ramshackler

Luiz looking way off the pace.

Loved him last night. Absolutely harassed Andres Homes, who had one of the worst individual performances I've ever seen last night.

Big part of that was McGinn absolutely bossing him. You could see homes frustration building and building all game. He just coudktn get around McGInns enormous ass!

Yeah took my daughter to her first game yesterday and she was so excited with the singing and atmosphere. 

Stayed for about ten minutes afterwards for the HI Hi and sweet Caroline. Was absolutely glorious.

The holte was awesome, but as others have said itbseemedt like all four stands. Was epic

Even Jamie carragher made a point of mentioning it at full time

3 hours ago, lexicon said:

Looked a bit shaky in the first half and wasn't showing for the ball as much as usual, which was probably due to him being worried about getting caught on it and making a costly mistake again. He's finding his feet at this level and learning his limitations and where he sits in the pecking order of the league after being able to outclass absolutely everyone in the tier below. He'll get there, I'm sure.

Yeah I definitely noticed he wasn't his usual self, and worryingly didn't seem to believe he was as good as he so clearly is. Maybe a bit of a wobble in confidence after difficult two weeks and this ridiculous losing run that everyone keeps mentioning.

Hopefully now the monkey is off his back he will kick on. 

Have to say the crowd were excellent with him last night. When clearly struggling they kept singing his name. Good to see

He'll come good, he is far too good not to

One other thing to note was how impressive he was aerially. For a little lad he won a huge amount in the air as he has a real spring on him.

When Walcott missed the sitter, he had leapt up to win a header and was blatantly pushed when in the air, blatant foul not given.

Was going potty at the ref, if they had scored from that would have been shocking

I think last night we saw how crucial Jota will be in getting best out of Wesley.

I'm sure grealish will add to the through balls when he finds his feet again but at the moment Jota is the only one looking for those little balls.

Played him through a few times in both halves

In fairness Elmo did well on Saturday, people talking about no end product. He put in a great ball for grealish who missed an absolute sitter.

There were another few crosses put in which found Taylor who should have scored and another couple that found men in good positions.

Can't recall if all of these crosses were Elmo but the grealish one definitely was

1 hour ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

This is exactly what I was thinking walking back from the game yesterday. I really thought McGinn was poor, he gave the ball away too often and wasn't demanding the ball anywhere near enough. I was thinking that Nakamba, Luiz (further forward) and Grealish might end up being the ticket.

You thought McGinn was poor? I'm sorry I must have been watching a different game.

How anyone can watch that game and come away criticising SJM and defending Grealish is beyond me. Truly.

Fwiw I don't think Luiz is a DM. A DM for me has to hunt the ball and break up play similar to Kante.

Luiz is a classy playmaker but did little in terms of tackling and chasing down.

I think a classic DM is going to be crucial to us. How we fit Marvelous in and then have room for SJM Jack and Luiz is another matter, but as some suggest Jack in a free role off the left wing is an option. And maybe necessary as AEG is nowhere near good enough

Is he injured?? Disappointed he isn't even in squad.

Needed far more energy in centre of park today.

Not completely sold on luiz, had a dodgy first half gradually improved but hardly a DM didn't really tackle or Harry or press.

Jota and Kodija sub didn't work. Drew them onto us even more.

Live and learn

1 minute ago, Farlz said:

Not starting Jota is just as much as a concern as Taylor starting for me. Really disappointed. 

Jota makes sense. He will play in games where we will have a lot of the ball. But away against the top 6 we need pace to break out more than a baller like jota

Can't believe Ryan Kent going to Leeds for under £10 million. Amazed we not all over that. Young huge potential, lightning pace, eye for goal. Did fantastic for rangers and had his best games in the old firm.

Better than Wilson for me for absolute bargain price

I'm just glad someone has finally jetwashed the concrete on the north dtand! Needed a good old clean for well over a decade!

I'm dead against knocking down and building modern stadium.

Villa Park is a special place, how the fudge trinity road wasn't listed I don't know but the classic old school design is absolutely unique in that we also have corporate facilities on a par with the modern stadiums. Something Doug takes a lot of credit for.

There isn't an old stadium like it. We don't need a new stadium, more than enough corporate boxes for money making.

Only thing that makes sense is knocking down north stand and building another holte sized beast.

That would bring it up to about 52000.

