withes_shin

I recall an Everton game, during Ron Atkinson's time as manager, where the press labelled it the all whites vs the all blacks as Villa fielded 8-9 black players and Everton, historically, hadn't had a black player play for them. In fact I think Earl Barrett may have been Everton's first black signing.

Because a stitch in time saves nine

Last season I sat: In, Utter, Despair This season I'm hoping to move to: Being, Cautiously, Optimistic

Bit late to the party, but this is not the time or plaice for fish puns, we are in the process of getting the Rashica thread to over 200 pages.

Didn't Mount also get called into an England squad without playing in the Prem? Could be wrong but I think he got selected after going back to Chelsea from his loan spell at Derby before he had made an appearance for Chelsea. Just goes to show the line of "must have premier league experience" is complete horse shit.

I know its Southgate's job to pick players for his England team, and if he doesn't fancy what Jack has to offer then that is entirely his decision (albeit a wrong decision), but what I'm really struggling to understand with this squad selection is this: Harry Maguire, Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford, Kyle Walker, Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling are all deemed not be ready to begin the new Premier League season on 12 September as their teams played onto the latter stages in their respective European competitions and they have not rested enough, yet they are all available to play in these upcoming fixtures on 5 and 8 September.

Pretty sure it was, but I could be wrong

Tyrone Mings

Whatever happened to the last striker we got from Brentford

That's nothing, on Sunday I had 4 monitors on the go! West Ham v Villa on TV Everton v Bournemouth on a phone Arsenal v Watford on iPad and Jeff and the boys on another TV.

Have we still got Kappa making the kits for next season?, only I'm sure I saw Richard O'Kelly wearing an adidas cap on Sunday. Then again he was still wearing the Luke cap when we had Kappa. Just an observation.

Looks more like something off the original series of "Planet of the Apes" to me

Never noticed before, but isn't that Brian Little on the left hand side (behind Sid)? I thought he had retired by this point.

The Holte's Last Stand Glad to say "I was there", need to look very carefully to spot me though!! My usual spot was left side, 2/3rds of the way up to the right of the stanchion (as you look at the photo it was by the back stanchion on the right side)

Perfectly summed up

Not sure how true this is but I seem to recall that the person who painted this couldn't paint hands/fingers and that's the reason why all the players have clenched fists - nothing to do with them all wanting to hit each other!

Got absolutely nothing to base this on other than gut feeling but I think we will win this one.

I had to re-allocate from the North Stand last night and ended up in the lower Doug where the away fans usually sit. Atmosphere in the "away" section around me was brilliant, everyone standing up made it feel more like an away game than a home game. What was noticeable, and I'm not sure if any match photo's show this, but the STH in the lower Doug next to the away area were all sat down and there seemed a distinct divide. Anyhow brilliant night, brilliant result and onto Wembley! Another thing I noticed from last night is just how awesome a full Villa Park looks like for an away fan, you can see why so many away supporters rank Villa as their favourite away ground.

With regards to Luiz starting ahead of Drinkwater I was discussing this last night with mates in the pub before the game where the general consensus was that Luiz should start. I, however, was of the opinion that the reason Drinkwater starts and plays the first 60-70 minutes is a plan by Smith to allow the opposing midfielders to tire before bringing on the fresh legs of Luiz when he has more space to play in and therefore create more chances (or in last nights case score). Thanks for taking time to read my ramblings (which is more than my mates did!)

Reading the last few pages trying to guess who those two blokes are was like watching the masked singer. No-one knows who they are and ultimately no-one really cares who they are.

I'd be very tempted to go 4-1-4-1 for this game. Heaton Guilbert Engels Hause Targett Nakamba Jota McGinn Grealish El Ghazi Wesley

Accurate summing up, and I don't want to be picky, but didn't Guilbert come on for Targett after Vardy scored the fourth and went straight to left back?

I was born early 70's so the first Villa manager I can remember. The first and still the best.

I've been reliably informed that it's called football because the ball is a foot long. Not sure if that's true or not but either way it's a great snippit of information. Maybe our American readers can enlighten us!

https://www.sky.com/tv-guide/20191110/4097-3/106 This is the sky listings for Sunday