Adam2003

1. Douglas Luiz
2. Allan Evans 
3. Stan Lynn
4. Anwar El Ghazi 
5. Phil King that time 

3 hours ago, nick76 said:

Nah I think he’ll be a bit more defensive than that being away from home and with the threat of Bowen, Kudus and Antonio.  I think only one of Bailey or Diaby starts tomorrow but I’m interested what he does because McGinn leaves a big hole in midfield.

West Ham don’t play with a midfield though, just leather it long to Antonio and hope he can give it to Bowen, Kudus or Paqueta. So I don’t think we will miss McGinn - the question is just how physical and aerial our defence are feeling…

3 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

Imagine all the kitchen shitting that would be happening here if we lost 3-0 to Fulham 

I mean to be fair last time that happened our owner sacked the manager in the corridor before they left the stadium 

3 hours ago, IrishVilla10 said:

if you’d have told me in October 2022 we’d be beating Ajax 4-0 at home next season I wouldn’t have believed you

Great perspective. 16/17 months…

2 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

It's also illogical because it's such low percentages.

The stats show that we're more than likely to get 5th, and 5th will more than likely be a CL place.

Yet a few people are utterly convinced it won't happen

I think we will get 5th and have said that all season - but I did worry when I read the Guardian/Opta article about run-ins today and saw we have the second worst in the league and the percentages are in favour of Spurs finishing ahead of us. But as you say, the percentages are definitely in favour of us finishing above Man U.

Winning goal off the bench on the last day to seal CL.

30 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Lille ground is surprisingly large, bigger than PSG I would guess with only Marseille and Lyon larger?

They’re a real club, whereas PSG were formed about 15 minutes ago!

1 minute ago, CVByrne said:

Arsenal City semi final if they make it is also bad 

Depends how you look at it - it’s a guaranteed win and progression vs the opportunity for two. Your classic metaphorical bird in the hand. If they get there of course.

4 minutes ago, villarule123 said:

Not a great draw for us, at least until the SFs if they both get there. 

Real are the strongest team City could have got, and Bayern are capable of beating Arsenal. 

Yeah agreed, those are tricky ties, especially with Ederson out. That Arsenal v Bayern game really key though in terms of CoefficientWatch.

Is it a bracket-style draw from here? After this will we know our potential road to the final? I’m assuming yes - or something like it - if they say this is the QF, SF and final draw.

Watching the highlights back and some of the stuff he does with the ball is delightful. He’s going to be a lovely player after six months with Unai on the defensive side of the game

1 hour ago, R.Bear said:

He actually doesnt. Ollie has him just beaten. Regardless, that just proves that stats mean nothing compared to the eye test. That Vellios for Everton had a similar great goals to minutes ratio for Everton a few years back when he was coming on for cameos at the end of games. It's deceptive when you're not playing 90 minutes each week. He can score great goals but his finishing is very poor. This isnt based just on tonight of course. Poor finishers arent prolific. He can improve of course but generally, you either have it or you dont.

Disagree with a lot of this. Factually, I think you’re wrong - he’s scored one every 144 mins vs Watkins 145 (according to the BBC at least, we may be splitting hairs!). But more importantly the eye test to me he absolutely passes - he keeps scoring great goals. Sure he’s missing chances but he’s 20. Most 20 year olds wouldn’t be getting near them to miss. And it’s way easier to coach finishing (even if you were right about that) than instinct and positioning, which he 100% has.

I suppose it depends on how we define prolific but he’s easily good enough to be scoring double figures every season in the PL given a little more development.

32 minutes ago, R.Bear said:

I don't think he will ever be a prolific goalscorer

He’s got the best goals to minute ratio of any player in our squad this season…

17 minutes ago, AshVilla said:

I think we should be more concerned with the Watkins injury than the coefficient at the minute.

Huh? If Watkins is injured for any length of time I care even MORE about the coefficient 

57 minutes ago, Villa_Vids said:

England have a rich pool of resources and players to choose from despite Southgate's nonsense.

 

Not if they all say they are too busy to play for the U21s they don’t

50 minutes ago, AvonVillain said:

Still seething about this decision. The entire following season written off pointlessly.

Could’ve done his ACL in training instead. You never know. No point seething in the world of counterfactuals.

Don’t think anyone is catching Italy but still, ideal results for us tonight with Arsenal winning, Napoli losing and Blues getting beaten by Boro

1 hour ago, TRO said:

I didn't think we would win, but I thought we had progressed past getting 4 stuck up us

I love Emery but part of having him as manager is knowing that sometimes when you get beaten you will be BEATEN

On 11/03/2024 at 05:43, The Fun Factory said:

And that is why we haven't seem the Duchess of Cambridge for three months

Yeah it’s bizarre to me that even our most endlessly cynical fans haven’t realised the downturn in form coincides perfectly with whatever Wills has going on at home 

21 hours ago, MapleVilla said:

We looked exhausted after Thursdays game. Long season, and a load of injuries as well. He can't rotate or freshen up the squad. Spurs were way fresher and better than us in every department. Simple as.

The paradox of European football. It’s way easier to manage a season if you’re not in Europe… which helps you get into Europe…

Ultimately for me our success this season has been down to Douglas Luiz and Kamara being so good they can take on three-man midfields, meaning we have an automatic overload. Since Brentford we have been struggling to adapt to a situation where we have basically never (and won’t again this season) have them together. It’s a big switch and I hope Unai can crack it.

Argh balls.
 

Ok well even if we don’t get back into this, we are still sitting 4th and still in Europe. Telling myself that!

5 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

I’d take Van De Van. Him and Pau would be a dangerous duo.

Yeah worth every penny of the £40m - and yes ideal pairing for someone like Pau.