If any further development needed knock down the awful Doug ellis and build another trinity sized stand over the road again. Could easily get the existing stadium up to over 60,000. Obviously at a cost. But for me the Doug ellis was built on the cheap and looks dreadful

Young was the best winger in the league for 18 months.

I agree he was on the slide before he moved to United but this was more down to our gradual decline under MON and the fact teams were literally double and triple banking him as we had so little threat in other areas. So hardly his fault

Sadly I don't see us filling in the corners. As mentioned above it's not practical on North stand end as long term North stand needs knocking down.

Holte end would lose the iconic build of the stand alone holte end, something I'm dead against. If we are looking at turning it into a bowl like all the rest then we may as well sell VP and start building a completely new modern stadium.

Personally I think building a new North stand on similar scale as holte is best current bet. We own the land. Plenty of room and would add another 8/9k bringing us up to 50,000 which is more than enough for the foreseeable future

9 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I completely trust the club on transfers now, but I must say I like the idea of Harry Wilson. Mixing more British players in the squad, while offering a young player that can play right while cutting inside with his left. Seems to suit our football. But I guess the price would be utterly stupid. 

Can't claim to have seen enough of Wilson to know if he will be PL quality, but on face of it makes sense, young pacey a d set pieces to rival CH if and when he is dropped from starting 11

6 minutes ago, Xela said:

Just had a quick look at his social media pages. He's posted once on Twitter since our play off final win and only seven times on Insta since then, vast majority are just of him training. His older posts are mainly about football save for the odd one with his missus and pals. Maybe i'm missing something but he's no Jeese Lingard on the ego front! 

He seems a very level headed young man. He's the same age as Keinan Davis and one year older from RHM - he's still very young and developing as a footballer. I think people forget that. 

He won't score 26 for Chelsea but I don't think many people expect him to! I'm sure he'll do ok though. I wish him nothing but the best. 

Obviously not familiar with insta as pictures posted stay on there,, but all the daily stories disappear. 

Anyway nowhere have I said I don't wish him all the best, did well for us last year and thankful. 

I'm pointing out I think we should move on as he won't be a top PL striker Imho. And I believe imho that he won't be a happy bunny sat on the bench

2 minutes ago, Xela said:

I'm struggling to disagree more with this post.

Huge ego? Play was pretty poor? 

Tammy was a huge reason why we were promoted and I have seen nothing to suggest he has an ego, let alone a huge one!

We won't be in for him though

I'm not the first one to point out his hold up play and first touch. 

The goals from open play did all but completely dry up, and while he was a good impact on the squad as he was the undisputed number 9, geez if you follow the lad on Instagram and twitter there is no doubting his ego! 

Lad believes he will score 26 goals for Chelsea in Premier League this year. 

We'll see

6 minutes ago, El-Reacho said:

Wonder will it be Abraham on loan again?

I'll be absolutely gutted if it is. Think it would even dampen my spirits of an incredible window. 

Abraham scored goals for usast year but from January on, even including the unbeaten run his all round play was pretty poor and his goals started to dry up from open play. 

He has a huge ego, won't take kindly to sitting on bench and just isn't good enough for the big league. 

Think it would be a huge mistake drowned in sentiment and he would end up rocking the boat when realises he isn't first 11

Absolute Stupidity. Looked like he played a big part in their two goals as well then gets sent off for trying to get ball off defender after second goal. Grabbed him from behind around neck and almost body slammed into the floor 2 feet from the ref. 

Idiot

6 minutes ago, sne said:

Just hope they are really, really thorough with the medical this time and don't rush anything.

That shoulder injury scares me.

No idea if it's the same guys who handles the medicals and stuff that it was when we signed Richards and botched Kozak's recovery.

You do realise he has played half a season after the injury and been as athletic as ever?? 

Check out the 2019 best saves highlight reel, doesn't look to have an issue with agility whatsoever 

Let's not forget that Heaton leaving also massively weakens a relegation rival. Burnley stats last year first half of season were shocking. 

Heaton returning in January literally saved them and improved dramatically

The more I think about it the happier I am with this signing. I can understand why Butland may make more sense with resale value age etc, but simple fact is at the moment there is no doubt Heaton is the better keeper. 

Next video is of 2019 after his injury when he was injured for half the year. Still some unreal saves, agility top notch, parries into right areas commanding. Total keeper for me. Brilliant value