Managerial Merry Go Round

Okay, I give in... what is a Cubie-Bater? Asking for myself now... 

What is a 'cubie-bater?' 

Asking for a friend. 

1 hour ago, Teale's 'tache said:

Thank you all for the feedback, most appreciated, if I get time I'll see if I can knock together a few more before the real thing is released, whenever that may be...

Would be interested to see an alternative to the black one - like Reebok did, possibly a white one with a claret and blue sash? 

The three you offered looked great. Marvellous Nakamba in fact. 

All of the 'mind the gap' silliness didn't age well, did it?

He'll have a trout-pout if he doesn't get the chance to come here. 

Tom's been hacked...

Good luck tonight guys... I'll be watching with a box of posh biscuits on the go. 

Whatever the result, do your best... do yourself proud, and we will be proud of you. 

UTV... 

I'll be honest, after the Palace defeat, I had kind of resigned myself to three straight defeats to end the season. But incredibly, this fantastic Club of ours and it's players proved my worries unfounded. An altogether different type of game today than at Spurs. We rode a much longer and sustained storm of pressure from Chelsea who really have the weapons to properly sink our ship. They can shithouse, technique and overload with the best of them. But we found a way to frustrate and crucially, took our chance. A very interesting 'FIFA' style corner routine that paid off. 

Great to see fans back in the stadium and you certainly made your voices heard. For pure consistency, I gave Targett man of the match, but Marvellous stood out for me. Well done young man. 

Very pleased again for Dean Smith, and his players. It really is nice to finish off the season with a couple of statement wins - against 'Top 6' opposition who were still playing for big riches. These weren't just dead rubbers, despite arguably being so for us. 

For the controversies - let's not forget the ref verbally warned Jack twice in the first half as a result of altercations with Jorginho. I thought the penalty was kind of soft, but happy to take it of course. And although it's one of those where you have to 'make the most of it' to alert people that something has happened, Jack didn't need to roll around so much after being struck in the face by Azpilicueta (sp). Definite red card, but won't have endeared himself to the opposition or their fans for next season. 

Fully agree with the awards for both Martinez and Targett. Very consistent team players. 

Yes, this season, we've had some great highs, and some disappointing lows (completely unexpected capitulations). But we can look ahead just now to further progress and even brighter days. The owners want it, the manager wants it, and the spirit around the players would suggest that we're all on this love train for a while yet. 

Oh what a night... This reaction post and match highlights should be read whilst listening to 'Breame & Jack Vath - Can You Hear Me (Extended Mix) [Emergent Shores]' - that's what I am toe tapping to gleefully as I write this. Don't think the tune is out yet, but it's Track 4 from this 'Lumidelic Pres. Serene Waves 47 [May 2021]' on YouTube. 

For a few minutes, I feared the worst when that rocket flew past Martinez to open the scoring for them. But what followed was the dispelling of the myth that Villa have a needlessly repetitive soft underbelly. It somehow galvanised us into action... and what action we took. We fought back, played football and established ourselves into the game - the Coleman punditry effectively a bromance for us. And so, the match was levelled with the most spectacular own goal you're ever likely to see. It wasn't comical, like some own goals, it was sublimely world class in terms of quality. What a finish. 

At 1-1, we didn't stop... we continued aplomb. More of the same from us. We looked comfortable in this sorcerous game of football. Persistence from Bertie created a sniff in the box for Watkins to slot in past the flailing Lloris. And 2-1 it was... And still we didn't stop. 

In the second half, Spurs had spells where it looked like they could turn it round, but the more they pressed forward, the more gaps at the back we could exploit and our chance/shot count accelerated. We could have had several more goals on the night. 

A VAR contrivance of the highest order denied us a first half penalty. It really is a circus of fan trolling now, VAR. No faith in that at all. As someone else posted, this isn't human error now in the style of traditional reffing, it's human manipulation. 

And whilst I remember, credit to #TRO for the use of the word plethora in his reaction post. Bravo sir. 

Notables - 

The booing from Spurs fans was epic. Entitlement there on a plate for you. Please, please, please Villa, show more class on Sunday if we get beaten by better players on the pitch. 

McGinn was magic against Spurs last night, seemed like the McGinn we know and love. But for his tireless campaign last night, I gave MOTM to Ollie Watkins. 

Luiz looked better further forward, Marvellous (I love him) did well, though I am a little concerned with his passing, especially cross-field passes. More games will see him right in my opinion. The makeshift defence looked really assured - some nice runs down the right from Konsa. Good to see Grealish at work, even if not fit. He is like a robust comfort blanket. 

