QldVilla

I don’t get the narrative around our away form, I think it’s just a tool commentators use so they don’t have to take Villa seriously. In my mind, we played a Newcastle team who thought it was a cup final first day of the season, otherwise we have been pretty solid except for Liverpool and a poor performance against Forrest where if I remember our xG was actually better.

The next month is going to tell us where we actually are.

He just keeps on improving game by game and now we are starting to see the aerial threat Diego and him are in front of goal, something we have been missing for several seasons.

I believe Everton are very lucky the points deduction came this season, even if it is reduced on appeal to 4-6 points. Last season they would have gone down and asks the question whether Leicester, Leeds etc will go after them for damages? Will any damages come off Everton's FFP as they say going down costs' clubs 100 million pounds, 2-3 clubs sue and win, there could be a significant impact on Everton.

With regards to Man City, i don't see their titles being striped, potentially it's a huge points deduction, but the way they operate just see them wriggling out somehow....

Ollie is great, he’s a good player and a great ambassador for the club, for me it’s just those moments when you think he’s going to score this and fluffs it, then it’s those less than 50-50’s he scores. He keeps improving and hopefully he will continue to improve and take those chances a little better.

Some people are obviously bored during the international break when they come up with theses lists.

Villa are in 5th and he has basically started every game, hardly meets the standard of worst new signing.

Thought he was good as well.

I was born and bred in Brisbane Australia, played football when young, both my uncles were very good players playing for Queensland, they used to give me all their used Shoot magazines. It was around 1976/77 that I started supporting Villa a combination of the primary school I played for had a sky blue jersey with a Claret stripe and just loved the name.

The only information you would get was from those magazines and the abc in australia that used to have an hour wrap on a Monday night and you hope there were glimpses on the Villa. It was mostly like that until the 1990’s until pay tv came to Australia and you got to see nearly weekly games. Now we get to see every game every week from different online devices.

There’s  also a club in Bundaberg called Brothers Aston Villa which has been there since the early 70’s, so Australia has a very close affinity with the Villa.

Emery just showed everyone again how to beat Brighton for the 3rd time…

He’s been so good in that first half, best player on the pitch.

As much as everyone wants a cup run, I’d take top 5 and deep run in the conference league. We don’t have the squad depth for a run in each competition and that is more so with Mings, Carlos, Moreno and Buendia missing.

Something has to be sacrificed and I would rather the 3 points against Brighton on the weekend.

Expect a different Villa in the second half, we need to move the ball quicker and stop passing the ball into crowded areas. Gave the ball away far too often.

Great goal by Duran, there's a X factor about him, exciting to see how he develops.

It's rare for a CD to come in and be the perfect player from Day 1. How many hundred's of millions have Man City and others wasted finding that player? He was always going to take time to adjust, give the guy 15-20 games and he'll be the defender we want him to be.

To me we looked like a team that was playing it’s 5th game in 14 days.

Everything seemed a bit slow and not in sync. Liverpool looked like a team fully rested.

Its fine margins at this level and we need and will become better.

A little sad to seen him go, but the game has passed him by in the PL and his body can’t stand the rigours.

Wish him well.

5 hours ago, Leeroy said:

It's not a particularly exciting signing and Spurs hardly seemed desperate to bring him back, but he does give us a bit more depth in defence which we probably need. 

 

I'm not sure about him defensively at all, just look at the number of goals Spurs conceded last season and Lenglet started quite a lot of games for them (although he was playing alongside Eric Dier of course), but he is very good on the ball as are most defenders that Barca buy. He'd be able to come in and play in Emery's system easily. He's not playing over Torres in the league though so he will have to accept being a squad player and playing in the cups, I assume he's ok with that. 

 

I'm ok with him coming in to replace Hause in the squad who I hope we have found a home for elsewhere. Carlos, Konsa, Torres, Lenglet are decent centre back options, and then Chambers, Kamara and Dendoncker can all play there in emergencies. 

It was a Spurs team in 4th CL position for most of the season until Conte has his meltdown. Spurs decided to go for a younger new CB position rather than an ageing one with the new manager.

Doesnt make him a bad player.

Not surprised by this link, I expected a CB on loan to come in and Lenglet is a very good option.

I think Emery has shown that he will only bring in a player if they are the right type. Injuries aside we weren’t far off a very good squad, it’s going to come down what Emery thinks we may still need or maybe a loan cover for CB. Maybe 1-2 more.

Wish Coutinho the best, we saw glimpses of his talent but not enough to impact the starting lineup. Unlike a lot of players who are driven by money he was prepared to make a sacrifice to play regular football. he could have also refused to move but is doing the right thing for him and the club. Good luck.

2 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

You joke.

But you've just reminded me that I actually got conned and robbed by a beautiful Italian woman at Gatwick many years ago

Me just there thinking this stunner just randomly thought I was interesting and wanted to get to know me.

Meanwhile my suitcases ( With literally everything in them ) were strategically knicked by whoever her accomplice was, in a location where CCTV was blocked off of course fml

I actually ended up living in the Airport for about a week as a refugee, like Tom Hanks in that movie. I kid you not!

 

The Terminal…

15 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

The high press and high intensity is their identity under Howe.

I'm talking about their mentality and how they approached the opening game of the season. howe had those players wound up and ready like a Cup final, not the first game of the season.

I watched the game over again today and confirmed my opinion that Newcastle played that game like a Cup final, you could see it in the players trying to get their fans going etc. They can't play any better than that and we had 3-4 of our staring players unavailable.

Newcastle sent out a statement, but they can't play at that level week in week out, but knew they had to beat us.

Normal service will resume next match.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie…!!!

Great game here in Brisbane, looking forward to playing England should they win.

9 hours ago, Icarium said:

Maybe I am seeing patterns where they don't exist, but when 'freak' occurances happen often enough they become a pattern.

Isn't the point of the sport science side of the medical department to look at player work loads and adjust accordingly to reduce injury risk? I would hate to think what our injury list would look like if this is the system working.

Sport sciences aren’t there to predict when an acute injury may occur. They help prevent, but you can’t prevent when an athletes body will push back.

It can happen to any athlete at any time in their career and it can happen to anyone of us at anytime for the most simple reason.  

Being an elite athlete is about pushing your body to its limits, this is true across most sports, but the body also pushes back when you reach those limits.

2 hours ago, nick76 said:

As somebody with an Australian passport I don’t think I should answer this!

Careful Nick, I’m not one to stand up for …but