My Old Man Said - An Aston Villa Podcast

Aston Villa are third.Six points clear of the Champions League trapdoor and yet it doesn’t feel comfortable.This episode digs into the strange duality of Villa’s current position. On paper, the table looks strong. After 27 games, Villa sit on 51 points, three clear of Manchester United and six ahead of the Champions League drop line. Historically, that buffer matters.But performances tell a different story. The attack has stalled. The midfield spine is missing. The Molineux record is grim.Kamara, Tielemans and McGinn absent has stripped control from the centre of the pitch. Pau Torres’ progressive passing is badly missed. Villa are defensively solid, conceding just five goals in 2026, but they are not imposing themselves. Games are tight, tense and reliant on moments rather than dominance.And now comes Wolves away.Four games without a win at Molineux. The last victory came in lockdown. No witnesses. It barely counts  .Wolves may be near the bottom, but they have athletes, a back three Villa struggle against, and nothing to lose. For them, it is a free hit. For Villa, it is a pressure point.Lose, and doubt creeps in fast with Chelsea and Manchester United next. Win, and the fear flips into leverage.Because here is the opportunity: Villa only need to finish above one of Liverpool, Chelsea or United to achieve their objective  .That is the equation.Fear factor or opportunity?The next two weeks will decide the narrative of the season.UTVGet a Great NordVPN DealGet a cracking deal on NordVPN with four months FREE & a 30 days money-back guarantee here: nordvpn.com/momsGET AD-FREE SHOWS and JOIN MATCH CLUBGet ad-free shows and extra shows, and join My Old Man Said's 24/7 Villa community, Match Club.For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS MemberJoin the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.Credits:David Michael - @myoldmansaid Chris Budd - @BUDD_musicPhillip Shaw - @prsgameMy Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.comThis Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT

This is not about one result. It is about direction.Aston Villa remain in a strong league position, but the performances beneath it are raising legitimate questions. The defensive numbers are impressive. Only five goals conceded in 2026. Structure is there. Organisation is there.Fluency is not.Across recent weeks, Villa’s open-play chance creation has dipped sharply. The xG numbers now align with what the eye test has been saying for some time. Games at Villa Park have become tight, tense, and dependent on moments rather than patterns.There is also context. The midfield spine has been disrupted. Kamara, Tielemans and McGinn missing together strips out control and tempo. Yet Unai Emery has left Pau Torres benched, a player whose progressive passing underpinned last season’s best performances.But every contender has injuries.This episode asks the harder question: is this a temporary grind phase, or are we watching a team slowly stalling?The Wolves fixture looms large. Win it, and momentum returns. Lose it, and doubt spreads quickly into the Champions League race and beyond.This is the stage of the season where narratives harden.Momentum or meltdown? The next few weeks will tell us everything.UTVGet a Great NordVPN DealGet a cracking deal on NordVPN with four months FREE & a 30 days money-back guarantee here: nordvpn.com/momsGET AD-FREE SHOWS and JOIN MATCH CLUBGet ad-free shows and extra shows, and join My Old Man Said's 24/7 Villa community, Match Club.For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS MemberJoin the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.Credits:David Michael - @myoldmansaid Chris Budd - @BUDD_musicPhillip Shaw - @prsgameMy Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.comThis Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT

After a quick look ahead to the game against an improving Leeds United team, the MOMS team takes a belated look back on the solid year of progress that was the year 2025. They profile the top five Aston Villa players of the year, look back at the year's high's and low's, as well as the surprises from the year and how Emery's Villa year rated compared to his others.UTVGet a Great NordVPN DealGet a cracking deal on NordVPN with four months FREE & a 30 days money-back guarantee here: nordvpn.com/momsGET AD-FREE SHOWS and JOIN MATCH CLUBGet ad-free shows and extra shows, and join My Old Man Said's 24/7 Villa community, Match Club.For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS MemberJoin the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.Credits:David Michael - @myoldmansaid Chris Budd - @BUDD_musicPhillip Shaw - @prsgameMy Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.comThis Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT

