I Make Pies

The main question mark over Barnes appears to be his lack of consistency, something Emery has improved on with our current players. He could take this lad to another level.

One of the main improvements he has brought is consistency. Mings used to make one big ricket per game, whereas now I cannot remember the last time he made one. Dougie was notoriously inconsistent but now has rectified that. McGinn's performances used to drop off after an hour but now maintains the required level for the full ninety. I don't know what Emery is doing that our previous managers were not but it seems to be working.

Benito and Rodriguez appear to be Emery recommendations. Benito used to share a room with Emery when they played together at Toledo back in the 90s, and was also at PSG and Arsenal as a scout while Emery was there. Rodriguez was at Villareal and Valencia with Emery. It seems we are going all in on Emery and his staff. That should help maximise what he is able to do for us, however I hope there is a succession plan in place (I'm sure there is knowing our board). When you are invested in one person/group of staff to that extent a break can hurt more than usual. There was never a plan put in place for the post-MON era.

Only eight subs rather than the full nine. BBC only has six listed.

I saw an article (can't remember where) saying Heck would be working at the V-Sports level, leaving the other three men in Villa-specific roles (unless Lange or others are moved around as @OutByEaster? suggests as a possibility). Don't know how reliable that information is.

Feels a bit weird at the moment. Clubs are signing/in talks to sign players already yet there are three games left to go. We don't even know what competitions we will be playing in next year.

Maybe the plan is to move Kamara into the centre of defence. The Marseille fan on here said he used to play that role for them.

I don't understand the critism of JJ. He is one of our better players in most of the matches I watch and the statistics back that up. Here are all the relevant attacking stats on FbRef: Goals: 3rd on team Assists: 2nd Goals + Assists: 2nd Progressive Carries: 1st Progressive Passes: 6th Progressive Passes Received: 5th He is also our fifth highest rated player on WhoScored.

The conditions at the club are ideal for player development so let's hope Emery can work his magic on him.

Bailey is a conundrum. The talent and potential is there, but how long do you give a player to get to the required level? He's been here two years and we have seen flashes of the player we want but there is always another injury or loss of confidence around the corner. In the summer perhaps we replace Bert and have the new winger compete with Bailey. That way it gives him more time to develop into the player we want without holding back the team.

Yesterday showed why scoring first is so important and why we shoot towards the Holte in the first half of games under Emery. Our general play was ok but Wolves were able to toe the ball away at key moments due to the volume of defenders they had. Credit to them for their defending. Our play in the final third is better than six months ago but still needs development/more firepower/more physicality. Bert has a good highlight reel from his time at the club, but Bailey is a better player. Both are probably on borrowed time with us though. Great to see Diego Carlos and Kamara back, and I will admit I was wrong about Mings. Thought he would be replaced in the summer by someone more comfortable on the ball but he has shown enough improvement in this area.

Tottenham showed more nous than us i.e. cynically fouling our players to stop attacks, whereas we were a bit too nice. In the first half we lacked a second defensive midfielder and were overrun in midfield so the Barnes substitution made sense. It was a shame to concede the second half goals when we did as we were starting to take control, but no complaints overall as they had the better chances. Great effort and application by the lads as always. Encouraging performances from some of the younger players - Lynch, Edwards, Young and Wilson, and also Feeney looked good as he often does. The one player I want to see more from next season is Kerr Smith. He has a high ceiling with good physical and technical attributes but needs to work on his defending if he is to progress.

Team for tonight: Wright (GK); Barber, Smith (C), Feeney, Munroe; Alcock, Kellyman, Patterson; Lynch, K. Young, Wilson. Subs: Hammond (GK), Edwards, Barnes, Rowe, Mulley.

Watched the first half of Rotherham vs Cardiff and it has to be one of the worst refereeing displays I have ever seen. The Rotherham players spent the whole half deliberately hauling the Cardiff players down and getting away with it. No wonder Colin has such a great record in the championship.

Just watched it back. Even first half with some nice build up play. Just lacked the final pass. Second half Brentford pressed us and we got stuck in our own half. Olsen played it long every time in that first 20 mins and it came straight back, so we never had control. If we are going to play this way we need a backup keeper who can play out from the back. After their goal/our substitions we dominated and probably would have won had the game gone on longer, but given the pressure we were under after halftime a draw seems like a good result. The biggest disappointment was the number of times Buendia got into a position to play Watkins in, only for the attack to break down. Watkins' seemed to be struggling with his runs, possibly due to Brentford doing their homework on him and forcing him to run where he did not want to. Brentford were like a Tesco Value version of Klopp's Liverpool. They spent the whole game playing diagonal balls to the two wide forwards. If it worked, they were one on one with the full back or in behind the defence. If it didn't, the three cloggers in midfield would hold us up until they got back into their shape.

