Analysis: Unai Emery suffers worst day as Aston Villa blow big FA Cup chance at Wembley
This was Unai Emery’s worst day at Villa.
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In purely statistical terms, Stevenage will always be the most humiliating result.
Emotionally, however, there has been nothing to quite match the deflation felt after Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final surrender to Crystal Palace.
The challenge for Emery now is to avoid it torpedoing the remainder of what so recently was a season alive with promise.
In the space of seven days, Villa went from being a powerhouse in demolishing Newcastle, to powderpuff against Palace at Wembley, putting in a performance so lacklustre it prompted instant revision on just how well the manager is handling a squad hailed in many quarters as the club’s strongest ever.
That is a claim which suddenly feels far harder to sustain after watching them so comfortably beaten by the team currently sitting 12th in the Premier League.
Just maybe, for all the numbers, Villa have been too reliant on players now beginning to feel the pace of a long campaign. Saturday was Youri Tielemans’ 51st start of the season and Morgan Rogers’ 50th. It is difficult to recall a game where either has performed worse.
