Villatillidie95

Fantastic interview. If i'm honest, I've been keeping an eye out for his name on the BBC Football Transfers webpage. seems crazy to me that no one has snapped him up yet as hes pretty much ever present, cheap and always puts in 100% effort. Would be great for a newly promoted team on a budget as backup or for a championship team looking to mount a promotion challenge. He will get so many assists in the championship

Seemed like a great guy to have around, especially in that video Villa did following Emi B around on his first day. I saw him walking down Witton Lane toward the North Stand entrance shortly after buying a season ticket in person in Summer 2019 and he was in his training gear, he seemed like a proper old school coach out on the field with the players which is always good to see. I think he has just made a personal decision and doubt there is any animosity behind the scenes. Not ideal this close to the season but I'm sure we will be fine. Good luck to him!

Cumbria

We've got Barrow away

its almost time...

Well we have to be aiming for 9 points minimum, which most of us would expect from the first 3 games out of those 5. Obviously, its football and never works out like that (usually). We should certainly be aiming for 10-12 points realistically.

Reckon we will play Stoke or Sheffield United.

I think Young will start against the Hornets. Dean Smith knows the value of having an experienced head in the starting line up and I think for the first game of the season, which most of us expect to win, he will want someone out there calming things down and with a bit of know how. Plus we will want to capitalise on any set pieces. In addition, his performance yesterday justifies the start imo, hourihane should have buried his cross and he is very fit so would have no problem keeping up with things. I think we will see JPB at some point. The Doucoure link is interesting aswell, 15 million euros is nothing really and his stats certainly seemed to look good. The small clip someone linked from twitter also shows a dynamic player. Either get him, anguissa or sarr and i'll be happy lol

Anguissa would be an astute signing for us. 25 so still quite young but at the same time, pretty experienced, and crucially experienced in the prem aswell. Could develop well here and would add some much needed physicality and presence to our midfield. Reckon there could be some truth in this one.

Just saw that Cov got a last minute winner against Forest, 96th minute. Wonder if they will struggle again or be midtable. I can't see them being a team challenging for promotion, but they do seem capable of pulling the odd result out of the bag

Said before today's game against Salernitana that he should be thrown in against Watford at some point, and I stand by that today. Was in a great position to receive the Mcginn key pass and did well to get it into the mixer. Really do think he is the type that can make an impact in games. Looks like a strong guy aswell who can hold his own on that side of the pitch

Salernitana will hold their own in Serie A this season, definitely not as bad as I thought they might be. Overall I think this has been a good test for us and it has demonstrated that Young must start and that Ings is going to do well for us this year. JPB will also play the Ramsey role this year and get a few assists and maybe some goals. Should be a good season

Ash young simply has to start against Watford. Fizzed a fantastic ball in there which Hourihane needed to bury really

Cool finish by ASH YOUNG

looks all cosy between the 2 now lmao

Handbags on the pitch

Hopefully Watkins isn't out for too long. Luckily for us, we have a proper goalscorer who is more than capable of banging in the goals. Chukwumeka comes on in his place

Need to ramp it up in the second half and get more intensity in. We have grown into the game and doing much better than first 15 mins, but there is a way to go yet and the players have a few gears to go up yet

El Ghazi buries his pen bottom left hand corner. I know he has been average so far, but I do think he has a role for us. Just his goals are valuable for us

PEN 4 VILLA

set pieces are woeful, we needed young on the pitch really

Great Key pass by John Mcginn + good assist by JPB also - hoping we see him a lot in the first team this year

Great finish DANNY INGS

WOW. They HAVE to make it 2-0 up there

You can see the Ings is going to be a handful outside of the box for us, pulling defenders out of position and making life difficult for the midfield of the opposition with his good dribbling and quick reactions. Not to mention his deadly ability in the 6 yard box