BigJim

I have to agree with this. Mings looks faster, stronger, more aggressive, better in the air, though Torres is a clear winner with the ball at his feet. He's getting a quite extraordinary amount of praise on here for his performance against Brighton. I don't think he deserves it quite yet, though I certainly hope he will turn out to be an elite performer for us. I just watched the game again to study a couple of things, because our general performance seemed a bit different from usual in terms of playing out from the back. I counted how many times we did that v Brighton and I found that when he had the ball, Emi went long about twice as often as playing it out short (I counted 19 times out of 29). I think this was a big factor in our success and for sure Brighton weren't expecting it. This meant Torres saw less of the ball than usual. By my calculation he had about a 77% success rate with his passing, though nearly all his passes were short and backwards or square. He did attempt a few adventurous passes but mostly didn't find his man with them. He had three or four forward surges but didn't really have much success with the ball at the end of them. He made one or two blocks and tackles. I don't remember him heading the ball once. I think Konsa had a far busier time as most of Brighton's threatening approaches came on his side. In sum, not the majestic performance some are making out, but he certainly looked a bit better than he has in other games, and I'm confident he will carry on improving.

This SO SLOW build up from the back... How many times did we see Luiz, Torres or Konsa taking a Sunday afternoon stroll with the ball at their feet until they get 40 yards from our goal and then standing still wondering who to pass to. And NOBODY is moving ahead of them ("don't give it to me"). And they end up passing sideways, or 5 yards forward to someone closely marked who just immediately gives the ball back or (especially today) loses possession. Trying to play the game at walking pace against a well organised opponent, apart from boring the spectators senseless, is doomed to failure.

I feel we're pretty certain to do our all-too-frequent trick of starting at snail's pace, messing up when playing it out from the back and conceding very early. It's going to be all uphill after that. On the other hand, I'm also expecting some magic from Zaniolo.

Could this be the first time McGinn has 0 votes for MotM?

Sorry to see him taken off, he always looks capable of producing a trick out of nothing which is what you need against a very well drilled defensive setup like Palace´s. He got a bit roughed up in the middle of the park, but he´s obviously smart and skillful enough to learn and adapt to that. Hoping for great things from him.

Perhaps he really is fast. Maybe here it's just a case of confusion - wtf is going on, what am I supposed to do here? - that is slowing his reaction time - he's not performing instinctively, perhaps, as he was in Spain. I hope it's something like that, rather than him regretting having made the move. He did take an awfully long time to sign on the dotted line....

I saw him do this trick of cutting back onto his right foot a lot in the videos I saw before we signed him. Even I thought he'd be pushing his luck with that in the PL. I have absolutely no doubt the Liverpool forwards were totally expecting it.

What struck me today is how quick he is. He took a couple of silly wild shots but we can forgive those because we were in Roy of the Rovers territory in terms of getting anything from the game. I also thought he didn't do too badly with using his body and his passing with back to goal. While he is obviously still extremely raw, with his recent appearances I am beginning to see how he could become very useful indeed.

Bought the VillaTV 19.99 yearly subscription half an hour before the game and I can't access it. "Upgrade your streaming subscriptions" wtf

"Still no official bid” according to Fabrizio Romano. If that's true, it doesn't look like this one will happen this window. Shame, I'd love to have him, but I think we are in more need of one or two forwards.

Made a hash of some good opportunities again today. Must be doing something good in training for Unai to keep picking him.

Not a good cameo today but I don't think it was the right decision to bring him on at that stage in the game. Thought he did well when he came on against Leeds and I'm still hopeful he can play a part under Unai.

Wants to stay in Italy according to this: https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/01/19/gerard-deulofeu-issues-blunt-response-to-aston-villa-links-after-agent-claims/

I think that was worth more than 2 cents.

We're all disappointed with Bailey and perhaps feel sorry for him, but there's no room for sentiment in this business. Unai clearly gave him the 90 mins to try to boost his confidence but it backfired. After we bring in one or more forwards/wingers - as we surely must - Leon will be lucky to even make the bench for the rest of the season.

Stupid mistakes, agreed, but someone HAS to be in charge of organising the defence at every set piece. Looks like nobody out there knew whose responsibility it was.

Have to admit I was ready to ship him out after Liverpool, but what a performance today! I am a convert.

so still a No from me. I like Traore but I don't think he's strong enough or consistent enough for where we want to be. From what I've seen of Deulofeu's videos (can't really remember much of him in the PL) and read from other posters who have seen plenty of him, I'm prepared to accept he might improve us a bit for a while. But I'd prefer someone young and hungry, who's gong to make a powerful statement from day one. Not someone looking for his last big contract.

Just what we need. It's a no thanks from me.

Absolutely shocking - downright careless half the time. Let's hope Arsenal take him off our hands in Jan

Sure we should have put the game to bed in the second half when we actually played some decent stuff in patches. But if we're honest we have to be grateful for the sending-off - no way we were coming away with anything at all otherwise.

Get a progressive manager in. Get Jack back. Consolidate mid table for a season or two. Start bringing through our amazing youngsters. And we'll be a match for anybody.

Could you run through the middle bit again please?

Has the fat lady sung yet? Seem to remember Arsenal used to be experts at getting deals done after everybody else thought that time was up.

Care to speculate? If he's trying to get out, there's no way he's signing a new deal and he's unlikely to perform very well (if even selected) Only thing I can see is he gets to play further forward (where SG has known for a long time he wants to play ) now that we have Dendonker to hold the fort with Kamara, and maybe that would keep everybody happy.