Unai Emery

[ChicagoLion]

At least the speculation about him going to Manure or anyone else will ease up.

[Beard82]

What happened to alyson - I thought he’s looked good when he played and not crippled by lack of confidence. 

[LeeS]

What happened to alyson - I thought he’s looked good when he played and not crippled by lack of confidence.

He’ll be out on loan at Swindon soon

[brontebilly]

When it went 1-1, we were in the accendency and were looking really good. Emery had to give SJM a break and sadly Bailey was deemed to be the only option. I don't think we'll see Bailey again this season now that Sancho can play from now in.

Sancho is useless.

[Ozzjim]

He's too stubborn for his own good. Bailey shouldn't have even been a bench option.

[brontebilly]

Obvious sub at the time was to bring Luiz on and push Barkley forward. Maatsen should have come on at same time. Leaving Luiz and Maatsen on the bench until after it went 3-1 was idiotic.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

When you see Bailey ambling around it makes you wonder why Jomoh-Aloba was sent out on loan. Emery doesn’t really trust kids but surely he’d be a better option at the moment than a few who seem to be welded into the team.

[SamTheMouse]

Obvious sub at the time was to bring Luiz on and push Barkley forward. Maatsen should have come on at same time. Leaving Luiz and Maatsen on the bench until after it went 3-1 was idiotic.

Agreed. Control of the middle is essential to the way we play. In previous games when he's taken Luiz off, we went to pieces pretty much straight away. When McGinn went off, Doug should have come on. Not fucking Bailey.

[Stu]

Just want to go on record that no matter how shit we are right now, Emery has enormous amounts of credit in the bank, and have full confidence in him being the man to turn it around.

Yeah same. It’s a difficult time, if we don’t get CL it’s down to him as well as the players, in which case he’s got to take control of an almost full squad rebuild. Not sure who else I’d want doing that.

[TheToffnar]

Spot on. For all the criticism rightly being leveled at him, I think it goes without saying most of us would want him at the wheel for a rebuild with Olabe, as well as being on the touchline next season for us.

[achilles]

Why did we sign Tammy Abraham, who was desperate to sign for us, taking a pay cut in the process and refusing offers from elsewhere and NOT play him? So he signs for us, full of enthusiasm and bursting a gut to play for us and he sits on the bench; confidence and enthusiasm waning every single minute as he watches the player he is in direct competition for a place continually have a ‘stinker’ game after game. Then when he gets his chance at the end of the game he is supposed to be our saviour, it would be nice but players are only human!

Can we stop buying/loaning players who are not going to play in the first team immediately!

[Monty]

It's perfectly fine for players to take time to adapt in teams with very particular tactical setups.

[LeeS]

Is there an argument that Villa are producing a superb crop of Academy graduates and that the Emery reign is squandering them?

I’d love to see a couple of them given a chance. It’s like a total blind spot for him.

[Drummond]

I read an interesting point over the weekend, though can't remember where, that talked about Watkins and Buendia (and maybe Bailey) as being really good in training, putting in loads of effort and being rewarded with starts.

I think with Watkins it's the yips. With Buendia, he looks a bit lost sometimes, isolated out of possession and not sure who to close down, and crowded off the ball when in possession.

Guardiola made a good point about Haaland being off form this calendar year, scoring 3 in 12. It's the hardest position on the pitch, being marked by defenders and central midfielders, and I think Watkins is struggling with that, and panicking. Bailey just gets two defenders on him, if we moved the ball with pace (or had Tielemans back to play through much faster) I think Bailey would find himself with more space and would do better (not that it's difficult to do that).

We're on a poor run, because we have had our three best midfielders out and now have arguably our player of the season, Cash, also out. It's been a perfect storm and one that we're trying to stay afloat in.

[Yeltzbagger]

Is there an argument that Villa are producing a superb crop of Academy graduates and that the Emery reign is squandering them?

I’d love to see a couple of them given a chance. It’s like a total blind spot for him.

I couldn't agree more. We've won the Youth Cup twice in 5 years and all we have produced so far is Bogarde and Iroegbunam as Premier League players. Unai gave Hemmings one chance, took him off at half time and he hasn't played a minute since. Other clubs bring on their kids and I think "Why can't we? We won the youth cup and league double last season".