villabromsgrove

It's spooky .... Pablo New Villa is his number one assistant!

I'm 73, and the only thing I'm capable of cracking out is my knuckle due to arthritis, before reaching for my beta blocker tablets to lower my heart rate, lol. Exciting times Welcome Unai.

You're right Villarreal are a team in a very small town, which kind of makes my point valid.They have a 22,000 capacity stadium which they don't fill because their town is so small..

Just a stat to put Villa's size and pull in perspective for those who think Emery and Amorin wouldn't be interested in us .... Villarreal home attendance average last season 17,000+ .... Sporting 25,000+.

Just my opinion .... I was banging the drum for Potter when it was obvious that Smith was going to be sacked, but when Gerrard was announced as the new manager I got excited at the potential boost to our media profile. Almost a year later I can see our higher media profile, and recently I can also see that if we could only cut out the suicidal errors we are close to being a top ten team .... but .... I think I can see why we are struggling to break out of being "nearly there". Gerrard is by far the biggest name and personality at Villa, and I believe that is holding the players back in terms of taking responsibility. Howe, Potter and even Arteta (as good a player as he was) are not iconic names, but Gerrard is. SG was a great player but he has not proven himself a great coach, and yet the media is all about him which allows our players to hide behind his aura. I now believe that we will not progress from where we are, until we bring in a Manager/Coach who can lead from behind the cameras instead of in front.

Another post that makes me think I should leave the hallowed halls of VT.

I was in Ross on Wye for a covid booster and flu jab first thing, and the pubs were already open, and then back to Ledbury by 10.15am to grab a coffee before the shop closed at 11am. there was a great selection of pubs open, and advertising that they were showing the Queen's funeral on TV. Instead of going inside the Seven Stars I stood in bright sunshine in front of the Tudor Market House, and looked up and down Ledbury's idyllic high street and said a simple prayer to the Queen. " God bless and thank you for your service. You're being remembered in grand churches and big cities, but this is your real England, your real UK". I got home at 10.45am in good time for the funeral and looked out over a sunlight Malvern Hills. I thought of the Queen's duty and decency and resolved to try harder myself.

I give up, why do I expect decency on Villa Talk? I remember the day of our Queen's coronation vividly, and I lived through seventy years of her dedicated service. She was a lovely lady and all you lot can do is take the piss. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I share your allegiance to the club but I wouldn't want to have a drink with a lot of you. I think some of you need to take a long hard look at your keyboard alter egos!

I'm sat here thinking back to the 90 minutes of uninspiring footy that I watched last night. I have a genuine question .... Did we play the same system as usual, only with one full back staying back when the other went forward? The reason why I ask is that on reflection I saw McGinn and Kamara on the touchline a lot covering for Digne and sometimes Young, and when Dendoncker came on I genuinely cannot remember seeing him touch the ball in centre midfield. This would indicate that there was no change to Gerrard's system except for the small but useful full back tweak. If that's so then half decent teams will continue to beat us. A positional map of our play against the Saints would be useful if anyone can find one. It was a very welcome three points, but poor entertainment for millions of tv watching neutrals. Recent media profile gains are going to be wiped out if we keep on playing this turgid type of football. I said to my son last night that we should be beating Southampton by two or three goals as they were very poor, except I couldn't see how we were actually going to put the ball in the net. In the end our one goal was scored by playing a bit of lucky ping pong in their six yard box. A goal from a 'Luiz' corner is more likely than a goal from open play at the moment.

I was concerned by this when I watched his post match comments, as Gerrard seemed to apportion blame for our poor form on both Beale leaving and a new coach (Critchley) coming in. He alluded to the fact that he'd had to rein Critchley back. I think the next time SG enters his office he should take a minute to read the designation on his door. Gerrard is the "Head Coach" and that means you don't blame your assistants.

If I were NS or WE I would be asking very pointed questions of Purslow, Lange and Gerrard right now. Team personnel, Tactics and coaching to get the best out of players are all woeful given our owners stated ambitions.

One of my sons just sent me a message about the possible team line up for Friday night's game against Southampton, compared with the team line up at the beginning of the 2020 season (immediately after we had just avoided relegation by one point) This Friday ------ 2020 Martinez ------ Martinez Young ------ Cash Konsa ------ Konsa Mings ------ Mings Digne ------ Targett Kamara ------ Luiz Luiz. -------- Hourihane McGinn ------ McGinn Ramsey------ Traore Bailey. ------ Grealish Watkins------Watkins Your thoughts guys?

I find your comment extremely offensive.

