cheltenham_villa

16 minutes ago, sidcow said:

But most people were saying that about a previously injured Leon playing for months under Gerrard. 

People are saying this about a mainly fully fit Zaniolo playing all his football under Emery. 

I don't understand why people can't see the difference.

Not to say Zaniolo won't come good, but to compare it to the Bailey journey is just wrong. 

To be fair, many wrote Leon off this season as well, even Unai reduced him to largely sub appearances early on in the season. 

His transformation is spectacular but also still quite recent. He's probably started less than 50% of games this season. 

I wouldn't be surprised if Zaniola had started a similar amount. 

Very happy with this signing. He's part of a pretty electric front three at home. Finishing may need some work but who can't you say that for. Was very hard for Burnley to double up on Bailey or Watkins which creates a lot of opportunities 

18 hours ago, MotoMkali said:

The loans were used to cover 2 long term injuries. We expect Buendia and Mings to be back next season. We won't need Lenglet with Mings back and we do have an option to buy zaniolo if he performed well for us. But mostly was signed for cover for Buendia. 

We also have a huge amount available to spend, it's just a question of whether we should as that spending also impacts future windows 

The "huge amount to spend" is this based on anything or a hunch. I see others quoting ffp challenges. 

This is really tough, I went for Watkins but we probably don't have a stand out. Pau, Mcginn, Luiz, Emi, Watkins all worth. Bailey probably in the conversation but I'd say that's a bit of recency bias and based on his improvement. 

On 29/12/2023 at 17:30, TomC said:

I don't think of Unai as dogmatic at all. Quite to the contrary, it's well-known that he has changed formations many times over the course of his career.

I think it's more personnel...Dendoncker just can't play the double pivot the way we need it played given his passing limitations. Unai may have been slow to recognize that about him, but I wouldn't call that dogmatism.

 

I dont think Unai is slow to recognise that, I just don't think he has a choice. Dendonker gets a very limited amount of minutes, I've no doubt we will see a replacement in Jan or the summer but you can't fix everything at once. 

38 minutes ago, TheMelvillan said:

Thought it was 100% a penalty and was disappointed linekar called it a dive.

A kick anywhere on a player can a: hurt and b: disrupt their stride. 

Honourably struggling to stay on his feet would have got him nowhere because match officials will not recognise a foul as a foul unless the player ends up on the ground in apparent pain

 

It's definitely contact but I think we can safely say the contact didn't warrant the Duran reaction. Ultimately if you don't go down, the ref will not give the pen. 

Anyone any idea of likely budget? The selling of young players for ffp and reliance on loans in the summer had me believing very little could happen right now. I certainly wasn't expecting us to be grappling for c40m right backs. 

6 hours ago, TRO said:

you have a point for sure....but they did all this, last season in the cup....we did much the same at St James's and Anfield.

We have to address it at some stage.

I still think its ambitious to expect to score 3 at Old Trafford, even though Bournemouth did.

Agree it's a tricky one and my thoughts also went to Liverpool and Newcastle. These teams are bringing us into a game of chicken. With united I actually wonder if they would have dared play this way unless we were two up. They certainly gave us many chances for the third goal, we just didn't take them. 

I suspect we may need to develop a way of playing a bit deeper but going a bit more direct over the top. Or maybe dropping to a back 5.

On 27/12/2023 at 15:18, TRO said:

I think its a big ask, to score 4 away to Man U........yes Bournemouth scored 3.

for me 2 was enough...despite the other chances, you mention.

we could say, they could have scored 5/6, so its as long as it is short.

I think the way the game played out. We needed to score 3. After being two down, United gambled and played a really high front 3 right up against our back 4 really pressing the ball. They also went very direct, very quickly when ever they got the ball. This was a gamble and it gambled that we wouldn't score again. 

If we get the third goal, I think it kills the momentum. 

No one is really saying that it's acceptable to lose against Burnley. What those people really mean is that they are worried about our form and pre empting a loss. By somehow pre empting it, it almost excuses it if it happens. 

This point could probably exist in many threads but something heck needs to consider I think is how best to spend the clubs finances. 

Invest in infrastructure and see a return over a ten year period. Invest in team matters and see that money potentially come back via increased TV revenues for higher places finishes. 

My guess is that this is behind the rebuild delays. Everything the club does points to trying to take advantage of a potential short term opportunity for success in what's been a relatively closed shop. 

