Johnnyp

I criticised him heavily after Liverpool. I stand corrected. He was immense today. Arguably the best ive seen him play in a Villa shirt.

Check yourself. It’s spurs away. Stevenage at home is next week.

We’ve played quite well.

Maybe Emi didn’t come back in a condition mentally and physically that Emery deemed good enough.

Story with Cash ? If he wasn’t fit he wouldn’t be taking up a place on the bench. Not a good luck if a 37 year old is keeping him out.

Gerrard is a dreadful manager. If Emery can’t get a tune out of Coutinho then fair enough.

You’d swear it was your money. It was a circus under Gerrard. Phil’s good performances when he came in was in spite of Gerrard not because of him. If Emery can’t get a tune out of him then fair enough but he’s fit now so let’s see how it goes.

My worry ( and i think it may come to pass ) is you are going to see the misalignment between Emery, Lange and Purslow in the coming months. I think those 2 have been living on borrowed time here for sometime. Emery is a class coach and hopefully with the way Nas headhunted him personally, he won’t let Emery be dictated to by those. I still think at executive level or whatever we are miles off a Brighton or Brentford.

Well he won’t be going anywhere. They will.

Meh. Webber was also there when they ripped through the championship with Farke and signed Buendia, Pukki, Stiepermann and Vrancic. It just didn’t go well for Dean.

Dare i say it ( and im not trying to kick a man when he’s down ) but he’s been fortunate in how his career panned out. Expectation wasn’t huge at Walsall and he was let leisurely overhaul a playing style and large turnover of players without really been ever under pressure to get results. From his playing style there - he landed the Brentford gig where a manager arguably has the best support structure around him from top to bottom - in English football. Villa was a huge job. He may of been left to his own devices too much if anything at Norwich.

Wasn’t O’Kelly gone at the beginning of the season where we ended up finishing 11th ? I could be wrong. Dean Smith was extremely lucky he had Jack Grealish for most of his time in charge here. Masked over many of his weaknesses he has as a manager which were more easy to see at Norwich - where he didn’t have that star player.

Totally agree. Ludicrous taking it a week after getting sacked by Villa. Also, just might not be good enough.

Doing what ?

He always does this though. Since we signed him in our first year back in the premier league. I’ve said it numerous times and your called a hater on here if you do. Douglas Luiz simply does not care or hurt enough when he gives the ball away needlessly, hence why it keeps happening. Almost 4 years in.

Terrible from McGinn

Said it countless times here, not only does he lose the ball, HE DOESN’T CARE that he loses it which is why this is a trait of his every few games.

Cash not at it since he came back, or not match fit or tactically Young favoured for this. This stuff about Liverpool missing a load of players was kinda nonsense. They are practically at full strength.

How did it work out for him on the whole , that Dean Smith ?

McGreggor is an absolute scummer. I’m Irish and i detest him. A rotten human. The story is that McGreggor made a derogatory remark referencing PJ Gallaghers struggle with mental health issues and Paul backed PJ up. The little rat backed down and deleted his tweets.

I’ve been a Villa fan ( and VT member ) long enough to know that the mood music can change from euphoric to despair in 45 minutes, never mind 90 minutes. I’ve seen enough from this guy in 3 games to realise he knows what he’s doing. I’m also grown up enough to know that miracles don’t happen in 5-6 weeks. I think he’ll of found out more about this group in the Dubai trip and the subsequent friendlies, than the 3 games so far. Their temperament, focus, ability to absorb, retain and put into practice - information ( huge for him i think ) technical ability. Appetite to work. I’m excited to see how it unfolds. Acutely aware though that this is the start, and we are playing a top side today who we just might not be good enough to beat. That can happen. Just ask for perspective though. He’s barely put his finger on the pulse with us so far - project wise.

My bad actually on that. It was the team - he said Villa didn’t make the line up public. That’s pretty common though. Lots of behind close door games don’t reveal the line ups. I do feel though Emery will have a specific plan lined up for this lot tomorrow, whether we’ll be good enough to carry it out - who knows. He’ll be extremely confident i feel going up against a side his Villarreal team did very well against in last years champions league. He’s a freak for detail too.

Klopp looked a little rattled in the pre game press conference over the fact we played so many friendlies during the World Cup and he was especially irked it seemed that he couldn’t find one detail out about the Everton game. The score. Our lineup. Emery prepping hard

Regardless of the result. ( don’t think we’ll win ) , there is something very comforting about going into a game knowing you’ll have a plan. Couldn’t of said that under Gerrard, even Smith.

A few mates texting me that Martinez was a dickhead in the penalties. Because no goalie has ever in the history of football talked to the taker , right ?? If France had nailed every penalties, he could of acted like the biggest arsehole in the world - nobody would of said a world. His hands saved them. Not his mouth.