The arrival of Unai Emery might have just saved Morgan Sanson’s Aston Villa career because on Sunday he earned his first minutes of the season when his side recorded a 3-1 win over Manchester United.
The last time Villa beat Man United on home soil in the Premier League was in 1995, that’s a seriously, seriously long wait, but it’s probably not longer than Sanson having to wait to earn minutes in Claret & Blue colours.
The 28-year-old came off the bench yesterday to loud cheers from the home support, including chants from the Holte End of ‘He’s back from the dead, he’s back from the dead, Morgan Sanson, he’s back from the dead’.
Now that Steven Gerrard is out of the door, Villa might just become more adaptable in their tactics and have a manager that has the bottle to change things up when need be.
John McGinn has been horribly out-of-form all season long, but rather than drop the Villa captain to the bench, Gerrard insisted on starting him again and again, then substituting him.
It resulted in players like Sanson just being on the bench like sitting ducks, with no change in Villa’s form, same tactics, same plans, same results, and same performances, that’s a big reason why Gerrard is now out of the door.
IT’S EMERY TIME…
Well, whilst Villa fans were delighted to see the appointment of Emery, not many would have been delighted with his arrival and Gerrard’s sacking than Sanson himself.
The French midfielder posted ‘finally’ on his Instagram after his return – and now he will be hoping those starts will come.
It will be interesting to see if Emery makes changes for Villa’s second round against Man United on Thursday – this time it’s the EFL Cup and the venue is Old Trafford, before they end their pre-World Cup fixtures against Brighton.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
