cyrusr

I suspect Messi would play for us for free if it meant he could play with Martinez

True, maybe not necessarily meeting in the final but I reckon it will be Argentina who will be the undoing for England in the next World Cup.

Having now slept on it, I think this is my thoughts: Positives Early goal showing the benefits of playing 3/5 at the back - both trippier and shaw taking very early advantage of Italy taking more than a minute to settle. Good picking for both players and showed some real strength. There does seem to be a really good team spirit (mostly). I’ve not ever seen that sort of unity within the squad. There are some fantastic England players and Southgate has to take some credit in that development, particularly given he was u21s manager before. I do think that has helped with the team spirit as set out above. Negatives Once we scored, we failed to build on it and instead we ended up playing deeper and deeper. Southgate failed to change it up when it was clear we were the 2nd best team on the pitch. It was very clear that the subs made a huge impact for Italy and England were getting very tired. Mount should have come off 20/30 minutes before and Sterling failed to do anything of real note. If he was knackered, why keep paying him? Stats are not anything but you are not going to win football games with 34% possession, 1 shot on target and your main striker never getting a touch in the penalty box until the penalty shoot out. Yes he did some nice touches as a midfielder, but he is your striker, you need him in the damn box and the whole damn country knows he is one of the most lethal players in the box. It is sadly very clear that Southgate has his favourites and they play come what may. Pickford/Maguire/Stones/Walker/Rice/Phillips/Mount/Sterling/Kane will always play when fit and to be fair when they are good, they are great players (as all bar Mount have show in this tournament - Pickford did well with the couple of penalty saves along some good saves earlier in the tournament). However, some were woeful at times, Mount did nothing to the extent you forgot he was even playing; I didn’t actually think Stones showed anything more that Mings couldn’t do/could do better. Walker isn’t really a CB; Rice/Phillips don’t both need to play every game, it is good to have them both though just in case. Why on earth do you pick Saka to take 5th penalty? Such a huge expectation on his shoulders that is so undeserved. I could see the logic of Rashford coming on as he has taken a few for Man Utd IIRC (I know Fernandes is the main penalty taker now) but never known Sancho to take them. If Southgate was so intent and on bringing on Rashford/Sancho, it would have made a lot more sense to take off Walker and Sterling and move Saka to RB for 10/15 minutes. Sterling has to be one of the most selfish players out there. He will always try and take on 4/5 players instead of passing and inevitably loses the ball. Sometimes it does pay off, but it is infuriating to watch and how many opportunities are missed because he fails to pass? If anything, he should be the impact sub but for him to play 240 minutes+ to not even take a penalty, why? He doesn’t really trust anyone bar Kane and Sterling to score. With the height of the Italians, why wasn’t Calvert-Lewin playing? Or at the very least getting a striker on the pitch to be in the box would have been damn useful. His squad choice was poor ultimately. What would England have given to have JWP or Watkins in that team to change it up? These are players that can offer something different. JWP is lethal from a set piece; Watkins is a constant threat/pressure. However given above even if they were in the squad, they would never be on the pitch. I think for me, Southgate massively showed his inexperience here. He was utterly out thought and out fought by Mancini and he has failed to come up with plan B. As has been pointed out, this just reeks of the Bruce Play-Off Final, we just got lucky with an early goal. I don’t think Southgate has the ability to do something different, he will stick to his favourites and think he can rely on Sterling/Kane to do something special to win the game. It’s simply not good enough. Will he lose his job over it? Of course not, the FA love him, he’s “making progress” and inoffensive. He’s a dream employee without being too exciting. The only way he will end up leaving now is either he goes on a terrible run in the qualifiers or someone “big enough” is stupid enough to give him a club job (Arsenal I’m looking at you). I suspect though he will stay; we will cruise through the World Cup qualifiers and then as soon as we again meet a team that is half decent we will fall again. What’s the money on the World Cup final being England v Argentina and we have to face Messi/Martinez?

Whilst I actually agree with you, didn’t Mount just win the Champions League (and got an assist to boot)? Not sure you can really use this against him. But back on topic - Martinez is just an absolute wonderful player. He is without doubt the signing of last season and I am just delighted that it has clearly worked out for him (and Messi). Just absolutely incredible year for him and he’s a Villa player! Whoever made this signing happen; thank you!!!

How much for a ticket?! I know it’s the final but I thought £100 for the FA Cup final was ridiculous! Who pays £800 for a ticket?!

I am not so sure he was a bluenose, he’s got a job!

Forget about Will Grigg, @Chindie's on fire! Some proper good songs since I was last on this thread!

