Raver50032

Quite a torrid opening week for Fulham last season... Lost their opener at home to Palace 0-2 and then went away to Spurs for a 3-1 defeat. Hopefully we can beat Bournemouth on Saturday and start a more positive points curve earlier than Fulham did. Their first points came in Match Day 3 with a 4-2 home win against Burnley.

Heaton was my MOTM. I won't comment much about the game, because whichever side of the fence I am on, I'm going to fall foul of the 'give your head a wobble' finger wagging that is so prevalent on both sides and I don't really want to fall into the trap. I can't be arsed to argue the toss with any of you. You don't have to quote me... you don't have to hash-tag me... just shake your head, disagree if you want to and move along. You won't change my mind, and I don't intend to try and change yours with an endless exchange of wasted keyboard minutes. All I feel that I need to say is, I always looked at this game as a 'free hit.' Never expected a win, and for the 'first day nerves' that I hoped Spurs would suffer (they did suffer some sort of lack of sharpness) and the 'plucky newcomer surprise package' that I hoped Villa would be, I thought a draw was the best I could hope for prior to the game. I prayed that we wouldn't get spanked too hard. I guess we could have lost 4-1 like Norwich did, or even 4-0 like Chelsea. But yay, we're only down to 15th on goal difference... I don't expect instant results - especially not against Clubs like Spurs, United or Liverpool, but I don't expect it to take months to gel the team either. I would be quite disheartened if we didn't see ANY points at all in August. The narrative from the Club this summer is that this is a 'great bunch of lads' who are all friends and everything will be fine and we can't wait to get cracking... So I'm not having any of the 'it will take time' stuff I'm seeing either. These are all players that Smith seemed to want at the Club... and looking at the transfer threads, we as supporters wanted/accepted too. It was the 'PERFECT' transfer window, no? I enjoyed it, though felt we should have pressed home with another striker... but Kodjia seems to be the egg in the basket. As it happens, I can't feel 'proud' of a set of players that lose three goals in seventeen minutes. That second half... really was disappointing whether as a hopeful supporter, a blind-faith deluded supporter or even just a humble realist supporter. Unless I'm expected to be 'proud' that they kept the score down? Could easily have been 6. You're all quite within your rights to disagree of course, but I feel it's akin to lying to oneself if that can't be seen. There was some positive counter attacking that led to our goal, and to another pretty decent chance... There was some fine goalkeeping (the rush of blood outside the area Heaton Header not withstanding). There were particular moments of defensive excellence, and I have every faith in Mings and Engels. But, it is possible to acknowledge that the team defended resolutely (and rode their luck a fair bit) without being 'proud.' It's possible to feel disappointed with something, even when it was always possible/likely that we would taste defeat. I was disappointed with what actually happened, as I am sure Smith will be. He even said that the plan for the second half wasn't followed (or words to that effect on Villa's YouTube channel post match). I'm hopeful for the season, but I'm realistic. I'm not in a panic, but I'm not going to frivolously blow smoke up the team's arse either. If our support is 'proud' of the team for that overall performance, what will they be when we finally earn a draw or a even a win against a team like Spurs? Where is the wriggle room? I'm not losing any poop over it... just an observation. There were concerning things about the match, as were there a number of positives. If Villa can wake up and learn the many lessons they were taught by Tottenham Hotspur, then I have every faith that our own Club will be fine. In Smith I trust... UTV. -- Good to hear the travelling Villa fans in decent voice.

Bang on the money (pun almost intended). This isn't about closing any pay gap, but rather arresting the notion that people are effectively held in some sort of economic slavery. Everyone in this country who seeks employment should be earning a living wage. Unless you are contracted as a volunteer, semi-volunteer (whatever that even is - maybe a person of normalised retirement age who stewards at VP partly for the love of it, and partly to make some pocket money etc) then you should earn the living wage. I'd like to think the Club would treat all of it's staff that way.

It's Kodjia, then...

