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TriumphStag3.0V8 said:
Well, he has certainly made a good start. All of a sudden our "rubbish" players look decent. Played Man U off the park for the majority of that. 3-1..... 27 years since we last beat them at Villa Park. Every player was brilliant today.
I went to the game as I am in Brum for a couple of days, my best pal of 40yrs wasn't able to make it so bunged me his season ticket, so it was a nice Quite the game for me to show my face at VP in person for the first time this season.
I'm still undecided if this was a great Villa win or a bang average Man Utd side there for the taking. I've just become so used to not beating them at home I've become accustomed to just accept it. They didn't look anything special, but we played with a lot of energy, teamwork and commitment. If Emery can bring that to every game we will soon be flying.
Two league games, two wins for Emery, not a bad start. We'll gloss over the traditional League Cup exist to Man U, 'twas ever thus!
I'm impressed with Emery so far - a Gerrard team would have lost both of those games. I'm hoping that the World Cup break gives us a really positive period for our players to really take on board his mentality and climb the table. A top half of the table finish would not seem out of reach with the players and resources available.
In other Villa news, John Carew sent to prison for 14 months in his native Norway for tax evasion on his overseas income. Eek! I bet there's a few current and ex-players looking over their shoulder at this.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/artic...
I'm impressed with Emery so far - a Gerrard team would have lost both of those games. I'm hoping that the World Cup break gives us a really positive period for our players to really take on board his mentality and climb the table. A top half of the table finish would not seem out of reach with the players and resources available.
In other Villa news, John Carew sent to prison for 14 months in his native Norway for tax evasion on his overseas income. Eek! I bet there's a few current and ex-players looking over their shoulder at this.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/artic...
PurpleTurtle said:
Two league games, two wins for Emery, not a bad start. We'll gloss over the traditional League Cup exist to Man U, 'twas ever thus!
I'm impressed with Emery so far - a Gerrard team would have lost both of those games. I'm hoping that the World Cup break gives us a really positive period for our players to really take on board his mentality and climb the table. A top half of the table finish would not seem out of reach with the players and resources available.
In other Villa news, John Carew sent to prison for 14 months in his native Norway for tax evasion on his overseas income. Eek! I bet there's a few current and ex-players looking over their shoulder at this.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/artic...
Yup, massive improvement in a couple of weeks. We absolutely sI'm impressed with Emery so far - a Gerrard team would have lost both of those games. I'm hoping that the World Cup break gives us a really positive period for our players to really take on board his mentality and climb the table. A top half of the table finish would not seem out of reach with the players and resources available.
In other Villa news, John Carew sent to prison for 14 months in his native Norway for tax evasion on his overseas income. Eek! I bet there's a few current and ex-players looking over their shoulder at this.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/artic...
thoused our way to the win against Brighton - whilst I would prefer us to be free-flowing proponents of the beautiful game, it is good that we can do the necessary to shut a game down. The league cup game was an utter defensive shambles. At least Emery got to see some of the bad as well as the good. Disappointing but not going to worry too much about it. Climbing away from any relegation risk has to be the primary concern now.
Much as I despise the idea of a World Cup in Qatar, in the middle of the season it does us a massive favour. Most of our players will not be going (only Cash, Martinez, Bednarek, Dendonker) so Emery will have 5 weeks with the team to work on tactics and mindset, plus hopefully a fresh and rested squad for the second half of the season.
Really disappointed in Carew
Villa legend and one of the best chants (behind McGrath, obvs)
Not much chatter in here for while. We've had an excellent run of league form sandwiched between two cup games of disappointment and absolute despair which put us completely out of winning a trophy this year.
The Stevenage game really outed the frauds in the squad to Unai I think, Coutinho was an absolute disaster in that one and really needs to move on or prove himself now.
Other than cup disappointment the league form is inspiring, we play with an identity and grit now and I hope we can find a few transfers in the summer to properly make a push up the table and fight for a big cup run.
The Stevenage game really outed the frauds in the squad to Unai I think, Coutinho was an absolute disaster in that one and really needs to move on or prove himself now.
Other than cup disappointment the league form is inspiring, we play with an identity and grit now and I hope we can find a few transfers in the summer to properly make a push up the table and fight for a big cup run.
