Unai Emery has spoken out after failing to shake hands with Rob Edwards after his Aston Villa side were defeated 2-0 by relegation-threatened Wolves on Friday night.
Aston Villa were in the title conversation several weeks ago but could now be overtaken by fourth-placed Manchester United this weekend after winning just one of their previous six Premier League fixtures.
Wolves picked up their second win of the campaign from 29 attempts at Molineux on Friday thanks to second-half goals from Joao Gomes and his namesake Rodrigo Gomes. While relegation still looks a near-certainty, Edwards’ men have at least managed to restore some pride in recent weeks and now have 13 points on the board.
Emery has received criticism on social media after failing to shake Edwards’ hand after the match, as is customary between managers after Premier League games. The Spaniard was nowhere to be seen after the full-time whistle.
A Sky Sports interviewer said to Emery after the match: “After their second goal, you headed straight down the tunnel at the end. Was that just frustration on your part?”
A bemused Emery responded: “No, the match was finished…”. The clip below shows Emery didn’t look impressed with the question.
Rob Edwards Reacts to Emery Not Shaking His Hand
Rob Edwards after beating Aston Villa
Rob Edwards after beating Aston Villa
Meanwhile, Edwards was asked in his post-match press conference whether he had bumped into the Aston Villa boss after the final whistle. Per The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell, Edwards said:
“Not yet, I get it. The two games we won both managers had disappeared. They probably think they can turn up and win given how the season has gone! I've got a lot of respect for Unai, I think he’s brilliant, so it’s fine.”
This isn’t the first time this season that Emery has raised eyebrows for failing to shake hands with a manager following an Aston Villa defeat. In December, Emery said, “I can’t wait forever. It was cold,” after walking down the Emirates Stadium tunnel instead of waiting for Mikel Arteta after Arsenal recorded a 4-1 victory.
Stan Collymore Sums Up Aston Villa Fans' Mood
Stan Collymore
Stan Collymore
Despite a fantastic season so far, Aston Villa fans are frustrated and concerned that their team are now in danger of undoing their hard work during the final months of the campaign.
Former Villa striker Stan Collymore tweeted after the defeat to Wolves: "Unai Emery is a great coach but not beyond criticism. If Liverpool fans can criticise a title winning coach and City fans bag Pep when he gets it wrong then Unai isn't off limits.
"Too slow. With a fully fit selection the dead slow play works because the players on midfield and forwards are good enough to hit teams in well organised bursts, or in the case of City and Arsenal last season at home, 90 minutes of pure graft and intelligence.
"Now it's just slow and the coaching staff need to instill a simple message or this is going to be an 8 or 9 game season major capitulation."
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He continued: "That message is, forget Europe (we're not in the top 6 in Europa League at the moment, nevermind f***ing winners elect. No chance), forget overplaying, forget the keeper standing on it for 5 minutes at a time. Play aggressive, tempo, spite, make opposition feel discomfort as though it's a relegation team they're playing. And if we do that, then we can limp over the line with the cavalry joining in 4 to 6 weeks time.
"Managers have to be flexible and no manager can play how he wants to all of the time because injuries, poor form, loss of confidence will hit at some point. So a plan B has to become A.
"If we play the same way for the next 8 games, we'll be out of Europe and looking at Conference League qualification. Let's own it, embrace it and ditch the style and start duking it out with teams physically, work harder on set pieces and the absolute basics.
"But does Unai have a Plan B? We're about to find out because tonight is on him and his selections."