THIS MATCH IS CRUCIAL wrote Unai Emery in the match programme notes for the Everton game. The players it seems didn't get the memo.

Everton came to Villa Park with a clear plan and left having disrupted the one area Aston Villa normally rely on for control. The midfield. Not through brilliance, but through physicality, timing, and exploiting a lack of cohesion caused by Villa's injuries and enforced changes.

This My Old Man Said post-mortem focuses on why Villa never established rhythm, why second balls kept going the wrong way, and how Everton repeatedly bypassed what is usually Villa’s strongest platform. Without stability in the middle, everything else felt reactive rather than controlled.

There is discussion of personnel issues, structural balance, and how quickly control can evaporate when familiarity is lost. This is not framed as a season-long flaw, but it is a problem in the present tense. One that matters if left unresolved.

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David Michael - @myoldmansaid

Chris Budd - @BUDD_music

Phillip Shaw - @prsgame

Music production & creation - David Michael

My Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.com

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