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thunderball

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Everything posted by thunderball

  1. thunderball
    Has anyone watched Doku at Man City who we all wanted here? I would say that Zaniolo is the better buy. Of course time will tell….
  2. thunderball
    On balance fair. A win, after other results today, would have been outstanding but a draw is fair and keeps us in the pack. A bogey fixture could have been worse, But another away game behind us. Happy enough with the point.
  3. thunderball
    Winning this shows we are definitely a different prospect. We are where we are this season because we are winning the games we should be winning, that hasn’t been the case for a very long time, and Wolves is a bogey team for us. 6 wins from eight, including Wolves away would be very significant.
  4. thunderball
    Few players are more entertaining or have as good a highlights reel as Bertie. Bailey was meant to be an upgrade, but would be interested in their stats, I’ll bet there’s not much in it. Can’t but help think we wanted Nico Williams there ahead of both, and if he arrived both would be sold.
  5. thunderball
    Nope. It’s monstrously embarrassing, how does this relate to the club (and please don’t cite ‘villan’)? Its unnecessarily adding a layer of narrative that doesn’t exist. Why would we want a guy fawkes-a-like representing the club? Heck would absolutely hate this.
  6. thunderball
    Good news, a very good forward and an important component of how we play. It’s good for the club to secure these guys (Mings, McGinn, Konsa, Luiz, Watkins) on long term deals, it shows confidence the players have in the project, trajectory and management, but also shows we are a serious club and the tail isn’t wagging the dog and we have some clout. However, as a VILLA fan not sure I wholly warm to the “that’s why I stayed” and “Emery is the reason I re-signed”, I would have hoped for more Club respect. Maybe being too prickly!
  7. thunderball
    I have no fondness for Gabby so can understand. Thought his relegation season tainted any positives.
  8. thunderball
    Thought we were OK, doing everything more or less right but struggled past their parked bus. In fairness the stats backed up our utter dominance. Dont let the anxiety of the occasion leave you with a false memory of a poor performance. A telling stat is offsides - shows they didnt try and attack us, nor was there any space behind them at any point. Their keeper had a great game too. If half our chances went in we could have finished 4 or 5 ahead and I reckon we wouldn't have questioned the performance. Konsa is a great recovery defender, was quick and alert, however his distribution is ponderous, he seemed to stand with the ball for 5-10 seconds considering his options. Once Luiz cam on that midfield urgency that we have become accustomed to, returned. There is no doubt, our bite centres around the smart interplay of Kamara/Luiz and the energy of Diaby and Watkins. Without them (probably £300m worth of players) we are a little more blunt and laboured. FWIW, there is an unfair weight of expectation in this B side on Duran, he is only 19 and its totally different slotting into our A team than carrying the responsibility while those around him are making heavy work of things. Zaniolo is still bedding in and finding his place in this team, but I am more concerned at Tielemans and Bailey who look very average and a shadow what they are capable of. There is a rumour that we are going to try for Dani Cabellos again in Jan which you have to assume is because Tielemans hasnt met expectations. With Ramsey and Buendia to come back, I would not be upset if Dendonker left in January. I hope we buy Zaniolo.
  9. thunderball
    Luiz (or Looeessssss according to the commentator) is the heart beat of this team: drives our game, clever, great footballing brain evolving, he is key to this side.
  10. thunderball
    Not easy out there, they’ve come to defend. We need a bit more speed and urgency. I’d be tempted to take off Langlet for Pau, Doug or even Watkins
  11. thunderball
    Traore. Wow, how quickly I had forgotten about him! I think we will get Bailey and Zaniolo out wide. Complacency could kill us, we have to win our home games. My priority is the PL first and foremost and seeing as we have an important match on Sunday I wont be too harsh.
  12. thunderball
    I just have this feeling we are going to finish 3rd. Considering we’ve won 5 of 7 played, and already played Brighton, and away games at Newcastle, Liverpool and Chelsea, that’s pretty exceptional. If we at least win the games we should win, that’s a big improvement. If we can avoid losing against Arsenal, Spurs and Man Utd when we first meet them, or do better than that, I reckon we are onto something big. We are only going to improve as the season develops too.
  13. thunderball
    TBH, I think if McGinn is off his game we dont play as well, but more over I think we really miss Ramsey. I think when he gets back in the fold he has the energy, pace, passing ability, ball carrrying ability and his decision making is excellent, he also carries goal threat and is a great finisher. I think he enables Kamara and Luiz to stay and anchor play, offering the link to the forwards. I was really impressed by his come back cameo, I thought he was excellent. I think him on the left and a settled Zaniolo on the right (with Diaby floating in the #10/false 9) we will be cooking. Cant wait for the second half of the season.
  14. thunderball
    Finishing higher than we did last season is #1, ultimately getting into the top 5 (Champions League qualification). That is the marker of progress; that demonstrates positive and continuous momentum; it is the route to higher income; it offers better players a more attractive destination. Champions League is our medium term objective at the expense of all others. I would suggest Europe is #2, but not at the expense of the league. FA Cup is #3. League cup a distant #4. we cannot compete seriously for cups until we sort out our league form and build a quality squad which will take time and success in the league. Once we have a strong squad we can compete in multiple fronts over 60ish games a season. We are a long , long way from that, let’s be serious?
  15. thunderball
    This is a crazy take. He has to rotate the squad, we can’t play the same team every minute of every game. We (he) has suffered key injuries. We did add quality in the summer, perhaps more so than any other window? Are you suggesting that Archer is better than Watkins or Duran? Philogene and Ramsey wanted to leave, we had to sell or they would walk for free at the seasons end. And who are they better than? We didn’t play well, but for the third game already this season we lose a key senior player in the first 20 minutes. Statistically we were better and we gifted them the second goal through an error, so at 1-1 this same performance takes on a different look, still out of sorts but given context, not as bad. TBH on balance I am glad we are out of this cup, we have bigger priorities.
  16. thunderball
    We didn’t lose because of that!
  17. thunderball
    I see none of the Everton players want to swap for our Castore shirts.
  18. thunderball
    FFS, that the Quadruple dream over then.
  19. thunderball
    Exactly
  20. thunderball
    Yes
  21. thunderball
    In fairness, Everton are up for it, are quicker to everything, and seem very well set up.
  22. thunderball
    No one takes this cup seriously, it’s a waste. That being said, it doesn’t account for the basic individual errors everywhere.
  23. thunderball
    I’m afraid it’s us who is gash
  24. thunderball
    It’s the movement though, it’s been poor, no options, everyone is too static
  25. thunderball
    This seems an over reaction. We’ve won 6 games so far this season. Lost 3. We can’t expect to win every game or play really well all the time. We have had a disjointed start to the season: key injuries, players coming back and new players. It’s going to take 15-20 games or more until we settle I reckon.
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