Yes I bought my whole family tickets to the Stevenage game as Christmas presents, safe in the knowledge that Villa would roll them over and we would all go home happy…
Sure it was a changed team, but it was still full of experienced Premier League professionals. Coutinho was indeed the stand-out failure. How he couldn’t impose himself and influence the game at home to 4th tier opposition is beyond me. He must have hit 4 or 5 right-footed shots from outside the box, all of which went wildly high and wide of the goal.
Despite the embarrassment and humiliation of the result, you have to say that Villa were extremely unlucky to lose that match. Stevenage offered next to nothing for most of the game and just packed the defence, even after going a goal down. It was just one of those days: we huffed and puffed but never got the second goal; they hung on until we gifted them two late defensive blunders and that was that. Maybe if we had just gone a bit more direct and put in a few crosses, instead of trying to thread the eye of a needle with every attack, things might have turned out differently.
Nevertheless , I’m glad to see it doesn’t seem to have de-railed our Premier League form, which has to take priority. I bet we would have lost away at Stoke in Round 4 anyway!
Sure it was a changed team, but it was still full of experienced Premier League professionals. Coutinho was indeed the stand-out failure. How he couldn’t impose himself and influence the game at home to 4th tier opposition is beyond me. He must have hit 4 or 5 right-footed shots from outside the box, all of which went wildly high and wide of the goal.
Despite the embarrassment and humiliation of the result, you have to say that Villa were extremely unlucky to lose that match. Stevenage offered next to nothing for most of the game and just packed the defence, even after going a goal down. It was just one of those days: we huffed and puffed but never got the second goal; they hung on until we gifted them two late defensive blunders and that was that. Maybe if we had just gone a bit more direct and put in a few crosses, instead of trying to thread the eye of a needle with every attack, things might have turned out differently.
Nevertheless , I’m glad to see it doesn’t seem to have de-railed our Premier League form, which has to take priority. I bet we would have lost away at Stoke in Round 4 anyway!
Agreed, Stevenage was a clusterfk, and very disappointing, however I am not going to get too het up on it. Overall our league form is excellent since Unai joined and the focus can now be on climbing the league. Dare I say it there is a very slim chance of us scraping a European place this season.
Even if we don't, a top 10 finish would be an amazing result given where we were when Unai joined. To repair the damage done by Gerrard so quickly is exceptional.
I agree that Coutinho has to go, he looks done, which is a real shame as I would have loved to see him rekindle his career with us - he was an excellent player and it is sad to see him done before he hits 30.
Overall though Unai has now had plenty of time to assess the good and the bad in our squad. I have faith in him to take us to the next level so I would expect a lot of ins and outs in the summer (I am still expecting a couple of new signings before the window closes).
Really looking forward to the rest of the season and next season should be brilliant.
k, and very disappointing, however I am not going to get too het up on it. Overall our league form is excellent since Unai joined and the focus can now be on climbing the league. Dare I say it there is a very slim chance of us scraping a European place this season.Even if we don't, a top 10 finish would be an amazing result given where we were when Unai joined. To repair the damage done by Gerrard so quickly is exceptional.
I agree that Coutinho has to go, he looks done, which is a real shame as I would have loved to see him rekindle his career with us - he was an excellent player and it is sad to see him done before he hits 30.
Overall though Unai has now had plenty of time to assess the good and the bad in our squad. I have faith in him to take us to the next level so I would expect a lot of ins and outs in the summer (I am still expecting a couple of new signings before the window closes).
Really looking forward to the rest of the season and next season should be brilliant.
Spanna said:
Not much chatter in here for while. We've had an excellent run of league form sandwiched between two cup games of disappointment and absolute despair which put us completely out of winning a trophy this year.
The Stevenage game really outed the frauds in the squad to Unai I think, Coutinho was an absolute disaster in that one and really needs to move on or prove himself now.
Other than cup disappointment the league form is inspiring, we play with an identity and grit now and I hope we can find a few transfers in the summer to properly make a push up the table and fight for a big cup run.
I think we're all just a bit surprised at how Emery has turned our form around in the league so quickly. The Stevenage game really outed the frauds in the squad to Unai I think, Coutinho was an absolute disaster in that one and really needs to move on or prove himself now.
Other than cup disappointment the league form is inspiring, we play with an identity and grit now and I hope we can find a few transfers in the summer to properly make a push up the table and fight for a big cup run.
Under Gerrard it was "who are we going to lose to this weekend?".
Under Emery it is "we are going to beat this lot this weekend".
