Jeff Stelling has criticised Unai Emery as a result of one moment in Aston Villa’s 1-0 victory against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
Cash leads Villa to victory over Man City
Emery continued his stellar record at home against Man City on Sunday, with the manager overseeing his third straight victory against Pep Guardiola’s side at Villa Park, courtesy of Matty Cash’s first-half strike from just outside the box.
It was a stellar performance from the full-back, who was voted the Player of the Match, and the Poland international has since put pen to paper on a new contract which lasts until 2029.
The Villans have really turned a corner in recent weeks, having picked up victories against some top teams, defeating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 on the road earlier this month, and the Premier League table now makes for much better viewing, having moved up to eighth.
The manager has also silenced the talk about his future, after it was reported last month that Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez, Emi Buendia and Morgan Rogers were all unhappy with the Spaniard, given the slow start they made to the campaign.
The 53-year-old has certainly turned the corner, but Stelling was still left unimpressed with some of the decisions he made on Sunday, calling out the decision to substitute Jadon Sancho in the second-half, having only introduced the winger just before the 30-minute mark.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Stelling came to Sancho’s defence, saying: “He’s a soft target, because over the years it’s been easy to point the finger at him, but I think on this occasion it was wrong to point the finger at him.”
Sancho's Villa career yet to truly take off
It was always going to be a risk signing the 25-year-old, given that he was unable to live up to his huge price tag at Manchester United, and his Villa career is yet to take off, having only featured for 226 minutes across five matches in all competitions.
Emery defended the decision to substitute the former Man United man by pointing out he has done the same thing with other players before and wants to introduce the Englishman slowly: “Yes, sure he’s (Sancho) not happy but I did it before with Morgan Rogers, with Emiliano Buendia, with Leon Bailey, and he played 60 minutes on Thursday,”
“Today when he (Buendia) was injured, my plan was maybe in case he (Sancho) was going to play 30 minutes, but I decided to play more and he played 45 minutes.”
That said, given the scale of media attention Sancho received at Man United, it was a strange decision from Emery, who risks damaging his summer signing’s confidence, even if the manager didn’t substitute him due to being unhappy with his performance.