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allani

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Everything posted by allani

  1. allani
    OK how about our form since the beginning of January still having us in the top 5? Or the fact that even if you cherry pick (or the reverse of that) results and ignore a significant win against a team gunning for the title and go with your 5 points from 5 (which is ridiculous) that would still leave 9 teams having picked up fewer points than us. Plus it is interesting to note that you are so dismissive of Bournemouth and Brentford whose current form is better than Liverpool and Man Utd. I mean pretty much every statistic you can possibly extract disproves your post as being a ridiculous hyperbolic over-reaction. The team need our support not idiots trying to make out that it is 2016. Like I keep saying the thing most likely to disrupt the plans of NSWE and Emery is the "fans".
  2. allani
    Our league form over the last 6 matches has us joint 8th (with Liverpool).
  3. allani
    I think big extends well beyond just the stadium and already associated buildings too. If you look at what NS has built in Egypt and some of the plans for regeneration around the stadia in the US - I think there is money to be made by redeveloping / regenerating the surrounding area. How much of that becomes "profit" for NSWE and how much will be done by VSports / Villa remains to be seen - but it could allow for significant non-football revenue year round and not just on match days. If BCC is broke then having a big private enterprise taking on redevelopment projects would likely have great political appeal. Maybe that's the kind of scale of project that attracts partners like Comcast, etc (and might explain why NSWE would be keen on having easy access to more capital funding).
  4. allani
    Yes, yes, yes. Would definitely buy that kit.
  5. allani
    Barnier? Bariner?
  6. allani
    I hope the wife doesn't find out about my my new kid and partners....
  7. allani
    I think you and I (and to be honest most people who replied to me yesterday) are making the same point and are looking for the same type of player. There was a suggestion that Sangare might be a good option - which I questioned because although his defensive stats are quite good, his ability on the ball is questionable. I said we don't need that type of player because to paraphrase you - there's no point winning the ball if you just give it away again. The issue we have with Kamara out is that Luiz and McGinn are not defensively disciplined enough - i.e. they are both good on the ball but not at getting it back (McGinn's better at both higher up the pitch). So we need another player like Kamara who can win the ball and then use it effectively - i.e. someone who is good at getting the ball back and then almost as good as keeping it. There's very little point signing someone who is only good at one of those things. Now whether you call that person a DCM, a straight DCM, a ball-playing DCM or whatever is not that important. What is important (I think) is getting someone who can do both those things as it gives us more balance (something you and I have both stressed the importance of for years) and more options - i.e. potentially playing two of those types of players when we are playing teams that we expect to dominate possession. I think we've all gone off on a tangent around what to call that type of player when actually I think almost everyone is thinking of the same type of midfielder. There's some question about how many players there are that are good at both things - in that regard I personally think that a lot of younger players are being coached better in both regards whereas a few years ago it was a bit more - ah you're good on the ball you can be a ball playing midfielder or ah you're good at tackling and built like a brick outbuilding so we'll make you a defensive midfielder.
  8. allani
    How much is Ozzy worth these days (or the Osbourne family generally)? Surely there's scope for a Black Sabbath official rock partner of Aston Villa type deal to sit alongside this proposed third kit....
  9. allani
    Say hello to Comcast. Their business network is massive. Admittedly they don't make us a state sponsored team but I am pretty confident that we will be able to make extensive use of their corporate structure and network of associates / partners to identify opportunities that would be much harder to take advantage of without their involvement.
  10. allani
    Also assuming that Labour do win the GE then I am sure that the government would be keen to support the Labour mayor of Birmingham in order to ensure that at the next mayoral election the gap over the Conservatives is much bigger. Governments always look to spend more money into potential "swing" areas. It would also paint a good story that they can take to other cities / areas and point to how they've made big improvements that they can replicate elsewhere.
  11. allani
    Kamara came into this discussion in recognition of the fact that he's just as good when we have the ball as he is when we are trying to win it back. As opposed to a player like Sangare who is good at winning the ball but not very good when he has the ball. Basically I think we're all saying that we need someone (like Kamara) who can do both rather than a player who can only defend (like Sangare) or whois good in possession but not really a defender / tackler (like Dougie or McGinn). The semantics over what you call that type of player is largely irrelevant.
  12. allani
    There are still plenty of CMs or DCMs who won't fit in the system that Emery wants us to play because they are not good enough on the ball. I agree that there are plenty of options who would be capable of playing in the way that we require. But there are also a fair few who wouldn't be as disciplined defensively or as good on the ball when we have possession. This discussion was kicked off by the suggestion of Sangare and the concern that his passing statistics are way below par.
  13. allani
    I find most white away kits just a bit too bland. That said I've mentioned before that I quite like what Sampdoria do with their kits and the tricolour banding that ties all of their kits together. I think I'd quite like a white shirt that had a claret and blue band / hoop or stripe on it. Sampdoria have done loads of different designs with the bands (thin / thick, vertical / horizontal / diagonal, long / short, etc) and I think they usually manage to get the mix of being able to try something different with the tradition of - oh look that must be a Sampdoria kit - pretty well. There's a few that I don't like but generally they get it right more often than not. And I think their white shirts almost always look a bit more interesting / stylish than just a plain white dullness.
  14. allani
    If you take Nakamba as a straight DM then Kamara most definitely isn't a straight DM. But the second half of your sentence is the key bit and I agree with it entirely. We don't need a DM who can only tackle / disrupt the opposition. We need someone who can then put their foot on the ball, make good decisions and pass the ball well.
  15. allani
    I think that is partly an age / experience thing. I think he'll grow into this part of the game. He's not going to be a Keane-esque midfield bully but I think he'll get a lot more street-smart in terms of knowing what he can and can't get away with.
  16. allani
    I would take Luiz, McGinn, Tielemanns, Kamara and Rogers over Eze, Olise and Wharton every day of the week and twice on every day containing the letter A. edit: Sorry I see you've already responded to similar responses (serves me right for not reading the whole thread before replying) and I agree with a lot of your previous replies.
  17. allani
    I mean he's not at the same level but Nakamba is another. It's not about getting a more marvellous version of Nakamba. It's about signing a player who gives us the balance the team require. A straight out / destructive DCM type player doesn't do that any better than having to play Luiz in a DCM role alongside McGinn.
  18. allani
    Exactly this. Kamara isn't a straight up DMC - he's good on the ball, got a good pass on him and is able to resist the press very well. I think we need another player just like him (or very similar). This gives us immediate cover - and hopefully we'll have enough football to keep everyone happy. But more to the point it means that there will be matches / situations where it makes sense to play a trio like you suggest - who can protect our defensive line better and still transition the ball quickly and effectively to ensure that we are a major threat following a breakdown. It is all about options and giving us as much balance as possible. We've tried Luiz / McGinn as a central two for far too long - they're both excellent players playing in completely the wrong position at the moment. The more we can keep them in their right positions the better.
  19. allani
    I think we need someone more similar to Kamara - so able to break up play AND then keep hold of the ball, resist a press and release the ball effectively. This stops Dougie being our main / only midfield outlet and means that we can try and get McGinn and Rogers on the ball higher up the pitch where they are more effective. We need round pegs for round holes. I don't think the way Emery wants us to play is open to compromise by shoe-horning players in whose job doesn't fit with the way we play. In general I think most of your suggestions fit this model pretty well. But alarm bells ring for me when the question mark on a player is their passing ability. That is the central theme of the way we play and I think having 1 player that struggles with that will weaken the whole structure. (Unless of course they've just not had a passing role in their current team OR Emery and the team think that they can rapidly improve that part of the player's game.)
  20. allani
    Exactly. Plus we're still in a position where we are more suceptible of becoming unbalanced due to one or two injuries. Losing Kamara, Tielemans, Ramsey, Buendia and arguably Zaniolo has left us with a very lop-sided midfield. When you consider that we've also had a period when all four CBs have been injured it does seem like the injuries have concentrated in specific areas of the pitch at the same time.
  21. allani
    On the second point I'm not sure that the players are low on confidence - I think they're just putting themselves under a lot of pressure to finish the job rather than relaxing and playing their usual game. Probably trying too hard rather than playing on instinct. 9/10 Ollie smashes the chance he had in the first half towards goal rather than trying to cut back and present an easier chance to Diaby. I think he just thought about it too much. Very few of these players have been in this position before but hopefully they are learning an awful lot from the experience.
  22. allani

