Panto_Villan

What’s going on in Israel is horrible, but I’m not sure I feel any more sympathy for the Israeli civilians than the ones in Gaza who are about to be killed in the Israeli retaliation. The modern incarnation of Israel isn’t a plucky new state desperately trying to survive against multiple neighbouring Arab states trying to exterminate them. They’re the largest military power in the region operating a religiously nationalist apartheid state, while deliberately colonising most of the disputed land and making no attempt at a peace process. Feels like they’re barely even a western ally any more either. I’m not sure what the solution is, but there does need to be recognition that expecting the Palestinians to remain peaceful is just asking them to quietly consent to being erased from the disputed areas. Israel has been continually pushing forward the status quo to benefit themselves in any recent times of peace.

Hype train cancelled.

I think it’s easy to forget just how famous the Spice Girls were in that era. She was the bigger celebrity than him when they got together imo, or on an equal footing at the very least. Not to argue with any of the points you’re making, but I don’t think you can claim she was only famous because she married Beckham (although their wealth probably does mostly comes from him).

Brilliant news, really happy he’s signed. Both for him and for us. I’m also very happy we’re in a position where it’s very rare for us to lose our best players. Things have changed a lot since NSWE took over!

I watched the first episode of the documentary last night and I enjoyed it. I’ve always thought Beckham came across like a nice guy. I’m willing to forgive a young man with the world at his feet for chasing money and fame. I’m sure VT will want to focus on the negatives, but I remember the thread we had about him was actually quite positive about him when he announced his retirement. Most people (like me) were won over by that performance he put in against Greece, and probably the realisation that the hate campaign against him after ‘98 was maybe a wee bit over the top.

It’s Emery that’s still happy when Ollie doesn’t score, not Ollie himself!

Personally I think you actually have to deliver on it over a full season before people take notice. I feel like Arsenal weren’t really taken properly seriously as title contenders last season (even when they were ahead with 10 games to go) because most people assumed City would just reel them in. Showing promise is fine but actually winning it is something else. Finishing seventh one season just isn’t that much of an achievement really. Wolves did it twice in a row a few seasons back, and nobody cared. If we can break the top six this year people will start paying attention IMO, and talk of us the way they talk about Brighton now. But I think you need to make the CL places a couple of years in a row to cement opinions that you’re a genuinely big club - and even then it can fade quickly if you do a Leicester etc.

I’d be quite annoyed if he just saw his contract out with us, not least because it would ruin some of the feel-good vibe about the club right now. He must be asking for a major pay increase if the deal still isn’t signed. What’s he on now? The internet says £75k but presumably nobody actually knows. I suppose that sounds about right for player we bought for about £30m, even if we were in a much lower league position at the time. He’ll be nearly 30 when his contract with us is up, which is pretty much pensionable age for a striker (especially one who relies so much on physicality) - maybe the club just doesn’t want him on the books at 150k+ a week until he’s 34 or so?

Yeah, that’s fair!

Yeah. Have we had any signing from abroad in the last 10 years or so that has consistently delivered such high quality performances right from the word go?

I don’t think there’s much realistic prospect of him ever coming back, but I don’t think this particular issue would be a problem - this season has made obvious that we need to improve our squad depth, and competition for places is always good.

Man, this thread is a wild ride these days! I’d still take Grealish back if he wanted to come and fitted within our wage structure - but only if it was a loan with buy option deal. Not sure he’d have the motivation any more, or that he’d fit particularly well into an Emery team, but I’d be willing to give it a try.

Hopefully he’d know better than to believe them!

I actually think he meant what he said with his “only the conference” comment, but again it wasn’t anything worth complaining about. It’s just a mindset thing. Jacob is a very promising young talent who has a good chance of playing for England and in the CL at some point during his career. I’m sure getting into Europe is something he’s happy about - but a huge crowd coming out to celebrate them (potentially) getting into the competition below the budget version of CL? Probably seems a bit much to an ambitious player who regularly gets to play against CL clubs in the PL anyway. But it’s very different to a fan. We can’t get into the CL by playing well enough that one of the top CL clubs buy us; we’re Villa for life. Getting into Europe of any kind is a huge turnaround for our club and means a lot to the fans. Not everyone is self-aware enough to see things from other people’s point of view. Konsa evidently is though, so good for him.