So that's 'blazing a bowl?'

Pffffft... 'Deadline Day Fanboys...' fxxx me, that's a reach. If you can't see the risk for yourself then you may as well talk to the hand. I'm as impressed and engaged in the 12 signings we made... but Christ on a bike, we are desperately thin up front, fanboy or not.

To quote Grand Moff Tarkin... "We're taking an awful risk Vader... this had better work..." (with regard to the non-appearance of another striker on deadline day)

Have VillaReport confirmed this?

Oh cod, I tried that a few pages back... nobody took the bait... Maybe nobody can see my posts because I'm on 'ignore...'

36 pages still to fill... It's cod to be possible to make 1000 pages, no? No drama over Benrahma as of yet... Come on Villa, get it done.

Are they a news aggregator kind of outfit?

Yes, getting interesting now... I'm well on board the optimism trail just now... Saturday feels like a kind of 'free hit' for us... We are the unknown quantity and it's an opportunity to ruffle feathers. If it doesn't quite work out, the real opportunity will be our first home game. Up the Villa...

Have a trophy...

Tentacles... and Villareport... or something.

Darn it... we should have got in there first and saved ourselves £15m quid this time next year...

#announceastriker What is our signing rate on Mondays in this window?

Indeed, and this bit in bold, I hope that Jack continues in that way... Let the ref/VAR do the finger-wagging. Just do you best Jack and let them worry about you. Zaha seems a bit of an enigma to me. I can't decide whether I think he's good or not.

It's been an amazing summer hasn't it? Quite spectacular... The kind of greed and gluttony it feels like as we ponder who is coming next is how I imagine Boxing Day to be with chocolate smeared all around my mouth and an incriminating half empty tub of Cadbury Heroes in my hand with the lid off and up to my ankles in shiny, crinkly wrappers. Striker my priority... preferably an Option A name/fee... just because.

Not trying to patronise anyone, so <shrug> sorry if that's how you've taken it. Absolutely, you can think of Allardyce as a fool (as do I mostly) but occasionally, he'll say something that 'we' do actually agree with. Same with Collymore and Mills... The likelihood is, that all of the sources that Genie quoted (and was shot down by one poster) are more credible than you or I to have an educated opinion from the industry perspective having been involved in the industry of football over time in a variety of roles. They might be proved right, they hopefully, will be proven wrong. But nobody can just turn round and say that those three sources don't add any weight to the debate. What I was trying to say was, had Allardyce, Collymore and Mills all been on the Fun Bus with us and said the Club were doing an amazing job, even with a slight amount of caution relating to the risk, (you, as in the 'royal you') regardless of whether the masses believed them to be fools/cockwombles etc, would be given a lot more credence on here because it matches the general feeling of us as fans. If that doesn't apply to you then fair enough. Imagine if the young lady doing the Q&A on Youtube asking the question about whether Villa were 'doing a Fulham' had upheld the notion that indeed that was what we were doing... She'd be pulled apart on here and no mistake. Come on, patronising or not, you know that's how it would play out on here. Anyway, we seem to agree that Villa have done the right thing this summer, and that Allardyce is a fool. Have a great day

Okay, I work in the rail industry... and that looks a lot like Watford Junction railway station (southern end) and that is a London Overground train in the background... Where is he off to?

And there I was, listening to a sample of 'Mankind' singing (shouting) 'Let Her Be' on Youtube and I was thinking... WTF is Vive smoking?? Really happy with this signing, and I'm looking forward to seeing Douglas becoming part of our establishment.

It is shocking isn't it!!? I'm sure the Holte End will come up with something befitting our Brazilianaires in due course. These are the good times coming back.

I'm 44... what tune would that be? Can you message me with it off Youtube or something??

So, there's the chant courtesy of VLV... Instead of Sali-Salifou... we've got; "Dougie... Dougie Lou... Dougie... Dougie Lou..." Poet and you didn't know it Vive...