ejvilla

Was good to see him up against the much lauded bissouma. Night and day. Kamara is the future. £100m player

Olsen has been excellent first half. Distribution has been really, really good. Fair play to him for stepping up. The pressure must be huge on him given recent performances and a world cup winner on the bench. Buendia is so frustrating. Rarely starts a game well. Is a super sub for me. Olsen played one pass out to Buendia in midfield. Great, difficult pass, but emi does what emi does and tries to draw a foul against very strong midfielders. He's never getting a foul there and he has done it loads of times in the past. It's lazy and dumb. Should've cost us a goal. Thankfully no more direct passes to him and he's mostly losing the ball in their half, but I'm predicting he costs us a goal in this game.

I was praying for Emery when they appointed the scouse fraud. Too good to be true... but I do hope it's true!

He's no star player, but he's much better than this manager has gotten out of him. Looks great for Scotland. Hope he turns it around for us.

Great performance today. Kept us in it. Distribution was good. He badly needed a game like that. Hopefully back to the Emi of old.

Hard to choose MOTM. Kamara, Luiz, Young, Bailey, Watkins, JJ, Mings, Martinez, Digne - all great today. Young's experience and cool head was massive. Went with Luiz for ball retention, passing, aggression. Sign a new deal please. SG said before the game that Luiz situation has been ongoing since summer - might explain dropping him - as only a blind man would miss his quality. Manager... I've given him loads of abuse, but deserves great feedback today. That said - it's the toothless performances against the teams around us and below that have led him to being in trouble. We always show heart against the big guns.

Got it right today. Great job. UTV.

Good start. Watching 2nd half through my fingers from behind the couch. UTV

Dougie for ESR or get stuffed.

We ain't getting anyone experienced who's not failed anywhere. Poch ain't happening. Potter ain't happening. Need to be realistic. Rodgers is a possibility (failed at liverpool, failing a bit now) Emery has villareal going well in la liga. 5th at mo, 7th last yr. Won europa league in 21, semis of CL last year. All with a classically midtable club. Gettable experienced manager who works well overachieving for midtable sides.

Emery was willing to go to Newcastle but they wouldn't give him more than a 1yr contract. He's the man for us. Managing Villareal at the moment so he's halfway here already.

We could be going down without several new signings. Big man up front. Left winger. CM. CB. Recall our young RB. Cash needs a challenge. 4 signings needed I reckon. Hope we have many irons in the fire. (And a new manager obv....)

Can understand that. I think he has been very poor, except the goals... so maybe I should've said he looked better today - not absolute gash...

Like his passion... would be a great midfield general at Norwich.

Love the goals from the corner, but it does have a bit of a Matty Cash long throw about it. Desperation!

No cutting edge. Need at least 2 new players up front. Bailey was good today. First time I've seen him try to defend. Could be a player in there alright. Ollie's not good enough. Buendia & Coutinho also not at the level required. McGinn passionate but poor. Ramsey is still raw which is okay, but it's too much for him now. New midfield. New forward line. Better, ball playing CBs. NEW GOALIE. Sorry to say it. Dibi has been off it for a year now. New manager.

Enjoying this brief moment of happiness before we kick off. Ramsey to score! Up the Villa!

I dunno... seems to be alright for Liverpool & Man City & they're not quite hoofing it. Anyway- this is the speculation thread... am in absolute agreement that we need a manager change. Today we needed a Target man. Assuming there's no manager change before the world cup, then Digne is gonna keep crossing it to nobody. Much as I dislike the manager, I do want to win games. Imagine if we had a brute up front who could finish. Our creative players could have a field day. It would open up loads of space as the opposition would have to close down crosses. At the moment they just say "fill yer boots, Ings ain't beating Zouma in the air".

Need to fix the frontline though. I like Ollie, but we need a target man. Honestly, today, I think Davis could've helped. I don't think he's prem level, but we crossed it so many times. Would help if Digne could clear the first man, but he has to hit them low because Ings and Ollie are small or lightweight. Needed to bring a John Carew off the bench.

Smith was owed a lot longer. Losing our talisman was gutwrenching for the club, the fans, and presumably his teammates. The signings were weak and didn't fit our style - any idiot could see it... no way Ings & co were Smith signings. Purslow set him up to fail. Gerrard... while he didnt put the team together, and one of his big signings is crocked... he hasn't done enough to stay as manager of a premiership side. That's the truth. Like our youngsters, he should be on loan in League 1, learning his trade. Rangers... ffs... he did well, but it's Real vs Barca up there... even more locked up than that - no Atleti, Sevilla, to put up a fight. Now he's blaming the players every week. Terrible leadership. When you win, your team get the credit, when you lose, you take accountability. You never publicly point fingers at your team. Not unless you want them to quit working for you. Give praise publicly, give criticism privately. Basics of leadership. Shocked he has his badges. Get out. You don't deserve to work at Villa.

Best CB in the squad

The player we've needed for years.

Is he gone yet?

Keep crossing it to nobody. Maybe it'll deflect in eventually.

Buendia is always better off the bench when good opposition tires. Rice is just as likely to put emi in his pocket 1st half as phil. I don't mind this if it's the gameplan.