villa shoot for the moon and land on a better manager after hiring Unai Emery – The Warm-Up

TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES

Villa’s bold play pays off

Everyone knew that kid at school. With a confidence beyond their station. This almost enviable, but also quite annoying, sure-fire belief which ultimately masked over inadequacies and allowed them to punch above their weight.

Well. Aston Villa are that person. Yes, the one that asked the popular kid to prom and got a yes, seemingly undeterred by those – to anyone else – embarrassing couple of rejections just moments before.

Less than a week ago Villa were losing 3-0 at a newly-promoted side, scoring own goals and getting red cards to help twist the knife, but now they have a manager who has won the Europa League four times with teams featuring “Villa” in their name.

An omen? Of course not. Villa are years away from such feats, but European football has long been the aim of their owners, and in Emery they have a manager who has been there, done that and got the trophies to show for it.

The main intrigue is around how Emery fares back in the Premier League. Management is so often about timing. It now seems so obviously ill-fated to have followed Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, while Villarreal’s Champions League run last season saw Emery overlook Newcastle’s advances last season.

But now, though, the time is right for a return, Emery believes, and if he feels as though he has unfinished business in this league, that can only to be to Villa’s benefit.

We say this with caution, because football can be oh so fickle, but first impressions here are that Villa have played a blinder.

Carrick to Boro

Sir Alex Ferguson’s lengthy tenure at Manchester United means he has been producing disciples for decades now, a stretch which dates back to the likes of Bryan Robson and Gordon Strachan giving management a crack in the 1990s and comes right through to the modern day, with Wayne Rooney, Phil Neville, Ruud van Nistelrooy among the names taking Sir Alex’s principles global.

Of course, many are used to seeing Carrick in the dugout already, having supported Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at United and then taken temporary charge when the Norwegian was sacked last year. Carrick would arguably have been a sounder choice than Ralf Rangnick (remember him?) to see out the campaign, too, but alas United chose a darker path that then led them to the Ten Hag light.

Nevertheless, now it’s Carrick’s time to shine, where he joins fellow ex-Uniteder Paul Ince and fellow Premier League all-timer Vincent Kompany in the Championship.

It’s a tough league to get out of, but firstly Carrick’s mission is to stay in it.

Handball!

“On the goal he said his arm was in a natural position,” said Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil. “I disagree. They’re in both at his stomach and move to the ball. There was one I haven’t seen with Ben Johnson handling, we didn’t get as well.”

It exposes a major flaw in the handball rule if the arms are in a natural position and therefore seemingly free to dig the ball volleyball-style, and it only adds to O’Neil’s belief that calls aren’t exactly going their way.

“I’m not surprised because it’s getting ridiculous,” he adds. “Since I’ve been here there have been 10 serious VAR checks and none have gone our way.”

IN THE CHANNELS

An intriguing way of looking at Manchester United’s upcoming Premier League games. Plenty of green, and on paper/screen it looks oh so simple, but clearly there’s a chance to build some momentum – before the World Cup break, that is.

RETRO CORNER

The man who forever seemed to be a 23-year-old winger during his playing career somehow turns 41 today. Happy 41st birthday and thanks for making us all feel incredibly old, Shaun Wright-Phillips.

COMING UP