May-Z

I thought this too. An earlier ball and Trez doesn't have to check his run across the defender. Jack does that sometimes. Takes two clicks/touches too many before releasing. I'd say to make the most out of how Trez seems to play he needs to be released as early as possible to use his pace more effectively.

He's a beast.

Anyone know a potential release date for the third kit? I think we might be seeing it on 31st Aug away at Crystal Palace as our other two kits would surely clash. In shops a month after that at a guess?

I assume Guilbert has been ruled out so Elmo comes in. If Elmo comes in then I can see the sense in partnering him with Trez.

Taylor is gash at everything. Having him in is not more solid defensively, it's worse....and you sacrifice any potential forward play from LB.

Looking forward to this! Would love to see him make a statement with this debut. Plenty of bullying, a few rasping drives from distance and a goal would be lovely.

Yep, agree with you. I think Davis is much more reliable at making it 'stick' though. A few times Tammy was caught trying to turn first time and led to a counter attack goal against us (Blues at home maybe?) Undoubtedly Tammy is a better player but that would be an area I'd say he needs to work on a bit.

I expect we will play well, look reasonably good, create chances and score one. I also expect Spurs to score three by picking us off on the turnover when we go forward. A disappointing result but good evidence that we're here to play and will be largely successful with it.

Will be interesting to see if his ass-roll is as effective in the Prem.

I would argue that the way Wesley played in pre-season was very similar to Davis with the added element of picking more difficult passes. I mean, how many times did we see Wesley really threaten apart from against Walsall? He still looked excellent. I have been very impressed with Wesley and rate Davis highly but their main style is playing deep and bringing others in. Neither of them seem to push the box in the way that Tammy did...but then he wasn't as good at the link up play. One of Smith's strengths is keeping the playing style the same even when players change. Davis allows us to do that if Wesley is out better than anybody.

Best slide tackler since Mark Delaney.

I remember Carson, in that grey pyjama Nike kit, looking like he was well worth the £10 mil asking price Liverpool had put on him...up until that England game. That error completely destroyed him and wasn't up to much after that.

I'm just surprised that Noel Whelan thinks.

Sounds like my kind of leisure centre...

If they use colours similar to the gold and white on the press release I think it will look pretty smart. Always fancied a bit of gold in the shirt design.

Still think it's more sensible to have done that than lose academy projects for free like in the past. The Championship is littered with ex-Villa youth but we never really used them to keep a small portion of finances ticking over.

Probably a contract that was given so we could do something like this...

Couldn't see an existing thread... In October Villa are running a sleep out in order to raise funds for the homeless people in Birmingham. I did the last one - only about 20 people signed up - but it was a great experience. Held in the Trinity concourse, Shaun Teale joined in and was really good when it came to telling us about his Villa stories. There was a stadium tour at around midnight, a few quizzes and press conference activities...and waking up to the sunrise over VP was a decent view! There's 100 places this year, £25 to register, and you have to email paisley.hipkiss@avfc.co.uk for a registration form. Money is collected online through a virgin money account. I'm not plugging this for the club but it was a really interesting night and would be good if a crowd joined in this time. (Mods, apologies if this is in the wrong section)

In the past I'd have been happy with a lot of that list - I think powers at Villa would've been too. Now, all I'm interested in is what Smith wants. I think he would look at that list as examples of the exact opposite of what he looks for in a player. Even Mata who I'd love to see on our shirt.

Take a leaf out of Spurs' book. Sign young, emerging players for ever-so-slightly more than seems reasonable and develop them into first teamers before flogging and repeating. It's a random one but I'm still annoyed that they got Naughton and Walker for around £7mil combined. They sold Naughton and covered the cost, getting decent time from Walker before pocketing £50mil. Meanwhile we had Young, Shorey, Beye and Warnock sitting in our squad. £20 mil outlay. £0 back.

Also, get some friggin beer trays walking round at half time to buy on the fly like the Jaeger shot-girls in clubs. And pie trays. Pie trays would be good.

Not a biggie but I'd like to see some more reasonable pricing on kids kits. My two children are just on the cusp of 'getting' what football, and Villa, is all about and they loved the 3rd kit this year...it just cost close to £100 to get them both sorted. I guess U14 season tickets are £50 to help grow the Pride - I think kits could be part of that too idea to with a much lower cost to get them on board.

The Gryffindor badge and colours all make sense now. The blue house - whatever the feck their name is - clearly representing the no-hope neighbours.

The Harry Potter cast is stuffed with Villa fans. I like to think they would all gather round on a Saturday to illegally stream a match while Emma Watson went off an ranted about feminism. Sure I've seen somewhere that Bret 'The Hitman' Hart was a Villa fan as well. Maybe just plopped a scarf on but that'll do for 'evidence'

New West Ham kits are smart. Umbro always seem to do a good job. Offering the option to buy sponsor-less versions too.