And credit to the two youngsters who came on and quite literally took the piss for a few minutes at the end. Neither looked out of place and Chukkie would have sent me into delirious orbit had his shot trickled in off the post. Thrilled for them both to get their debut. So many things from last night to make us proud to be Villa... the here and now is very decent... the future has a limitless sky right now. It feels that good... please remember this come Sunday, whatever happens. Just enjoy football for what it is. 

And finally, what a sexy jumper Smith was wearing. None of this gutter hoodie shite that Pep wears... Smith looked every bit like the safe pair of 'dad-hands' in that jumper. I want one. I'm old enough to qualify for one of those. 

Up the Villa y'all... UP THE VILLA, and thrice. 

In that Chelsea game against 'Lestoh' last night, had VAR been actually fully consistent, the game would have either been 3-1 to Chelsea, or 1-1. Being kicked (quite hard) in the back of the leg isn't a penalty it seems... The penalty actually given had way less contact. 

The whole thing is a circus farce and just designed to troll fans now. 

35 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

For Spurs, a good season is finishing in the top six, as high as they can and holding off the chasing pack, but their expectation is an enemy to them - they think they're title challengers.

 

 

Looking at the Dean Smith thread, I don't think Spurs are alone. 

We are still playing Snakes And Ladders as we attempt to catch up... whilst several clubs above us have already moved on to playing The Game Of Life instead. And then, there's 3 or 4 are now playing Monopoly instead. 

Watched the game... It was an real pleasure to see the future stars in the here and now go about their business with such confidence and technique. A match that was a stark contrast the to the Premier League game the evening before. Though Albion played their part in the game, the Villa produced some wonderful moves, confidence on the ball and at the same time, made it all look quite easy, loose and free. Very well done to them... and good luck in the Final of course. Some beautiful goals. 

A thoroughly entertaining game. 

Another game without VAR controversy, things really are picking up. But yes, a bit of a 'downer' in terms of action and excitement. It certainly had that end of season feel to it. We had some amazing possession and approach play in the first half, but again were unable to provide killer touches in the final third and capitalise on it. A great chance for Mings The Merciless, headed just wide. 

I'll be honest, I have no real axe to grind with Keinan's overall performance. He's been stifled of game time for such a long time with us, it would be unfair to expect miracles of him in that game. Showed that he can run, and showed that he can hold the ball up. More game time surely will improve him, or has the collective narrative on here changed so quickly from this one big opportunity?

Second half, I thought Everton had the much better creative chances and opportunities, leading to my Martinez MOTM vote - he did have saves to make and he did equal the Friedel record. Very pleased for him. It was great to see Jack come on... whether it's just claret and blue supporter specs or not, I felt genuinely enthused to see him and a bit more confident we might be able to drive a positive result. But it wasn't to be and it crashed to a 0-0 conclusion. 

Roll on the summer now... a chance to continue our progress. Some work needed of course. In the owners and Mr Smith I trust. UTV... come on... UTFV!! 

6 minutes ago, AV82 said:

Who in their right mind would think Maddison would come here from high flying Leicester? 

Under normal circumstances, I would fully agree with you. Depends I guess on how much he would want to hang around with an alleged/rumoured situation between him and the manager. No guarantee that he will play in the big games etc. Doesn't matter what competition the Club is in, if he's not happy. But not seen anything concrete to suggest that he is unhappy. 

The bigger question is, do we really, really, really need to spend that kind of money it would probably take to bring him here? Probably better value out there, no matter how much we would/would not like to see it happen. 

All this talk of points deductions guys... come on... Those days are over. It punishes the fans... and we can't have that. The ESL snakes have gotten away with it, so Derby should too. As much as it irks because rules and regulations have been broken. But we've now got to the 'won't somebody please look after the mental health of fans' stage. No more points deductions. 

Yeah, some of this is whataboutery and borderline trolling. But the precedents are now there. You can't really punish a football club going forward, for fear of upsetting the fans and the media circus that surrounds the protests (riots if you're from Manchester Red Zone).

Surely there's no punishment any more for FFP breaches? I mean... points deductions, expulsion etc just punishes the fans. And we can't have that. Surely there'd be a riot inside Villa Park (though I'd like to think we are a class above that) or at the very least, chaining ourselves to the gates of the players' entrance. 

They could fine us 5% of our revenue... wag a finger and advise us to be more careful in the future. But essentially, what's happened to the ESL snakes in this country, surely now it's open season for our owners to go as big as they feel comfortable with? After all, it's not like we're trying to stop competition... we just want to join in the fun at the top. 

