Marka Ragnos

Emery's reaction lol. Kind of like ... "finally ..."

Kid deserved that several times over.

I think we miss Mings and Dougie badly. Their leadership or something?

Isn't it always this way before leveling up though? Cam needs to punch through the doldrums and not let it get him down. Needs that belief.

Keep it up. Keep talking about Cam's shit game. Seems to work well.

I hope your right. I really do. But it's not THAT hot. Maybe for England, but it's 25 or so. Everyone seems jet lagged.

A muted way of saying that, too. It's a concern. Not feeling super excited about Cam right now, but I don't see the aggression from the midfield, either.

I'm so ****-ing tired of commentators warning about the risks of the high line. Do they think Emery is a ****-ing idiot?

He is. What a brilliant and powerful CB.

It's stupid of me not to realise that the trap-bath split doesn't apply to many Villa supporters' accents. Sorry!

So hopelessly confused. Are we still at the stage of waiting to see if Club Brugge, PAOK, Basel, Gent, Fenerbahce, Midtjylland, CFR Cluj, Maccabi Tel Aviv or Viktoria Plzen crash out?

Also: What possible good is there in Unai blaring to the world that ASTON VILLA WANT A NEW STRIKER! ? It seems good management and market savvy to be supportive of the promising strikers we have. I don't think there's a doubt that the Monchi Man has eyes and ears all over the world right now, on the hunt. But, I hope, quietly? It's clear that the market is tight, and there's a 60-70% chance we won't find a deal by the end of the summer. So what choice does Unai have, really? There's a decent chance we will need Jhonny whether it's ideal or not, and Unai would be silly to rule that out right now with time left on the window and preseason matches to play. This is almost a moment of parenting for Unai. You gotta love them all and also be honest with them, and sometimes you gotta just hurry up and wait with patience even though you know the stakes are sky-high.

Accepted. It strikes me also that Didier Deschamps is one person who knows them each personally and has worked with them. If played together, there is every possibility that Digne will pass to Kamara and Kamara to Diaby in a diagonal from left back to right wing. I want to see that at least once.

Noted: Debt to Bouba and Luca for getting him over the line. They helped convince him.

Is it pronounced ear-rogue-bun-am with the accent on the second syllable, and is the a sound in "am" like bath or trap? Iroegbunam

It's really an unpleasant situation right now. Things just feel very diffused and confused in the world of social media. I actually used to like Twitter (I have a struggling little account) and never liked Instagram -- my life is too boring for lots of photos of my breafast, etc. Threads still is basically Instagram to me. The people I know on there who post are just putting exactly what they usually put on 'Gram on Threads. I don't get it yet. I would appreciate desktop web access to Threads -- maybe I missed that or it's coming? But the blue checkmark-tied post-promoting on Twitter is also just ruining it. All the diarrhoea is floating to the top of the toilet water. We've seen it just in football twitter. All these stupid trolls posting lies are getting all the audience -- and lies flow with 100% impunity. What's the point? I have trouble finding posts I care about on Twitter, too, because there's so much garbage to wade through.

I looked it up. Wow. You don't know how lucky you are. Chip butties, saveloys, plaice -- AND side orders of cockles! And gravy, too. And chip curry. The cockles seem like exotica to me.

What's the best chippy you know anywhere? Why is it the best? When I lived in London, I think I tried them all lol, from the super-posh "boutique chippies" (no thanks) to takeaways that cooked several different cuisines in the same two fryers (nothing like cod that tastes like an eggroll!). I tended to like the very down-to-earth fish and chip shops, often run by Greek families, it seemed. I wasn't a chippy to me if it didn't offer chip butties and fried saveloys -- the bedrock of a nutritious diet, obviously. Never really had patience for mushy peas. I liked one chippy on Essex Road in Islington that seems to have closed. Just very clean and unpretentious but probably very unfashionable. Even a few years ago, it seemed harder to find shops like this.

He's a great interview! Tyrone's early public school education at Millfield seems to come through here, too. Isn't there a bit of poshness in that accent? Am I mishearing this with my American ears? Is that a stupid question?

I loved when Diego came forward very quickly up the center with the ball vs. Newcastle. He passed forward, but a Toon player managed to stick his foot out and stop it. Diego was angry at himself. Still, I loved it. It was like a big fist punching forward. Risky, but what a presence. Love this guy, personally. He might be aggressive, but he also shows a lot of humility and intelligence.

Haha. I've been thinking the same for weeks ... "great minds" (or mediocre ones lol) Yup, and I think his contract runs to the year 3000 or something. Apparently yes, as @mjmooney says. But when I look at those Leverkusen reels of Leon and Moussa together, they more or less obviate the concept of strikers. Those two together cut through defenses like dual-wielded blades ... (and yes, I just needed to use this gif). Who even needs a striker then?

Yeah, I don't disagree at all. And you're right about Ollie and Boub. Bottom line for me: If possible, may want to keep Cam and Jhonny and Ollie -- AND still get a new striker, ready-for-amaze talent, too --- but we also need more information before any big decisions are made. I think if Cam plays a couple more matches like that, then we'll know.

No. I don't think so. But let's face it. We don't have much PL-based evidence as supporters right now on Archer. What we saw Sunday was a player who was able to keep possession and take command of the ball but who also seemed to get himself into cul-de-sacs a lot. He made loads of inconclusive backward passes and lateral passes. Almost every time he got the ball, within a minute it was back at Newcastle's grubby feet. Preseason matches should matter. I don't know about "deserve" (can't run a football club that way), but I think it would be wise, on logic, to give him another big chance. It's "only preseason" is meaningless to me. It's more about giving Emery and company a chance to learn more about how he would do. But some real evidence is beginning to emerge. He faced Lascelles head on, one-on-one, and he lost, for example. I can't unsee that. He could not get past the man. No ambiguity there. But it's a tiny sampling, for sure, and that has to be factored into any decision about how to integrate or move on from Archer. Based on all I've seen, I just don't think he's quite talented enough for top of the table progress for the Villa. I actually think Jhonny would work better for us in that role -- and that we still will need someone with explosive abilities in the box.

Needs to go. It's strictly business.