The narrative to the FA Cup 4th round clash between Aston Villa and Newcastle United writes itself.Goalkeeper sent off. Game swings. Villa lose. End of story.Except it isn’t that simple.This My Old Man Said post-mortem episode pulls apart the FA Cup tie from the moment of the red card onward and challenges the assumption that it was automatically over. Yes, the dismissal changed the balance. Yes, momentum shifted. But knockout football is rarely decided by a single flashpoint.The discussion centres on what Villa did next. The shape change. The substitutions. The tempo. The psychological reaction. Did Villa protect the game properly? Did they give up too quickly? Were there moments to reset that went unused?There is frustration, but not hysteria. Context matters. The red card altered the task, it did not remove it. We look at the fine margins that separate resilience from resignation.The bigger question running through the show is this:When the situation turns against you in a cup tie, how long do you stay in it?Villa were tested. The red card hurt. But the tie still required managing.What happened at Villa Park does once again throw up questions of both the character of the Villa team and what role does the FA Cup plays now in football?UTVGet a Great NordVPN DealGet a cracking deal on NordVPN with four months FREE & a 30 days money-back guarantee here: nordvpn.com/momsGET AD-FREE SHOWS and JOIN MATCH CLUBGet ad-free shows and extra shows, and join My Old Man Said's 24/7 Villa community, Match Club.For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS MemberJoin the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.Credits:David Michael - @myoldmansaid Chris Budd - @BUDD_musicPhillip Shaw - @prsgameMy Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.comThis Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT

It was flat. It was tense. It was not one for the purists or season highlights.But it was three points.Aston Villa laboured past Brighton in a game that never quite caught light. Tempo was slow, rhythm inconsistent, and the usual midfield control absent. Large spells felt like two teams cancelling each other out rather than one asserting itself.Then came the decisive moment.A late corner, a near-post run, and Tyrone Mings making sure someone attacked the space properly. In a match short on incision, it took authority rather than invention to break it.The performance lacked fluency. Brighton limited Villa’s creativity and exposed the absence of key midfield leaders. There were groans at over-elaboration and impatience at predictable build-up. Even the atmosphere reflected it, with noticeable empty seats and tension around ticket pricing bubbling beneath the surface.But the table does not ask how.Villa are still third and the Champions League conversation remains real. And at this stage of the campaign, winning without playing well can matter more than anything else.Ugly at home. Effective when it counted.UTVGet a Great NordVPN DealGet a cracking deal on NordVPN with four months FREE & a 30 days money-back guarantee here: nordvpn.com/momsGET AD-FREE SHOWS and JOIN MATCH CLUBGet ad-free shows and extra shows, and join My Old Man Said's 24/7 Villa community, Match Club.For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS MemberJoin the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.Credits:David Michael - @myoldmansaid Chris Budd - @BUDD_musicMy Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.comThis Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT

This game depends on context.On the surface, a draw after taking the lead feels frustrating. Dig deeper, and it looks very different.Aston Villa went to one of the league’s most awkward away grounds, against one of the form teams in the division, without their key midfield controllers. What followed was not control or fluency, but resilience.Villa started brightly, moved the ball well early, and took the lead through Rogers with a cracking finish that hinted at a comfortable afternoon. It didn’t last. Bournemouth raised the tempo, flooded central areas, and turned the game into a sustained physical and tactical test.Without Kamara, McGinn, or Tielemans, Villa struggled to slow the game down. Possession became survival rather than dominance. Bournemouth piled on pressure, racked up shots, and forced Emi Martinez into a genuine man-of-the-match performance.This episode breaks down why the lack of midfield control was inevitable, why the goal conceded was frustrating but out of character for the defence in the game, and why Villa’s ability to ride the storm says more about their season than the scoreline does.This was not pretty. It was not comfortable. But it was earned.UTVGet a Great NordVPN DealGet a cracking deal on NordVPN with four months FREE & a 30 days money-back guarantee here: nordvpn.com/momsGET AD-FREE SHOWS and JOIN MATCH CLUBGet ad-free shows and extra shows, and join My Old Man Said's 24/7 Villa community, Match Club.For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS MemberJoin the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.Credits:David Michael - @myoldmansaid Chris Budd - @BUDD_musicPhillip Shaw - @prsgameMy Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.comThis Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT

