Aston Villa banter 2

18 Jan 2026 19:57:02
Tired legs tired minds and no reinforcements .
Got back just in time to see the interview with Emery, a picture of frustration UTV

18 Jan 2026 20:53:12
Just seen his interview he looked very frustrated, here’s hoping the malen money can be reinvested and wasn’t just a necessity to comply with rules, I’ve a sneaky feeling we won’t be able to spend enough to reinforce the squad, the bench today looked very poor on paper, fingers crossed Emery was just frustrated with the result and nothing more.

18 Jan 2026 23:45:29
Whack Emery knows, if he goes elsewhere he will have to tow their line . Perhaps get money to spend, but wouldn’t like being told what to do with it . These financial restrictions are killing teams like Villa UTV

18 Jan 2026 19:09:43
I think it's safe to say reading other fan forums the Villa faithful are unhappy. Not just regarding today's game but the situation we've found ourselves in.
Critical injuries to key players, the untimely sale of Malen (who scored for Roma btw).
The £25m wasted on Guessand.
PSR.
Lack of signings (linked to PSR obviously)
I said it in the week, we've got 7 games in 23 days after today. It's make or break and we're creaking.

I'll finish on a positive, George Hemmings looked good when he came on. Just need to find 3 or 4 others to plug the gaps.

UTFV!

18 Jan 2026 18:46:21
PSR and squad depth lacking McGuinn big loss inject first half Torres absolute shocking at the back Martínez should have caught the ball lack of urgency when going forward let's hope the Monchi replacement has a few irons on the go before the window shuts.

18 Jan 2026 20:15:52
Not for the first time I have been consistent on Torres, Lindaloff is better by a mile and Mings is a safer bet, so Tom you will soon been a minority Torres is not good enough as a central defender. Moyes targeted his heading ability from the kick off and throughout the game. At best he is back up. I heard a fan in front of me saying we sold the wrong striker, Watkins was again poor, not in his own I agree. Who ever sanctioned Malens sale before we at least got an adequate replacement should be made to tell us why, forget PSR this just a foolish and reckless decision. Injuries have obviously hurt us but my worry is that every team will now have sussed Moyes tactics today.

This ridiculously slow play from our defence needs modifying we are far too easy to play against. Mcginn was obviously missed and certainly impacted our play. Our bench today was not a solution to up our attacking options when we went behind. We have a lot of games coming up and any repeat of today's woeful performance will see us slipping down the table and I genuinely think top 5 could be in serious jeopardy. Emery will obviously address today's shortcomings unfortunately I don't think we have the players at the moment to achieve anything. Hope I'm way off the mark unfortunately I don't think I am.

18 Jan 2026 22:13:20
Scotty remind me how many games have we lost recently? we can’t be 100% every game this result was bound to happen sometime. Re Torres, whatever you or I think Torres will be Emery’s first choice at left centre back for his ability to bring the ball out from the back.

19 Jan 2026 11:29:00
LOTM, my concern is what we are going to lose in the future, Passing a ball is not enough for a top premier league defender, defender being the operative word, Torres is not a good enough defender and his passing often isn't that good, we looked more stable at the back with Lindaloff.

18 Jan 2026 18:40:09
Very poor performance today.Only one who can hold their head high is the young las Hemmings when he came on.
Still its been a fantastic season so far I will not knock them one bit unlike some on here who seem to revel when we lose so they can be on the told you so bandwagon!

18 Jan 2026 19:16:07
I’m with you 100% Daz how we are competing with the big boys is beyond me to be honest. I read an article the other day which says that our net transfer outlay since Emery took charge is circa £40 million which is next to nothing compared with most other clubs, but our salary costs have gone through the roof and with SCR that’s what’s killing us and will for a while I fear.

18 Jan 2026 19:18:00
I thought matsan did well?

18 Jan 2026 18:34:32
So Mr Watkins was very vocal on behalf of the team recently regarding atmosphere, fans leaving early etc. Be interesting to see if he uses his platform this evening apologising on behalf of the team? I won't hold my breath.

