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Aston Villa Enjoying Dream Start to 1st Champions League Campaign

Aston Villa Enjoying Dream Start to 1st Champions League Campaign
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Aston Villa Enjoying Dream Start to 1st Champions League Campaign

Aston Villa Enjoying Dream Start to 1st Champions League Campaign

Three straight wins, no goals conceded and top of the league on maximum points. Aston Villa’s first ever appearance in the Champions League couldn’t be going any better, The Associated Press reported.
Villa’s 2-0 home win over Bologna on Tuesday maintained the 100% start to the English team’s first campaign in Europe’s top club competition since 1983 — when it was called the European Cup, which Villa won in 1982.
“What we are building here is amazing,” said Villa captain John McGinn, one of the scorers against Bologna at a rocking Villa Park.
Villa opened with a 3-0 win at Swiss outsider Young Boys and then beat German giant Bayern Munich 1-0 in its first home game of the revamped competition.
Halfway through the third round of league games, Villa is in first place and no other team has nine points.
“We are playing seriously, we are playing focused, responsible and the team is progressing and mature in everything,” said Villa manager Unai Emery, who took charge two years ago with the team just above the relegation zone.
Key this season has been the form of Jhon Duran, the 20-year-old Colombia international who is enjoying his breakthrough year at Villa.
Duran was handed a rare start against Bologna ahead of first-choice striker Ollie Watkins and was about to be replaced by his fellow center forward when he hooked home a volley in the 64th minute from Morgan Rogers’ cross.
Watkins was on the sideline waiting to come on and was seen applauding the goal by Duran, who now has seven for the season in 12 games — mostly as a substitute. One of them was a memorable long-range winner against Bayern.
“When he was watching that I was thinking of changing him, he accelerated and scored a goal,” Emery said, laughing. “It was fantastic. He was asking for more (time) because he was thinking he could score more goals.”
Duran was not amused at immediately being taken off after his goal. He angrily punched a seat in the dugout and then headed down the tunnel soon after. But he came back at the end of the match to join in with his team's celebrations.

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Guardiola Hits 'Reset' with Man City Floundering in the Premier League

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola watches the play during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola watches the play during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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Guardiola Hits 'Reset' with Man City Floundering in the Premier League

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola watches the play during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola watches the play during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

For Pep Guardiola, the season starts now.

Chastened. Relieved. Defiant. The Manchester City manager displayed a whole range of emotions after his latest ordeal at Anfield that plunged the out-of-sorts English champions to an unlikely low.

Make that seven matches without a win for a team which, not so long ago, never lost.

That’s all in the past for Guardiola, though, The AP reported.

“Reset,” he said after a 2-0 loss to Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday. “There’s a feeling we start from here this season.”

How he intends to move on from the worst run of results in his managerial career remains to be seen. But it all starts Wednesday with a home game against Nottingham Forest.

“We are not used to this,” Guardiola said. “Many, many things are happening. The teams are good and we can’t handle it right now. I have to find the solution to be stable and solid.

“These players gave me a chance to lead maybe the best years of my life. All I can do is find a solution — in the right moment, the club will make the decision what is needed for this club to continue to be there.”

Was he referring to making signings in the January transfer window? City’s fatigued and injury-ravaged squad sure needs some, especially in midfield.

Or was he referring to his own future? It’s not the first time in recent days that Guardiola brought up how fragile his position could quickly become if City keeps on losing.

Moments before walking down the tunnel after the final whistle at Anfield, Guardiola held up one outstretched hand and an extra finger as a retort to taunts by Liverpool fans. It was a nod to the six Premier League titles he has won in eight full seasons at City.

No. 7 doesn’t look likely this season. Not with City already 11 points behind Liverpool.

“Call me delusional or something like that,” Guardiola said, “but I have the feeling we will try to build back our confidence to win games.”

Indeed, Guardiola said he was taking some belief from recent training sessions. From the return to fitness of some players, such as Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku. Maybe from a second-half display against Liverpool that, while hardly vintage City, at least showed some spirit and resolve, even if Liverpool appeared happy to play on the break and never looked troubled.

It felt like Guardiola was relieved to come away from Anfield with the damage limited and City’s hardest fixture of the season out of the way.

Yet his comments will sound so hollow if City goes on to lose to — or even draw with — sixth-place Forest, which is only one point and one spot further back and has a manager in Nuno Espirito Santo who has enjoyed some surprise results at City with former club Wolverhampton. Forest also is the only team to beat Liverpool in 20 games this season.

“Let's not forget they are the champions,” Espirito Santo said of City, “the team that won so many (titles) with so many quality players. It's going to be very tough.

“We'll take what other opponents did right (against City) so we can do it again.”

Guardiola's masterplan might include a change of role for Grealish, who could yet play more centrally as a No. 10 rather than as a winger. Or a first start since September for Kevin De Bruyne, who has had to settle for cameo roles off the bench as he struggles to fully overcome a groin injury.

Getting some energy into his midfield will be important as the absence of Rodri and Mateo Kovacic continues to bite hard and be City's biggest issue. That might come in the form of a new signing next month, unless Guardiola is working on a new plan on the training ground.

A midweek victory for City, coupled with setbacks for Liverpool at Newcastle and Arsenal at home to Manchester United elsewhere Wednesday, could yet rekindle some belief that all is not lost this season.

On current form, this is unlikely.

“I think it’s almost a mini-crisis at Manchester City," said Jamie Carragher, a pundit for British broadcaster Sky Sports. "I think City might have a fight on their hands for top four.”