mikeyjavfc

Taylor feels like a throw back to a time when LBs weren't expected to bomb forward, overlap and expand the play. It feels like he never gets much if any further forward than our centre backs and generally slows the play and is often caught in possession. I think he could work as part of a back 3, but as a LB he is completely ineffectual compared to Hutton and Elmo. He's handy back up but nothing more for me.

A sloppy game to be honest, but it’s massively encouraging to score 4 in a sub-par performance and derby game. When the quick passing is working it is a joy to watch the ball zipping around the field with the opposition chasing shadows. When it’s not working we looked ponderous and turned the ball over far to much in our own half. The 2nd sha goal was an utter gift and hope DS stamps out that kind of sloppy play. Overall a professional derby day win. Adomah MOTM for me - that’s the first performance in a long time where he looked back to his best and leaving his man for dust.

Grealish: low socks. Bolasie: no socks.

Hopefully all mind games ahead of the Derby.

Bjarnasson in for McGinn then? Wouldn't be the worst assuming Chester is fit.

Let me get this straight: 1. The EFL enforces the FFP rules which tests the profit and loss of football clubs. 2. The EFL control the TV rights deal, which forms a major (the major?) source of income to football club. 3. The EFL negotiates a bad deal which does not bring in as much income to certain football clubs as it could, and further affects income in terms of falling attendances due to many mid-week and rearranged TV games. 4. The EFL punishes football clubs for failing the profit and loss test...and will not listen when clubs try to negotiate a fair TV deal. Seems pretty crooked to me, I am not surprised there are murmurings of a breakaway league.

Yeah but we’re not talking about untold riches here, Bournemouth’s current naming deal is worth c. £600,000 a year and that’s for a prem side not championship, but probably comparable to what we might get. Assuming we get promoted some time soon it could be worth more (West ham were close to signing ~£3 million deal with Vodafone for London stadium couple of years ago), but it’s still not exactly the promise land when the prem tv rights are 20 times that. Totally not worth it in my opinion.

Not for me thanks, some things in football should be sacred . If we take a stadium naming rights deal now then the chances are we will never be without one again, and who knows what dodgy sponsors will be lining up to be the "________ Villa Park" in future years. Some things are more important than cash; like tradition, legacy and integrity. I think for new stadiums it is different as they do not already have an identity to steal, but for traditional football grounds with real history I think it is actually damaging for the club brand in the long run beyond the short-term cash injection. Look at the "Sports Direct Arena @ St. James Park" debacle from a few years back. The bad feeling around the SJP naming rights was so strong that even wonga.com (the purveyors of human misery) opted not to take up the naming rights of SJP, despite it being part of their sponsorship deal!

We’re good up top and dodgy at the back. I think we all could have predicted that! Nylands performance has been unexpected though.

Really end to end. Could be 2-2.

I imagine given the circumstances of our takeover we are on some kind of bespoke deal with the EFL at this point. Villa were mere days away from a winding up order...if NSWE were smart they would have negotiated with the EFL before the takeover to confirm they weren’t going to bail out villa only to be levied with a massive fine 6 months later due to Xia’s mismanagement, otherwise why make that investment? Seeing one of England’s great footballing institutions slide into administration only two years after a EFL sanctioned sale is not a good look for the EFL. I suspect a business plan was hammered out and agreed with all parties before any money changed hands. So while we have restrictions, I’m not sure we will be feeling the full pinch of the Xia years in the next FFP report. All speculation of course...maybe we are doomed.

I agree. Villa fans should be looking no further than 6th place at the moment with the start we have had. That is just as good as 3rd place in terms of making play-offs after all, so it should be the benchmark we strive for whilst we find our feet. If you make it up to 6th place with plenty of games to play then you can start looking upwards again to 5th, 4th etc. To look immediately look up to automatic promotion now is a recipe for disappointment.

That does amaze me give the churn of managers we’ve had since then.

It looks like a Bruce team, but it won’t be. Bruce would have had Elmo and Adomah firing in aimless crosses all game from the wings. Smith won’t be doing that so let’s wait to see the formations and see how it plays out.

I imagine the interviews are going really well until Purslow gets to the subject of the club finances, ffp and transfer policy, when suddenly the candidates start to fidget in their seat, eyes darting around the room looking for an exit.

Hey, we hired Tim Sherwood and it wasn’t THAT bad (initially at least), and he wasn’t even a football manager. Let’s give Henry a fair shake, he could go far here.

I will never ever ever understand the view that Sherwood is a good manager. The guy is not just a bad manager...he is simply not a football manager at all. I don’t expect to see him in any dugout ever again.

Can’t blame KMac, he picked a team that Steve Bruce would have picked which is logical given that they will have been drilled in that system and he only had a few days taking training. The new man will need time to unpick Bruce’s ‘tactics’ and instill a new way of playing.

I hope marketing managers around the UK are paying attention - this cabbage has generated more headlines than a million ad campaigns! Wouldn't be surprised to find out it was a Paddy Power stunt like the goalie eating the pie.

Jack plays well in spite of Bruce, not because - he will surely flourish under the new man. And if he has any tactical know-how at all he won't play him on the bloody left wing!

Assuming his sacking is not imminent, I am surprised there is no statement of support from the board. The atmosphere was hostile last night so the board should really look support Bruce publicly, even if the sack is incoming it is the right thing to do for your emplyee. Maybe they are trying to force a resignation?

Why do pundits feel the need to use weasel words when they say that we lack a ‘framework’ or ‘style’? I presume it’s to protect Steve Bruce and make it sound like our shit performances are some kind of tragic accident... It’s a lack of TACTICS lads. Steve Bruce’s team lack any semblance of TACTICS.

It would have to be Jan. From memory FFP is now assessed in April time, with the financials for the rest of the season being forecasted by the club. This is to give the EFL time to punish clubs before the end of the season to stop them ‘escaping’ via promotion or similar.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Villa actually enhanced player careers instead of destroying them?

I think we’re in the Brucey end game now. If we keep losing Bruce will regress further and further into his shell and play more and more defensively to try and ‘stop the rot’ and ‘fix the fundimentals’, which will obviously backfire since our squad is tailor-made to play on the front foot and attack. All eyes will be on Villa this Friday night since we are the first game of the weekend, and we should get some decent national coverage on sky and bbc etc. Nowhere to hide for Bruce if we play badly again and the cat will be well and truly out of the bag. The flip side of that is if we win comfortably then expect Bruce to give it the big un’ in his post match interview and he’ll be sticking around for a while.