M_Afro

It was not our day today. It happens to everyone. Unai will make sure that it doesn’t become anything more than a minor blip. 

As improbable as a title win is, the fact that this is still a credible thread in November is absolutely incredible. What a year we have had. 

He’s been great so far. If he keeps this up, he could be on for motm. Good to see.

It’s West Ham, it’s Moyes and it’s Bowen. All three always seem to get unbelievable luck against us. I find it hard to expect anything else today. Bowen to score in a 2-2 draw would be my bet. 

Risky team selection. Hopefully get it done easily enough but that team is missing its heartbeat without Mings, Pau, Boubs, Doug, Moussa and Ollie. The other guys really need to step it up.

Southgate thinks Villa are well coached. How on earth would he know! He wouldn’t be able to recognise good coaching if it turned around and smashed him on his massive cock nose. 

3 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

There six players in the England squad capable of playing CB - for me, Konsa is better than all but one of them.

 

There’s no way big nose was going to pick more than one Villa player.

The midfield options are even more depressing. Bland/rubbish cloggers who wouldn’t get anywhere near any other top international team.

Having him, Diego and Alex back is absolutely massive. He was so good when he came on yesterday. He really seems to have added physicality and game intelligence over the past 6 months or so. He really is getting much more game involvement now too. 

I just missed out on the Saunders era at Villa Park but nothing in my time supporting out great club comes remotely close to this last year. Unai is an absolute genius. He never takes a backward step. I love him to bits and would be thrilled if we could keep him long term. Amazing what he has done in his time here. Absolutely magnificent.

I’m so sick of us wimpering out of the cups whilst playing a weakened team. It’s so infuriating.

I love Unai. He is class but his performance in the cups has been very poor so far. I want us to win something but we don’t even try. Absolutely not good enough.

30 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

An upward trajectory after finishing 7th in the league would be mixing it with the teams above us. This season we have performed worse than last season against the likes of Newcastle and Liverpool and have a weak defence. We should be at least competitive against these teams but are getting brushed aside with relative ease. 

There was nothing particularly controversial about the first goal and losing carlos had no effect on the outcome. This was simply men against boys and emery getting his tactics and personnel wrong. 

 

What does that even mean? Has the league finished today with us finishing in the bottom half?  Our squad is better than last year. We have Unai for a full season which is better than last year. Both of those things would suggest we are on an upward trajectory. 
Newcastle and Liverpool are both also on an upward trajectory and their rate of progress may be quicker than ours. We will see. 
Why are you writing off our defence after only a handful of games? Seriously, have some patience. Progress takes time and it is never linear. We will have ups and downs but our club is miles ahead of anywhere we have been in the last ten years or more.

Liverpool are better than us, they were at home, they scored early with a controversial goal and then we lost a key, physical player to injury. I’m not sure who some of you think we are and what our real position in the food chain is. Some people need to grow up and get a grip. 
We are on an upward trajectory. There are still probably 8 teams in this league who have a better squad than us. We have an elite manager who is intent on bridging that gap but it won’t happen overnight. We need to get behind the team and the players and help to make that happen.

1-3. Ollie, SJM and Zaniolo. Shame it’s not on tv so we can all properly enjoy it. UTV

Fantastic article with Pau in the Times today. From reading it, you can really see why Unai loves him. He comes across as a really thoughtful and intelligent young man. It seems that he is almost as obsessed as Unai when it comes to analysing his own performances. He seems to have real integrity too. I suspect he will go on to captain us at some stage. Fantastic signing for us.

One of the many things that I love about Unai, is that he makes decisions based upon the long term benefits of the club. We have had so many charlatans managing our club who are only concerned with the short term, safe in the knowledge that they probably won’t be around for long. 
Unai is different. He will make solid decisions based upon what’s best for the short, medium and long term. It means that we can be opportunistic and dynamic whenever a transfer window opens. It also means that when/if he leaves, the new manager will be working from a very solid base.

Unai is a legend already. This has been a brilliant window for us in every way. We can now sit back and enjoy the football until January. Lovely stuff.

1 hour ago, cheltenham_villa said:

We may as well close the forum if you are never allowed an opinion that differs from the professionals. 

I have no issue with reasoned debate. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I am allowed to be amused by sweeping, unsupported statements however. 

12 minutes ago, AntrimBlack said:

Emery made a bad decision last season to keep Archer and not give him the time he gave Duran.

He may have made another bad decision this season to move Archer on and leave us with just Duran as our back up striker, and he is clearly not up to the task.

If we are to sign a striker, we are leaving it very late.  

Everything about this makes me laugh. Why on earth do you think you know better than our world class manager who spends every day watching and interacting with these players? 

3 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

It's not a bad window and the incomings are good, but we needed a right back and haven't got one, we needed a better backup goalkeeper who is good with his feet, we haven't got one, and with Buendia and Mings out for the season and letting Coutinho and Archer go our squad depth is no better than last season. 

 

Our net spend this summer after finishing in Europe for the first time in 13 years is just £30m (approximately) at present. That simply isn't enough if we want to challenge for a top 4 place and win a trophy which Unai keeps saying we do. 

To be fair, I think that Unai has fully earned our trust. If someone suitable is available, at the right price, then we will do business. If nobody suitable is available, we will keep our powder dry. This is much better than panic buying and being stuck with players who offer very little.

Remember people saying similar things in January and that all worked out ok. FFP is an ongoing thing. We need to spend wisely even if that means being patient. Our signings this summer have been excellent. We continue to evolve and are on the right path. We need to trust the process. It’s a genuinely brilliant time to be a Villa fan.

Why are people worried about this kid? I don’t ever remember us having a nineteen year old striker with as much promise as Duran. Unai also obviously rated him and that’s good enough for me. He did well when he came on and these experiences will only help to improve him,

I love everything about this kid. He’s some player. He’s got everything you need to be a top centre forward and he’s also a bit of a character. He could be very special in a couple of years. I think he is going all the way to the very top.

10 minutes ago, villan95 said:

Slightly related but one of the things I never get is when people want transfer deals to fall through just because they don't rate a player. You're actively wanting the club to miss out on it's first choice targets because you think you know better

That’s because we’ve had decades of average managers making appalling decisions that we’re left to live with. The signing days of Harewood and Nzogbia were two of the most annoying days of my life!

Actually having an intelligent manager making sensible intelligent decisions, which are good for the club is taking some getting used to. January was actually one of my favourite windows ever. Signed a couple of fairly low key, sensible players. Sold a high earner who was only ever going to be a bit part player and then shut up shop because we couldn’t get the players that we really wanted. Just bloody wonderful.

It still feels as though there will be a lot of activity over the final 2 weeks of the window. Digne, Ramsey and Archer are all almost certain to leave. Hause, Dendonker, Davis, Bert are all possible leavers. Add to that, we may see some youngsters go out on loan.

You then have zaniolo and Acuna as almost certain new signings. Plus a new RB and another forward as likely new signings. Then, maybe another central midfielder and another attacking midfielder.

The next two weeks are going to be interesting. Add in a few matches and we should all be exhausted by September!

6 minutes ago, Monkeypuzzle said:

Lol, not complaining! 12 years on and still the best decision of my life, thank you! 

What’s her/his view?