Pez1974

This 100% £15m-£20m, plus the wages off our books, with 18 months left of his contract. Too often when he plays we seem unable to get him in the game. I know he's our top scorer, but 3 of those are penalties, so his non-penalty output is the same as Ollie, but in fewer games and a lot less running. And we need to start bringing good money in, to but better players. But without him we have Watkins, and a kid who's barely stepped foot in the country. In Unai we Trust.

I agree 100%. My point is that I'm worried it could backfire. Take a booking and add some time to stop the opposition building up a head of steam? Absolutely. Take a few extra seconds, and make sure we're in shape defensively for every stoppage in play? Absolutely. Take the piss, and give the opposition 6, 7, 8 minutes injury time whilst picking up 2 or 3 bookings a game? Not sure this won't hurt us more than it helps. I mean - Stevenage found a way to score twice in the last few minutes. We have form!

This has become a concern for me. Emery is only 6 games in, and already we seem to have become labelled as a team who do this. Personally I hate to see it, but if we get a win, I'll not care. But, I think Leeds' last free kick on Friday took them longer to take than the one where Kamara got booked. It is becoming clear to me that we've now got a reputation, and the bookings and added minutes will start mounting very quickly. This will result in players missing games and us conceding at some point. I don't think we're being smart about it. Too blatant; too often and too long. Surely there's a sweet spot somewhere?

One of those sayings which all Villa fans from the time know, and shudder about - and fans from other clubs have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. I genuinely believe this was the sliding doors moment for Lerner at Villa, and we've not yet recovered.

I suspect Unai knows more about Augustinsson than anyone on here. He was decent against Wolves, but in his other performances he hasn't looked the part. If ever a manager gets what he wants - its Emery right now

If you could combine Watkins and Haaland, or Ings and Haaland, or Traore and Haaland - that would be grand

Not necessarily the 'best' players, but my top 5: McGrath - just because. Plus got a photo with him when he was flogging his book. Yorke - loved this guy. And his song. Benteke - impact; he basically kept us up for 2 years and was a beast Cowans - amazing player, so talented - both feet and accuracy of pass. Plus, I met him in the pub a few years ago, and bought him a pint. Platt - he just became so good for club and country. Met him at Bromsgrove Rovers! They're a bit more stalker'y that I thought!

Agreed. But we have a manager who has a massive reputation, much of it built on European success. Survival is barely the start of his target for this season I suspect, and he won't see a competition like the Europa Conference League as a ball-ache; he'll see it as an opportunity and drive the players to go up a level.

This 100% Subs are there to be used tactically (even if there's an injury) - to alter the team to get the desired outcome. For the first time in a very long time - we seem to have a manager who understands this.

Agree with this, although Guilbert is out of contract in June, so it'll be him gone and no fee potential. Does Emery trust the likes of Feeney enough (and how close is Carlos to being back) to cut short the deal for Bednarak and maybe sell Chambers (who has looked awful when he's played this season). Need to start getting fee's for players before they enter the wilderness, as we (hopefully) sign much better replacements.

Jeez. Now he's booked. Nightmare

Boo. Emery out ! (See previous post about me having Toney as first sub).

Kamara looking knackered?

No. We are winning, and I have Toney as my first sub (Bailey in the team). We're fine. I want the 13 points, please.

Sorry! Grew up in Longbridge, and my old man worked there all his life. I don't associate Austin with other brands - just other piles of shite.

Datsun MacPhee Nissan Sunny MacPhee Skoda MacPhee Lada MacPhee etc...

Not sure what this means (I know a lot of people say similar things - so not a dig at you). If you sack one of the most popular managers the clubs ever had, you'd better not make the next appointment half-arsed. Or 'let's see how the next 6 months go'. Gerrard could've proved a master stroke - he wasn't. We've moved on.

And made sure that Grealish had a £100m fee clause in the contract. He's stated he didn't want to include it, but the player and agent insisted, meaning we got a crazy fee. Plus, his communication at the time was first class - something a lot of clubs and CEOs get very wrong. As quite a few have said - he's clearly got the Gerrard one wrong (I'm on the fence about Smith - but I doubt he'd have got us much further than he did) - but Emery is an amazing appointment. I know that MOMS spoke to him, and he said that sacking Gerrard hadn't crossed his mind. Of course, he said that to a podcaster - what else is he gonna say? Doesn't mean it's true. He deserves the opportunity to put this behind him and be judged on what happens now. He still has credit in the bank for me - just a bit less than he had before.

We need to try and get him firing. Can't just chuck him on the scrap heap now. Sanson will probably be happy to be invovled - and will hopefully get game time over the coming weeks

Well played.

Bookies only ever react to an influx of bets. The odds don't reflect likelihood - they reflect the mathematical probability of them making money. This is why Sky Bet should not be able to exist - they push the rumours, and then make money from their own bull shit.

100%. We've signed Coutiho, and that seems to have been his tactics done for the year for every game. I would love a proper journo to sit down with him, and ask him how he intends to get him on the ball, get him in the right positions, and to create the chances - especially given the guy has probably only played 10 good games in 4 years. Gerrard seems to think he's prime Messi or Ronaldo

This 100% We'd be 9th with a winner - but without a wonder goal from a 37 year old who is only in the team because of injuries, we would have lost to a team who have been the leagues whipping boys before we rocked up.

He has to go. The results aren't good enough. The performances aren't good enough, and nor is the in-game management. Wanting that piece of 'magic' is like hoping we get a luck deflection - he isn't paid for that. I can't actually see what the plan is, so it's not like it hasn't quite clicked yet - there's nothing to 'click'. The disconnect between club and fans, in 11 months, is scary. Price hikes don't help, but first and foremost, that's the team and manager. The change of captain didn't help and was handled terribly - but it underlies a 'favourites' policy, which is becoming fairly obvious. He's had injuries, but it wasn't exactly looking OK before. I can't see anyone who has improved, but plenty who have gone backwards. I know he's a relatively inexperienced PL manager, but we aren't paying him apprentice wages. He's had 4 years of management and is still making very poor mistakes.

You deal with your pile of shit - we'll carry on watching this one