Once upon a time, not so long ago, when we searched the world media for mentions of Aston Villa, there wouldn’t be a great deal.
In recent weeks they’re everywhere, with media all over the place wanting to praise the club for how well they’ve done so far this season. The Spanish media obviously lead with a Unai Emery praise mission, whereas in South America there’s Emiliano Martinez and Jhon Duran to keep the media busy with positives… and some negatives in the case of the latter.
France is intrigued by the resurgence of Lucas Digne, and in Italy today, one of the mentions comes from Fabio Capello, who in a column for Gazzetta dello Sport is trying to explain to an Italian audience that Serie A football is much slower than the Premier League.
Capello feels part of the problem is Italian clubs started copying Pep Guardiola’s style, but did so “10 years too late” and not quick enough on the pitch.
Gazzetta dello Sport quote him as saying: “It is a path that has not led us anywhere in the European Championship, and risks doing damage in the cups too. Yet it is clear where football is going: even Spain has put possession aside at all costs to seek verticality, and that is how they won the European Championship. And Guardiola’s City keep the ball, yes, but they do it in the opponent’s half, not in front of their own area as happens in Serie A.”
Then Aston Villa got a mention: “The point is intensity. The Italian teams, in the Champions League, go too slowly because they are used to the pace of Serie A. After Bologna’s defeat at Aston Villa, I asked Italiano (Vincenzo, Bologna manager) what impression he had of the two English teams he faced immediately, Aston Villa and Liverpool. He replied: “They run, they go faster, they have a different pace”.
“Go watch Zirkzee play in the Premier League and tell me if he seems like the same player we admired in Bologna: in Italy he did what he wanted, in England he doesn’t even have time to think about the play before the ball is stolen from him. More or less the same thing happens to our teams.”
