MessiWillSignForVilla

Imagine being the officer who gets to walk into that pricks cell and tell him who scored

Right, well if that's your point then fair enough, but your original one was bollocks.

But you said before Grealish and Tuanzebe were injured we had too many draws due to our defence. We only had 3 and 2 were because of referee mistakes...

We had gone unbeaten in 7 though, and from the 3 draws in Smith's first 10 games - the games Tuanzebe and Grealish (with the exception of Stoke) were available for - we were kinda screwed over in two of them. In the 5-5, our defence was shit, but Forest also only had 5 shots, at least 2 of which should have been easily saved. Plus we had a goal that IMO was wrongfully disallowed, so we could have easily won that one if we had Kalinic or the Ref did his job properly. And in the 2-2 against West Brom, they created practically nothing other than their goal from what I remember and then they equalised in the last minute with Rodriguez punching the ball in that the Linesman inexplicably didn't see despite staring right at it. Another referee mistake that cost us 2 points. With Stoke game, I didn't watch so I can't comment on it. But of the 3 draws that constitute "too many", at least two we should have won, mainly through poor officiating. Hell, you could argue in the last month and a half the refs have cost us at least 6 points if you include Sheff Utd. Then our defence really went off the rails with the Leeds match, the first that Tuanzebe missed, which it's also worth remembering Taylor was injured for. So when our defence really got bad, we had only 1 senior CB available (who was also injured) and no LB, resulting in a back 4 consisting of 3 RBs, until Taylor came back and Elphick was recalled. And we only had 2 fit CBs when we managed to get Hause/Mings so Chester could be rested, which has been what, 2 games now? Is 2 games with a fully fit back four really long enough to fix the issues we had with the taped together defensively line we had for over a month and 7 games? now I'm not saying our defence is stellar, but we have had some pretty shit luck since December and some glaring holes that we couldn't really do much about. We have problems, but a lot of them have been caused by missing players, it doesn't help that they're also our best players, we might've limped along better if we were missing Chester and Hourihane instead of Tuanzebe and Grealish.

It is and it isn't. It's not just that we are missing Grealish, but more that his absence has totally unbalanced our midfield. Without Grealish the rest of our midfield are effectively pushed forward. Because we don't have a like for like replacement, we're forced to play McGinn further forward in a role he's nowhere near creative or technically good enough for and where his closing down and harrying is less effective, which means we miss his energy further back as Hourihane is nowhere near mobile or energetic enough to fill McGinn's role when he's pushed into that role. And the three that effectively replace Hourihane all have their own problems. Whelan's legs are gone, and I think he knows it, so he seems to play at about 50% when he starts so he can make the second half, though IMO he has been brilliant when coming off the bench recently, he just can't sustain it for more than 30 minutes. Jedinak can't run or pass, so he's practically useless at replacing anyone in our midfield. And Bjarnasson can run around a lot but not much else, which makes him almost more useless than Jedinak who at least head the ball and foul. So it's not just that Grealish is so good we're lost with him injured, but that without Grealish our entire midfield is less effective because they all have to play roles they're not suited for. He's not the sole issue, but our other midfield issues are solved with him back. As a side note, when we were linked with Fer most were excited because they thought he'd be a hard tackling DM, but he'd more likely be Grealish's back up as our creative player and help rebalance the midfield. Which is also why I think Carroll signing was irrelevant to Fer, as some have suggested we panic signed him instead of Fer, as I reckon he'll eventually replace Hourihane in that deeper playmaker role.

The match is recognised as a super cup by the FA, so it is an official match.

FIFA rules state you can only be registered for three clubs in a season and play for two. Tammy played for Chelsea in the Community Shield... No Premier League team is wasting the kind of money Chelsea would want for someone that would sit on the bench for 6 months. He's not being recalled to be sold, it's all paper bollocks.

Because it's impossible to have a weak link in a team. By that logic, Heskey used to be one of our best players. Just because our 3rd best RB is better than our terrible LB doesn't mean he's one of our best players.

He's not on the pitch maybe?

His goal against us in that 2-2 draw was the turning point under MON and we've gradually gotten shitter ever since.

The hero we needed, but not the one we deserve. Someone else would've stuck it top corner and kept Bruce on for a little longer.

Matt Law is a Villa fan, he's probably been aware of the issues as long as most fans, even if he doesn't get down to games.

And Sheffield Utd. And Wigan. And Crystal Palace...

The article this came from apparently got changed within half an hour of being posted and the bit about Bruce now reads, "Despite the opposition from fans towards Bruce, it is understood there are no plans to dismiss him at this stage."

Bielsa is notorious for having his teams completely knackered by Christmas, I reckon Leeds will fall off too.

Jonathan Moss is just as abysmal as I remember him.

Surely a lengthy ban for Maupay coming up. He seems like a nasty little prick.

I know it'll likely be a loan, but it will be funny if we manage to get Fulham's first choice LB signing after they nicked their second choice Bryan from under our noses. Maybe they did us a favour if they think he's better

IIRC, that was the original plan, but I think the FA have a rule about not having stars above the badge, unless they don't symbolise anything like Man City's old badge.

Loan window is open until the end of August, we've still got plenty of time to strengthen.

The Kevan Grealish twitter account has been active since 2012 and has been tweeting about Grealish since he was a youth player with us, that's one massive long con for what was an unknown 16-year-old Grealish in 2012.

Twitter rumours are saying he's already signed the contract but his agent reckons it doesn't stand If that's true this could get ugly.

Piss off Fulham, just sell Sessegnon to Tottenham in exchange for Rose if you want a LB ya bastards!

You seem to have gotten very angry and shouty whilst typing that, are you Jack Grealish?

The biggest problem with these suggestions that he's had a promise broken that he could leave is that they were based on us needing to raise funds for the club, surely he'd realise after the takeover that was no longer the case? Why would he be upset now when it would've been clear we'd reject offers since the takeover?