Thug

Mings getting outpaced by joelinton? Didn’t expect that

Yup. Really. But it seems he’s not starting.

So happy he’s back. By far and away the player that gives me the most confidence that we could score.

You are absolutely right here, my heart sank when he pulled up and hobbled off. However, the games that followed showed us that we played even better without him. So quite honestly, I was more disappointed when I saw AEG dropped to make way for his return than I was when I saw Ross Barkley hobble off. About a month ago I posted a set of match statistics for us with and without RB, and included pre-and post injury which showed that we were playing much better without him even before his injury.

Whilst that truly was a great goal, let’s not exaggerate him running half the length of pitch. He picked the ball up about 35 yards out, took two touches and smashed it in from 25 yards out.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/10/01/report-west-ham-couldnt-pay-11m-deal-for-ross-barkley-hes-now-joined-aston-villa/%3famp I don’t know how reliable the above source is, but it says £11m package. That does include wages though. Joined sept 30, will leave 31st June? 9 months. assuming his wages are £100k a week, 9x4x100k gives you approx £3.6m in wages so the loan fee falls around £7m? With no resale value, if he plays no more games he will have cost us £687,500 per match. (Or £2.75m per goal/assist) if he starts every remaining game he will have cost us just shy of £400k per match. All this is of course assuming that that report isn’t total BS.

I’ve been a huge critic of his performances, and have been calling for him to be dropped for ages. However, I do think it’s a matter of can’t rather than won’t with him. I think we were just the wrong fit for him. We don’t need an out and out number 10, we’re just not good enough in midfield to accommodate that. Whilst Jack was playing, the ball just naturally went up the field more, and gave Ross a bit more opportunity to be involved. Without Jack, it’s just clear that Ross can not provide anywhere near the same level of control in the last third, and basically exposes him as being quite limited. He has a particular skill set, which is too limited for our needs, and even those skills have deserted him since the injury. It is what it is, a failed loan for all parties involved. I think he would want this to be a success more than anyone here, so I’m not going to judge him for the unknowns with regards to his attitude, or application. What IS clear, for whatever reason, is that he is desperately out of form, and rightly has been dropped. If he EARNS his way back in, then I’ll truly be delighted for us and for him. I can’t see it happening. We’ve paid a sizeable loan fee (?£11m I seem to recall?) which is £1m shy of what we paid for Konsa on a permanent deal. Hopefully we learn something here as a fan base. Every year in the transfer thread we have people moaning about championship players. Let this be a lesson to them all. An up and coming player hungry for success over a failing overhyped big six reserve any day of the week for me.

A combination of the lot I think. Today wasn’t on him, but if he can’t come on to add a spark in a poor game when he’s fresh, when will he ever?

FTFY

Not his ‘fault’ for the second half display, as we were pretty poor before he came on. However, he did nothing when he did, other than almost gift them a goal. One thing for sure, he’s not worth the fee or the wages that have been suggested. Failed experiment, was worth a go, he’s worth a late gamble in games because despite everything else, he’s got a shot in his locker that no one else has. Didn’t see any other sub that was worth a punt. For me, his villa fate was decided about 10 games ago. If we’re paying for him to be here, then we may as well make use of him here and there.

McGinn.. unbelievable half

Where’s el ghazi? Not heard anything at all

I’ll be sure to close my curtains if he scores.

I've been a huge critic, but honestly I wouldn't pick this match to have a go at him. He was no better/worse than the other other 13 players involved today. Granted, by the time he came on there was no need for any defensive input at all, so his biggest weakness was not at all tested. There have been plenty of games where he has deserved criticism, but we shouldn't have a go just for the sake of doing so. We lost - an awful result. But it was a collective issue. I honestly struggle to pick out a particularly poor performance, it's just every player was down a notch. Things like this happen.

