Chapter 171: Vera's Downgrade Tragedy

In the heart of Birmingham, in the heart of England, at the entrance of Aston Villa's Bodymoor Health training base, a large number of Aston Villa fans wearing Aston Villa's traditional red shirt and blue sleeve shirt gathered here.

"We don't need a player like Jordan Ayew !!"

"You don't know any shame!! You don't fight, you don't have self-esteem!! You don't deserve Aston Villa!! ”

"You will be a disgrace to the history of the team!! All of you are!! ”

Fans protested the team's performance with banners, chanted slogans at the Aston Villa players on the walls of the training base, or simply sat in front of the training base.

Aston Villa's next game is at Old Trafford to take on Manchester United, but the relationship between the team and the fans looks so tense before the big game.

Why is that?

This is of course because, of course, Aston Villa, who have never been relegated from the Premier League since its inception, are almost certain to leave the Premier League this season.

For Aston Villa, an old English team, relegation is only a theoretical possibility this season - when the "Black Cats" Sunderland defeated "The Canary" Norwich, vice-captain Aston Villa got a glimmer of hope. A win at Old Trafford would allow them to postpone relegation.

However, this is only theoretical, Aston Villa lost 1-2 at home to Bournemouth in the last round, suffered a losing streak in the last eight rounds, and are currently bottom of the table with only 16 points, 16 points away from fourth-placed Norwich. With six league games remaining, if they lose this game, then Aston Villa will be relegated five games early!

Relegation is undoubtedly a brutal experience for Aston Villa as a club and for the team's fans.

For Aston Villa, relegation was one of the darkest moments in the club's history, and although the team was not as successful as the giants of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, it was a force to be reckoned with in English football: since the Premier League was established in 1992, only seven teams have played in all 24 seasons, including Aston Villa, while the remaining six are Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton, and the number of teams that will hold this record next season will be six. In the history of English football, only three teams have played in the top flight for more than 100 years, in addition to Aston Villa in 105, Everton in 113 and Liverpool in 101.

Therefore, compared with upstarts such as Chelsea and Manchester City, Aston Villa is more like a traditional giant, in addition to participating in the top league number of times is the best in English football, the honors won are also the envy of countless clubs: Aston Villa has won the English top league championship 7 times since its establishment, ranking fifth only to Manchester United (20), Liverpool (18), Arsenal (13) and Everton (9); Seven FA Cup titles, behind Arsenal (12), Manchester United (11) and Tottenham (eight), and joint fourth with Liverpool and Chelsea; In addition, Aston Villa have won the Community Shield once.

Aston Villa has also achieved glory in the European arena, in the 1982 Champions League final, the team defeated Bayern Munich 1-0 to win the Big Ears Cup, and is the only five teams in English football to have won the Champions League trophy, which is incomparable to Arsenal and Manchester City; Aston Villa have also won one UEFA Super Cup and two UEFA Toto Cups.

And this season's Aston Villa, the possibility of relegation is basically non-existent - even if they can beat Manchester United in the next round of the league.

Of course, not many expect a team as unmotivated as Aston Villa to beat the Red Devils at the Theatre of Dreams, who don't even have a manager at the moment.

At the beginning of the season, Sherwood, the hero of last season's relegation, was sacked because of the team's consecutive defeats, and Sherwood was replaced by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's former assistant Garder, but the dude was not too lucky, he did not even survive the seventh of his contract period (three-and-a-half years of contract), and was sacked after six consecutive defeats.

Speaking of which, the Arsene Wenger disciple was not wronged at all – Gald's charge has only been in charge for more than four months, and the team has scored just 12 Premier League goals, but conceded 38 goals – the worst statistics in the league during the same period. During the period, Villa won 2 wins, 6 draws and 12 losses in the league, and currently ranks first in the Premier League with 16 points. Garder's 10 per cent win rate is the third worst in Premier League history, just slightly better than former Southampton boss Wigley (6.2 per cent) and former Bolton boss Michael McFarlane (9.1 per cent).

However, since Garder's departure, the chaotic Aston Villa has still not been able to find a new coach to take charge of the broken ship of Villa, and now the acting head coach of the team's youth team, Karl.

Karl is clearly out of control of the team now, with the first-team players completely ignoring the youth coach, but he doesn't seem to care much – the academy coach who has been brought up to take charge of the first team on an ad hoc basis has never had any experience in charge of an adult team and doesn't know how to manage Aston Villa's messy dressing room.

Even in training, the interim manager's words didn't work very well, and many of the players were doing their own thing, and the whole training ground was divided into two groups, one was the English gang led by captain Richards and Abonlaho, Guzan and Clark, and the other was Jordan Ayew, Veletu, Gueye and other French-speaking players who joined from Ligue 1 last summer.

Factional battles in the dressing room might not have worsened the situation if the team's results had been consistent, but now that Aston Villa are in such a situation, both factions believe that the other side is to blame for the team's poor record.

Jordan Ayew's face was gloomy at the moment.

He thinks that his performance this season is no worse than the team's other striker, Abang Laho, why these fans outside only scold him and not blame Abang Laho, it is not because Abang Lajo came out of the Villa academy and is Aston Villa's "own man". And he, Ayew, is an "outsider", so these fans outside will look at themselves with double standards.

It looks like his decision to join Villa was the wrong one, and this is simply not a team that can realise their ambitions. However, fortunately, Villa will be relegated next season, and with their own strength, it is not difficult to find a place in other teams in the Premier League.

