Aston Villa news: Opinion – Mike Taylor on whether players will wait in absence of Champions League football

The comments from fans on this page after the Manchester City game on Tuesday night, although a very small sample size, tell of life in the football stratosphere.

Tolerances, in every sense, are thin up there. A result which at any point in the last, say, five seasons would have been considered a gallant near-miss was instead greeted by some contributors as a bit of a let-down. It is tough at the top.

If Villa fall short of earning a return to the Champions League though, the reason will not just be Tuesday’s game, but several others earlier in the season when they did not convert winning positions: against Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, West Ham and others. The autumn version of Villa left quite a few points behind that the current Villa squad probably would not.

Mainly due to wear and tear, as well as caution in the midwinter transfer window, many teams finish seasons in a more tattered state than they start them. Villa did last year, but not this time.

Tuesday’s result notwithstanding, they have at times in the past month appeared the strongest side in the country, peaking in the second-half surge against Paris St-Germain and the rout of Newcastle.

At this moment Villa have a squad that, if the Champions League were to start again now, would seem well-equipped in all respects. But, it will be harder to keep it all together if they do not manage to qualify again.

Quite apart from the prestige of playing in that tournament, the difference it makes to a club’s projected finances is transformational, even when compared with other European tournaments. Chances are that Villa will make it into one of the three Uefa competitions next season. But, having tasted life in the biggest, will all their players – to say nothing of their loan players – be content with that?

Villa’s trajectory is upwards – it is realistic to think of them as regular Champions League competitors in the medium term – but not all players are willing to wait for the future.

There is a maximum of six games to play before the summer, and Villa may need to win them all to fulfil Unai Emery’s ambitions. Crystal Palace, their opponents at Wembley on Saturday, have given Villa trouble recently, so it’s not a simple start to the run. But Villa had won 10 out of 11 before Tuesday.

The jackpot is not beyond them yet.

Crystal Palace v Aston Villa – commentary on BBC Radio WM (all frequencies and BBC Sounds) on Saturday (17:15 BST)

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