42 minutes ago, Five Ken McNaughts said:

In the same breath that Dermot Gallagher disagrees with the red card, he ties himself in knots with some absolute nonsense: “If the referee looks back and he sees what I’ve just seen now, which he couldn’t on the day, he might have made a different decision.”

Eh?!? Asking us to have sympathy with the ref? Of course Chris Kavanagh could have seen that on the day! It was the main angle FFS! He and Paul Tierney in the VAR booth could have watched it in super slo-mo and had a good old chat about it. You know, actually shown some interest in the fact Henderson’s foot was high, he arrived a week late, and connected with Watson’s knee. 

Compare and contrast with the level of VAR analysis when the on-field decision goes against Man United, like when West Brom had the cheek to win a pen at Old Trafford. Five minutes of forensic observations later, it is decided golden child Fernandes got 1% of the ball and only 99% of Conor Gallagher’s shin, and a clear-as-day penalty is magicked into a clear-and-obvious-error.

i would say the whole system is broken but, sadly, I suspect it is working exactly as was always intended.

Elementary... my dear Watkins. 

Fully agree with you 

An interesting game. I thought we played quite well in several good patches of possession and play. A lovely goal from Bertie, who I gave MOTM for as a result of that. Yes, on paper, United have better players than us, and come from a significantly longer established club status and success ethic. But I saw moments of potential in the game for us and never got the sense that we were properly being spanked or completely mismatched. I felt we were unlucky to lose by a 3-1 scoreline. Didn't really do enough on balance to win the game, we certainly were not 'clever' or 'smart' (to use Neville and Sourpuss analogous guff to clap 'cheating') enough to actually win the game in the end. 

Some interesting refereeing/VAR decisions and non-decisions in the game, which have been done to death over the last 12 pages so won't dwell. I should imagine that some of the coding that Smith used post match in interviews could potentially see some sanction for the Everton game. He's certainly laid a few seeds there in terms of penalties, Pogba and United in general. 

Feel sorry for Watkins. A very bizarre decision from the refer-word-removeding-ree. 

I didn't think it was a 3-1 game, but the best squad of players won on the day. They still remain however, just 11 human beings. One day we will beat them at Villa Park and it'll be like winning cup semi-final. There'll be people on the pitch, the firework towers will be going off and that big banner will unfurl down from the roof of the Holte End. It kind of feels like that kind of mountain when we play that particular club. 

Small Heath ladies have been deducted a point due to fielding an ineligible player (she am suspended)... What fans they have are now being punished (unlike the scum from the ESL). 

Ruesha Littlejohn: Birmingham City deducted point for fielding ineligible player

Birmingham City have been deducted a point and fined £400 for playing midfielder Ruesha Littlejohn while she was suspended.

Link To BBC Sport Story About This Happenstance

Can't wait to see what happens to the next club to fall into administration, break FFP, or field an ineligible player... oh wait,

The Small Heath Females have been deducted a point for fielding an ineligible player in the WSL so their fans have been punished as that puts them back in the relegation scrap I believe. 

11 hours ago, sidcow said:

Hopefully now that precedent has been established and readily accepted by the powers that be in football, they will immediately end all points deductions for breaches of FFP. 

Fully agree - the precedent is there now. Rule breakers cannot not be punished by points deduction as it will 'upset the fans and not be fair...' There's a missed opportunity in all of this to follow the path of previous punishments for a plethora of wrong-doings. Points deductions, summary relegations, transfer embargoes,  or forcing teams to change their name e.g. Nuneaton Borough... forced to change their name by the FA, came back as Nuneaton Town... and now allowed to resume as Nuneaton Borough.

Nobody gave two hoots about the fans in that situation, and countless others for other clubs of 'lesser standing' but no less importance to the footballing pyramid...

Isn't it Leeds who have the famous white kit known the world over? 

12th could be a 'disaster' next season - could signal the start of some players getting itchy feet. Personally, I'm hoping for better than we have done this season and for that, I think we need an injury free captain, and some positive additions to the squad in the summer. 

I don't expect us to be fighting relegation - though it is a possibility. As the mighty Yoda once said, 'Difficult to see, the future is...'

My overall expectation, is for us to continue our progress in the upward trajectory. We have plenty of wriggle room before we hit our ceiling realistically as a Club. We are set up to achieve better and better for a few seasons yet. Keep on going... UTV. Ooooooohhhhhrahhhhhhh!!!