East London Villa

Kosta has been injured ever since he signed for Villa, which is very unfortunate. Hopefully he'll be learning English (if he didn't already speak it well) and I wouldn't bet against Unai sending him a few hundred gigabytes of tactical videos to pore over. I highly doubt Kesler-Hayden will be at Villa for the long term, Nedeljkovic already seems to have a lot more of what Emery is looking for (pace, height, physicality, decision making).

I think we'll go Martinez; Konsa Carlos Pau Moreno; Bailey Iroegbunam Luiz Ramsey; Tielemans Watkins. But I wouldn't be surprised by any of Lenglet for Carlos, Digne for Moreno, Diaby for Iroegbunam with Tielemans deeper, Rogers for Ramsey if he's not ready. 7 games in 23 days, would become 14 games in 44 days if we qualify for the semis in Europe. I'm glad we've got Unai at the helm because we're going to have minimal time to prepare, have to adapt to injuries and tiredness very quickly.

Good news that he is training. Whether he's ready to start against Wolves or Man City is another question. Would be huge for us if we can keep him fit for the run in.

Ezri played perfectly to his own strengths in that position tonight. Defended very well, stayed deep to cover all their best attacking threats lurking on his side, kept the ball moving without attempting anything risky so that the more talented passers could take possession. It sounds like Southgate was pleased with him and I imagine he did exactly what was asked of him. So happy for him to finally get his chance. Well deserved!

My best guess... Start: Martinez; Cash Carlos Lenglet Moreno; McGinn Tielemans; Diaby Rogers; Zaniolo Duran. Bench: Olsen Gauci Pau Kesler-Hayden Digne Iroegbunam Luiz Bailey Kellyman Watkins. Luiz and Watkins could barely move by the end on Sunday. Bailey also looks very tired. Iroegbunam isn't fit enough for 2 starts in 4 days, so he'll be saved for West Ham with McGinn in for Ajax.

Also I want to flag that Kaine is eligible and on List B for the Conference League knockouts. So is Kellyman. You can make unlimited changes to List B throughout the season, unlike List A. They were both on the bench for the first leg and will be again for the second leg. https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaconferenceleague/clubs/52683--aston-villa//squad/

If Kesler-Hayden is ever going to get minutes this season, it will be on Thursday. Cash played the full 90 against Spurs. Konsa is suspended. Chambers is ineligible. So if Cash has emptied the tank at some point against Ajax (likely), Kaine is the next best option. Emery is not going to pick a half fit Carlos at right back, or a left footer, or move one of the centre mids out there. Kaine has been training with the first team for 2 months now and on the bench for the past 8 games. If he gets a chance, I hope he grabs it.

Our kids beat their kids 2-0 away from home the other day (and deserved it): https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2024/march/03/u21s--liverpool-0-2-aston-villa/. Including a few of theirs that featured in the League Cup Final and beat Southampton in the FA Cup. We have talent coming through our youth system, though of course there would be no shame in Liverpool having a better system than us. Bringing it back around to Iroegbunam...I think after injury problems in 2023 he needed an extended period to recover and start training with the first team again. I'm not sure he would have been fully ready for a loan by January, so it was the right choice to keep him at Villa. Clearly we needed to reduce the wage bill, hence letting Dendoncker leave and putting more immediate trust in Tim. Of course nobody expected Kamara's ACL, so he will get more opportunities than Emery intended. Tim showed at QPR and in youth football that he is very talented, but the position he's being asked to play is tactically very important and difficult within Emery's system. It will take him more time to adapt than your average youth player thrown into the team, told to go out and express themselves.

Great to see we have another strong group coming through. Our U21 side is now full of our best U18s and they are on a good run. Our U18s are struggling a little more now picking the less experienced players and some U16s, but they came very close to beating runaway league leaders West Ham before a stoppage time implosion. The talent is clearly there. We're starting to reliably produce strong sides at each level, great news for the long term future of the club.

I reckon we start with McGinn Tielemans in the middle against Ajax (take off Tielemans after 45 or 60 minutes), then Luiz Iroegbunam against West Ham. Luiz was out on his feet understandably at the end today, having played 90 minutes on Thursday and again today with 10 men for a significant spell.

The fact Emery trusted Tim to do that job in that atmosphere in a knockout game is a really good sign for his development. That was by far the biggest game he's ever played. McGinn had a knock but even if he wasn't an option to start, Emery could still have picked Tielemans alongside Luiz in the middle with Zaniolo Bailey Kellyman options higher up the pitch. Or rewind a few weeks, at the start of February he could have registered Chambers as his backup holding midfielder after Dendoncker left (he won Fulham player of the season playing there in 2018-19). Something that has also been overlooked - Tim has played hardly any football over the past 12 months. His last first team start was for QPR in April 2023. This season he has only played 3 games for the U21s and before last night, 37 minutes across 5 sub appearances for the first team. So he's not only inexperienced, he's rusty and hasn't been able to find a rhythm. No surprise he went down with cramp after 70 minutes. His biggest issues appear to be those associated with most young players (concentration, fitness, positional awareness) but also confidence. If last night doesn't give him the confidence and drive to push on, nothing will.

And as a result that would make it less appealing for those players getting a salary bump to leave the club permanently. I don’t know how many players would have a clause like that in their contract, but it would cause us a problem if it applies to someone we’re looking to move on. Only Olsen is out of contract in the summer.

Let's be honest here, we have spent a huge amount of money continuously since NSWE arrived. That is nothing new and the spending has taken us from mid-table Championship to 4th in the Premier League and the knockout stages of European competition. If we have to scale back on transfers now and sell a key player ahead of the summer, it is clearly still worth it.

I like him in the second striker role, or late on in a game in attacking midfield so we can use his ability on the counter attack. Defensively he caused a problem for us on the left side, didn't track the wing back well enough and gave away needless free kicks in dangerous areas. Obviously he needs regular minutes to develop but I hope Ramsey isn't injured because it is a significant drop in quality as it stands. If Ramsey is injured I would be tempted to pick Tielemans on the left and Diaby up top for the bigger games.

Just to be clear, Hause can't play for our first team this season. Not registered for the league or Europe. No longer an option. He has 1 year left on his contract, I don't see him getting anywhere near the same salary at his next club. So it will either be an early pay off like Traore, or a loan deal to try to rebuild his reputation ahead of a free transfer in 2025.