First things first. A controversial VAR call is no excuse for Aston Villa to lose at home to Brentford, especially when the visitors played with 10 men for more than half the game.
This was a second consecutive home defeat for Villa and probably the end of their remote title chances.
With Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins all ruled out, injuries are starting to bite. Unai Emery’s squad has nothing like the depth of the Premier League’s wealthy six and they cannot handle such absences.
Even so, throwing away three points to one of the division’s worst travellers will haunt Emery for weeks. Brentford were brilliant, defending for their lives throughout and keeping their cool despite some puzzling refereeing calls.
Yet the decision to rule out Tammy Abraham’s goal at the start of the second half raised more uncomfortable questions about the use of technology and where it is taking the game we love.
Brentford winger Kevin Schade was sent off before half-time for kicking out at Matty Cash yet Dango Ouattara then gave the Bees the lead in first-half stoppage time. Soon after the break, Abraham thought he had equalised on his second Villa ‘debut’ when Caoimhin Kelleher failed to hang on to Jadon Sancho’s strike and Abraham rammed in the loose ball.
Aston Villa were beaten 1-0 by Brentford as they suffered a second successive home defeat
Dango Ouattara’s first half goal was decisive for the Bees who had to play with ten men for much of the game
After a delay lasting more than three minutes, the goal was chalked off. Following multiple replays, Leon Bailey was ruled to have taken the ball out of play as he tussled with Rico Henry, close to the corner flag inside the Villa half. Nineteen seconds elapsed between that incident and Abraham’s shot hitting the net.
Even more surprisingly, the Premier League’s match centre ruled the Bailey/Henry incident had been an ‘attacking’ phase of play. Even though Bailey and Henry were far closer to Emi Martinez than to Kelleher.
Maybe, on balance, Bailey did carry the ball over the line. Is this the sport we really want to watch, though? Forget allegiances for a second. Hanging around for the best part of five minutes while officials in a booth weigh up a marginal call is nobody’s idea of fun.
There will be no going back. The toothpaste is out of the tube and when Wolves tried to have VAR scrapped in summer 2024, they had no support from the rest of the league. Football has chosen its course – and like with most of the other decisions taken by the powerful, it has done so with no thought for those who turn up at the stadiums every week.
Chaotic recruitment is hurting Villa
Just because football’s financial rules seem designed to protect the wealthy elite, it should not give challengers like Aston Villa a free pass when they act chaotically in the transfer market.
Towards the end of last season, Unai Emery decided he no longer needed Leon Bailey and wanted better options out wide.
The arrival of Evann Guessand for nearly £30million on August 8 allowed Bailey to join Roma on a season-long loan, with Jadon Sancho added as an extra attacking option on the final day of the summer window.
Fast forward a few months, and Bailey is back at Villa, which has given Villa the scope to let Guessand join Crystal Palace on loan.
If the move goes well, Guessand will move to Selhurst Park permanently at the end of the season. Bailey played well as a second-half substitute and should have equalised late on.
But his return is indicative of Villa’s hurried approach to transfers and when a club is walking a financial tightrope like Villa, every step must be taken with great care. During Monchi’s unimpressive two-year spell as the club’s transfer chief, that did not happen.
Monchi departed last year and with Emery’s long-time ally Roberto Olabe now doing that job, Villa simply have to work smarter. Their presence at the top end of the Premier League depends on that as much as on Emery’s coaching brilliance.
Leon Bailey came off the bench for Villa here, just months after being shipped out on loan
Tammy Abraham’s disallowed goal raised more uncomfortable questions about the use of VAR
Elliott’s unexpected reprieve?
After not playing for three months, Harvey Elliott has now appeared in each of Villa’s last two matches. Under the terms of his loan move from Liverpool, Elliott will join Villa for £35m if he plays 10 times. Emery does not want Villa to pay that, which explains Elliott’s exile.
Despite Emery’s public denials, something must have shifted. Villa might be putting Elliott in the shop window, but because he has already played for Liverpool this season, he cannot represent another European club before the 2026-27 campaign. He had the chance to discuss a move to the MLS, but never seemed keen on the move.
So don’t rule out the possibility that Villa and Liverpool renegotiate the deal, converting the obligation to buy into an option, or removing it altogether. If there is no chance of Villa buying Elliott permanently, and Liverpool want to sell him, it is not in their interests to let his value decline further between now and May. We may be seeing more of Elliott in a Villa shirt after all.
