M_Afro

Tammy at £20m is a no brainier but even at that price he does not suit our style of play. £40m is way too much. Ollie is our number 9. We need to focus on supplying him better and more regularly. If we can do that, then we are fine to enter the new season with Wes, Davis and Barry as the next in line.

Blimey he is a big lad. His header was also class. Hope he can stay fit because he already looks physically capable of stepping up.

I loved our shirts this year, especially the away shirt. Hoping for some more quality products from Kappa. I agree a look back to 1981 or 1982 might be nice

Good to see Right Said Fred again after all these years

Tom is and always has been fairly poor at commanding his area. Emi is first class. Tom is average at one on one’s. Emi is very good. Tom has average distribution. Emi’s is good.Not revisionism, purely observations.

Who’s the donut trying to head it? Could have prevented one of the great villa park goals

I like Tom but Emi is on a totally different level. Maybe not much difference in shot stopping (although Emi is probably better) but in every other facet Emi is vastly superior. Tom is leaving to be a number 2. If Emi were to leave he would be going as a number 1 to one of the top teams in the world.

That’s a good point. He would cost a fortune so it’s kind of irrelevant I guess

I just think he’s massively over rated. He’s a match of the day player. Does some good things but not really commanding games. Leicester is my home city and loads of the city fans think that he is not good enough to start for them.

I really don’t get the love for Maddison. He scores the odd screamer but does he do much else?

I kind of know what you mean but he gets in the Brazil team and therefore he must have something. I think we have forgotten how good he was from the start of project re-start all the way up to the C-19 break. He maybe just needs some time away from it. I do wish he would cut out the needless fouls though. He is good for 2 or 3 every bloody match!

The game does have some bizarre interpretations. A week ago the Everton defender, who was the last man, fouled Ollie about 3 times but got no sanction whatsoever for cheating because Ollie picked himself up and scored. In the eyes of football, justice was done because we scored. Why is the players act of blatant foul play not sanctioned? He committed the offence and should have been red carded despite Ollie still scoring. Fast forward a week and Ollie is either fouled or tried to manufacture a foul, which is applauded in modern day football. Ollie gets no benefit from it. Man U do not suffer in any way but Ollie is carded. I don’t get it. It seems in scenario 1 there is no sanction because the players team do not benefit from a pre meditated act of foul play but although the same could be said of scenario 2, a sanction is awarded. Nonsense! Don’t even get me started on Ben Mee!

Totally agree. We need better.

I think he (and pretty much all of our midfielders) would benefit from a bigger more physically imposing CM to play alongside. They can then focus on getting on the second ball and launching our attacks. It’s way too soon to form any opinion of him. Anybody know what’s wrong with him and when he’s likely to be back?

This all day long. Probably cost £25m and would add real presence and energy to our midfield. I would prefer Bissouma but that appears fairly unlikely so he is a really good alternative. Both of them........well that would be nice.

Agree with this, ably supported by a quality defensive midfielder or two. If you had two players capable of protecting the back four, winning the ball high up and then giving it to Jack, quality CM and BT our first 11 would be top 6 pushing top 4.

I think he will play on Thursday. Particularly with Ollie being out. We need a lift and the stage is set.

They are going to be preparing themselves for either Davis or Wes. Preparing themselves for a physical battle. They showed last week that they hate a bit of pace and persistence up front. If we go with one of the obvious choices it will play to their strengths defensively. I know it’s a massive call but this could be perfect for young Barry. If Jack’s fit too then let’s throw him in the mix and have a right good go at them.

I have given Dean some stick recently but the performance levels in the last 3 games has been decent. We could easily have picked up 7 points from those games, in fact we deserved to. I am never concerned by results when the performance is good. We need to sustain it now until the season end. Ollie is a big loss for our next match after a truly bizarre decision from the ref.

Blaming Emi is a bit harsh. His level of performance this season has been consistently exceptional. He and Jack have saved us from a much more nerve wrangling season.

The corners drive me mad. Every time we win a corner I never get excited. We don’t even come close to scoring. It really needs addressing

Not sure. Almost certainly Crusty or Coko

I would like to see Ruban Neves in a villa shirt. I wonder if Wolves could be tempted to sell? Maybe they could throw in Neto too!

Just watching Sheff U. How on earth did we lose to them? They are awful. Results like that since Christmas have really halted our chances. Also, if Sander Berge is the answer then goodness knows what the question is! No thanks!

We were so badly managed through that period, at all levels of the club. MON had pretty much free reign to do what he wanted. He was awful in the transfer market. He spent massive fees and gave huge wages to bang average players with no sell on value ( there were a few exceptions). Lerner/ Faulkner had not got a clue how to run a football club and as a result let him get away with it. MON then left us on the verge of a new season with a squad past their best. That period led directly to our subsequent downfall. MON will always be remembered by me as an arrogant, wasteful individual who was more concerned by his own ego than the welfare of our magnificent club. I was a season ticket holder through the whole of that period and it’s the only time I have ever left the match before full time. Some of the football was sterile and turgid. That was also our best opportunity to break the top 4. I have no doubt that given the same set of circumstances Deano would have got us playing Champions League football. Our whole management structure is now light years ahead of those days. I have been harsh on Dean at times but thinking back to those days is a good perspective gauge.