I remember vividly the street party outside my nursery on the day of the Queen's coronation and the happiness that surrounded me. I was three and a half at the time and it's one of my earliest memories. 70 years have past during which Queen Elizabeth was a reassuring figure constantly in the back ground of my life. She was almost like a distant relative to those of us who grew up in a time of austerity, before increasing wealth replaced neighbourliness with "me, me, me" and introduced us to the isolating effect of media and screens. Yesterday's announcement left me stunned and in tears, because I foolishly believed that she would go on for ever. It's the end of an era. Final closure on a time that began with unlocked doors and real community. I fully understand that people have very different views to mine which are fashioned by age and life's up's and down's, but in my opinion the respect being shown nationally and worldwide is reassuring. Football is an ever present in my life as well, but I can wait a couple of weeks while I adjust to the fact that life has just changed irrevocably for me. The monarchy will never be the same and that is probably for the best as we move on in a different era. The decision to cancel this weekend matches is the least we can do to mark the passing of a true icon. We will never see her like again. RIP your Majesty.

Tasteless.

PG, I feel your frustration and I also feel your ambition for Villa. You and I are singing from the same hymn sheet.

You're one of my favourite posters but since you've started being a combative poster you've lost your authenticity. I liked your regular comments on all things Villa but I do not enjoy this new confrontational you. I guess this applies to many of the posters that I looked forward to seeing share their views,. We're mates guys, we support the same team. Passion is good, falling out is rubbish. This comes from a fan who has literally seen it all before .... the good, the bad and the ugly. We're better than this. Let's accept that we all have contrasting views and stay together as a Villa Talk cohort. UTV.

The success of Potter's teams have been based on sheer hard work, good man management and attention to tactical detail which he imprints on his players over a lengthy period of time. The key to Potter's potential success at Chelsea is being given the time to develop and integrate a squad of disparate individuals into a 'bonded team'. However, I can't see him being given much time to put things right at Chelsea by a new board desperate for quick success, and some of the 'big name' players may be less willing to listen and learn, or bust a gut for him than his Brighton players are. I don't see him turning down an offer from Chelsea with the lure of Champions League football and a huge financial package, but in my honest opinion Villa would be a much better long term project for him and could become a job for life like Fergie at Man U. I know I'm out of touch with this "instant success" era of Premier League football, lol.

I like Brendan Rodgers but he would the wrong manager for our current squad. His well known tactics would not get the best out of our current group of players.

Gerrard is fortunate that our next game is Leicester away imo. Rodger's team plays a possession based game and at home particularly they look to dominate possession. That means we don't have to get sucked into lots of unproductive sideways and backwards play in front of a low block defence, with the usual space behind our backs exploited. We can do what we do best which is to counter attack. If it goes well then SG has to remember the feeling and force himself to do the same against Southampton who are next up and are currently playing low possession football. Pragmatism and patience are his two best friends.

I banged the drum loud and often for Potter when it was obvious that Deano was running out of time. When Gerrard was appointed I recognised that if he could do the coaching and managing part of the job (his background coaching team gave me confidence) then he was ahead of Potter in terms of raising the profile of Villa and attracting bigger reputation type players. I welcomed SG. Steve has succeeded to some extent with raising the profile and attracting some big name players, but his coaching and management has been a sad and worrying disappointment. In contrast Potter's coaching and management reputation has grown in the time that SG has been with us. I'm back on the Potter drum because appointing him would make so much sense.

I agree with most of your posts Peter and I'm an optimist by nature, but I disagree with you when you say that we "are at no risk of relegation". You say if things don't improve we will replace Gerrard and I agree with that, but the rest is supposition. We don't know at what stage this may or may not happen and we don't know how successful our search for a better manager might be. Until this transfer window I would have happily put my trust in NSWE to recognise the moment and the manager to put things right (because things are very wrong currently despite one battling performance against City). The fact that Purslow may have a vested interest in terms of his reputation in allowing Gerrard extra time to make positive changes, begs the question as to whether NSWE will over rule him quickly enough in the event of positive changes being delayed. If we continue to play the same tippy tappy possession style in front of organised low block defences against so called lesser teams, we will be beaten on a regular basis by goals against us from quick breaks into space behind absent full backs. Our defence isn't strong enough or organised enough to play "Gerrard" football imo, and our attackers are ineffective playing in front of low block defences. Changes need to be made quickly to our shape and tactics or we are going to fail to get the points we need to move away from the relegation zone. In my opinion we are at risk of going down this season until the changes that have to be made are successfully implemented.

Let's just enjoy today.

I hope that Gerrard has learnt more this week than he's learned in several years of management. It's not as daft as it sounds, because sometimes there are "road to Damascus" revelations.

Dougie's problem for Villa is simple. He is too slow to play as a defensive midfielder without proper support. Playing further forward changes his game to a free flowing technical attacking midfielder. He will be important to us this season if he's played in his best position.