I imagine it’s just him showing support for an ex-colleague he likes rather than any disrespect for Villa, so I don’t see any issue with that personally.

Yeah, it seems bizarre to claim that Russia only ever wanted the 20% of Ukraine that it currently has. The Russians clearly aren’t completely clueless, and if present trends continue they’ll probably get more out of the war than Ukraine and the West want them to - but it’s still a lot less than Russia was expecting to conquer at the start of the war.

One of the nice things about Traoré is that I have no idea what his dad’s opinions are on anything.

I don’t really think what the longer conversation with your wife is a good yardstick though - she’s not the one that supports Villa, so it wouldn’t impact her negatively. Whereas you leaving your job does impact her. Most people have supported Villa longer than they’ve been in their current job, and they’re probably more passionate about Villa than they are about their jobs. Personally I think it’d be quite a bit easier to change jobs than football clubs (obviously this depends on your type of employment though).

We’d better have a buyback. He’s only 25, he could still come good!

Spurs did a pretty good job of replacing Bale with a group of new players, no?

I mean, I’m not sure what to say if you can’t see any difference between a raid across a border and an operation to take and and hold territory on a permanent basis. The difference is self-explanatory as far as I’m concerned. The fact that the only people who have crossed the border to try and take territory (albeit temporarily) were Russians should tell you everything you need to know about the situation. Russians were specifically chosen for the operations because they’re using grey zone tactics; the Ukrainians aren’t technically breaking the rules if they’re just enabling Russian “freedom fighters” rather than sending actual Ukrainian forces to try and take Russian territory. We’ve established that the border is sufficiently lightly defended that a few hundred infantry without armoured or artillery support can still take and hold Russian territory for several days - and you think the Ukrainians couldn’t send twenty thousand men over the border and grab a chunk of Russia to use as a bargaining chip in negotiations? Or even just to disrupt supply lines, or force the Russians to tie down units to actually protect their border? The only reason they haven’t done that is because the West has made clear their ongoing support is contingent on Ukraine not invading Russia (again, for obvious reasons). There’s no military reason for it. It’d be way easier to push into Russia proper then fight through the fortifications and minefields in occupied Ukraine. But I’m just repeating myself at this point; if you disagree then we’re probably not going to change each other’s minds.

I don’t think that’s true. Western munitions are supplied with the condition that they’re not used against targets in Russia, of course, and presumably that’s true for Western tanks etc too. But there’s also a separate set of rules the Western backers expect Ukraine to fight by if they’re going to continue to receive support. Stuff like treating Russian POWs well, from example. Not actually invading Russia is clearly another one of those conditions. It’s how the West is trying to control the scope of the conflict, ensuring both that there’s no serious chance of nuclear escalation and trying undermine political support for the war in Russia by not attacking civilian populations.

If you look at a map it’s pretty easy to see how Ukraine can invade Russia without going through occupied territory. If a hundred or so pro-Ukrainian Russian volunteers can take territory inside Russia for a couple of days, the Ukrainian army would be able to punch pretty deep into Russia if they wanted to. But it’s one of the conditions of Western aid that they don’t do that. That’s one of the only realistic instances where Russia might be tempted to use a nuke.

I think the chances of Ukraine retaking large swathes of land this year are steadily decreasing. It might still happen if the Russians totally collapse in a sector but I think the reality is that it’s just difficult to attack through minefields even if you do have Western equipment. That said, I’m not sure that means time is on Russia’s side necessarily. I think the Ukrainian will to fight is likely much higher, especially if Trump doesn’t get re-elected and the Western backers stay the course. The Russians have already burned through their most disposable troops so each new round of mobilisation will hit closer to home. And if the US does drop out, there’s nothing holding Ukraine back from invading Russian territory - which would probably be much easier to seize than the contested parts of Ukraine.

I think this is probably a sensible deal for all concerned, provided we do get agreement on a buyback clause. Given our current league position and squad, I really think it will be hard for youngsters to break through. And I think it’s more likely than not that Aaron doesn’t become a top 6 midfielder, because so few youth prospects actually do. So if we have to pay Burnley an extra 10-15m in two years to buy him back, it’s probably still a sensible investment for us.