On the other side, Abonlahoh's face is not good-looking, as the main star who has gone from the Aston Villa academy all the way to the current first team since he was a child, Abanglaho certainly does not want Villa to be relegated, but now it seems that Villa's relegation has basically become a foregone conclusion, and it seems that he should have made plans early - is it really to play in the Championship with Aston Villa?

Abang Lajo looked at the fans outside the training ground, and the guilt in his heart was even greater – both for the team's performance this season and for the fact that he was still thinking about his future in this situation.

Even Villa products like Abang Lajo are thinking about where they will go next season, and the other Villa players are even more so.

Karl looked at the first-team players of Aston Villa on the training pitch and shook his head slightly.

If he could, he would even like to bring up his youth team players to play the last few league games, and it is estimated that the effect will be better than that of the current group of players.

However, this is obviously not possible, and the team will need to keep most of the players in this line next season as capital to regain the Premier League. You must know that this group of players was also brought in by the team at a large price, and the owner will not allow a youth team coach like him to mess around - even if he wants to sell, he must sell it for a good price, right?

Karl raised his hand to look at the time, then blew the whistle for the end of training.

"Alright guys, now go back and tidy up, and we'll get to Manchester at one o'clock!"

Not many players responded to him, and Karl didn't care, he just did his job.

This team is basically hopeless.

Karl looked at the fans outside the training base.

It's just pity for this group of fans.........

.........

Compared with the chaotic Aston Villa, Manchester United's mind is all on winning the league at the moment.

You only need to score nine more points and the league championship will not have to run!!

For players and fans, of course, the sooner they win this title, the better, and next up against vice-captain Aston Villa, despite Manchester United playing a costly Champions League game in Madrid three days ago, Ancelotti still sent the main squad in this game, trying not to have a trace of surprises.

Manchester United boss Carlo Ancelotti was all smiles in his pre-match press conference, but the Italian boss has always been known as a good man, and although he has already seen the three points in his pocket in his heart, his words are not very offensive: "We beat Real Madrid in midweek to reach the last four of the Champions League, but this game against Aston Villa is also a tough one, and although they have not been in great form lately, they will give it their all and we have to be vigilant. ”

Carlo Ancelotti was cautious, but Aston Villa's performance at Old Trafford was not complimentary.

Aston Villa, who were about to be relegated, seemed to have lost their souls, and Aston Villa, who had lined up in a back five, still did not keep their goal, conceding in the sixth minute of the game.

Through a corner, Smalling's header from behind the ball headed the ball into the hands of American goalkeeper Guzan, and United took an early 0-0 lead.

The situation on the pitch was then completely controlled by Manchester United, and Aston Villa were largely denied any good chances.

In the thirtieth minute of the first half, Rooney, who had the chance to start, shot from the edge of the penalty area, and Aston Villa goalkeeper Guzan saved the ball and was cleverly scrambled by Di Maria in the penalty area, giving Manchester United a 2-0 lead.

Perhaps it was the early fall behind that fueled the sense of pride and shame of the Aston Villa players as professionals, and they tried to counter-attack in the latter part of the second half, creating plenty of chances.

In the 44th minute, Abonlahor broke into the box and shook off Smalling's shot, and Herrera, who was chasing back in time, made a crucial block.

The first half ended quickly and the two sides went into half-time.

In the dressing room, the atmosphere at Aston Villa was naturally very bad, acting manager Karl didn't know what to say, and most of the players hung their heads.

With just 45 minutes to go until Aston Villa's relegation, the players are all thinking about where they will play next season, and their minds are probably flying away from the game.

Jordan Ayew stood up and walked up to Abang Laho.

"Why didn't you pass that ball to me just now, my position is better!"

In the face of Jordan Ayew's accusations, Abang Laho's anger came up in an instant.

These bitch-bitched French bitches have been acting like shit this season and have the face to blame me.

"Did you kick it off?"

Abang Laho stood up and mocked.

Jordan Ayew's face also darkened.

"Who are you bitching talking about!"

Abang Laho's response was a fist......

The two of them were in a mess, and the other players only raised their eyes at most, and no one tried to persuade them, but many people took the opportunity to coax.

Aston Villa dressing room in chaos......

At the start of the second half, both Abonlaho and Jordan Ayew were substituted – and although Karl couldn't say much in the locker room, the power of the game substitution was still in his hands.

Of course, both of them were bruised and swollen at the moment, and they didn't even show up on the bench - probably to find the team doctor to report the injury, and I don't know if the two of them will fight again in the medical room.

The outside world actually knows very little about the situation in the locker room, and the players have a tacit understanding that the situation that happens in the locker room will never be said to the outside world, otherwise, all the players will isolate this "inner ghost" who reveals the secrets of the locker room.

No one wants to be guilty, so fans don't know about the fight between Abang Lajo and Jordan Ayew.

Before the start of the second half, the Aston Villa fans who came to the away stadium unfurled a large white cloth that read:

“no fight”

“no pride”

“no effort”

In this way, the fans protested against the performance of the players.

However, even so, Aston Villa still conceded in the second half, and in the 80th minute, substitute Li Qingshan's youngster Rashford scored another goal to turn the score into 3-0.

When the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, Aston Villa were relegated five rounds to go!

Amid the cheers of the Old Trafford United fans, the Aston Villa fans began to cry.

The Aston Villa players, on the other hand, were standing on the pitch in a daze.

The taste of relegation is so unbearable for players and fans alike.

The away area began to sing the Villa song.

Perhaps for Aston Villa, this relegation is the beginning of another rebirth.