Emery must have seen something in Raikhy as he played him in a Xmas friendly, but for whatever reason he has not been persevered with. Always thought he had good technical skills but doesn't have enough end product. Hopefully he can find a club (if the rumours about his release are true) where he has time to work on improving in this area. The encouraging thing for him is the two relatively successful loan spells he has behind him.

One player who seems to be going under the radar is Seb Revan. Couldn't find a thread for him. He has been on the bench for the past three games even though Digne has been available. He has been training with the first team for a while, captain of the U21s, and has been arguably our most consistent performer at U21 level this season. It will be interesting to see what happens if Digne moves on this summer. No replacement would probably mean Revan is competing with/backing up Moreno.

Just got back. We were bloody marvellous! The first goal summed it up for me. There was no nervousness, no looking around wondering where to pass it or what to do with it, no thought of being tackled. Every touch in that sequence was calm and confident. Each player had a picture of what was around them and knew exactly where to put it.

That's now 5 goals in 11 games for Middlesbrough playing from the left (1 goal every 132 mins played). Not bad for a 20 year old.

The OS stream cut out a few times for me, including for the second goal, but I saw most of it. Didn't really get going until we scored but deserved the win in the end. Kadan Young made the difference with a couple of moments of quality for the first and third goals, then got better and better as the game wore on. Afoka looks more comfortable in that striker role rather than out wide. Ealing and Feeney had good games also. However we'll have to play better if we want promotion.

Aidan Borland plays for the Celtic and Scottish U16s as a midfielder apparently.

AJ's movement is excellent for a young player, either dropping into that inside left position and getting the ball into feet or spinning in behind the full back. He got in behind about three or four times today. I wonder if he has worked with Ashley Young on this as he was always good at making space for himself on the left wing. He works a little too hard off the ball sometimes. It's great for the team but it's harder to concentrate on finishing a chance when you are tired.

Good opening 20 mins but lost a bit of impetus when KKH went off injured. Southampton were the better side after that bar a couple of spells at the end of either half. Motm (for us anyway) was probably Revan again. He has a great attitude and never gives up. Kellyman and Zych also had decent games. Unfortunately we were missing too many first choice players to be able to hurt them. Out of the non-loaned players I can think of T. O'Reilly, K. Young, Shakpoke, B. Young, Frith, Burchall, Patterson, Moore, Wilson all out or not selected.

I watched it earlier. AJ had a good opening half an hour playing from the left hand side. He regularly moved infield leaving space for the left back, Giles, on the overlap. He linked up well with Giles as well as Akpom. It was reminiscent of JJ and Moreno at times on the left. After half an hour he was moved to the right hand side where he was not as effective. In the second half Stoke marked the Middlesbrough players tightly and he struggled to find space (as did Archer and his other his teammates). Middlesbrough were not good enough to play around Stoke's pressure. Middlesbrough's style seems fairly similar to ours - play it around the back, draw them in, then spring forward quickly. In that regard I can see why Archer and AJ have been sent on loan there.

Just watched the game back. 1-1 seems about fair given the chances at both ends, although the penalty award was ridiculous. I thought we would see more teams use the same tactics as Leeds and Leicester against us with a high press through the middle but West Ham sat off then played diagonals which seemed to work for them. I think the long diagonal balls are something we will have to accept on the left hand side if we are going to play with an attacking full back like Moreno but I wonder if Emery will try to shore up the right side of our defence rather than have another attacking player like Cash. Little surprised at some of the criticism of Ramsey. He played quite well I thought, making intelligent runs forward and should've had an assist. Motm goes to McGinn for a nice controlled performance in an unfamiliar role. Mings, Konsa, Moreno, Buendia and Watkins were also good. More power and pace at the top end of the pitch would give our attack an added dimension. Watched Newcastle yesterday vs Wolves and they had too much power for them with Isak, Almiron, Saint-Maximin etc. Signing Duran is a good start and adding another like Williams would help also.