Aston Villa v Fulham pre match chat - Tuesday, 25th - 7.45pm

[Risso]

Any updates on cash/kamara from the presser?

Actually, there's a specific injury update on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1650486290981310470/photo/2

All still out. That 10-14 days estimate was bang wrong for all of them

[Towser]

[Drummond]

Not great re Martinez.

[Risso]

Bloody hell, Emery said that all three (Cash, Kamara, Coutinho) were 10-14 days away from being available, and that was over two weeks ago now, and yet all three appear to be nowhere near returning.

[Drummond]

Bloody hell, Emery said that all three (Cash, Kamara, Coutinho) were 10-14 days away from being available, and that was over two weeks ago now, and yet all three appear to be nowhere near returning.

Emery and his lying ways out!

[Risso]

It's just odd, you'd have hoped that at least one of them would have been on track.

[Baldy]

It's just odd, you'd have hoped that at least one of them would have been on track.

Possibly brought Kamara back too early last time and are now being ultra, ultra, ultra cautious.

FFS

[LeeB]

It's just odd, you'd have hoped that at least one of them would have been on track.

There's some kind of injury timeframe miasma that affects every manager in Bodymoor Heath

[paul_e]

Cash is the really strange one from that list, the talk from both Poland and the club suggested he'd be out for about 3 weeks (both in timesclaes they gave and the recovery time for the injury they said he'd suffered) meaning he would've been an outside bet for Newcastle and should've been available for Brentford. for it to now look like he might not be back until May is pretty strange.

The other one that worries me is Coutinho who just seems to have disappeared after his best performance of the season, which is really frustrating.

[Chris Smith]

Bloody hell, Emery said that all three (Cash, Kamara, Coutinho) were 10-14 days away from being available, and that was over two weeks ago now, and yet all three appear to be nowhere near returning.

Not being available tomorrow doesn’t equate to ‘nowhere near’ though does it?

If they’re not 100% then better to not risk them for a home game against Fulham to try to make sure they’re ready for a much tougher game at the weekend.

[Drummond]

Presser summary from the Villa app.

Unai Emery was in front of the cameras at Bodymoor Heath on Monday afternoon for his pre-match press conference.

The Aston Villa head coach was quizzed on several topics as he previewed his team's Premier League clash against Fulham.

Here's what he had to say...

On team news...
“Hopefully, Emiliano is ready for tomorrow.

“We are going to know tomorrow morning when we meet to prepare for the match.

“The other players are not players to add for tomorrow, those who are now injured are progressing well but are not ready for tomorrow yet.”

On his philosophy…
“I need to play under pressure because, to me, to play under pressure means you can achieve and you can be successful in your career.

“Trying to be positive when you’re not winning, you have to be. Practice, practice, practice every day and try to get better every day.

“Then, when you are facing each match, try to play thinking this is the most difficult match of your life. That is my idea to create here.

“First is trying to face each match feeling like you have to do your best performance and respecting the opponent. At the end, when you are playing under pressure you are changing it being positive because you have prepared for it.

“That is a long, long process with a lot of practice, analysis, and you need a lot of conversation with them to convince them to do it.”

On Douglas Luiz’s importance…
“His qualities are necessary for us and for the idea I have to create a team, it’s very important. He’s very important and he has big potential.

“He can progress more. I’m trying every day to support him and to push him to do one more step ahead as a player. He’s doing it and he’s working very well.

“He is taking responsibility on the pitch like I want. We are being demanding of him to do more because he can and he can take steps ahead.

“His qualities are very important for the idea I want to create in this team. I want to get the best of him for us.”

On Fulham…
“I like their coach a lot. (Marco) Silva is a very good coach. He’s very experienced here in the Premier League and has been successful.

“They are a very organised team. I try to take my personal challenges and to play against them – how we can play against them, how we will be organised against them offensively and defensively, how we can perform against the very good players they have.

“As a coach, tactically, I expect a lot from them.”

He added: “They have a lot of different, tactical ways to play against us.  For us, tomorrow will be a very difficult match.

“After the last matches we played at home, keeping four clean sheets and playing very well against Newcastle, they are going to respect us more than normal.

“They are going to face us being strong. It’s going to be a good match for me, our players and our supporters facing them and showing how we can add to the last matches.”

[Risso]

Bloody hell, Emery said that all three (Cash, Kamara, Coutinho) were 10-14 days away from being available, and that was over two weeks ago now, and yet all three appear to be nowhere near returning.

Not being available tomorrow doesn’t equate to ‘nowhere near’ though does it?

If they’re not 100% then better to not risk them for a home game against Fulham to try to make sure they’re ready for a much tougher game at the weekend.

They've not even been pictured training, so can't think that they'll be close to being available.

[Smithy]

Being light in numbers hasn't really hurt us on the pitch yet, given we are without four players who were first-team regulars when fit.  That surely won't last until the end of the season. There are a couple of positions now where our cover on the bench is really light, and the drop off in standard if we lose anyone from our first 11 (which pretty much picks itself) is getting quite big.  I really hope a couple of those players are back and available by the weekend.

[brontebilly]

Out of the four regulars missing, I don't think Coutinho or Bailey have a future with us past the summer. Kamara is obviously a big loss but we needed to get a good look at the Donk anyway. Cash is the one we are badly missing right now as a 37 year old full back shouldn't be playing as many PL games in quick succession. Emery might be tempted to replace both full backs tomorrow night just to freshen the team up.

I'm surprised that we haven't seen a minute of Carlos as of yet since his return to the squad.

[LeeB]

The thing I guess for Carlos is now he's fit again he's got to learn the 'Emery Way' too.