Matt Maher analysis: Aston Villa look in need of a rest after an exhausting week
On the day Unai Emery declared Villa’s aim must be to make the extraordinary seem ordinary, his team produced a performance which was just, well, ordinary.
Four days on from beating Bayern Munich, Villa were unable to recreate anywhere near the same magic in a 0-0 draw with Manchester United which, contrary to the match which preceded it, will be quickly forgotten.
It is undoubtedly a sign of how far Villa have come that a draw against the team who have beaten them more times than any other in the Premier League felt so thoroughly underwhelming.
Perhaps it was also evidence of how far they have to go. The elite teams to which Emery and Villa aspire, the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City, are long used to delivering on the big occasion twice or even thrice a week.
For Villa it is still a new experience. True, they had rather a good record last season in Premier League matches which immediately followed Europa Conference League Thursday nights.
But few, if any, of their games in Europe last term were so physically or mentally draining as Wednesday night against Bayern. The seventh match in 22 days for Emery’s team felt one too many. The trouble is they will face precisely the same schedule on the other side of the international break.
This was what Emery had warned about when he said he would be working harder in advance of United’s visit than he did Bayern’s. Yet whatever the manager had done in the days between the matches, it didn’t work.
