Adam2003

Can’t complain at being fourth - no games in hand nonsense - after 30 games. Now see it home!

9 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Might be silly but I'm actually excited to see how we approach the game without Ollie.

I expect Duran to be thoroughly fired up ( Hopefully not red card levels ).

Opportunity for a few of them to really step up and be counted!

He has unfinished business against City .. let's hope this time that scorcher goes in!

Yep, era-defining hattrick incoming!

1 hour ago, TheMelvillan said:

Man city's record has actually been pretty poor against the "bigger" teams this year so anything could happen Wednesday night

Haven’t beaten any team in the top 5…

8 hours ago, 5-1 said:

Diane has to start at the moment 

I’d go Rebecca I think

13 hours ago, lexicon said:

Konsa has grown so much under Emery. Used to be really timid in possession, always playing it super safe - now he's really come out of his shell. You love to see it. 

To be fair he was brave and carried it forward into midfield well under Smith, especially during covid, then lost that for whatever reason. But agreed Emery has brought it back.

2 hours ago, turvontour said:

I'm guilty of taking him for granted at times. His presence is increasingly so important. 

It’s weird isn’t it, that Ait-Nouri chance I just thought “yep standard Emi” but there was nothing standard about it at all

He’s a lovely lovely footballer. I’ve said it before but give him a few months with Emery working on the defensive side of his game and he’ll be phenomenal for us next season. 

3 hours ago, LondonLax said:

We were in control other than that one Martinez save in the first 20 mins. 

Played well.

Drives me nuts that the reports are all like “Villa were lucky Martinez saved that, it could have been different if Wolves had scored…” - that’s why we signed a great goalkeeper. It’s as if Haaland scoring was met with “this would have been more in doubt if Haaland didn’t score lots of goals” - Emi saves those, it’s what he does. 

Just now, lexicon said:

He had a rancid game today. Ah well, move on - we know he's a good player. 

Yeah worst I’ve seen him, but luckily we know that’s not normal!

Just saw his quotes that he rates Emery alongside Klopp and Guardiola as the best in the world and how much he’s improving his game. That’s a great statement from someone who hasn’t even been playing much.

Just now, Stevo985 said:

10 points is 5th at a canter. Utd would have to win 7 and draw 1 of their last 9 games to beat us. 
 

I honestly think 6 more points will probably be enough for 5th. Maybe less

Yeah you’re probably right about two more wins - United very unlikely to go 2ppg from now!

I think 10 more points gets us 5th, 13-14 more for 4th…

7 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

United are shit and won’t get 5th. 

Gap from us to them is 11 points, gap from us to the top - as a comparison to how this looks to their fans right now versus to us - is only 5. Obviously both could/will shift with games in hand but even if they had that as a guaranteed win I don’t think they will make up 8 points to us in 8 games. 

1 hour ago, May-Z said:

shouldn't he be knocking Konsa's chip in so it's nestling in the net without any chance of it hitting the post/getting cleared

I think he would have done if needed - he knocked in the follow-up just in case but I wouldn’t be worried about any sort of striker’s instinct from him - his issue before today has been deciding NOT to shoot sometimes, and it was great to see him linking play more 

2 hours ago, villan95 said:

The slide tackling striker

He’s absolutely class. So disruptive 

Unpopular opinion I know, but I think he’s a lovely player. 

57 minutes ago, DakotaVilla said:

heated derby atmosphere

Aren’t we playing Wolves

17 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

It's 23, that won't change.

UEFA coaches meeting in a couple of weeks, solid chance it changes after that. Southgate thinks it will. 90% of countries apparently supportive. 

I think it’ll end up a squad of 26 and at that point both might sneak in.

8 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

Bit mental seeing the narrative that Ollie blew his chance because Toney scored a pen, think he touched the ball twice in the second half. 

And to be fair while the pundits on TV were poor for this, the papers I saw gave Ollie credit for his role in the second goal (presented as a Southgate masterstroke as two subs combined to set up Bellingham).

Honestly I doubt Southgate has made a decision yet - why bother? See how they perform in the last 9-10 games, how fresh they look, what Kane’s situation is etc. He knows he’s got two good backups and he knows he won’t use them at all if he can avoid it!

Hopefully a nice confidence boost but let’s face it, Konsa aside that’s like playing against a League One defence

48 minutes ago, richp999 said:

Noone has mentioned ollies part in the goal. 

Still watching, let's see if it's *ever* mentioned. 

 

Seems the media want toney. 

I’m not a Southgate fan by any means but to be fair he will see it. I still think he’ll take Toney mind you. 

Probably been said, but my concern is he’s a confidence player and can be a little fragile (an absurd thing to say about someone at his level - obviously he’s very mentally strong - but you know what I mean).

I hope what we don’t get is Toney coming in and scoring tonight, and Watkins’ mindset being “I had a big chance, I didn’t deliver, now I’ll miss the Euros” and coming back to Villa on a downer. Ideal obviously is he comes off the bench and gets a goal!