05 Mar 2026 09:10:25
I think we need a little perspective here. So we are on a bad run, no question, and the football isn’t great but we were on a bad run at the start of the season and the manager turned it around and we went on that amazing unbeaten run who's to say we won’t do that again when Tielemans, and McGinn come back into the starting XI. Apart from say Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal if you took your first XI’s midfield out of any of the other Premiership sides would it affect results? Without a doubt it would.
I really don’t get the criticism re the manager's transfer business; sure, some of it hasn’t been great but then no manager ever gets it right 100% of the time, but Unai is responsible for Tielemans, Rogers, Duran, Diaby, Malen, Torres and in three years that’s not bad business in my opinion. As for the view that we won’t win anything with Emery in charge, he is recognised as one of the best coaches in world football.
He is operating in a market where one hand is tied behind his back because of PSR/SCR issues and yet we will have qualified for Europe every year the guy's been in charge, sure we want to win things but we are competing with clubs whose financial clout is much greater than ours and if we are honest we have been punching above our weight every year Unai has been in charge. We need to remember where the club was heading before Unai took charge and be careful what we wish for. You only have to look at what’s happened to Spurs to see what can happen if your managerial appointments don’t work! I don’t believe if you put Arteta, Pep or Klopp in charge of us they would achieve more than Unai has done. The team needs us all to get behind them between now and the end of the season. In Unai we trust (At least I do) UTV.
05 Mar 2026 09:47:44
I agree, Mings.
05 Mar 2026 10:51:55
Mings, I was just going to post a similar thing. The break has come at a good time for us. Ginny should be back and Tielemans not long after; it gives us time to regroup. Once again, results in a way have been going our way. If they hadn’t, we really could be in trouble.
Emery surely must realise that plan A, without essential players, is not working at the moment.
Against Wolves, then again last night, there was just no bite in midfield. Both teams had more urgency, got to 50-50s first. Hopefully Ginny will bring some of that fight and urgency back. Tielemans, as we know, will bring back his range of passing we have missed.
Regroup, rethink and get some urgency back. UTV
05 Mar 2026 13:21:26
This is 100% Lotm. I cannot wrap my head around some of the "Emery Out" nonsense I've seen over the past week or so.
Villa have to be perfect, on and off the pitch, to compete, and currently we are trying to be perfect without our Rice, Zubamendi and Odegaard, or our Caicedo, Fernandes and Palmer, or our Casimero, Maino and Bruno.
No team would avoid struggling without their 3 core midfield lieutenants, and those teams have built massive squads and outspent Villa ten fold.
What Emery is doing with this team, under these circumstances, is a miracle, and we'll regret it if we hound him out of our club.
05 Mar 2026 13:31:05
Lots of what you guys say is true, but there is nothing making Emery start Watkins and Bailey when he has other players, only Emery. That is where the frustration is coming from, and that is 100% Emery.
You also mentioned 6 successful transfers, 3 of which he has sold, and 2 of which wanted to leave because of Emery's insistence on sticking with a striker who can't score goals.
05 Mar 2026 15:00:15
Watkins has been absolutely integral to our shape since Emery has arrived, Whack, so I can understand why he is being selected to a certain extent and Bailey hugs the touchline (which none of our other players do). Personally, I wouldn't start either, and I'd add Buendia to that list as well (he's better off the bench imo).
But I expect Emery to get this right eventually. Seems like McGinn is back soon, and Tielemans not far behind; they will make a difference. Whether that is enough this season to secure CL football, who knows, but I'm not ready to give up on this team and manager yet.
05 Mar 2026 15:19:13
Watkins frustrates the hell out of me, because he works hard and creates mayhem amongst centre backs, but his first touch is poor, and just recently he seems to be getting caught offside a tad too frequently for my liking. Malen was never going to be a like-for-like replacement; he doesn’t hold the ball up as well, and isn’t big enough to fend off those big, ugly centre halves that most teams have. He is better coming in off the left-hand side, so I get why Unai didn’t start him that often.
However, now we have Abraham, who’s a big guy and does hold up play and brings others into the game, so I don’t understand why there is reluctance to start him. With regard to Sancho v Bailey, both are poor in my opinion, so if the view is Allyson isn’t quite ready to start as yet, then we have got a lot of options now that Guessand is at Palace.
05 Mar 2026 16:39:24
I get that Watkins has been integral to how far we have come, but he's done as a top level striker. He wasn't great last year and just terrible this year, but our midfield were carrying him with goals outside the box when we were on the great run. Those goals have dried up and exposed Ollie for what he currently is (one of the worst strikers in the league).
I agree about Bailey and Buendia not starting.
At the end of the day he can't hide behind psr when he has players fit that can be used instead.
Luiz is not a defensive midfielder, Bogarde would be better there in my opinion. Put Luiz in the 10 position and leave Rogers on the left where he's more effective. If we haven't the players to put someone different on the right, then fair enough, use Bailey or Buendia, but we can't afford 3 passengers, we might get away with one.
Even try Ollie on the right wing, he can't be any worse than as a striker. And, as you say, he's an honest lad, he works hard for the team, but you can't have all our chances falling to him because even when he was scoring regularly he missed 3-4 good chances every game.
If Emery insists on starting him, the rest of the guys need to start ignoring him and just shoot from further out like we started doing in September. We won't score them all, but if the alternative is give it to Ollie so he can dither on it and lose possession, then I know what I'd be doing.