He's instilled a much more cohesive style of play, the players seem to enjoy playing to it, results are coming from it. The Stevenage game was a disaster and I'm convinced that Robin Olsen (6 defeats in 7 starts, I believe) is just not up to the job. Still, we're unlikely to win the FA Cup so a customary third round exit was no real shocker, nice as it is to go on a cup run.
I was disappointed that we sold Ings to West Ham, but see that after playing 18 minutes of his debut there he has picked up a(nother) knee injury which has him out for at least two games. I have been a fan of him wherever he has played and wanted him to be starting more games, alas not to be. There's still a week of the transfer window open, interesting to see who else we sign.
Jhon Duran is a completely unknown quantity, let's hope he endears himself to the Villa faithful as much as our previous Colombian Juan Pablo Angel did.
On that note, this video on the Villa socials is absolutely great, what a fantastic welcome for him!
https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1617562805...
Nice result against Chelsea, our first victory there since 2011 (noting we spent a few seasons in the Championship in the intervening years!)
It shows you what a funny old game football is. When we were looking for a replacement for Gerrard, Potter's name was in the frame to come to Villa Park, I think most people were impressed at his achievements at Brighton and I must admit to have been a teeny bit disappointed that he (understandably) chose Chelsea over Villa and we were 'left' with Emery. At the time I felt we had somehow lost out there.
Six months on, how things change. I absolutely love the winning mentality that Emery has instilled in this squad.
Can we make a Europa League place this season? Nobody expected it but it is certainly achievable.
It shows you what a funny old game football is. When we were looking for a replacement for Gerrard, Potter's name was in the frame to come to Villa Park, I think most people were impressed at his achievements at Brighton and I must admit to have been a teeny bit disappointed that he (understandably) chose Chelsea over Villa and we were 'left' with Emery. At the time I felt we had somehow lost out there.
Six months on, how things change. I absolutely love the winning mentality that Emery has instilled in this squad.
Can we make a Europa League place this season? Nobody expected it but it is certainly achievable.
Indeed. Saturday's game was a 6-pointer. Against Chelsea!!!! Never thought I would have said that earlier this season. It was a massive win.
Unai has worked wonders and long may it continue. I would have taken Potter as Villa manager after Gerrard, mind you I would have considered a packet of cold chips to be an improvement on Gerrard. I was surprised that Potter went to Chelsea as I didn't think he was quite that level.
I didn't think of Unai as anything of a consolation prize. He was my first choice out of the names being suggested.
The danger now with so many clubs looking for a manager is that he is likely to be name-dropped for all of them. I don't think he will leave us though - I think he realises he is onto a good thing in terms of size of club, potential and backing and can build something here. He also seems quite loyal so I expect him to be here for a long time.
European places?? Certainly possible at this point. 3 weeks ago, I would have thought no chance, but then 6 weeks ago, I would have thought a top half finish was a stretch.
Unai has worked wonders and long may it continue. I would have taken Potter as Villa manager after Gerrard, mind you I would have considered a packet of cold chips to be an improvement on Gerrard. I was surprised that Potter went to Chelsea as I didn't think he was quite that level.
I didn't think of Unai as anything of a consolation prize. He was my first choice out of the names being suggested.
The danger now with so many clubs looking for a manager is that he is likely to be name-dropped for all of them. I don't think he will leave us though - I think he realises he is onto a good thing in terms of size of club, potential and backing and can build something here. He also seems quite loyal so I expect him to be here for a long time.
European places?? Certainly possible at this point. 3 weeks ago, I would have thought no chance, but then 6 weeks ago, I would have thought a top half finish was a stretch.
Took this picture from the Doug Ellis stand, slightly in disbelief as much as pride. The performance was phenomenal where most thought this was the game that would be our undoing and atmosphere was fantastic.
Spurs lost, putting us within 3 points of them, Brighton do have 2 games in hand on us!
Spanna said:
Took this picture from the Doug Ellis stand, slightly in disbelief as much as pride. The performance was phenomenal where most thought this was the game that would be our undoing and atmosphere was fantastic.
Spurs lost, putting us within 3 points of them, Brighton do have 2 games in hand on us!
Adam91_ said:
Spanna said:
Unreal result. Can't see Villa finishing above Brighton or Liverpool tbh. Hopefully Tottenham continue to falter though and we finish above them! Would be ecstatic with 6th though!Edited by Gad-Westy on Wednesday 19th April 06:08
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