17 Sep 2026 12:27:13
I heard the same comment a couple of times on commentary last night and it certainly makes you think, it was said a lot of the new players are now fit, but they are not Emery fit. He obviously has high standards and won't let them totally loose as regular starters until he is 100% happy. It certainly is a right plan if it works, time will tell.
Personally I'm seeing a few "green shoots" especially with the youngsters. We all knew it was going to take time and that is still the case, One more game and the international break will be welcome. October could well tell us if we can reach for the stars again this season,or will we be ok treading water until things gel.
18 Sep 2026 14:10:18
Agree there are indeed green shoots and this squad is now much younger (and cheaper) and full of potential.but that potential could take a while to even get close to being realised.
Personally, I'm not expecting Villa to get in the top 8 this season, with the new spine being established and a stadium under construction, but as long as we see growth from some of the youngsters and build some momentum towards the back end of the season we could be lucky enough to push for Europe if teams are all taking points off each other.
Either way, I just hope Villa fans stick with the team, appreciate the strategy and don't throw toys out of the pram as we've seen in the past. Sometimes you have to take one step back to take two steps forward.
18 Sep 2026 14:25:05
DBS, which if not all of the new boys would you play tomorrow, left back is obvious.
18 Sep 2026 16:38:17
Personally, I'd like to see Susuki, Harwood-Bellis, Ruggeri, Gomez, Manzambi, Alysson & Jackson start against Spurs, but as Emery has said, several players are at several stages in terms of fitness and tactical acclimatisation, so for now I'm happy to trust his judgement. The stupid thing to do now would be to rush someone who's not fit and add to injuries, or to rush someone who's not ready tactically and knock their confidence.
We all want Villa to win every week and we can all play around with names on paper, but actual coaching and managing is far more complex.Emery is a master of the longer term vision, so we just need to assume that he's making the best decisions for the season, not just this week.