While I also appreciate that stadium investment and player budgets sit on different parts of the balance sheet, I also can't really think of a single club that has taken on significant stadium investment without it coinciding with a delay in player purchases. 

6 hours ago, fightoffyour said:

The club doesn’t even own the stadium, I don’t see how we could incur any costs for upgrading it towards FFP, even interest on loans.

A good point. I suppose the clubs rent could increase but technically all other costs I assume are covered by the company that own the ground. 

14 hours ago, meregreen said:

Spending on stadiums and any other infrastructure doesn’t count towards FFP.

 

Interest on any loans towards funding does though I believe. That's one of the things that caught Everton out. 

3 hours ago, Nabby said:

Was fine for 60 mins or so , and then lack of games caught up. Emery mentioned player's needing minutes in his post match , Dendonker is one of them.

Maintaining the level of the squad is so difficult. We don't want to see dendonker introduced in games but when we need to rely on him we expect him to be at a standard. 

11 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

Just didn't seem to want the ball in the second half, looked done!

Which is maybe fair considering the minutes he has had. He probably isn't match fit to be thrown into an entire game. It seems an adequate excuse for Ramsey and Mourinho. 

Reality is he doesn't play if Tielemans, kamara are available or possibly if Zaniolo is a bit better. 

I think he's a fine option for about 4th choice and did OK for 60 minutes. 

10 hours ago, AV82 said:

Recall Kesler? Try Carlos at RB? There has to be a solution here.

I never understand why a left sided full back cannot be tried there? I get it's there wrong foot but they know the position at least. Surely it's as effective as a make shift centre half? (obviously all of these thoughts are pre digne injury) 

I'd take Richarlison Im afraid, silly to suggest other wise. Richarlison has moved for multiple big money moves. 

Significantly better than a kid who's achieved nothing and until a few weeks ago had big questions marks over his attitude as well. 

I'm intrigued to see how Duran pans out but wouldn't be surprised to see him go no where. 

My main disappointment with cash last night is he didn't overlap Bailey much at all. The few times he did he got in behind and we got into dangerous positions but then he would stop bothering. 

He doesnt ever try to get close to Bailey. 

Controversial maybe but with hindsight I think we should have played dendonker. We compromised Mcginn best position, we compromised Luiz to an extent to the holding role and we ended up with both Diaby and Bailey with neither available from the bench. 

15 hours ago, MotoMkali said:

You can get like 220 people on a bus so if you are talking 5 every 10 minutes you are clearing 5-6k from the area around the stadium. 

Think most buses have about 50 seats 

I think in this day and age, football fanbase growth comes from two sources. 

1. Sustained success. Win some stuff, compete for a long time. Fans will get on board. You do (I think) need to make it accessible for the family and tourists that will follow this model.

2. Celebrity. You need big name players that attract a following, Grealish maybe our last big example, he gained a million more followers on social media during one international tournament. Kids these days seem to be as attracted to a footballer as they do a club. I'm sure other parents would share similar stories of requests for a Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe top on the Xmas list. 

13 hours ago, MotoMkali said:

It's practically impossible to get a bus to or from villa park which makes the trains crazy busy. You'd think you'd run like 5/6 buses every 10 minutes for like an hour after the game to clear the people. 

And have them go all around the city I should be clear. 

The challenge I think with buses is you still have to get them from somewhere. To make a dent to 10000 fans you probably need to muster up 250 buses that aren't being used at any other point. 

Then you've got to get those 250 buses somewhere to wait. 

Then you've got to get them away from the ground at a reasonable pace for it to be worth it. 

So glad I dont work in the transport industry. Fixing this problem feels pretty impossible. 

I'd be really really susprised if Pau isn't fit enough for the bench tonight but is suddenly fit enough for United in a few days. Best chance we see him for Burnley at the earliest

I'd been thinking about how on earth we get support for Ollie. As others have mentioned you need to sit on the bench, play in a similar style and hopefully come with some sort of pedigree. 

As options I wonder if we will look down the experienced striker option. I'd like to see us test Brightons resolve for Wellbeck or maybe see if Vardy wants to add another premier league winners trophy. 

11 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

If he doesn't start this one, I presume we're working on a something which would see him leave.

If he doesn't start this one, id expect the noises about him pushing to leave would increase. Hard to stand in his way.