KMitch

3-1 to the mighty Villa. Early goal puts us on the front foot in the first half, but after that, things will turn around. Newcastle are flying high right now, but so are we now that the shackles are off. Everyone will want to do their best to impress Emery and nail down a place in his first lineup against Man United and/or continue to impress enough to get into their respective World Cup squads. Also, ASM & Isak are out injured, which makes it a lot easier for our defense.

Are there any Football podcasts you boys recommend that have several supporters of different clubs but talk about the entire Premier League? Maybe it's because I spend too much time on VillaTalk that listening to Villa specific podcasts turns me off and I'd rather listen to someone talking about other teams.

I like Pete and I hope he does well because he preps and puts a lot of effort into his content, but I don't like it enough to justify $5/month going forward.

Same... Still can't believe we pulled off bringing him here to manage us! This was the kind of manager we were all hoping would be the one to replace Smith last season. Hilarious to see fans of all the other clubs either looking at us jealously or complaining about how it's a horrible decision for him because Villa are somehow a step down from Villareal in their eyes. I saw a Wolves fan on Reddit basically losing his mind over the fact that we signed Emery but they couldn't even get Michael Beale to take over for their failure of a nothing European manager.

Arsenal fans never warmed to him or his style of football. Many of them say it was downright dreadful at times and would seem to set the team up to disrupt the opposition and try not to lose instead of trying to take the game to their opponents and win. TBH, I can understand this at times from how the Villa supporters have felt about some of our past managers (O'Dreary, Eck, Potatohead, etc.). That said, I don't think Villa supporters will care as long as we continue to make progress up the league table and win/draw more than we lose.

Best case scenario for an athlete recovering from an Achilles rupture after surgery/rehab to returning to full time training is 7 months, and that's with modern medicine. For context, the best wide receiver prospect in last year's NFL draft, Jameson Williams, had the same injury in the college football playoffs and has been out since January. He's still around a month away from being cleared to play in the NFL for the first time, ~11 months after he was injured. Carlos won't be back this season... Best case for him is to be ready for preseason this summer.

You really felt that there was a clear direction and plan from the top of the club to the bottom when Smith was here: Recruit young talented footballers who could raise in value with good coaching and play exciting football while making progress up the table. That philosophy was completely gutted we signed Gerrard and the need for experience or "ready now" players in the squad overruled all those ethos from Smith's era, in addition to the playing style on the pitch completely changing to a system which didn't suit our squad's strengths. I really hope we get back on the same page with a cohesive philosophy on and off the pitch with Emery.

We can do a lot better than Sarr. Need someone more consistent.

It's hilarious to look back on Emery's reign as Arsenal manager and the perception is still that he was a flop... Lost his first two games to Man City & Chelsea, then went on a 22 game unbeaten run in all competitions Took Arsenal to the Europa League Final where they lost to Sarri's Chelsea Finished 5th with 70 points, 3 points off 3rd place - Highest points total/placement in the post Wenger era Started 2nd season well, but ran into a 7 game winless run resulting in him being sacked at the end of November Finished with a 46-16-19 record and a 55.1% win percentage

It's crazy to think that the worst area of Gerrard's team could possibly be the strongest out the gate for Emery with Kamara, Dougie, & Dendoncker competing for the two starting central midfield spots.

TBH, it will most likely be everyone but: Martinez Cash Dendoncker Douglas Luiz (maybe) Kamara (maybe) Will basically be a full 6 week pre-season from 11/13 - 12/26. Nearly the entire squad should be acclimated to his style of play by the time Liverpool come to Villa Park on Boxing Day.

I anticipate us coming back from the WC break ready to roll with Emery's style of play and we start consistently winning and taking points from everyone resulting in a very strong finish to the season. We may miss out on Europe just do to the fact that we let too many points drop in the first 1/3rd of the season and waiting too long to sack Gerrard.

Watch us somehow finish the season very strongly and barely miss out on Europe because we waited too long to sack Gerrard... `

What??? You mean we won't be able to predict the subs and the time they'll be made before the match even starts??? What is this witchcraft you're speaking of???

I don't think he'll have a problem with that. Emi Martinez has been full of praise for Emery in some of the interviews I've seen him give over the years. It was also implied he also had a good relationship with Chambers at Arsenal too. He's exactly the kind of manager who will get the best out of Buendia, IMO, and turn him into a superstar. I can't wait to see how we line up at the end of January!

I'm absolutely buzzing right now! This is the first time that we signed the manager I actually wanted! Welcome, Unai! UTFV!!!!

Percy at the back post!!! It's happening, boys!!! If you're not excited by this appointment you'll never be!!! I'M FOOKING MELTING DOWN!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! UP THE FOOKIN' VILLA!!!

Can someone who is not cursed with bad juju start up an Emery thread???

Emery should be the biggest meltdown signing Villa have ever had... Even more so than Coutinho was. This is a genuine European elite manager and one of the top 10 in the world in terms of his achievements. Biggest coup I can remember.

Might be negotiating for his backroom staff as well...

Great... Now the tap in merchant is running with it...

He looks like Dracula, TBH. Count Emery

Same. I'm a very cynical person, but to be fair, he's been saying for weeks now that Emery is our first choice with Frank as the alternative. If this actually happens he's a legit ITK or the best guesser in the history of Villa Twitter.

It's Emery and we're waiting on the work permit to go through before the announcement. First he said today, then tomorrow, then sometime in the next week.