Really poor that was, Torres and Martinez between them for the goal is pony.

We never looked like cutting them open at any point.

I understand Guessand has just landed back from AFCON but he's absolutely dreadful, between Monchi and Emery they've had an absolute howler signing him. We are very vocal regarding PSR restricting us and it's frustrating but the summer window signing Sancho on a massive wage, Elliot waste of ink on the contract and Guessand we really have to look at ourselves and our recruitment. Everyone will blame Monchi but Emery has final say on the everything football related so he has to take responsibility also for these players lack of impact and contribution.

Malen scored for Roma also just to top it off.

18 Jan 2026 18:25:32
It's going to be fun on here tonight!

18 Jan 2026 18:37:49
Soon as maginn went off we started looking vulnerable in midfield, luckily my pager went off after 25 mins so I missed the rest of the game,

18 Jan 2026 18:41:23
Not going to get too low as we are in the main having a superb season.

It just frustrates me when Watkins comes out having a dig at the fans recently on behalf of the squad yet they churn that out tiday.

I personally am perplexed regarding our recruitment strategy, I understand we can't just spend what we want when we want but as a club we have got our recruitment horrendously wrong this season and I think it may start to tell the deeper we go into the season.

Monchi will get the blame and don't get me wrong he's got to shoulder responsibility for sure but Unai runs the show and has final say on all football related matters and between them signing Elliot, Sancho and Guessand we've self harmed with PSR massively.
Then this window up to now we've signed shall we say prospects for the years ahead but seem to have no sense of urgency to assist us in the here and now.

18 Jan 2026 20:22:51
Sorry you know UE has the final say on everything, how? What's the based on?

When Monchi was sacked it was written in a number of places that Emery was provided a list of players and he'd mark next to the ones he liked the best/ wanted the most? Didn't suggest anything like him having the final say kind of actually implies the opposite.
There's a list of targets and who we get in is almost a lottery based on finances and other deals.

Guessand could've been 9th on a list of 10 for all we know, it seems baseless and wild to imply he was managers choice.

18 Jan 2026 21:18:22
I know because our structure was released fairly recently and Monchi and now Olabe report into Emery not the other way round.

When Emery is linked elsewhere by the media a sizeable chunk of our fanbase including yourself I'd imagine use the excuse "why would he go when he has full control of everything"

When there's a recruitment issue that doesn't work out the narrative changes to "Monchis fault"

Can't have it both ways unfortunately.

The guys been absolutely unreal for us and we wouldn't be where we are without him but he makes mistakes.

Emery paid crazy money at Arsenal for Pepe so let's not act like he gets everything right.

18 Jan 2026 18:23:34
Positives: The lad Hemmings.
Negatives: almost everything else.

18 Jan 2026 18:05:40
If ever there was a game screaming out for Malen, it's today

18 Jan 2026 18:25:40
Be careful. Don’t be negative or you’ll have some having a go at you.

18 Jan 2026 17:34:45
Worst half this season, we could easily be two down, Konsa bordering on Reckless, we may well get what we destin the second half, nothing on the bench if we get in trouble.

18 Jan 2026 18:27:55
It just had that feeling today.
Where we go from here.
7 games in 23 days now and the squad is looking wafer thin.
Makes the sake of Malen even more extraordinary, certainly the timing of it.

18 Jan 2026 18:38:29
The timing was odd but there must be some reason for it

18 Jan 2026 17:03:43
Stand by what I said after 2 games gusann is the worse player I have ever seen guys not got a clue

18 Jan 2026 17:29:04
£26m fee
£75k a week
Enough said

18 Jan 2026 17:46:50
Absolute waste of a shirt lazy slow and hasn’t got a clue what to do when he gets the ball what a clown problem is we spent close to 30m on this guy