skarroki

I hate Lescott and still winds me up every time I see him on TV. Have no idea if he's a good pundit or not cos my mind mentally shuts off. Completely over-reactionary hatred towards him. I also dislike Adama Traore a lot still, gave him his chance and then got relegated and he was looking for a move as soon as we were going down, but then sticks with Middlesbrough when they go down? Maybe I don't know the situation but it annoyed me. Maybe also a shout-out to the plank on commentary sometimes who ruins my viewing experience of matches by talking with confidence about stuff he's got no idea about or just getting wrong.

Complete ignorance from my side on this, I had no idea this many referees had taken charge of our games and it seems a relatively even split across the season.

I can't see Levante signing him so I reckon he'll be coached by Emery until September at least

So why did you say he was Christian? That implies it's better to be Christian than any other religion? Why lead with that implication? The people upholding these awful laws in some middle Eastern states / countries are backwards people, the way they interpret their religion isn't the fault of that belief system and shouldn't be used to tarnish all other people of the same faith as lesser.

Oh boy, nobody tell him about the history of Christianity. Not sure how/why religion got into that insult?

Think if Laporte comes in then that means at least 2 of Digne, Konsa, Chambers and Dendonker are on there way out. He can cover the left side and we pivot to attacking with Cash when he plays ahead of Moreno, otherwise he's in at CB and he'll play ahead of Mings. I don't think either of them require an upgrade and there's no way Laportec doesn't start 90% of matches at least when fit

Sorry to pick on you for this and I'm sure you and others will disagree, but this thing about City having a squad of players good enough to name 2 different sides just feels like a myth to me that doesn't stand up when looking at their declared squad. It is tiny and mainly gets through seasons due to good rotation by Pep. They regularly name 2 GKs as well or just 7/8 subs. They always seem to have one or two injured which essentially means the team picks itself for bigger matches. If you pick: Ederson Walker Dias Laporte Stones Rodri Mahrez De Bruyne Grealish Haaland Then your 2nd team is: Ortega Lewis Akanji Ake Gomes Phillips Gundogan Silva Palmer Alvarez Foden They have some brilliant players in there but the whole back line is injury prone or untested, Palmer not shown too much yet and Phillips seems to be struggling with fitness and Gundogan out of contract, Ortega good back up option but a big step down from Ederson. To keep it on Villa, I feel the step down in quality would be similar for us but obviously on a different level to Man City, when naming a starting side and then a 2nd team. For me the obvious holes in the side currently is a right back, a solid backup keeper unless we trust Sinisalo and up front there's questions over who can support alongside Watkins and what Duran and Archer will be up to next season, sold loaned or given a chance. Midfield looks very good to me especially with Tielemans potentially coming in. I would expect one or both of Bailey / Traore to be leaving if we can get Barnes in which would be no bad thing in the long run. I like both of them and would prefer they are kept on and Emery finds a way to make them flourish, but I also think Barnes seems an obvious upgrade in that position right now, so if it's doable, get it done. We can't wait around forever for the Bundesliga Bailey to finally hit form in the Prem.

If he went to Man Utd / Arsenal / Newcastle it wouldn't completely shock me, I'd say it was sensible transfer for them, so on that basis I think it would be great to be able to sign him. On the other hand, this has a feeling of the Ings transfer to me. Great player, technically gifted and intelligent but right from the off I'm thinking 1. Where does he fit in our systems and 2. Who is he better than to replace as he's too good (will ask too much in wages) to sit on the bench all season waiting for an injury.

I'd take top 10 and a genuine attempt at winning a trophy

I get the sentiment but I doubt this is ever the case. Managers can regularly save their jobs with a good run and there was obviously no reason to wait till the Fulham game to sack him. I think Doug signed a new deal because it was improved terms and he knew he can just kick up a real fuss whenever a huge club comes in with a good offer to make sure he leaves, otherwise he's getting paid well to play in the Prem.

If I'm not a Villa fan and the option is big wage, Champo league football, live in Paris, guaranteed winners medal to add to the collection of winners medals or Europa Conference, Birmingham and less money I know what I'm taking. And if I'm an advisor / agent I know what I'm advising. I'd like him to join us but there are clubs that offer more and that's where we are in the current pecking order. We need to box smart and sometimes we'll miss out on reported targets.

