‘Fuse Has Been Lit’ At Aston Villa – Richard Keys | OneFootball

Richard Keys is of the view that Aston Villa boss Unai Emery’s recent comments regarding his players being lazy have now lit the fuse.

Villa secured back-to-back places in European competition under Emery in recent seasons, but their start to the ongoing campaign has not been the way they desired.

The Birmingham outfit are yet to win a game this season and they are currently sitting in the relegation zone with only three points from five league games.

Now director of football Monchi is leaving and is expected to be replaced by ex-Real Sociedad sporting director Roberto Olabe.

At the weekend, Aston Villa drew 1-1 against newly promoted Sunderland and Villa boss Emery was not happy with his players’ performances as he accused them of being lazy during the game.

Keys pointed out that Aston Villa’s start of the campaign indicates that something is not right at Villa Park and thinks that Emery’s criticism of his players after the Sunderland game will not help to improve the situation.

The veteran broadcaster also thinks that Emery’s post-match comments have ‘lit the fuse’ at Villa, setting something big in motion.

“We mentioned Villa last week, so I won’t dwell on them, but clearly all is not well there – and things won’t have been helped by Emery’s assertion that his players were ‘lazy’ at Sunderland”, Keys wrote on his blog.

“The fuse has been lit.”

Former Premier League star Paul Robinson was also critical of Aston Villa’s performance against Sunderland as he pointed out that the team looked ‘clunky’ and they are not clicking.

Villa have struggled to score goals this season in the Premier League as they only managed to find the back of the net for the first time in the league this season against Sunderland with the help of Matty Cash’s goal.

Emery’s side will begin their Europa League campaign on Thursday against Bologna at Villa Park and they will want to get three points to get going in the tournament.