The man from the Birmingham Mail asked for a list of the players who weren’t able to travel, and Villa’s head coach breathed deeply.
“OK. Maybe… it’s long…”
The list is not especially long by the standards of a Premier League club at this stage of the season, even after adding Emi Martinez, who will miss a fourth Europa League game out of seven.
The point is less the number, more the substantial qualities of the main names on the list: John McGinn, Villa’s captain and inspirational leader; Martinez, their biggest personality; and Boubacar Kamara, their midfield gyroscope, most responsible for keeping the team in perfect balance.
The particular strengths of all three seem most appropriate for the challenges of visiting one of the Istanbul giants.
On Wednesday, in the area of the city where Villa fans have been instructed to stay, they will have seen Atletico Madrid supporters waiting for their Champions League fixture against Galatasaray.
If they see them again this morning, they might ask if their ears are still ringing.
Villa supporters and players watching that game in their bars and hotels will have heard the frenzied atmosphere, seen the wildly open game it inspired, and know they might be in for the same.
Fenerbahce are unbeaten in the Turkish Super Lig, a point behind their neighbours.
They are not unbreakable at home – Rangers won here in the last sixteen in March last year, before collapsing at Ibrox – but have enough players of known Premier League or similar quality to represent a proper test even without their fans at their back.
This is not a fixture to take lightly.
Three days from now, though, Villa will be in Newcastle, against another strong team and another big noise, and in the competition that comes before all others, as Emery himself insists.
That means, probably, tricky choices about how to prioritise his strained resources.
His record confirms there is nobody better qualified to be making those decisions.
That record does not make the decisions easier.
The nature of Sunday’s tired performance against Everton, especially after the injury to McGinn, raised a worry also expressed by some Villa fans I spoke to in Istanbul yesterday.
They are concerned that the fatigue that weighed Villa down in the Conference League semi-final two years ago may deny them again.
That list of names gives Emery a lot to think about. And we haven’t even mentioned the transfer window.
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