Daweii

It will all depend how serious Xia was about offloading our players to the Chinese Super League.

His attitude and ego has likely already singled him out as not worth bothering with. For all the shit we give Richards, Lescott and Gabby which is justified at least all three seem to have knuckled down and tried to turn over a new leaf. It is likely too little too late for most of them, but Bacuna didn't even come on as a sub when Richards went off injured. RDM is giving everyone a chance but Bacuna may just be too far gone.

I wonder if we can gleam anything from RDM's squad selections against GAK for who is staying and potentially going? First Half: Gollini, Richards, Elphick, Baker, Cissokho, Gana, Gardner, Gil, Veretout, Ayew, Kozak. Now maybe having our new signings and some of our better players from last season in the line up is misleading me here, but this reads like a list of players RDM wants to keep. I mean Gollini, Elphick, Gana, Gardner, Gil, Veretout and Ayew are in this line up and those will surely be here at the start of the season ideally. Richards was played at right back so maybe agreeing to play there even though he signed as a center back has saved him from the chop? It's certainly a more promising selection of players than the second half was. Second Half: Bunn, Hutton, Okore, Lescott, Bennett, Westwood, Petrov, Grealish, Agbonlahor, Sinclair, Gestede. This already reads more like a bomb squad than a top squad. Yes Petrov is there but he's not a Villa player currently and may not be at the end of all of this. Though aside from maybe Okore, Petrov and Grealish there is no one in this line up I would particularly want to save. Maybe there is nothing in his selections but it does seem he lumped a lot of the squads best players together in the first half. So based on this could the outgoings be the likes of; Bunn, Hutton, Lescott, Bennett, Westwood, Agbonlahor, Sinclair and Gestede? I am still undecided on Baker, Cissokho and Kozak from the first half squad, but I am putting a lot of my speculation on the fact that the first half selection looks more like a list of players many of us would keep. I am certainly more intrigued about our potential outgoings than our incomings currently that is for sure.

He's going to find the Championship easy if he sticks around. One of the few that looked good last season despite the rest of the team pulling in the opposite direction.

He's in phenomenal shape at the moment. I get that his antics off the pitch and his lack of performance on the pitch get him a ton of shit, but he seriously looks like he just spent the last 2 months living in the gym. I know that doesn't make him instantly a good football player again, but I will always give kudos when it is justified..

Delph to City for £8 million basically 6 months after he had signed a new deal with us. Any other club operated well would have sold him for double that. Aston Villa are known to be weak when it comes to fending off clubs in the transfer market and accepting the first bid that comes in. Yes maybe this one time that were are standing our ground we shouldn't be, but it's about time this club actually rejected some offers cause I can't remember many times in the last 10-15 years that we did.

Some nice goals there. I was too distracted though by his Vardy style arm cast, I kept looking to see if it stayed on his arm the entire video and it did. That said I wouldn't be opposed to this guy coming to Villa it seems he has a knack for scoring at this level.

It's pronounced Tishbola.. I know he's spelled his name completely wrong for that pronunciation but that seems to be how it's said based on Reading fans.

4-years.

That or the bid is criminally low. Yes Celtic aren't getting a huge boost from TV money, but the new TV money has inflated the going price of players with Premier League experience even if they are shit like Sinclair.

Exactly this. I understand peoples frustrations as we want players like Sinclair gone, but we're also at a point under new ownership where we have to show the footballing world that we are not the same old Villa. Under Lerner we sold to the first bidder like it was some first come first serve policy, now we need to stand firm even when we are desperate to want Sinclair gone.

I am sure when Xia came in he thought it was stupid that the club stopped running on weekends aside from the obligatory football match.

It likely would. You have to remember that we have a new manager and world class coaching staff now. A lot of those players in that line up were above average for us on occasion last season they were just brought down by the rest. We'll be fine with that squad if managed correctly.. Our main issue now is adding a bit of squad depth so we don't have to rely on Lescott, Richards, Gabby on the bench each game.

HE SURVIVED!!!! The only casualty was Micah Richards who limped off on like 17 minutes, but no major loss there.

@srsmithusa Unless you are in a rush wait it out to see what shirt number he gets.

There was no video feed or anything. All my info comes from AVFCOfficial on Twitter who were covering key moments as the match went on. That was the only key moment for both Gabby and Sinclair.

Nope. He had a shot at close range parried after Sinclair totally messed up a shot, but no goals for Gabby.

It's all goals and it's all confidence building. Doesn't matter if it's against Chelsea or some Sunday League team scoring goals always feels good.

We didn't concede! Suck it Crystal Palace.. You may have scored 13 against this lot but you managed to concede.. Just how crap are you?!? Well done Villa I know it's just a run about but take this confidence with you.

8-0, Gestede, 86 mins

Had a shot parried so it was on target at least, progress..

Haven't conceded yet.. So that's a one up on Crystal Palace

Scoring goals and playing well even against shit is a confidence booster. Also it allows RDM to see how his squad moves on the pitch in a match scenario. So yeah it maybe is pointless from a challenge standpoint but that's not what pre-season is for.

At this rate even Gabby may get a rare goal in the second half..

Richards limps off injured.. Shame he looks like a top prospect for the future..