I too did not think he had a poor game at all. He was just Watkins. He has some incredible touches He has some shocking touches He works incredibly hard He might go for long times without getting a clear cut chance, then he might score a few in succession. Thats Ollie in a nutshell. Yes we lost to the bottom team in the league, who for a third of the game had 10 men. But that doesn’t necessarily mean every one of our players was awful. it was an awful result, it really was. But they scored pretty much the only real chance they had, and on another day we could have had 3 or 4. McGinn poor finish, Traore mazy run, Watkins post, Konsa Volley A log of comments in various threads ut how that was our worst performance. it really really wasn’t. Worst result? Yes. Worst performance - not even close.

Or Jack can go in the middle

Seriously? we’re blaming el ghazi for that? Was our best player. it’s all about opinions, but my god, unless he scores the knives come out.

McGinn

Sky score centre app

I don’t know how to quote from another thread into here on my phone, but just a basic search of ‘lescott’ ‘el ghazi’ by poster gingercollins29 brings up posts within 20 seconds. Do these sound familiar? by far and away the only choice we have is to get Pearson in. This guy not only executed leicesters promotion, but also the beginning of their survival. Responsible for the purchase of vardy and mahrez whilst identified kante before being sacked. the biggest reason why I want him is that he will not put up with the shit from our players. The likes of lescott and guzan playing the gum game, gabby walking around not touching the ball, nzogbia not arsed, bacuna not arsed, Richards not arsed, grealish getting smashed every Saturday, hutton shitting himself when a winger runs at him, etc etc. It makes me sick. My club I dying and these arseholes take their 60k a week and couldn't give a toss. Enough is enough. We've tried arms round the shoulder and tlc. Get someone in who they are scared to let down, who they are scared to play badly for, who they know is gonna kick their arse if they give anything less than 100%. The players aren't scared of remi, the fans or Lerner. Let them be scared of pearson. And a quote from you only last year: Oh, and what a gigantic pussy el ghazi is. Get him out of our club You prefer your way you say? Criticising players for their effort often (and I agree WRONGLY) spills over into personal attacks. But please don’t pretend you’re above it all.

With all due respect, I think all those posts are pretty clear with regards to the perceived difficulty of this fixture - and they’re not necessarily wrong. @Junxs was saying that this fixture is not a gimme and as such before we start to bring players back in to ‘give them some easy minutes’ how about we take this game seriously, secure the points, and IF we’re in a position to, THEN bring on the players that need ‘easy minutes’. We need to be professional first and foremost. Get the job done. I have to agree with him. We have a chance here to build on our unexpectedly lofty position. I’d rather we took it seriously than try to play some loan player back into form. He can have the last 20 minutes if we’re comfortable.

This is a shame. I’ve always enjoyed your positivity, and I only found this post after searching for you after noticing your posts have dried up. Hope this is just a temporary thing.

100% agree. But he was particularly bad In that one game. Prob a 1/10 compared to 2/10 for the others you mention. I’m a big fan of his, and have been very vocal on here re: my displeasure at him being dropped for Barkley. But, honestly, that half was awful. In spite of that I still wanted him back in on the left in the very next game.

No doubt about it, that West Ham half was dire, and honestly the worst 45 minutes of football I’ve seen from a player in a long time. But aside from that he’s been largely above average, and sometimes superb. He will no doubt have another West Ham half. And if he does, he should get hooked off again. But, I believe he’s done enough up until now to warrant a starting place, with Jack being moved to the middle. If he remains consistently good for the remaining 13 games, he would have had a superb season.

I disagree If there ever was a game for Barkley NOT to come in, it’s this one. This should be a straight forward win if we have 11 players on the pitch applying themselves. We don’t need to hope for a 25 yard smash and grab situation. If we control the game start to finish, we have enough creativity to score. If they score because we’ve failed to track a man, then they’ve got enough resilience to keep us out. Burnley and Brighton are shit. Barkley played in both, and didn’t do anything going forwards, and was a liability. if we’re not winning with 15 minutes to go, but have total control, then Yh, bring him on in the hope he might smash one in. Aside from long range shooting, he offers nothing more than any other midfielder we have. He has 1 assist this season, he’s not gonna be unlocking any stubborn defence.