    Unai Emery

    allani replied to PeterSw's topic in Villa Talk

    I'd read some of the comments on the match thread again (I know - it's never a very balanced place to be) - bottle jobs, pathetic, not bothered, useless were all terms used frequently. Not to mention the number of complaints about the lack of urgency, lack of effort, lack of interest, lack of fight. Plus all the complaints about us playing the ball across the back - despite it leading to so many of our goals this season. Obviously it isn't all fans - but it doesn't need to be. All you need is a loud, vocal minority to disrupt all the progress we have made.
  23. allani
    Spurs have got to beat Burnley first (unless of course they somehow score 4 goals in the next 37 minutes).
  24. allani
    Brighton look like a team that have had 7 days since their last match. Villa look like a team that played 60 hours ago.
  25. allani
    What I am intrigued by is that IF we are at risk AND the chances of persuading 13 other teams to vote for the change is low then why would we highlight that we are at risk to all the other clubs in the PL and overseas by calling for this change? Basically it would alert other clubs to us needing to raise funds urgently and therefore giving them additional bargaining power (or the perception of additional bargaining power). Which seems like a high price to pay for a small(ish) chance that enough clubs would vote through the change. It seems like a pretty amateur / desperate ploy. Which just doesn't seem to square with the way that we are running (or trying to run) the club or the way NSWE run their other businesses. One narrative that the club have been pushing is that the current FFP rules make it harder for well-run clubs to move to the next level - as supported by us being one of the teams voting against the proposed new rules last week. It just feels (to me) like this is more about us trying to position ourselves as a key player in this wider debate about the merits / limitations of FFP rather than a last gasp attempt to try and avoid an immediate issue. I think we're pushing the story that these rules don't stop bad owners but do inhibit what good owners can do in terms of advancing their club. I think that's a story that we can sell to other teams / owners and try to raise support for challenging the rules to make them "fairer" to clubs in a position similar to us. However, IF the extra £30m is of immediate interest - then I think it's more about allowing us to sign additional players in the summer rather than having to raise funds to avoid penalties for breaching the rules.
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