The team Unai picked had the usual number of changes for this sort of match but the difference in quality now compared to years past was clear to see. What was also clear from the off, though, was the couldn’t care less attitude of the players. The home side scored early on and what little commitment the Villa players might have had evaporated as soon as the ball crossed the line.

In a game he cared about Unai would have been justified making changes well before half-time but the interval came and went with the same eleven on the pitch. It took until Villa were two down before a couple of subs came on and the third goal went in before any more arrivals. Not that any of them made much difference; they seem more annoyed that they had to do some work than eager to turn the game round.

And so the evening drifted to its logical conclusion. Villa are out of the League Cup again. It’s obvious that Unai doesn’t care about the competition and that attitude transmits itself to the players. As a saying that I invariably bring out for these occasions goes, give a footballer an excuse and he’ll take it. Unai gave the players the excuse not to bother and they took it willingly.

Trying desperately to find some minor consolation, Alysson looked lively when he came on, John McGinn at least tried because he knows no other way and Joao Gomes was the best of the lacklusterly bad bunch that started the match. The rest, though, were scarcely worth talking about.

We’ve seen this many times before, but at least during the bad old days of the 2010s such performances were given by players who in the main weren’t even good enough to get into a team managed by Paul Lambert. This collection, though, are a different breed. There were players who are being looked on as potential world-beaters while others are seasoned Premier League campaigners. They should have been more than capable of beating a Bournemouth team who made wholesale changes themselves.