SIR ALEX FERGUSON left fans baffled after revealing Aston Villa impressed him more than any other team over the weekend.

Unai Emery's side suffered the heaviest defeat of the opening round of Premier League fixtures as they lost 5-1 to Newcastle.

But Manchester United legend Ferguson claimed Villa played Toon off the park, but just lacked the goals to match their "fantastic" football.

Fergie told NBC Sports: "I watched Aston Villa and Newcastle and I can't believe the scoreline, honestly.

"Aston Villa played fantastic football and just lost bad goals.

"Newcastle are going to be very difficult to beat in their own ground in particular and the manager's done a great job there.

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"But it's a surprising game football. You can play teams off the pitch and not score, and that's what happened with Aston Villa."

Many fans were bemused with Ferguson's comments, with some Newcastle supporters suggesting he has not forgotten about their old rivaly.

One supporter said: "He's still smart as anything – he'll have done that on purpose. Old rivalries never die 😂"

Another added: "So he was most impressed with Villa? Still can’t stand us lot can he? 😂"

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A third wrote: "Someone needs to tell him he doesn’t need to try and play mind games anymore."

And another joked Ferguson was showing his age, commenting: “Come on Alex let’s get you back to the home, it’s cottage pie night, you love cottage pie!”

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