Heat is on Villa to bounce back from Spurs shock by beating Ajax
Aston Villa bounce back. Usually. Before Sunday they had lost nine matches in all competitions this season. On eight of those occasions, they won the very next game.
The anomaly is back-to-back defeats to Chelsea and Manchester United last month. The fear is the fallout if that happens again this week and whether the aftershock of losing
4-0 to Tottenham could have ramifications against Ajax and beyond.
“We are going to try to show it [our reaction],” Unai Emery said after last week’s first leg.
“We are playing at Villa Park, and Villa Park is always special. We will need our supporters to help. The fans have to try to push us to get our performance.
“It’s going to be very difficult, and when the players are feeling their supporters supporting them, they are feeling comfortable and strong at home. That is the objective [against Ajax].
“Europe is prestigious and it’s a way for a trophy. Europe is adding another objective in our season and that’s very important for the players, for the club and for myself.”
The tie is finely poised after a goalless first leg in Amsterdam but Villa will be expected to advance from the last 16 in the Europa Conference League. They are also expected, with the bookmakers at least, to win the entire thing.
Big pressure, but a welcome scenario they could only have dreamed of as recently as 2022. And so, despite this pattern of showcasing an impressive bouncebackability, there is always room for doubt among a fanbase used to much worse, a worried set of what-ifs that linger days after a defeat.
The questions centre around a Villa attack that has been thwarted for two games straight. Ajax kept Ollie Watkins quiet, while against Spurs he had the fewest touches (28) of anyone who played the entire match. Crucially, he was reduced to just the one shot.
In the Premier League this season, that is among his poorest returns – he managed one shot against Everton in August and zero against Manchester United in December. Otherwise, he has recorded at least two in the other 25 league matches, while a passing accuracy of 66.7 per cent against Spurs was his fourth lowest in this category. Two off-days during a season in which Watkins (below) has upped his level to become Harry Kane’s England back-up is no cause for alarm, but it does highlight Villa’s reliance on a player who has had a hand in 26 of their 59 league goals this season – 16 goals, 10 assists.
It is not exactly a groundbreaking tactic to try to silence the man up top, but it has worked in the past two matches, and while Watkins was far from alone in his struggles he is of the utmost importance
Europe is prestigious and it’s a way for a trophy. Europe is adding another objective in our season
for Villa.
Specifically, Watkins scored in five of those nine wins that followed defeats, including a hat-trick against Brighton, the winner at Chelsea, and both goals in the 2-1 victory at Fulham.
Like club, like player, an unwavering spirit that helps explain his standout season, and so you believe him when he says that Spurs loss will not define their best campaign for more than a decade.
“I can definitely do better and, as a team, we can do better,” he said on Sunday.
“But this doesn’t define us. We’ve done unbelievable to get where we are, and we’ve still got a lot of football to play.”
That is a warning sign for Ajax, but the Dutch side will be ready to go again against the England international, buoyed from their display at home last week. They’ve done it once. Do it again and an upset could be on the cards.