Sir Alex Ferguson explains why Aston Villa impressed him most despite Newcastle thrashing

Sir Alex Ferguson says Aston Villa impressed him most on the opening weekend of the season, despite their heavy defeat at Newcastle.

Unai Emery’s side were put to the sword at St. James’ Park with the Magpies running out convincing 5-1 winners.

Newcastle were in prolific form against Unai Emery’s side

Villa have earned many plaudits since the Spaniard replaced Steven Gerrard as manager last October.

Emery steered the Midlands club from 16th place to a seventh-place finish and qualification for the Europa Conference League.

With the bar set high and the summer acquisitions of Youri Tielemans and Moussa Diaby, Villa are expected to kick on this season.

However, the defeat on Tyneside hasn’t dampened Sir Alex’s view on Emery’s troops, who impressed the legendary manager.

When asked who had impressed him most during the first round of fixtures, the Scot was quick to praise Villa’s style of play.

“To be honest with you, I watched Aston Villa and I can’t believe the scoreline,” Ferguson told USA Network NBC Sports before Manchester United’s clash with Wolves.

“Honestly Aston Villa played fantastic football and just lost to bad goals.

“Newcastle are going to be very difficult to beat, in their own ground in particular, and their manager has done a great job there. It’s a surprising game, football. You can play teams off the pitch and not score – that’s what Aston Villa did.”

Sir Alex heaped praise on Aston Villa despite their heavy defeat

Emery’s side will look to shrug off the defeat when they welcome Everton to Villa Park on Sunday.

Villa will soon find out their opponents for the Europa Conference League play-off round with FC Luzern or Scottish side Hibernian standing in the way of a place in the group stage.