With Aston Villa dealing with a mounting midfield injury list and a January window shaped more by constraint than ambition, this main show takes stock of where things actually are. Not where fans would like them to be. Not where narratives suggest they should be.The transfer window assessment is framed through damage limitation, PSR pressure, squad balance, and the reality that replacing key midfielders mid-season is close to impossible.That context feeds directly into the on-pitch discussion, starting with a battling draw away at Bournemouth. Down bodies, short of control, and under pressure for long spells, Villa scrapped for a point that looked more valuable the longer the game went on. It wasn’t fluent. It wasn’t comfortable. But it was resilient.The Bournemouth game is treated as a stress test rather than a failure. A measure of how this Villa side copes when structure is disrupted and energy has to replace cohesion. There’s frustration, but also recognition that these are the moments that define whether a team stays competitive through adversity.This isn’t a side pushing on right now. It’s a side needing to hold the line.UTVGet a Great NordVPN DealGet a cracking deal on NordVPN with four months FREE & a 30 days money-back guarantee here: nordvpn.com/momsGET AD-FREE SHOWS and JOIN MATCH CLUBGet ad-free shows and extra shows, and join My Old Man Said's 24/7 Villa community, Match Club.For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS MemberJoin the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.Credits:David Michael - @myoldmansaid Chris Budd - @BUDD_musicPhillip Shaw - @prsgameMy Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.comThis Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT

The 1-0 home loss wasn't about a lack of effort, it was about what was missing.Aston Villa had the ball, the territory, and eventually a numerical advantage against Brentford. What they didn’t have were the midfielders who usually turn control into pressure. Kamara. Tielemans. McGinn. Without them, Villa’s dominance stayed neat, predictable, and ultimately harmless.This My Old Man Said post-mortem episode focuses on how midfield absences shaped the game. Villa circulated the ball patiently but lacked aggression between the lines, runners arriving with intent, or anyone prepared to take responsibility in tight central areas. Brentford were able to retreat, organise, and wait.Even after the red card, Villa struggled to change the pattern. Possession increased, urgency didn’t. The disallowed goal only deepened the frustration, with VAR dragging play back to find a marginal infringement and draining what little momentum Villa had built.Brentford didn’t steal this. They controlled any potential chaos and Villa lacked the guile to break them down.We also look at the bigger picture and should we be concerned?UTVGet a Great NordVPN DealGet a cracking deal on NordVPN with four months FREE & a 30 days money-back guarantee here: nordvpn.com/momsGET AD-FREE SHOWS and JOIN MATCH CLUBGet ad-free shows and extra shows, and join My Old Man Said's 24/7 Villa community, Match Club.For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS MemberJoin the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.Credits:David Michael - @myoldmansaid Chris Budd - @BUDD_musicPhillip Shaw - @prsgameMy Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.comThis Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT

This should not have been complicated. Villa allowed it to be.Knowing a win would guarantee a top-two finish and second-leg home advantage in the Europa League knockouts, Aston Villa approached the Salzburg game with management in mind. For too long, that drifted into passivity.The first half lacked tempo and bite. Defensive concentration wavered and a young, fearless Salzburg side were given encouragement they should not have had. Villa looked like a team trying to coast a European night that demanded focus.The second half changed when Villa did. 2-0 down and the tempo lifted, intent sharpened, and the physical and technical gap finally told. Once Villa switched on, control followed quickly and the outcome that mattered was secured.This post-mortem looks at where Villa misjudged the night, why youth and energy became decisive, and how fine the margins are in Europe when game management slips into over-management.Villa got what they needed. In the end.UTVGet a Great NordVPN DealGet a cracking deal on NordVPN with four months FREE & a 30 days money-back guarantee here: nordvpn.com/momsGET AD-FREE SHOWS and JOIN MATCH CLUBGet ad-free shows and extra shows, and join My Old Man Said's 24/7 Villa community, Match Club.For more details and to become a member, click here: Become a MOMS MemberJoin the show’s listener facebook group The Mad Few.Credits:David Michael - @myoldmansaid Chris Budd - @BUDD_musicPhillip Shaw - @prsgameMy Old Man Said - https://www.myoldmansaid.comThis Podcast has been created and uploaded by My Old Man Said. The views in this Podcast are not necessarily the views of talkSPORT