Vancvillan

10 hours ago, MrBlack said:

There's definitely elements of hypocrisy floating around. And whilst the villa part of me would love us to get Coutinho off our books without making a loss, the side of me that hates the sportswashing take over by Saudi Arabia would rather they didn't legitimise their league any further.

Who knows, maybe they'll use the increased exposure as a catalyst to improve their human and women's rights. I won't be holding my breath though. 

It's similar to Villa having another gambling sponsor - do the club cash in now knowing everyone else will too, or sacrifice revenue for moral reasons.

Main difference is gambling sponsorship has an end date, the Saudis are going to keep throwing insane money at players whether we sell to them or not. Realistically us not selling PC isn't going to put even a scratch in their plans.

It's all so tiresome.

Most Man U fans don't like him and certainly don't rate it as highly as we do.

Can't see it tbh. Would need to be silly money and they won't pay it.

I like him, but let me ask it this way - if he was a Spurs player on loan at Boro last season and we signed him, would you be happy with him as a backup for Ollie?

Disclaimer: I don't have an answer to this question and it's Friday night. I drinked too much.

For me Ferran Torres would be the most exciting link we've had so far this window in terms of attacking players. I think his ceiling is really high - it's a specific combination of circumstances that put him where he is. Some might say he's fighting for a first team spot, I think he's at risk of not fulfilling his potential for reasons that aren't  related to ability.

If (and that's the big question) he wants to work with Unai AND is driven to play regularly, I think he could be one of the signings of the season. So much upside, and Don Emery has already proven his ability to work magic with players in similar situations at Villa.

Measured through ball with his weaker foot for the assist.

If he played elsewhere and we signed him for £40m we'd be saying we got an absolute bargain.

2 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Anywhere the game can be watched?

https://www.uefa.tv/match/live/243063/2036143

Think you have to sign up

3 hours ago, Keyblade said:

That's just the current guise of their league (like the PL), league football existed before then too. 

Even if it was 1976, what's the cutoff point for the football to be considered historical? Seems arbitrary. PSG was founded around that time and they're a big club with history, even before the Qatari owners.

Even that is almost 50 years, there's 2 or 3 generations there. The people there are absolutely football mad. It's the national sport etc.

The Saudi national team is among the best performing teams in Asia on the world stage, at least in my lifetime. They have the second most AFC Cups in history and a Saudi club is the most successful club in AFC Champions League history.

They have no less right than anyone to be able to enjoy high level football imo 

1. There's no cut-off - I'm saying the UK has a longer history of football than Saudi Arabia.

2. Two or three generations is great, but again it's not the same.

3. Lots of countries are football mad.

I'm not talking about the rights of the Saudi people to enjoy elite level football.  The original tweet was referencing how the Premier League "hoovered up all the big players in Europe, splashing cash", and my point is that if any league is going to do that in the modern age where money has taken over everything, I'd prefer that it was one with historical stadiums and a rich history on the world footballing stage. UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, etc - take your pick. Fwiw I live in none of those countries. 

Personally I think the tweet is overblown anyway - I don't think the Saudi league will be in a position to compete with the Premier League for a long time.

6 hours ago, Keyblade said:

And Saudi Arabia doesn't have this?

History of football? Their pro league was founded in 1976

Fans following a local club and passing that down the generations? It's not comparable. 

I'm not saying it's great that the Premier League dumped money into the game. But there's a difference that's at least worth noting.

On 21/06/2023 at 13:01, duke313 said:

Fair point.

Fair, but at least we have history, the invention of the sport and a rich culture of football being passed from generation to generation on our side.

Can't have jumpers for goalposts when it's 45C, but I guess going skins would be less annoying.

5 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

They will have £100m after selling rice.

We wasted our £100m already 

They'll need a large chunk of that to replace Rice, which Torres won't do.

Anyway, we're Aston Villa, we buy who we want*.

*Unless PSG want them

2 hours ago, delboy54 said:

Why was the loss of signal not escalated to the coastguard for several hours?

I don't think losing signal is a huge red flag for these guys. They had a previous descent where a journalist was on the mother ship and lost contact for over 2 hours. The ship's crew's response was to turn off the ship's WiFi. 

Given that Titan apparently has no navigation tools onboard and relies on text messages to and from the mother ship to navigate (which apparently are slow and spotty), you can see how cavilier the attitude towards safety was.

You all take the piss but he'd be in the top ten best players for your Sunday league team. Probably.

6 hours ago, maqroll said:

Would.

Tasmanian?

Do transcripts of the Here We Go podcast count as a book?

Asking for a friend.

On 14/06/2023 at 07:56, MWARLEY2 said:

He is coming up against the Chumpz League ceiling  . Where Southgate points out that he hasnt got experience at the highest level. 

I just do not want him to be rushed . Let him develop further away from the limelight . Huge huge potential but we know he is inconsistent.  Let him get that consistency next season with the villa and then lets see where he is.

Its what i hate about Southgate.  He promotes too early .which means that young players who by nature are inconsistent and by nature still to either push on   plateau  or fade away get picked. 

Look at Gallagher. He seems to me to have plateaued but still getting picked. 

They should finish at u21s and then get their head down for a few years and learn their position in the prem .

Jude Bellingham does not approve this message 

Surprised there are no mentions for Villa's Winston Bogarde, Habib Beye.

Dr Tony is the correct answer - legitimately could have sent us the way of Aldershot.

Doug was a terrible, but in a Levy kind of way. Hindered progress, but administration was unlikely. Shows how low Xia made the bar.

On 10/06/2023 at 00:22, one_ian_taylor said:

Foot like a traction  engine

Deep reach, and a like wasn't enough to express my appreciation.

4 hours ago, KMitch said:

I'm kicking myself for forgetting the fish memes!

Memory like a 

Imagine going back ten years and telling a villa fan "one day we'll have Steven Gerrard and Coutinho".

Hasn't quite worked out.

I'm torn - it doesn't take much to make a good player look terrible in the Premier League. Leicester's defence was an abomination this year, can't do much for your confidence if you know that losing the ball or giving away a free kick is probably going to end in the opposition scoring. Still think their midfield was too good to go down - it was just playing in front of a ramshackle defence and a pair of curtains in goal.

5 hours ago, TRO said:

Character, is one of the most important considerations, when signing players, over and above their talent.

some of the players we have been linked with, leave me in doubt.

I have to trust UE to know this.....I am just not convinced, by the feasibility of some of these really big names, linked with us.

you doubted the character of the entire current squad, so I'll take Emery's thoughts on this one.