Bizot, Marco Bizot. Phew, good to get that off the chest. Now let’s talk Martinez, Emiliano Martinez.

As birthday timings go, the wantaway Aston Villa goalkeeper turning 33 the day after a transfer to Manchester United failed to materialise – and two days after he was dropped for the Crystal Palace match – was just about the worst timing possible.

Comedic, in fact, as were the flurry of responses to Aston Villa’s birthday post on X, with plenty referencing Unai Emery’s pre-match interview against Palace where he replied “Marco Bizot” to three questions about Martinez before declaring “the time is over”.

Once you scratched beneath the Bizot jokes, you could find plenty of ill will towards Martinez. He is apparently a “rat”, in the eyes of some Villa fans. Others say he has “tarnished” hi

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