Seriously would not want to sell any of the 1st teamers or even consider "valuations". We are building a squad team to challenge for Europe and beyond. The players are only going to grow. As others have said, the top teams don't look to sell their best players. That is where we are heading and the only way to do that is to keep the players.

I've heard that a lot! thanks

Thanks, plenty of food for thought there! Having not played Ghosts of Tsushima I was thinking about that when the PS5 version is released next month.

It is too hard! I don't have the time/patience to plug into it!

Yeah tried a couple of the Souls games, cannot get into them. Will look at Spiderman but maybe one to get when the price drops?

Right so just managed to get a PS5 finally and due to pick up this evening. Big question, what game should I get first? I've been playing AC Valhalla on PS4 so was thinking of just switching that to PS5 but wondered if there was something else good to play?!

Jab number 2 done today. Just hoping that the all of these vaccinations actually start impacting on the spread of the virus; whilst the hospital/death numbers are still relatively low, they are still rising.

In New York and Washington - not sure if he has a licence to practice in Florida or whether that would be valid now in light of the other suspensions.

What do you think the "stop the steal" funding campaign was for?

He can barely sing Sabbath songs, I think this may be a bridge too far. Though I see Cantrell/Bordin are on guitars & drums respectively and they play it pretty decent.

It’s already there Love this man, love how he starred in the shootout, love he is Villas man!

All 3 have been mentioned but these are my contenders for recent years. The 6-0 loss to Liverpool in the relegation season definitely stands out in recent years as a terrible match. We had beaten Norwich the week before to give us a glimmer of hope that we might start going onto a run, only for us to then be absolutely smashed without any real fight or anything. That was definitely the final nail in the coffin for that season. The 2018 play off final loss was utterly depressing for the fact that it was our chance to get promoted and we were really dull and boring and failed to actually do anything. Of course we knew the financial implications shortly afterwards of that loss, but just so glad that NSWE came in and saved the day. We could be looking at a very different Villa if it wasn’t for that. Also the Arsenal FA Cup Final loss, whilst we didn’t expect to win, the manner of the loss was abysmal and completely embarrassing. There was no reason for us to even turn up and we might as well have not beaten Liverpool in the semi.

Also definitely do the tour - I did it in the year we got relegated and we were being sold to Xia and even that was brilliant!

Opeth are good, but they have now definitely changed into a prog band rather than “metal”.

With the 3 Heavy Metal/Hard Rock trio this is my take: Led Zeppelin - most technically proficient but the one that the members have stayed away from the "tag/label", which is weird because they were great at it and have written some phenomenal songs. Black Sabbath - certainly the one with the "sound" and that comes from Iommi/Butler duo. You shouldn't forget that sound really only developed significantly from Masters of Reality. S/T and Paranoid have many other more accomplished, technical songs as well. Deep Purple - the forgotten child but a crucial element of the picture. Helped develop and still some great songs. Smoke on the Water though has to be the best example of a great intro but the rest of the song massively declines. To be honest though all 3 are great and have their place. Agree with @mjmooney, I don't think I have every really "loved" a live album (and that applies to all bands). It never captures the essence of the live show and if I want to listen to a song, I'll always pick the studio version over a a live version. Possibly the only exception is on the Ramones last ever live show they cover R.A.M.O.N.E.S and get Lemmy on stage for it. The sound is fine but more about what actually happened is pretty damn cool. And to back up what @Designer1 says, there is a huge scope of music out there, both good and bad. If you look past the Five Finger Death Punch/Avenged Sevenfold/Bring Me The Horizons there are some amazing heavy metal bands. I get the screaming/growling vocals are not for everyone but there are plenty of clean vocalists to listen to as well. Maybe look for something with the tag "traditional doom" - Cathedral, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Ghost (early rather than later - although still love them). That's just off the top of my head, there will be plenty of others.

I'll 2nd Digbeth Dining Club, rotating choices on great street food. They have now set up Hockley Social Club but not sure that is quite the same thing. I recall reading that they are finding another location in Digbeth for the Dining Club. Also recommend going for a curry in the Balti Triangle which is also worthwhile. Barton Arms would be a necessary visit as it where the idea for Claret & Blue comes from. With general sight-seeing/things to do; it depends on what you want to do; there are definitely a lot of options for you. The city really is a good place to visit/live; Brummies just are not as pompous and self-centred as Mancunians.

we didn't release - his contract was up and didn't want to renew. Had no chance of replacing Martinez but might have a better chance at Man Utd. For what it is worth, he was good for the 6 months he managed before he got injured. We certainly would not have struggled in the 2nd half if he was playing. Good luck to him.