Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen says he has no immediate plans to re-join Swedish giants Malmo, telling Expressen that he still has work to do in the Premier League.
Olsen probably knows how Petr Cech was feeling.
Four years ago, after Unai Emery took over from Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, Cech struggled to adapt to the Spaniard’s ‘build from the back approach’, the veteran shot-stopper doing little to disprove the notion that you cannot teach old dogs new tricks.
There were certainly similarities between Cech’s nervy performance during Arsenal’s 2-0 opening day defeat to Manchester City in August 2018 and Olsen’s error-strewn display in Villa’s 4-2 EFL Cup loss at Old Trafford recently.
It was Olsen’s misplaced pass which gave Man United the lead for the first time in a topsy-turvy, six-goal thriller.
Aston Villa’s Robin Olsen hopes to return to Malmo at some point in the future
“It hurts, you never want to make mistakes,” says the former Everton and Roma ‘keeper. Especially not in the big games and especially not when you get the chance to play. It was tough that night and the following day.
“(Aston Villa’s new coaching staff) came in with new ideas. And the new idea is to play out from the back. This means that you take risks. We are a completely different team under Emery.
“It has been interesting. Just seeing how (Emery) and his team work is incredibly impressive. The time they put in, all the details and everything, it just shows what a top coach he is. That makes it very fun and inspiring to play under him.”
Exactly how often Olsen plays under Emery, however, remains to be seen. He remains firmly the club’s second choice behind Emiliano Martinez. But, after joining in a £3 million deal just last summer, Olsen is giving no immediate thought to a return to Malmo’s Eleda Stadion, despite the exciting appointment of Henrik Rydstrom as the club’s new head coach.
“(Appointing Rydstrom) is probably the best thing Malmo could do. From the little I’ve heard and seen, he is absolutely the right man for the club,” Olsen adds. “Now we, or they, have got that final piece of the puzzle in place.
“(But) it won’t happen that I’ll be there from the start (of the Rydstrom era)! Both me and the family enjoy England. I play in a club in the best league in the world. And there is some work left to do there before I return home.”
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