TheMelvillan

Elmo's crossing was pretty wick. Always thought that was a strength of his

Mcginn, konsa, traore all had good chances and Ollie hit the bar. Plenty of chances, just didn't go our way

We had a million chances, they had half of one. Shit happens. Red card possibly didn't work in our favour weirdly. Just meant that a team, who generally doesn't concede much, dug in. Very frustrating but hard to unlock a team, set up to defend, with something to protect

Barkley has the engine, work rate and closing down mentality of a striker. Ollie has the engine, work rate and closing down mentality of a midfielder.

Nice and mobile isn't he? Gets round the pitch well. Have a feeling that once he establishes himself in the team he will be hard to drop

Good game today and even managed to squeeze in one of his trademark no look sliced volleyed clearance across the 18 yard box. I like him. Never know what he is gonna do which makes him exciting to watch

I always thought athleticism was a real attribute of his, but clearly I was wrong. It is really sickening to think of the money he earns but I think for some people getting too much too soon ruins their motivation and attitude for the game. His current contract means his grandkids probably won't have to ever work ffs. On that note, one of my pet peeves is when a player is singled out for praise for "giving 100%" or "working their arse off". That should be the bare bloody minimum for all players

Derby County interested apparently

Two of those goals have been match winners and I'm a big fan of the additional 4 points that earned But I'm not really that arsed about stats. From an eye test point of view he links up well with jack and targett especially on that left hand side, has lovely close control, switches play very effectively and is a threat from long range. Our midfield doesn't score much from outside the box so if a ball drops loose from 25 yards out its Barkley I want to be hitting it. Overall though I agree with the majority opinion that he is probably underperforming and I think there is more to come. it sounds like he isn't really 100% up to match fitness yet. Only have to look at the Gareth bale situation to see how long it takes a player to build up to full match fitness after a long spell out. We don't know how much he is instructed to preserve that energy by not closing down like a madman in the final third. Game and player management is very nuanced and something we fans aren't necessarily party to

Looking back over the seasons highlights made me realise how much Barkley has given us this season . Assists and goals that others probably weren't capable of. I think his position is the easiest to criticise but personally I think he is classy and love watching him play

And I said I wasnt gonna watch any porn today.... He really should be on about 300 career assists shouldn't he?!

Close. Keeper The current villa back four 1 DM Some tiki takis Jack and kane Do any of you statisticians know where jack stands in yellow cards caused? I feel he would be up there

Was funny when during the game the commentator said he had watched a YouTube video of sanson and said he looked like a world-beater in in. Must be a VT-er. Also he pronounced it in the frenchest way possible. Like 'sawn-sawn". Sounded pretty cool tbf

When he does something awesome then you see a clip of him chewing gum it's dead cool. When he does something dumb then you see a clip of him chewing gum it is unbelievably infuriating. I think someone has definitely had a word in his ear about keeping it safe and simple as he was very deliberately belting it into row z if there was even a sniff of danger. As a result he had an excellent game and I remained relatively unpuckered throughout. I prefer this version of mings

Was ridiculous. Like he was trapping a bag of sand. Surprised they didn't check that the ball had deflated after that. He is a player that you would pay money to go and see, regardless of who you support. Absolute travesty that some of these performances he has been pulling out are in front of an empty stadium because it's robbing people of the memories that they can tell their grandkids about in years to come. Walking, talking legend in his prime. We are very very lucky

Brilliant. Seems to want it more than ever - really striving for perfection and he bloody loves a tackle. Kinda weird how the least impressive of our established back four is the only one with an England cap

He must be enjoying himself here more than that plastic russian place he's come from. Have to say though he does like a bit of what we used to childishly call bum chum football in school. Where the best two players keep passing to each other. He goes out of his way to pass to jack. Kinda funny to watch

What a horrible sentence!

https://twitter.com/jmcginn7/status/1355642384340676610?s=19

Feels a bit grubby winning like that. This must be what being a man utd fan feels like. Great three points but. Southampton are a good team and we haven't won there for ages. Ings is such a good player btw

Well our squad just got about 20% less handsome. Hope you're all happy

I assume this frees up the number 8 shirt for sansom?

Hate to say it but Barkley really is playing like a loanee. Class in abundance but not what you would call a grafter and for his size really doesn't get stuck in. Definitely have seen him make a few "business decisions" by pulling out of 50/50's. Nakamba and trez subbed on earlier for mcginn and traore and we win that game

I imagine it's part of a villa midfielders training to be reactive to Mings losing the ball on the halfway line by doing something dumb

Was kinda weird seeing us take the piss rather than have the piss taken. I prefer it this way Thought we overplayed at times but Newcastle gave us soooo much time on the ball that you can see why.