mikeyjavfc

He doesn’t run with the ball or beat a man, he seems to want an age to pick a simple pass, doesn’t contribute to set pieces or many crosses. He’s a serviceable No. 6 but definitely not a No. 8 for me. I would probably let him go this summer on the basis if he was going to be a big player for us he would have shown it by now, but he still seems to frustrate a lot of time.

I think you are on to something. The atmosphere improved so much once Ramsey and Buendía came on and we began to retain the ball and pass it nicely around the midfield. Hard to get an atmosphere in first 70mins when it seems we can’t wait to hand over possession and Mings’ 10th long ball towards Watkins has failed.

Sacked their messiah and going to get relegated anyway. How depressing for them.

He’s a good player but he’s a hold-up specialist who’s needs to play in a front two along side a natural goal scorer, and villa have played one up front for a few years now so he’s never had a chance. That looks set to continue under Gerrard, so realistically he will never get a run of starts for us and he is unlikely to even be the first option off the bench with Watkins, Ings and Archer, who can play as the one up top. If we could get £10-12m for him off the back of a good half season for Forest I’d probably take it. It would be good business for all involved and he may go on to be a star playing in a different system but I wouldn’t regret it as he will never get the chance to prove himself at villa.

Wow they paid £15m for Lewis just over a year ago. Some move that has turned out to be for him.

Hmm I assume It’s a move to put him in the shop window before a summer sale, given he wouldn’t get many/any minutes here. Gerrard obviously doesn’t fancy him otherwise we wouldn’t have brought in Digne.

Confirmation then that Bissouma’s medical will be undertaken in London.

It’s okay though because he hasn’t used her real name apparently. Forget the fact that he has his surname in his Twitter handle and presumably he shares this with his sister in law. It is of course all bollocks anyway.

The club ain’t dumb. IF we’re dealing with Newcastle then the terms must be stacked massively in our favour.

The Callum Chambers transfer shows how much the media knows about our business. We may be done, we may not be done, but one thing is for sure: the media don’t know.

What’s Quique Sánchez Flores up to?

It’s irrelevant and this stuff gets overblown, but… you do wonder why he posts this stuff? He must know how it looks to city fans when he’s been a disappointment and he is pictured wasted in Dubai during the season break. The comments are a trainwreck. By all means go and enjoy yourself but don’t offer up photo evidence to be used against you. No doubt the tabloids will recycle this picture with a story about how playboy Jack Grealish seen worse for wear with his old drinking buddy. I’m sure Pep will love that. He really needs some better advice - same as it ever was at villa really.

He’s a prime cut above the rest.

They forgot to mention the ashtray in the trophy cabinet. Craig Gardner as technical director. Retiring Bellingham’s shirt number. The list goes on.

Hmmmm feels like a classic Everton signing this. He will be on massive wages so he will be expected to play, which is dangerous as he hasn't played much football for last year - feels a bit like the Barkley loan again. Thinking long term, if he's going to be a blocker to Chukwuemeka or Bailey into the first team then I don't really see the point.

90% of footballers are boring media trained clones with a wife and 3 kids by the age of 25. I can’t begrudge Grealish for showing some personality and enjoying his life as a stinking rich playboy footballer. Now that it’s not villa he is embarrassing good luck to him I say.

Not sure either team could field a full 11 for this unless we raid the U23s. We could probably have a good 5-a-side match vs Chelsea down a Powerleague instead though? I’m guessing it’s cancelled given how pissy Chelsea were at having to play Wolves yday.

I think it’s more likely kept under wraps because it would give our opposition a big advantage if they knew which of our players were out missing.

The new strain is super transmissible so this will be hitting a few squads soon. I sincerely hope the players and staff are testing daily now as it’s the only way to have any chance of staying covid free going forward.

Amazing to think that Wesley still has 3 years on his villa contract. Like it or not he’s not going anywhere soon. I wonder if he needs to drop down a level to find his form but who could afford his wages?

I think Trez might get some minutes under Gerrard yet. His pressing and effort is second only to Watkins, which Gerrard will like.

Also we lost to a deflected shot that found the bottom corner and an absolute worldie that 99% of players would have shanked row z. Hardly soft goals to concede and we could have been luckier with both.

Good performance in the end, showed a lot of fight and spirit but lacked a bit of quality and ball retention. You can feel that the new patterns and systems still haven’t completely sunk in yet but it’s very promising after only 2 weeks. I know it’s city but we need to have more possession than that against them in the future. The graphic showed 29% after about 70mins. But overall pleasantly surprised and it definitely wasn’t the usual capitulation against city.

Shame Norwich couldn’t take the win against 10 men but a draw at home to the 2nd worst team in the division is pretty dreadful for Newcastle anyway. If Burnley can get something at the weekend it’s a long way back with the run that follows. They really did need for their takeover to happen before the summer as planned didn’t they? Shame

The board are no fools so if they think SG is the man to take us back to European football then I think we have to respect that. This decision won’t be based on a hunch, they will have been considering all sorts of metrics to determine the likelihood of success. I know there will be a bit of a circus around ‘Stevey Gs Aston Villa’ to begin with but personally I don’t mind the extra exposure for Villa. I love Dean Smith but there is no doubt he is not box office in the eyes of the neutral fan and does not raise the profile of villa much beyond the fan-manager narrative. Obviously counts for nothing if he doesn’t take us back up the league but it is a nice side effect.