Djemba_Villan

I don’t want to sell him at all. I also realise from experience as a football fan that holding a player when they’ve decided they want to leave…ends badly.

we are still a business ultimately. Only Man City, PSG and the Spanish Duo run off blank check books in world football. I know what you’re saying…but in the last we have lost out on not selling players at their ‘peak’ value. imagine we kept him and he got crocked 5 games in. We must use this as a FFP buffer, invest well and build a squad…which were half way to doing…which I know makes it more agonising. Players hold the power these days. No matter what you do. All a club can EVER do is retain as high a value as possible through protecting their ‘asset’ contractually. Once they want to leave it’s a question of how much…for EVERY club except Man City in the PL.

I also sincerely hope that when people get over the initial hype of the move… they do remember a player who literally dragged us out of the championship back to a stable PL club (with the help of owners that created an environment we didn’t NEED to sell him) Every player has their price. £100m is pure profit we all need to remember too. How many regular transfers would that typically take?

It is transfers like this that remind you that there is literally no romance in football except the manufactured hype we are fed by Sky. other clubs will gloat to us I’m sure. (Despite him being an ‘overrated, diving, cheat with questionable hobbies’) But deep down they know that even if we, with ambitious, rich owners, on the ascendancy cannot hold onto a boyhood fan club hero…..they might as well not get attached to a single one of their own players. The days of Totti etc. are long gone.

I’ve noticed this too. You can see why his agent would be getting excited right now.

Living the genuine distain Keane and Wright have for each other. Wouldn’t Be at all suprised if they had a punch up off air after that.

Got to feel a bit sorry for him on one hand. He isn’t responsible for some over enthusiastic supporters’ opinions. He is not at the standard of where we want to be though so doubt we will see him again. On the €6m agreed fee. Problem is I guess if he doesn’t agree to personal terms?

Unpopular opinion but I do like Kane. Has a lot more about him than most footballers. Yeah it’s media training vanilla stuff but I’ve seen other players carry it off worse. You can tell he rates Grealish higher than Sterling

I’m struggling to get too upset about all of this. All teams have poor form spells, we were in one before Jack was injured and now we’re missing the best player in the league. We are still picking up draws, we are structured, our pizazz going forward will return soon - we are a bit predictable atm. We will finish on 55 ish points - a massive improvement and will set us up well to attract more players to edge us on next season. Some of our players have dramatically improved this year which is good news, our coaching is in a better place. Let’s not get carried away with the poor spells just as we didn’t get carried away when we were flying at the start.

Brighton playing well tbf. Tactical tweak needed. id bring on Davis for Barkley to take the attention away from Watkins. Sanson for Luiz to maintain the tempo/energy in midfield (and protect Luiz who is on a yellow). Then trez for Traore with 15 to go.

If Martinez is making a mistake...it isn’t our day. Fair play West Ham - deserved. Onto Saturday...

all I can think is that it's us trying to plant doubt into opposition managers minds? very strange, agreed. He can't even play against Chelsea so if he was close surely he'd have been on the bench over Ramsey at the very least. COVID?

sacking Bilic in the morning to replace him with Allardyce according to Talksport and the Times. Depressing for them that.

Enjoyed that. Thought he came across as a really decent guy.

Nice assist.

I can’t see any reference anywhere as to who is captain on either side. Maguire the only one with a different armband from what I can see.

Something that has happened by stealth for me is I just genuinely don't cheer goals any more since VAR. It's like watching a different sport. Still care about my team but my intensity and enjoyment during a live game is 10%ish what it used to be. Not even cheering your own team scoring a beautiful goal like that against Arsenal in the first minute. Bleh.

Sickening fake news. He’s never been capable of making so much sense.

Trump is unnervingly quiet since that initial HOW STRANGE outburst. Oh to be a fly on the wall at Trump HQ.

Just realised that Arsenal (who we play after Southampton), have a UEFA cup game 2 days before our game on the 7th. Since it’s a intl break after my understanding is they just have to lump it. This can’t hurt our chances. It’s only Molde who they play but they are the only other team to have won in their group so far. Even if it means 3-4 players not as fresh as normal we might be able to capitalise.

Nope it’s a disaster. Sack the lot. We’ve had 1% possession and no attacks at all. Pathetic. Relegation beckons.

I can see being back in VP is going to be fun when were allowed. A few good results and we are now the Man Utd team of 99 and anything other than a steamrolling is a disaster.

I agree with him mostly. on another day one of Jacks’s chances goes in and we are 3-0 up instead here. its annoying but not understanding all this ‘we’ve been outplayed’ stuff. Leeds have been good to be fair to them.

I’m watching on Bein Sports and it’s been entirely Villa tbh. warnock commentating, pre-game was all about us and included a long special about Petrov

Had a quick read back at comments in this thread. Amazed at some of the moaning. excellent half IMO. Both teams look quality. Leeds are fording us to up our game in some areas (Luiz, Grealish, Watkins & Pressing) Cash playing out of his skin. Martinez making a big difference. Id take a draw on this one.