The Fun Factory

Being a Arsenal regular and England international at 18 suggests at the very least he could have had a stellar career. He played like a tough tackling midfielder which unfortunately his body couldn't really cope with, and he was too stubborn or was not advised to change his style to avoid further injuries.

Its a bit sad how his career has turned out. The injuries have ruined it.

Re going for another striker or not. If dean and co are so happy for just Watkins to carry the line then why were we trying to buy Wilson? Do they think Traore could do a job up front if needed?

That's got West Ham all over it. Is Wiltshire still there?

Well yes but more people read the Scum and the Daily Hail than probably all the other newspaper combined so people prefer stories than truth.

It must have meant nothing to you.

My brother accidentally bought the single after misreading the cassette thinking it was Spaced, the rather mediocre scouse indie band, rather than the Spice Girls. Meaningless 90s nostalgia trip there.

Tender nights before they flySend falling stars that seem to cryYour baby doesn't want you any moreIt's over

We have some great bants on this but this one is not going to happen. Waiting for Milot.

The boy is back.

Have we ever scored 7 at home in a top flight league game? I remember the 6-4 v Blackburn in the League Cup Semi,. and the bonkers 5-5 draw with Forest a couple of years ago. But 7?

That game was not televised at all so not even any scratchy video at all to see what happened but by all accounts was one of Villa best post war home peformances. Now this time was televised but no crowd in the ground which is a strange reverse. Football can move in interesting ways sometimes.

Devastation. Pure and simple.

To borrow a Richard Curtis quote, has someone just injected LSD into my bottom?

I thought we had a good chance in the same fixture last season when we were 1 nil up with 3 minutes to go....

Its a bit of a what if with Gardner if he hadn't had those two bad injuries with his knees. We did him far too long at Villa, which is usually the opposite of what we do with our young players. Anway back to Jota I am sure he could get a decent club back in Spain so good luck to him just never really looked like he would be a first team regular here.

Oh god not more Rashica talk. It isn't going to happen. It was fun for a while but get over it!

Just put on Villa Match of the Millennium to watch when we beat Liverpool at Anfield back in 2001 to get me in the mood. And then I watched us relegate Coventry. Marvellous. Pretty rock and roll Saturday evening.

Just goes to show that looking good in pre season doesn't mean that you will look good in fully competitive matches, a bit like O'hare a few yrs previously. The kid has some talent but unfortunately is too lightweight and too slow for the premier league. He didn't cost much so no disaster and wish him well finding a more appropriate club for his talents.

Maybe if we give Bournemouth all of our class of 2020's bomb squad they might be stupid enough to give us King?

Well my final thoughts as as much as I would have liked a good league cup run, our priority really this year is establishing ourselves as a solid premier league outfit. I know that is not, a borrow a phrase, romantically nourishing, but is a pragmatic aim. The league cup has been good to us down the years, as recently as last season getting to the final. Certainly more than the FA Cup as bar 2015 and 2000 our recentish record is dreadful. However in the cold light of day it is going to be one of the big boys who will win this again. Given the very condensed fixture scheduling everyone is playing their reserve sides. And the better resourced teams have better reserves and therefore more likely to progress. It is a bit annoying given for clubs like Man City winning this trophy is nothing for them (based on them not even selling out in the final in March) and for clubs like us it would be massive but there you go. Modern football for yeah. I mean spuds have won nothing for years and everyone thinks that they are somehow a big club as they finish fairly regularly in the top 4. 12 to about 14th and no League cup final will be a more successful season for us then last year.

With relish?

I think we really need a seasoned pro.

Looking forward to see how it is all going to work. Jack, Ross, Super John ,and Dougie looks on paper a very good midfield.

I'd rather see the So Solid Crew collective starting a premier league game than the XI that played yesterday.