M_Afro

12 minutes ago, nick76 said:

If does that can we not talk about him today or do we wait until tomo?

Ha. Up to you mate. I might wait.

He’s going to score today and it will be epic. Everyone will be talking about him tomorrow.

Also. Whatever happens we are going to finish in the top half for the first time in a gazillion years! It’s all good Villans.

As it stands, I’ve got Liverpool finishing on 67 with Spurs, Brighton and Villa all ending the season on 61. It’s all still to play for. Even a defeat tomorrow isn’t terminal, although it’s obviously not ideal. If we win the two home games, then we are in with a shout still.

It’s all down to us. If we win our next two matches then we will still be in the mix for sixth when we go to Anfield. Who knows what will happen then? Things can change very quickly. We just need to focus on lifting our own performance and getting those three point’s tomorrow. We then focus on Spurs. It’s all to play for.

39 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

 

Would

2 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I can’t see Raphinha leaving them unfortunately. Great player though and would fit our system nicely. 

Agreed. He would probably want too much money as well. It’s nice to be in a position where we can at least have these conversations now. It’s only a few years that people were getting excited about the imminent arrival of Ross McCormack!

I wonder how the Alemany news will be greeted by the players? It could give them a little extra boost as they approach the last few matches. They’ve looked a little flat the last couple of matches and we need to rediscover our hunger against the Wolves. Hopefully this helps.

We were linked with Christensen a few days ago. That link makes a lot more sense and actually seems possible now! I would absolutely love Raphinha too. Both are top players.

53 minutes ago, John said:

If we are not going to use him yes, but I doubt we would be offered £25m for him and the buyback would perhaps have an impact on the fee. If we are not using him, I wouldn't say no to £15m with a £30m 3 - year buy back option, but I'm hoping that he will get next season to prove his worth with us. 

The problem is, his value will be quite high at the end of the season. If he stays with us next season and doesn’t play much, then it will likely reduce. If we loan him to a PL club and it doesn’t go well then his value is also likely to reduce. At the moment there is a lot of value in the unknown potential of being able to do what he has done in the Championship, in the PL.

With this in mind, a sale with an agreed buy back is easily the best option. If he is successful, then we can execute the option but if he flops then we have maximised his sale price. All of the risk sits with the buying party. I think we would get at least £20m on this basis which will help us out with our more pressing needs this summer.

Today changes nothing. Brentford were always likely to beat Forest, plus they’re highly unlikely to catch us anyway. Brighton were also likely to beat Wolves. Their bigger challenges are to come. 

A defeat tomorrow is also unlikely to make that much difference in what is arguably our toughest game remaining. We do have a chance of winning though and that would really be a blow to the other teams around us and thus I only see tomorrow as a massive opportunity.

Whatever happens it’s ace being a Villa fan at the moment. Enjoy it Villans,

8 hours ago, Adman said:

You mean elbow

It won’t be clear and obvious!

Unai is a beautiful genius. Suck it in everyone. We are fifth in the league at the end of April! How on earth did that happen? Truly magnificent from the Sultan.

Whether we decide to sell or not is one thing but they’ll definitely be loads of interest in Cam this summer. I think we may receive some pretty big bids. All 3 promoted clubs will surely be interested, plus maybe some already in the PL. 

I expect us to resist of course but he is strengthening his reputation every single week now. If anybody offers anything close to £30m, it would be very tempting I’m sure.

2 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Not seen him this season but last few seasons he always had a mistake in him. Blood and Thunder player that fans would like but has limitations. Leicester have been one of the worst defences in the league last few seasons

That Faes is even worse

Faes is really bad. Amarty is pretty poor too. Rogers fell out with Soyuncu for some reason and so has hardly played him this season. Deano has bought him straight back into the team and he was motm yesterday. It will be interesting to see where he turns up and how well he does. 

24 minutes ago, Zatman said:

No he is dreadful, guy constantly makes mistakes

That’s an interesting view. Have you seen him play much? I live in Leicester and the City fans love him.

There are strong rumours that he may be off to Atletico. They don’t go big on dreadful defenders. Their entire philosophy is based upon having an impenetrable defence.

13 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

That’s doing him a massive disservice, yes he can be a little inconsistent, but he should be starting 8/10 games for me. 

I don’t agree. Putting sentiment to one side, JJ struggles to perform consistently over 90 minutes. His involvement in the game is too sporadic for someone who plays such a key position. He’s hopefully going to become the player we need but he’s not there just yet.

11 hours ago, duke313 said:

JJ and McGinn were both excellent against Newcastle. They had an off day today, nothing more.

JJ is a talented youngster who will get better but he is not consistent enough at the moment to be starting every week. He’s certainly a great bench option though and a good option as an infrequent starter.

In current form, McGinn is the first name on the team sheet but he does have long periods of poor form. He needs competition for his position.

If we are serious about challenging for Europe, which we are, we will need better options. JJ and Ginny will still have significant roles to play for sure.

Soyuncu is available on a free at the end of the season. He’s still fairly young and before he fell out with Rogers, he was one of Leicester’s best players. I would love to see him in a villa shirt. He will be a great signing for someone.

I think we will sign between three and five players (maybe plus some up and coming prospects). The areas that I think we’ll target, in order of importance, are 10, left mid, right mid, right back, right sided centre back. I think we’ll go for quality and thus we may only sign three of those positions listed. 
The really great thing is, we will be building from a position of relative strength for the first time in years. We have a decent team, who know their roles well and perform pretty well most weeks. We now need to focus on slowing adding real quality. Throw in a few of the youngsters and we are starting to really build a special squad. Obviously the key is keeping Emery but I can see him being here for years. Good times.

Lots of positives today despite a very average performance.
We took a vital point whilst,  more importantly, stealing two from them. It will be really hard for them to catch us now.

We kept our unbeaten record going.

We kept our scoring in every one of Unai’s games record going for another match.

We fought hard despite not being anywhere near our best and we never gave up.

If we can beat Fulham on Tuesday then we are almost certain of a top 8 finish which would be quite remarkable in itself! Let’s just hope that Emi is fit for then!

Unai is a beautiful man. His presser was impeccable again. I always watch the presser and I’ve never known the room to be as silent as it was this week. He absolutely had them hanging onto his every word. It was masterful. Give that man a 10 year contract with a compulsory ten year extension.

2 minutes ago, viivvaa66 said:

Top 5 plus the two cups. If the cups are won by teams already qualified for the Europe spot is transferred to the league, that means most seasons it will be top 7 in the league get into Europe.

Thanks mate. So it is top 7 then?

3 hours ago, gwi1890 said:

No 8 teams from the Prem will be in European competitions.

Why 8? I thought it was top 7?