May-Z

Castore just need to give up and go home. They're so shit. The offer nothing except putting an extra zero on the price of their kits.

I like the way he still celebrates goals. There's a lot of managers who still there, emotionless, trying to maintain that it was what they expect anyway....but Emery is different. It's almost like he's celebrating the players rewarding themselves for their work in training. You can see that is isn't driven by emotions either. He still has a moment of composure before celebrating, before making sure everyone on the bench is thanked and congratulated. A class act.

Such a confidence player. Never quite seen someone affected like he is. It almost seems to even affect his balance. I have a feeling he knew he'd done well against Everton before and that gave him the ammunition to feel confident today. Hopefully he can use it as a boost for other games coming up.

This is part of Unai 'managing' the players imo. If he rips up the line up and makes a raft of changes, the targeted players would lose confidence and from the outside it would look like he was abandoning his initial plan...after one game. We know these players can produce results, especially at home, and there will have been some serious work on the training pitches this week to correct what went wrong at St James'.

They did have Barkley and Aaron Ramsey in their squad...they are a a little bit out there with their ideas.

Nice have a bit of money about them now (I think) so would probably be reasonably placed to Dela with his wages. And if the loan fee does enough to cover a year of Digne's costs for FFP then it may work for us and let us get another signing in.

How is this Adidas deal going to play out? Are Castore just wiped completely at the end of August and Adidas will get a new kit out for Geordies to spend another whack of money on?

Too many puns going on. Mention an egg once, that should be un oeuf.

I like how the others nod along expecting him to say Newcastle and then wonder if he has lost his marbles when he explains that it's Villa he's referring to.

Yes, in thinking that main take-away from the game was that we'll be ok from relegation, he's definitely wrong. His inclusion of the word 'probably' in reference to a finishing position the top 10 is a bit dismissive of our progress as well. IMO, it's the same as saying Man City will 'probably' finish in the top 4. It's not wrong, but it neglects any actually understanding of the team in question.

We actually leaked goals right, right, right, right, and right yesterday

As shit as the result was, I'm not accepting 'probably finish top half' as a valid commentary on where we're at, at the minute...just in the same way I'm not having the 'Newcastle are going to push City all the way' nonsense.

Offside or not for their second, surely it's just a foul on Cash. Jacob Ramsey Vs Man U in the cup anybody?

Pat Nevin after the match Villa won't be in any danger, they'll probably finish top half again. What. A. clearing in the woods.

Meh. Wank result. So disappointing. Pretty much in line with what we know though. The high line works really well for us...but a mm out through miscommunication and you let the opposition in. (Not to mention dubious offsides not being called) I wonder if the constant changes of defenders in preseason may have hampered the unit in playing the tight offsides. Newcastle are up there with the best at pressing and bullying teams physically - and for some reason the officials are keen to let them do it. Watkins is a great player, but not as clinical as we need when we want to take advantage when we're on top as Isak did. We need an alternative striker to use in games. Bailey has probably run out of time. Swapping Buendia for him in the starting line up would've helped Newcastle get on top. We could probably use a midfield with physical presence as well as passing ability. We play some good football and will always create chances. Wilson and Barnes will always score whenever they play Villa. The media bumming of Newcastle is gross and relentless.

I imagine the comedown from Roma's starboy to being shunted out to Turkey as the only interested team can affect motivation. Moving to the Premier League may give him more of a reason to get back to his best.

There's a potential that Emery has seen a lot in Kellyman and wants to back that horse instead of Cam. He might feel that bringing in a more experience/proven striker for Cam and then using Kellyman as an understudy is a better squad balance.

I agree with everything that you say. That wasn't quite the line I was going down. We wouldn't make a sale and then just move on and accept it. The fact we have Tielemans means we won't be completely shafted if we did make a sale, and buys us time to then bring in another high quality player that doesn't have to be relied on instantly. I mean, ideally, we wouldn't sell anyone and would keep building so that we have the same depth across the whole squad.

We also are building a squad that can cope with a player or two leaving and still have a quality player to take up the slack before getting a replacement in. Not like the Grealish/Benteke incidents. Dougie leaves, Tielemans is there. Ming's leaves, Torres and Carlos are there. The only position we don't look well catered for is at striker. (Keeper would be more easily dealt with when looking for an outright number 1 imo) Obviously I would rather keep them all and add to what we already have...but I think we're in abetter position to manage a sale than we have been in before.

This waistcoat has a badge on if that's what you like.

Also this t shirt called 'Rainman' is cool

So, there's a kit thread each year, but I thought a thread for Villa merchandise, both past and present, official and unofficial, would make for a good read. I'll start with this deliciously shit homage to our GK kit that I've just picked up...

DJ Ed Spence...now available for school discos.

I think we're forgetting that our way of playing and the squad we're putting together means we can change a number of players without seriously weakening the team or belittling opponents. For example, if we rest our 'first choice CBs' we'd still have Carlos and Pau as reserves. Our second string CMs are Belgium's starting midfield. With GK rotation, there's five changes that could easily happen. The team and way of playing would still be strong though.

Every time I see this, I can't help but read it in Team America's Kim Jong Il's voice...