Intercourse_The_Penguin

He's going to save us a lot of points this season.

No one's yet suggested Louie Louie as a basis for this guy's song? (well, unless I missed it - it's a long thread...) Douglas Luiz Whoah-oh baby This last line needs work

So the website booking system is working for other people? I've been trying now since 5pm and I just can't get in. I got through the 48 minute queue first time on my Chrome browser, only for it to say "can't proceed because your browser does not allow cookies" (it does). Tried again on Explorer and Edge. On both, I get through the queue, redirected to a screen with a button to buy tickets for the match, get a new tab, click "more info", see a "buy now" button, click it... only to get a new tab with the "more info" screen... ad infinitum. I just can't get past this. Am I missing something obvious or has anyone else found this to be the worst booking system in the history of the internet?

Wow, that was an absolutely cracking game! RHM looked fantastic.

I like the idea of this. He could really be the player to guide us up to the next level...

Been mulling over the game since Saturday. First half I was thinking we'd turned a corner. We weren't exactly scintillating or creative, but it was a tidy and solid display with us keeping a strong shape and not conceding much possession in danger areas. Around the hour mark though the old Villa failings resurfaced of course. It was bit before the goal I thought we'd started to look a bit shaky but obviously it all fell apart quickly after that. The ball being given away in midfield was a big part of it I guess and so was the loss of shape. I was sitting with Boro fans (since a Boro mate of mine bought me a ticket for this one) so had a close-up view of the way we were torn apart on our left hand side again and again. Two of these led to the second and third goals but there could have been two more. For all of these Baker seemed to be left covering the central runner and the wide man and Cissokho was... nowhere to be seen. That Boro player with the short fairish hair (can't remember his name... mate did tell me...), just got behind on our left over and over again. I said after the third or fourth time you'd think someone in the Villa defence would figure out "damn, they keep doing that!" When Amavi came on he snuffed out the next two times the same play was made and so tightened us up there, as well as offering more at the attacking end of the pitch. So maybe it's where I was sitting and what I could focus most easily on, but I thought Cissokho's positional sense (or lack of it) played a huge part in their second and third goals. I don't know why this became such an issue relatively late in the match - his fitness, or Boro figuring out a weakness in our back line - but unless Amavi plays a big part in the coming season LB looks like an area we need to strengthen urgently based on my viewing of that game.

Ok, I know the chances of it being real are pretty slim, but just looking at the fixture list has made me actually start to feel quite excited about the coming season. It was all so horrific last season I genuinely tried my best to forget football even existed. And now we're in a right horrorshow of a league that we'll likely struggle to get back out of. And seeing some of those games brings home how hard it will be to win consistently enough to challenge at the top. Not enough stand out as games I'd back us to win with great confidence or ease. And yet I still find myself feeling that little frisson of excitement thinking about Villa playing again. What's wrong with me?

But she's kind of young so we try not to sexualise her.

Thanks. Still, only one line and I fluffed it. Should stick to the day job, I guess. Shame I suck at that too. Anyway, I know nothing about this Sane fella, but it's not like things could get any worse so I'm onboard with it

Heard he's a bit of a geezer this one. Still, suppose it's fitting for this week that we're get a lad in Sane. (Sorry)

But it could be a reference to the fact that gillets lack sleeves rather than Tim's lack of tactics?

Oman, is this still going on? It's really starting to test my Sana'aty.

Srs? We signed a player for £7-10m on Friday. What sort of nonsense is this? Would you tell a drug addict, "srs? you had some drugs on Friday"? Would you tell a 40-a-day smoker, "come on, you had a cigarette last week?" If Tim didn't want us to get hooked on signings like this he shouldn't have been such an effective pusher. Now we need our next hit! I can't go cold turkey the whole rest of the transfer window...

Ayew obviously been watching old footage of Ashley Young.

Played, Leandro!

Good play now. Let's get one!!

Well, ****.

Gana is going to be superb for us, isn't he? Him aside, though, Man U looking pretty settled. Has Tim got another longer term gameplan in mind here?

I'm glad I paid for internet access whilst away in France these past weeks. Imagining... logging onto VT after three weeks offline...

I'm pronouncing it A-dah-ma. And no fracking toaster is going to tell me any different!

Well played, sir. Well played.

No, no, no. I don't believe any more of this. I'm a Villa fan; I live in Birmingham; I have two children... things don't just go this well. There must be despondency, resignation, misery and drowning of sorrows. I'm not ready to reassess my entire life just because Tim Cockney Sherwood decides to revitalise the Villa. What next? He's gonna pop round on Friday evenings offering to babysit? Stuff and nonsense.

Assuaged a lot of my doubts today. Although... now I think of it I only developed these doubts through reading the somehow convincing negative posts on here. Clearly, the moral is: never read.

As an American, Baby Brad was doubtless weaned on war films like Escape to Victory. "You've got feet; I've got hands" is pretty much his footballing motto. Now we just need to clone Bobby Moore to play in front of him. Michael Caine can go RB. Because why not?

Enjoyed his performance today, but am still concerned that at 31 we might we might have come in too late for him.