KentVillan

100% agree. Emery doesn’t drop players, he rotates them. And now we have the squad depth in a few positions to do this properly.

Of course, but the Bailey turnaround has taken a bit longer than some of the others, and players like McGinn had some credit in the bank from their performances in the Smith era. It does make you wonder if players like Zaniolo and Duran will start to find this kind of form soon.

Yeah some of the triumphalism on here is ignoring the fact that Bailey really did look poor for ages. Devoid of confidence, and making terrible decisions. He clearly had the raw attributes, but I think it's taken an elite coaching team (not just Unai) to bring the best out of him. He's still going to be one of those players who makes a lot of mistakes, but that's because his game is all about high risk, high reward gambles. What he's getting better at is knowing when not to gamble, when to get his head up, etc. I still think that chance first half would have been a tap in for Watkins if he'd played it across the keeper, but I suppose when you're in the kind of form he's in, you just go for goal. Watkins would have done the same.

His best performance in a Villa shirt, and great that he has Alex Moreno competing for that spot. We’re blessed at left back

It must be inspiring for him watching all these players only a few years older than him progress so much since he’s joined

The great thing is we’ve now seen this Villa side win games in every possible way under Emery. Scrappy park the bus tactics, high line, concede possession, dominate possession, etc. It really feels like he can keep adapting through the season, which is why I think it will be sustainable. And the individual coaching that is bringing the best out of players like McGinn and Bailey must be something special. Quite a few players we thought would be slowly mothballed and replaced have stepped up a level. The whole thing is just brilliant.

Majestic, and nearly scored an unbelievable goal. His range of passing is incredible for a centre back. Even if he’s not the perfect defender, he is so watchable … always feels like he’ll do something positive with the ball at his feet

Last night was the big announcement to the world of what Emery is doing here, a lot of people waking up to the quality of this side. Do we have a hope in the title race? V unlikely, wouldn’t be quite Leicester, but would be more like when Spurs nearly did it. Think 4th is very doable, injuries permitting.

He was really good. Only moment I questioned was that yellow for Kamara, but was probably deserved tbh. Otherwise the game just flowed, was great to watch…

Impressive thing tonight was the work rate. We know he has the ability, but tonight he looked like he was willing to do all the hard work and put in a few naughty tackles too

One of the great captain’s performances, absolutely iconic. The work rate from kick off to final whistle was extraordinary, and he used the ball well, tackled like a madman… just a pleasure to watch, and inspired his teammates while sucking the life out of anything City tried to do

I had McGinn MOTM, but that was one of the best Villa performances I’ve ever seen, and the entire starting XI deserved an award

Yeah it wasn’t good, but rare for this type of tackle to cause an injury. Bentancur was unlucky.

Anyone who's ever played competitive football at any level has seen, dished out or been on the receiving end of that tackle several times a season. Deserving of a yellow because he was nowhere near the ball, but this outcry is mental

It’s Bielsa all over again. High intensity, heavy metal football looks great at the start of the season, but it’s a strategic choice by the manager which inevitably means burning players out. Need a very deep squad to sustain it throughout a season.

Spurs fans don't have a leg to stand on (like Bentancur ) with how they celebrate Romero's completely pointless violence every week. Cash isn't a dirty player, he occasionally puts in a heavy tackle, but no chance he was deliberately trying to injure him there.

They only lost 2 games at home last season. This season they've already lost 2 at home, but I still think they're a tough prospect at their place. This is where Emery's meticulous preparation for each game will start to come through hopefully. There are a lot of banana skin teams in this league, but they also have weaknesses that can be exploited.

I think we've had a *relatively* easy run of fixtures, with a bit of luck in our timing facing Spurs. The next 6 games will be more of a litmus test of where we are as a team: Bournemouth AWAY Man City HOME Arsenal HOME Brentford AWAY Shef Utd HOME Man Utd AWAY Bournemouth and Brentford are pretty useful at home, so it's only really the Shef Utd home game that looks like one we'd be clear favourites to win. I think Emery will keep working his magic, but it'll be tough to stay in the top 4, and will depend on injuries and a bit of luck.

The amount of acne, BO and micropenis in that thread. Almost want Matty Cash to make this a regular thing against Spurs, seek and destroy on their most injury prone player. Truly bonkers though, and as much as it’s very funny for us, must be genuinely unpleasant for the player and his family … madness that it was all over a pretty mundane foul that you see every week

That Cash tackle was a pure yellow, cynical and pointless, but an everyday nothing foul most of the time, and now with the news that Bentancur is ok it looks like Spurs fans got conned by their own player not being able to take a knock

Wasn’t really sure where to put this Twitter thread, but think it belongs here as Emi comes out of it v well indeed

Easiest way to work it out is usually average wages... Ligue 1 was about double Championship average wages a few seasons ago, and doubt that has changed significantly. You've also missed out the Bundesliga. BUT, I think what you tend to get with the top flights in countries like France is a wider spread of quality from top to bottom. The top teams fighting for Champions League qualification can attract elite talent... players who'd never consider the Championship. But further down the table the quality quickly becomes mid-table or even lower table Championship. The worst teams in Ligue 1, Belgian league etc would get eaten alive in the Championship. And the Championship is much more physical than probably any other league in Europe bar the Premier League, which creates a different challenge. As for Big Wes, his issue is that the style of football his brain plays is not really suited to his body. And the style of football his body is suited to, he's never really known how to play. Has always been the case, and the injury has just made it a lot worse. He'll keep getting picked up by clubs who see the Brazil cap and the Premier League experience, and the physical attributes. And then they'll discover like everyone else that he wants ball to feet, doesn't want to play on the last defender, isn't very good in the air, and has a chronic injury. There must be a level where the trade off still works for the buying club, but it's unclear exactly what that level is... maybe League One? Second tier in Portugal?

this is insane

What’s latest on him? Doesn’t look like he made the Colombia squad - is he still injured?