beasley14

11 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

You know I've never paid attention to this lad but keep seeing glowing reports about him from fans, so must have something about him.

Don't even know what position he plays!

 

He prefers to play as a 10 I think his best position would be as an 8 as he develops. 

If were after the lad from Verona then it could be curtains for Zaniolo

1 minute ago, Keyblade said:

Newcastle are gassed. They're done. It's between us and Spurs for that 4th spot. Could be 3rd up for grabs too if Arsenal continue to falter.

If only, other teams could be saying were faltering too though.  Important  couple of games coming up to cement our place.

I admire everyone's optimism, I am still used to us messing up great opportunities so am fully in the cautious camp.

3 minutes ago, Rodders said:

Borough have a huge old injury list at the moment it seems. Another one today apparently. Feel more confident we won't see a stevenage **** up even with plenty of changes.

I'll take your word for it, I couldn't name many of their 1st team, seems a good few have moved on since last season (obviously our two came back).

7 hours ago, useless said:

He's signed a new contract with us according to John Townley, presumably that will be officially announced when his loan move to St Johnstone is officially announced

Keen on that, definitely a good idea to get a new contract signed to keep him locked down.

16 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

I'd like to see him given a chance in our first team in pre-season just to see how he looks with better players. 

Hmm, as nice as it would be I think the gap is a little too big.  We've done well to load him enough to build up some capital.

4 minutes ago, Awol said:

True, but he needs match minutes and preferably as a starter, to develop him. That’s not going to be in a Villa team chasing top 4, so a loan makes perfect sense. Gives him time to grow up a little, too. The opportunity to do it for us will come if Emery thinks he’s earned it.

Don't disagree with that at all, my point was more around his attitude and the supposed falling out. 

Agree the minutes on load would help him grow up. 

3 minutes ago, juanpablosaliceband said:

Newcastle are toast. They’ve got 29 points in half a season. They need 41 points from 19 games just to get to 70 points, which probably wouldn’t be enough for top 4 this season and potentially even top 5. They’ve no chance. If Newcastle pass us out, it won’t be for a champions league place so no point in worrying about them in my opinion. I think we are guaranteed top 5, with Spurs the only danger for top 4. 

I'd be happier if they lost one more game and kept them way out of reach.  If we beat them at home following that then I'd agree they're done.  Never write off teams, win 4/5 games in a row and you make up good ground.

He's doing better than I thought he would in the championship, fair play to him 

7 minutes ago, Pez1974 said:

I would rate our chances of selling Traore as zero.
Injured. Barely played. Likely to spend a month at AFCON. Out of contract in June. 

Might as well de-register him if we need a slot in the squad. 

We won't be able to give him away now!  Summer free transfer for a mutually terminated contract it will be.

38 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Emery knows Duran is a (likely quite volatile) kid. Emery is mature, I'm sure he won't be petty enough to 'fall out' with him. He'll be hard on him sure, but he's just managing him. He'll see it as a good challenge I'm sure.

This, also not like they wouldn't have known this when we brought him.  So much background research is done on players these days 

8 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Random thought.

After the Man U capitulation, the first thing Unai said in his interview was " 39 points..  ".

I know I'm slow at times, but to me it's just clicked that, him being the cunning fox he is, and expecting impending ( temporary ) meltdown from some fans, was giving everyone a reality check of just how well we are doing overall. ( Planted the subliminal take a breath and step back seed )

Especially given where we are coming from.

I'm sure he was fuming himself behind closed doors, but he's a calculated Mofo ain't he?

Oh, and Happy New Year Villans!

100% what he was doing, no way he wasn't fuming about that match!

9 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Not quite, lost to Brighton 4-2 on Thursday.

They’ve won four out of their last five so in good form. Whereas the five prior to that they lost four and drew once.

Ah yes forgot Brighton, but as you say a good reaction.

Played well yesterday I thought, will be frustrated he didn't bag at least a couple.  We're a much better team for having him!

4 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

In the respect that every time I've seen him play he's played LB I get why colwill is in there 

But that just adds fuel to the fire that colwill at CB over konsa is a joke, he's doesn't play there for Chelsea 

Very true, he did play there all last season though.  Either way I think Ez has the better mix of defence and footy ability vs a lot of those players.

Great stats from Ollie, crucial player the last 12 months.  All of the other names on that list take pens too.

37 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Maguire, stones, guehi, tomori, dunk, you can argue walker, colwill...

Southgate is scarily inept 

Konsa + stones is decent partnership, both comfortable on the ball 

The truth is maguire played in the CL this season - he was **** shit in it - but he played in it... 

I like Colwill he will be a good player.  Out of that list only Dunk is the better defender.   Not as mobile as Ez though.  

9 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

They were the 2 of the form teams in the league when they played them. They were good wins. 

Exactly they had a wobble and have now won 3 in a row I think.

Hard hit by Afcon and Asia Cup though although not many premier games in that period.

6 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

When we sort out the rb position and he moves back into central defence i think he will be even better for his experience there. The passes he is starting to see and complete are taking his game to a whole new level. We talk about McGinn being the best £3 mill we have ever spent. I think we should be talking about the £ 12 mill we spent on Ezri being exceptional as well. Its now 4 seasons worth of games as pretty much first choice.  Nice one Deano

Totally agree, quality player.  Not sure how he doesn't play for England.

6 hours ago, MikeMcKenna said:

Whether it is true or not, it points to there being a shortage of decent right backs.

If we are prepared to sell Cash, I hope we have a better alternative lined up as Konsa is needed back in the middle.

That is very true Mike and thanks for passing on the info. Let's see what happens.

Been a long time since I posted on this site but came back a month or so ago.  Not sure where all my post history has gone though!!

28 minutes ago, useless said:

Chelsea's strategy had served them well for a long time, but that was when they were selling 'academy players' to fund the signing of proven top class players, recently they haven't been as wise with signings.

When I've watched them this season Gallagher has looked one of their more accomlished players, and their fans seem to like him too, so from that sense it seems a strange decision to sell him if that's what they're doing, and especially to Spurs.

If it was the old Chelsea would be more understandable, but in their current guise, they probably should be keeping him, even if they plan on buying better, I would have thought there are others they can sell instead

I think the problem here is they have to sell him to comply with FFP.  Own goal when he's turned out to be one of their key players, something Mason Mount would still be if he was there.

14 hours ago, ender4 said:

That IS the strategy!

It's a poor one imo, I don't see why they swap perfectly good academy players for unproven foreign ones 

2 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Excellent:
Martinez
Konsa
Kamara
Luiz
McGinn

Very Good:
Torres (could easily be ‘excellent’)
Mings
Digne
Watkins
Diaby
Bailey

Good:
Ramsey (perhaps a little harsh)
Tielemans
Cash
Moreno (perhaps a little harsh)

Average:
Dendoncker
Buendia
Duran (still young - will improve)
Lenglet
Carlos

Rubbish:
Zaniolo
Traore
Chambers
Olsen

This is my current view of our squad. Probably missed a couple. We need to try and shift the rubbish in Jan/Summer as well as moving Dendoncker on too.

We need a right back most importantly. Konsa is a superb centre half and a good right back but I’d prefer him centrally. Cash isn’t favoured by Emery clearly. 

I could swap a couple of players but overall a pretty accurate assessment.  Thought you'd be a bit harsher actually.

Like a new signing this season, wants the ball and wants to run at people.  End product is much improved too.