WakefieldVillan

Words removed cost me a chance of winning £250 quid last night. 5 team btts. 9/10. And Hogan missed 3 good chances by all accounts. PLEASE GO DOWN!

I think the first minute goal at Wolves has lifted his confidence massively and to be fair he needed it badly because his performances this season have been mediocre at best. He was more like the Jack of old (Villa) against Man Utd and by all accounts had a very good game last night against Copenhagen (I didn't watch) where he got MOTM, so maybe he's finally turning a corner. One goal and zero assists in this Man City team though is terrible but I can look past that if he's playing to the levels he was with us, IE assisting the assist (so to speak), dribbling, taking players on, basically getting people off their seats.. He hasn't done that at City yet and although not really his fault - the £100M fee is laughable. Although no one is really laughing. We're much poorer without him and a lot of City fans will expect much, much more for a "£100 mil" player. Still hoping he fails miserably and can honestly say I wouldn't want him back. Ever. (Not that I can see that happening anyway). Call me bitter. But I hate the thought of City (& JG) lifting the Champions League. . I will "just about" support him when he wears white of England - but even that's a chore given we have the word removed Southgate in charge .

Defo won't happen - but with fitness concerns (?) to Cash and Digne, I'd go.. Martinez Young Konsa Chambers Mings (or more likely - Konsa, Chambers, Mings, Young) Dendoncker (See if he can touch the ball this time ) Luiz McGinn (Scotland form please) Buendia Watkins Ramsey I think Coutinho will probably start, and to be fair he's done ok against this lot in previous games. I just don't want us to revert to being a soft touch again - though obviously we want to see better football... Perhaps Bednarek might come in? Played well midweek.. We have options even with our injuries...Keep a clean sheet, I think we win.

Ah I didn't realise your previous post was back in July I will look at the Xiaomi T11 as an alternative, just had a quick read and it seems decent enough (for what I require from a phone). Cheers

I will keep an eye out on any advice you get on this as I'm pretty much in the same boat - Got an S9, pretty damaged phone so doubt I could trade it, currently with Vodafone, contract has run out, currently paying £22 a month. Back in the day I would just get the latest phone and pay whatever, but I am more sensible (tight) now so doesn't have to be all singing, all dancing.. That said, was looking at the Galaxy Z fold which I like the look off - but I don't want to be paying more than err, say £40 a month.. which more than likely discounts this . Might end up with an S10, S20 or S21 ? But no nothing about these to be honest and if they are/were any good

Looking on their forum they really can't see anything other than a Villa win, they want Rogers out, the players have downed tools and basically they sound more depressed than us! This is Villa though, and if there's one team you want to face.... Usually I would consider a point at Leicester a decent result and to be honest I would probably take it now as long as we took 7/9 points from our following 3 (Soton, Leeds & Forest). I see some are looking at the league table and seeing Leicester rock bottom automatically think we should win 0-4! But it doesn't happen like that. And offensively they have some real dangerous players (Maddison, Barnes, Vardy, Iheanacho...). But, defensively they are shipping in goals, Schmeichel is a huge loss, they can definitely be got at. I'm hoping Watkins can build on his last performance, it can make such a difference when he can get hold of the ball more and bring others in, he should be licking his lips for Saturday. I think it will be a high scoring game (so get on 0-0 ). I hope we play the same starting eleven as Saturday but Young in for Cash whether the latter is fit or not. Dendoncker on the bench - and if McGinn isn't at it, get the new man on. Obviously Buendia, Coutinho & Ings give us plenty of options if required.

I'm firmly in the middle camp. Not seen huge amounts of him, but always been impressed when he plays against us (small sample size I know). Hope he can bring some physicality/aggression/aerial strength to our (at times) powder puff team.

Martinez Cash Chambers Mings Digne Buendia Luiz Kamara Dendoncker Ramsey Bailey 4-6-0 - Try keep it down to single figures Let's face it, whatever team we put out will struggle to beat these, but I probably would genuinely play the above but as a 4-2-3-1 with Buendia, Luiz and Ramsey as the 3 behind Bailey, tight compact 4-5-1 out of possession (which will be A LOT!). We're gonna need a lot of energy, be MUCH better on the ball, and need MASSIVE amounts of luck to have a sniff of a chance - I predict 0-4, the longer we can keep it at 0-0 will be key to what kind of hiding we suffer. Depressing.

He was the best of a bad bunch in our back 5 (including Martinez) but I don't think that says much to be honest. The two goals we conceded were absolutely dreadful goals with several culprits to blame in the build ups. On last night's performance I'd rate Martinez 5 Cash 3 Digne 5 Mings 6 Konsa 4 - You need to be hitting 8's and 9's if you've any chance of coming back with 3 points. I'd still easily have him captain over McGinn though

The selections on paper aren't that bad. The worst thing he has done is make McGinn captain, he's way out of form and Luiz played well on Sunday hence should be starting tonight but because of the ridiculous decision to make him captain, he's made a rod for his own back. It's how he sets us up that's the main issue. Just want to see some real fight. UTV

---------------------------Martinez------------------------- Cash------Chambers-------Mings---------Digne -----Iroegbunam----Kamara------Luiz----------- Buendia-------------Watkins-------------Bailey 4-5-1 out of possession, sit in, nice and compact, hit them on the break 4-0 Arsenal

Well, I like it!