That's what I've just done when logging on now haha

Think leaders in the squad are important and especially long standing ones at the club who as you say, can reflect the ethos and attitude of a club. But I don't think it matters who's got the armband on. I'd consider Mings, Young, Martinez and McGinn all equally important in our squad in terms of having the right mindset and character that can spread across a squad. I think you can see it in the likes of Ramsey too, not that he's not a good lad with a good family and a strong mindset of his own, but I think characters in the squad won't be doing any harm to that at all which is key. I don't think there was any suggestion that anyone had an issue with Mings as captain internally and so when you pick McGinn instead, to me that sent the message "this guy is above you in the dressing room" whereas I imagine Emery has more of a modern approach like you see at a lot of top clubs, a captain's group, there's always one of them in the team and whoever it is will get the armband that day. If you're out of form or you don't suit the game tactically you're not kept in just because of your status.

I'll be there too! Although I live in Leeds now so I'm not as upset about it not being in the Midlands too anymore. Previous years I've had good signal and will be with another football fan so might time a toilet / food break with the last 20 minutes

I didn't mean it to sound like they would have won, I meant "could well have" as in there was a chance of them winning the trophy with them being in the final. I take your point though they were the underdogs

Just hyperbole on my part with Conte, I don't set the bar high enough when describing people as performing miracles. I just meant that he did a better job than I think most managers in active work would do at that club. And I don't think that gets acknowledged enough because of his unprofessional outburst that helped oil his sacking. I do however stand by the fact I think Gerrard said things just as bad when we were underperforming just as much last season and I don't think the media even blinked, let alone start an hour by hour dialogue of how long will it be till he's jobless. Nathan Jones had more embarrassing outbursts than Conte before he'd brushed his teeth in the morning. The media did seem to gun for him more than seemed necessary and didn't seem to discuss enough for my liking, whether what he said had truth. The whole thing at the time about Spurs not being where they should be seemed bonkers. It's a club that seems to be allowed to be self-entitled without any ridicule a lot of the time and I'm not sure they'd get away with it if Kane wasn't up front for them. I'm looking forward to seeing the narrative change next season once he's gone.

If I had the choice of manager for a final, and the 2 choices were a bloke in his 20s who hasn't managed a professional game in his life or completed his badges but gets on with some of the squad, or Mourinho, I know who I'm picking every single time. The only thing I can think of, is that there was a huge bonus in the contract for winning a trophy that Levy did not want to pay out to someone who was otherwise seen as underperforming. Which is fair as at the time I thought spurs were boring to watch and further down the table than they should be.

Conte performed miracles with them and Mourinho was a game away from getting them a trophy which could well have happened if he wasn't sacked days before a final. Just shows that the players / board might not like their approach in the media but they know what they're doing.

He's an absolute "word removed" to use the VT lingo but the villa academy helped to make him who he is and he's a villa fan so its something to be proud of. Also as said vindication when you've been telling football fan friends how incredible he is and they don't think so and now it's generally accepted. The second half of this season, he's one of the best players in one of the best teams in the history of world football. If you like football and you want to deprive yourself of watching that at the same time because you're bitter about someone you don't knows career decisions in a way that makes it sound like it was targeted to be malicious, rather than just an obvious and sensible thing to do, good for you I guess?

Them and Everton were the teams I was so jealous of when we were relegated. Holding onto their premier league ever present records, new stadiums on the way, owners spending money and good managers. Really does show how football shifts and getting relegated is sometimes not as bad as losing your way as a club, the rot comes from within and is almost impossible to get rid of without wholesale change. I still think there's a great player in there in Son and I would love it in theory if Emery could get hold of him and get him back to where he was. Unfortunately they will never sell a player for a fair price so it's pointless doing business with them. Which is what worries me about the Lo Celso links, is there any chance of a deal where Spurs don't walk away thinking they've swindled us?

6th tier of Spanish football? Not looking good for him is it

I thought with Mitch Clark it was worded that he wasn't offered a new deal in the press releases and never heard anything about him kicking off. I thought it was very strange at the time that we deemed him not good enough to have a career with us and then he ended up at a Leicester team that were flying high and known for producing great full backs

Soon as that went in and I saw the bold head of Barry Bannan celebrating my first thought: to "other football"! Hope he gets them back to the championship. Always had a soft spot for Darren Moore too after how he was treated at West Brom

Been a while I've been shouting at the TV for someone other than Villa to win. Woke my partner up when that went in absolute scenes.

I'm leaning towards this too now. There's always a chance of regretting a sale. Brighton might rue selling Gyokeres for £1.2mil especially if they get promoted and he does a job in the Prem. There's always a few you look back on and think "why did we do that" but I think there's enough reason to sell if he's not in our plans now. I don't think this would ever be viewed in the same light as what happened with Gary Cahill anyway. If we can get what we feel is a fair price for him and insert something like a promotion clause into the deal it's time to let him go. We can always revert to another long loan for him if there's nothing on the table by the time the new season starts. I think Southampton will be looking for strikers, I think if Leeds go down they might want someone to take over from Bamford.