Unai Emery

[LeonW]

The 4th placed finish that involved a free scoring team but a leaky defence . And since Torres has regressed , badly , cost us huge in the big games this season . Mings is the better CB and i think we need a strong defence / foundation if we want to win things. Mings is 32 so won't be here much longer so we need to find a replacement as imho Torres isn't it , he's too weak defensively .

The purpose of a football team, as a group, is to win games and amass points, that team got the most points we scored in a season this century, take the blinkers off and drop this silly little crusade you 're on because it's fucking boring.

You're boring . Very .
If Mings had stayed fit that season , we would probably have won the league .

No disrespect mate, but 'probably' is quite a leap.

I feel quite confident in boldly predicting that we would not have won the league if Mings had stayed fit. As much as I rate Mings (and I do) he seems to have gained near mythical powers the less he plays.

[algy]

I’m pretty confident if we’d played Mings we’d have beaten Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Semi Final, and we’d have beaten PSG in Paris. And we’d have won every game in 2025 and so won the league. And having won the treble, it’d cause ructions across Europe and inspire the Ukrainians to kick 7 shades out of a demoralised Putin (who quite obviously supports Small Heath and would be devastated).

[RamboandBruno]

I’m pretty confident if we’d played Mings we’d have beaten Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Semi Final, and we’d have beaten PSG in Paris. And we’d have won every game in 2025 and so won the league. And having won the treble, it’d cause ructions across Europe and inspire the Ukrainians to kick 7 shades out of a demoralised Putin (who quite obviously supports Small Heath and would be devastated).

Its a missed opportunity for not only Aston Villa but the world. Im sure there must be some statistics that prove Torres appearances for us align with more days of international conflict, the shit bastard.

[Martyn Smith]

I’m pretty confident if we’d played Mings we’d have beaten Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Semi Final, and we’d have beaten PSG in Paris. And we’d have won every game in 2025 and so won the league. And having won the treble, it’d cause ructions across Europe and inspire the Ukrainians to kick 7 shades out of a demoralised Putin (who quite obviously supports Small Heath and would be devastated).

Its a missed opportunity for not only Aston Villa but the world. Im sure there must be some statistics that prove Torres appearances for us align with more days of international conflict, the shit bastard.

Trying to find a way of working 'if only we'd voted for Jeremy Corbyn in 2019' in here. Give me time

[Drummond]

You just did.

[Brazilian Villain]

Its a missed opportunity for not only Aston Villa but the world. Im sure there must be some statistics that prove Torres appearances for us align with more days of international conflict, the shit bastard.

Wouldn't surprise me, his first name is pronounced POW.

[DB]

I do  wonder if Emery will change the way we play next season i.e. the slow passing around the back which is becoming less fashionable which is one area that Torres does well.

[Percy McCarthy]

I'll let the stats do the talking , even if they are "superficial" . I suppose the end of season league table is superficial too .

Like the one in which a near-everpresent Pau Torres helped his team to 4th?

Despite a drop-off in the points-per-game we got under Emery (with Mings) the season before.

And conceding 15 more goals than the team from the year before, which had some clown called Steven Gerrard “managing” it for the first 11 games.

[PaulWinch again]

Again, this doesn’t really work if you try to zero it in on one player. There are so many variables, we lost half the games Ty started in the Champions League didn’t we? Doesn’t mean he’s materially worse.

[pauliewalnuts]

Again, this doesn’t really work if you try to zero it in on one player. There are so many variables, we lost half the games Ty started in the Champions League didn’t we? Doesn’t mean he’s materially worse.

Well, he was directly responsible for one of them, too, if we're going to be making these zeroing-in accusations.

[Percy McCarthy]

Again, this doesn’t really work if you try to zero it in on one player. There are so many variables, we lost half the games Ty started in the Champions League didn’t we? Doesn’t mean he’s materially worse.

Whoops! Was just joining in with the spirit of Pau getting the credit for us finishing fourth, despite the defence being quite a bit worse at the apparently meaningless measure of stopping the ball going in our goal.

[PaulWinch again]

Not meaningless clearly, Pau gets credit for us finishing 4th because he played pretty much all the games that got us 4th. That doesn’t mean he’s gets all the credit - that’d be idiotic, but he played an important part in the team. That’s the problem with all the arguments against him, because people tend to try and boil it down to a him versus Ty comparison over time and it doesn’t really work.

[PaulWinch again]

Again, this doesn’t really work if you try to zero it in on one player. There are so many variables, we lost half the games Ty started in the Champions League didn’t we? Doesn’t mean he’s materially worse.

Well, he was directly responsible for one of them, too, if we're going to be making these zeroing-in accusations.

Well yeah, which it’s why it’s daft. I don’t think that or the fact we played badly and lost 1-0 to Monaco means we can’t function as a team with Ty in it. But you can guarantee you swap Pau into those games and we lose them both 1-0, it’s evidence we can’t defend and keep clean sheets with him playing.

And just to reiterate my view, I don’t think Pau has had a particularly good season. I just don’t think that makes him a bad player. Equally I like Ty, but I think these seemingly unimpeachable status he’s got whilst out is slightly overdoing it. He’s a good defender and a top bloke.

[Ian.]

This has to be the longest running battle since the battle of Verdun.

[VillaTim]

It's just as important to factor in the leadership and communication we have with Mings at the back which should not be underestimated, plus a bit of grit too . My concern with Torres is we will always be vulnerable to conceding With him , I mean palace the 1st goal Jesus and the PSG games , we were 1-5 down at one stage again through a poor defence that lacked a leader in there .