Speechless

That's the point I am trying to make though and you've answered it yourself - Basically he was on a hiding to nothing last night with some fans whatever the outcome. As far as I am concerned he picked a side to win the game, we did, he took a few players off after 60 mins, got some minutes into others, we had no injuries and we got a bit of confidence back going into Sunday. There are things to knock him with IE, formations, making McGinn captain, not playing Buendia, continued squad absence of Sanson etc but I will cut him some slack for last night - none of us are privy to what goes on behind closed doors. FWIW I am no Gerrard fan boy - hated him as a player, but was hopeful he could become a great manager for us, which is looking very unlikely at the moment. I just want our team to have some of the traits he had as a player and I really thought we would see that, but we're a long way off at the moment. But anyway, we can agree to disagree buddy. We all want one thing and that's a successful Villa

Well that's a matter of opinion whether the above sort of team would have got the job done. I don't think it would have been quite as clear cut as you make it sound. If our so called best eleven made hard work of it, what makes you think a mismatch of other players who haven't played together done any better? No doubt if he had picked a weakened team and we had lost then he would have been criticised too. Plus of the players you mentioned - Sanson / AEG look like they are not wanted, and perhaps Nakamba isn't fully fit. I personally would have played Olsen, nothing to lose there at all.

To be fair from the moment he arrived he has iterated that he wants to win a trophy, or at least go as far as he can. Don't get why people are using this as a stick to beat him with. Surely our manager wanting to win silverware is a good thing, no? I agree with our "style of football" not working and it's all looking a bit bleak for him/us at the moment, but we badly needed a win last night and we got it, hopefully we can kick on from that.

I like SJM, don't we all, but he is seriously out of form at the moment and needs to be left out of the firing line. I am hoping (praying) that he suffers a (made up) "little knock" in training and gets left out of the starting eleven on Sunday. Make Martinez captain (whom for me was the most obvious candidate anyway) and see where we go from there. IE If we win and play well without him, then it will be easier for SG to leave him out for the game after (and after)... I do think making McGinn captain is the worst thing SG has done so far in his tenure.

Their physicality concerns me - Zouma, Rice, Soucek, Antonio - their doggedness, with the likes of Coufal, Bowen, Fornals... We have to win the midfield battle - we have more flair in our squad, but as we have seen already at Bournemouth and Palace it won't be enough without the fight. I am concerned we will lose this, they absolutely battered us last year and although they have got off to a start as bad as ours, we all know that they will turn it around, and who better than us? Right? That's what we are good at - being a soft touch. For once, just once, I hope this isn't the case.. but I suspect it will be. Prove me wrong Villa / Gerrard - Silence the critics. Please. I would have probably chose Chambers over Konsa but to be honest Calum looked a little shaky last night and maybe Konsa's pace will be more suited to face Antonio. How we deal with him will also have a huge bearing on the final outcome. Buendia did ok, nothing more in a short time last night so I can't see him starting, whereas Bailey could and should be pushing for a starting place. Young played well but I would expect Cash to come in. And then we are just left with the midfield conundrum - McGinn not playing well and should be the one to miss out, but we all know this will not be happening so it seems pointless picking a team without him. With the above in mind I think we might see something like - Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne, Kamara, Luiz, McGinn, Bailey, Watkins, Coutinho. I'd personally go Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne, Kamara, Luiz, Ramsey, Buendia, Watkins, Bailey.

By hook or by crook we need to put in a performance against West Ham and get 3 points

Yes, I think you are. We won comfortably in the end, we're through to the next round, no injuries, with a bit of much needed confidence going into Sundays game. Look at the side Leicester put out and they were taken to penalties by a lowly league 2 side, I dread to think what the reactions would have been on here if that had been us. Was it free-flowing 1970's Brazilian football - No. Can we improve - Of course. Will this be under Gerrard - Perhaps not, the jury's out. But I think a lot of the fans moaning about last night's performance / team selection are anti Gerrard and are looking for anything to beat him with. For me, last night was job done. And I am glad he is taking the competition seriously. Let's hope for a couple of kind draws and let's try for a day out at Wembley. UTV.

I seem to recall one or two on the summer transfer thread that didn't want Jesus, but to be fair it may have been more due to the wages / not the position people felt we needed strengthening at the time - than not rating him as a player. I'm with you though, big fan. The part he played in the first Arsenal goal against Bournemouth was absolutely class - strength, awareness, skill, pace, vision, weight of pass

Sure there were some Villa fans turning their nose up at Jesus & Zinchenko when we were (lazily) linked with them this window I would have loved to have seen either in a Villa shirt, especially Jesus - he's a fantastic player and I am surprised City let him go (to a possible rival?!). Of the so called top 6 - these have always been my "favourite". I use the term favourite very lightly. The most bearable. And I enjoyed watching the Wenger invincible team. Hope they can give City a run for their money, but I doubt they will really.

I must be getting old - but I just don't get the name calling one bit. Ok, he's under performing and as fans we aren't happy, but I'd like to think we'd be better than that Still hoping he can turn it around, but it isn't looking good - especially if you go by VT members. Poch or Potter still the two that I'd be very happy with - if or when the time comes..

Be extremely difficult for anyone to pick our starting eleven tonight - but I hope we go strong as this is our best chance of silverware (like it is every season). I would go - Olsen Cash Chambers Mings Augustinsson Sanson Iroegbunam Luiz Buendia Ings Coutinho Get the job done 1st half, then look to replace Cash, Mings and the front 3. Worry about West Ham on Sunday.

Martinez Cash Chambers Mings Digne McGinn Kamara Ramsey Buendia Ings Watkins I expected 3 points against Bournemouth and a 1-2 defeat against Everton so I've been pretty poor with my predictions, therefore I will say another 2-1 defeat on Saturday and hope I'm wrong again and we can return with 3 points. They have some very dangerous players in Zaha, Eze, Olise.. but we can cause them problems too, need to be at it from the very first minute.