Condimentalist

Nice interview. As per my earlier post, I think we need to judge his value at the end of the season and not the start.

Suspect some in here will be eating humble pie.

On 10/10/2023 at 18:19, Keyblade said:

Had a dream where I was just browsing VT (riveting dream I know) and was in Other Football and saw the Unai Emery thread in there. I swear I damn near cried. That shit woke me up immediately  . He's our best and probably only chance of doing anything meaningful in the near future. We need to keep hold of him at all costs.

I just woke up from a dream where we had sacked Unai after a couple of defeats, and installed Callum Chambers as player/manager. We were playing a diamond formation because Callum told us in the pre match press conference he'd read in a coaching guide it was more solid. 

Who needs a cold shower I am now wide awake. 

0% chance Watkins is sold to Arsenal in January.  

I'm not saying our players can never leave etc, we're not a CL club yet and that will always bring an allure, but we're not selling big players mid-season. Just ain't happening.

We're also much better placed to hold on to our best players all round - but inevitably if we can't reach the top tier competitions and they can, there's a chance we lose them as some stage, but for big fees and then it's on us to replace well.

We're not quite at the top of the food chain yet but we are getting closer. CL is totally possible under Unai, and at that stage all bets are off as to where this club can go. 

We're a handful if games into a long season. He hasn't been up to it but also hasn't played much. He's definitely a better player than he's shown so far but probably needs a run of games to find form - which is normal. He might be waiting for an injury to really get that but heaven knows with our luck that's probably not far away. 

I suspect we'll really appreciate him by the end of the season.

17 hours ago, Teale's 'tache said:

Love it

5 hours ago, Don_Simon said:

And Purslow, don't forget CP.

Purslow did a good job overall but he didn't choose the players (otherwise we'd be ****, I suspect) 

1 hour ago, CVByrne said:

Mings, Konsa, Luiz - 2019

Cash, Martinez, Watkins - 2020

So brilliant signings by the club in those two windows

Another testament to Deano's fabulous legacy. 

Averaging 2 points per game having travelled to Newcastle, Liverpool and Chelsea in the first 6 games is really solid going. 

We've got a decent run of games coming up now. I'm excited. 

They're not that great. If we can score first I fancy us. 

4 hours ago, duke313 said:

Need the starboy back ASAP.

Looked a bit rusty which is to be expected.  Could he start v Chelsea for 60 mins? Or more likely to come on for last 30?

Another bench run out this weekend I reckon and then 60 mins v Everton and Brighton. 

Yes! Another excellent signing from the Smith era that really set us up well for life in the Prem.

I like the way that he came back from a poor season a couple of years back too, shows character. 

Great news on the contract, clearly deserved and should get an England call up too although I won't hold my breath. 

5 minutes ago, spiezels said:

Him and mings together will be absolutely colossal. 

Fixed that for you

5 games and we're already selling him to City and Liverpool  

We need to get used to the fact that we now have several players good enough for the very top teams. That doesn't necessirly mean they are leaving anymore, because they are no longer standout talismen due to the overall quality of the squad being so much better. It is also obvious the club has real ambition and a world class manager - again not something we could say in the past.

The guy looks quality but he is nowhere near as elite in his position globally as Emi Martinez, for instance.

I am not saying he's ours for life, but let's just enjoy it, I would imagine we'll have him for 2-3 years at least and who knows where Villa will be at that point. 

55 minutes ago, Spoony said:

Do you not though? We are a fickle fan base. I think all fan bases are but I think we are slightly worse as we suffer from once being very successful but we forget we haven’t been successful for the best part of 40 years. Yet the expectations are high regardless and the fan base gets impatient very quickly.

Give it a 3 game losing streak and calls for his head will begin. 

Maybe from a very small minority. 

I think even the more boneheaded elements of the support can see we have a good thing going on here.

3 minutes ago, Spoony said:

Yes. Very, very easily. 

That's depressing.

1 hour ago, Spoony said:

The main reason I’m glad we won against Palace is just I don’t think I can handle the Villa fans turning against Emery. He’s one of the best managers in the world. If he can’t do it for us, no one can and I think I’d be the most despondent as I could be as a Villa fan if he goes on a bad run and is hounded out. 

Can you seriously envisage a scenario where Unai Emery is hounded out by the fans? 

How is his chant not: "The world number one, the world number one, Emi Martinez, the world number one"

Make it happen Holte Enders. 

Mings heads that away

Got to score that John

The assist for Duran was unreal

3 minutes ago, Supervillan78 said:

Bit gutted Kudus is off to West Ham, would have been decent signing. 

Kudus to them

59 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

Bailey’s greatest nemesis.

Was decent away today (albeit poor opposition) 

1 minute ago, HanoiVillan said:

Of those three players, the latter two would not be a 'bargain' in any conceivable sense of the word. Hasn't Awoniyi scored something like 6 in his last 6 games? Not gonna be cheap. 

Was going to post the same, probably £30m + for the latter two and £15-20m for Iheanacho. 

I actually agree that Nacho would be a solid option but probably wouldn't be a massive bargain. 

Solid price for him. If he's third choice and we have a buyback it's a good deal. 

Wish him all the best and, again, perhaps he'll be back one day.