Steve Crossman

They have to be challenging in competitions like this.

They have to be looking for Champions League football all the time.

This is what the fans demand.

This is what the sides of the club demand.

But it's not a given.

I mean, look at what Unai Emery has done to create this.

He took over from Steven Gerrard, I think they were 14th.

just a few points off the relegation zone, having been, I think it was a big defeat at Fulham, was Gerrard's last game in October, November 2022.

And nobody would have said at that point now, this is where Aston Villa would be.

But you have to look at the magic that Unai Emery has weaved, essentially, to get these players, to take them to the next level.

But the thing is, the big thing is now, he wants players now

to be able to improve and they need to be able to do that financially to back him so he's got a massive massively strong hand now in that conversation dion from a forest perspective it was always going to be difficult without morgan gibbs white and he had to be on the bench because of that that horrible facial injury that he got that will have made a big difference that said it just didn't feel from minute one really that they were able to cope with all of this

No, I don't think many would tonight, Steve.

I don't care who it was who had that one goal lead.

OK, so I've got some fans behind me, Steve, enjoying the night.

Well done, you lot.

I just feel that anybody coming into the stadium tonight with this noise, with this atmosphere, would have been hard to handle.

And it wasn't just that, it was the players.

in claret and blue shirts tonight they put a proper shift in tonight's team they did everything correct to a man i said to you before the game when you're in a position like this you look at yourself and you go i need to do my job and those villa players did their job tonight to a man

I think it was within five minutes of getting here, Nick, that you really kind of got the feeling that Aston Villa fans are going to give absolutely everything.