Mic09

1 hour ago, CVByrne said:

It's not the fact the games exist, it's the quality of the opposition. The group stages saw us field a lot of players we wouldn't start in the PL and we only had 6 group games and skipped the knock out phase. In the same period we would be playing 10 CL level opponents, means more required from our best players and 4 more games. 

But we might play Sturm Graz, Monaco Fenerbhace and Stuttgard. Bring in another 3 players ready for first team, and we could have a week of playing say Spurs Saturday, Monaco Tuesday and Palace or Sunday. 

With a midfield of Kamara, Luiz, Rogers, McGinn, Tielemans, Ramsey, Buendia and one more senior player, we could very realistically rotate to always have a competitive side. 

I think there is no such thing as being 'ready' for CL football. What does that even mean? Having a CL worthy team for 3 years before you qualify for it?

I think there is a strong argument to say Watkins playing in Madrid on Tuesday will be even more fired up to score goals against Wolves at the weekend. 

I say bring it on. 

1 minute ago, CVByrne said:

Make no mistake, if we qualify for CL the new format will take a big toll on our League Performances. The schedule is insane especially as we will most likely end up between 9th and 24th in the Group stage and thus play CL 10 games by the 19th Feb. with game weeks 22nd Jan, 29th Jan, 11th Feb, 18th Feb. Smack bang in where the FA Cup is. 

I think we are ceding the domestic cups in all seriousness while we compete in the top 2 European competitions for now.

Did European football take a toll on our performances this year? Maybe. 

But that's not to say we will struggle at all, it will likely work out as less games than this season!

18 hours ago, Tom13 said:

'Consistently' then - and Man City started Stones and Akanji in midfield.

And I don't think we played particularly well VS Arsenal at home - only 38% possession.

Stones and Akanji are no jokers. They are a part of one of the best teams in the world football.

McGinn just had a poor game. Like most of the team did.

18 minutes ago, Ingers said:

This one is a little polarising  - we already do, but this would 'own the city'.....

I like the visual representation of the lion roaring AND farting. 

Klopp. Slot. Kop. 

Weird mob. 

50 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

ONE talented designer/artist could probably do all of that, I'm not sure why that would necessarily " require an agency ".

I'm pretty confident the roll out will be a branding kit and elements. I highly doubt they are just going to splodge a crest and say that's it 

I do also think they will have consulted some sort of agency, even if it turns out to be shite. ( Could be wrong obs )

Sure, one person can do some designs. But agencies provide a bit more than that; from providing market research to small things such as "why should this branding be within this place and not a different place". Then you have the online marketing etc. It's a full professional job.

It's like saying "one person can organise a wedding". Sure. But you need a priest, bartenders, chefs, people who blow up balloons. It's a big event, just like setting out a professional branding campaign. 

On 24/04/2024 at 17:23, brendanvillatalk said:

I think we only got away with this price because nobody was taking us seriously. The way we're going we'll get stung for Chelsea prices if we spot any others in the championship.

Well, there are players like Rogers that might have interest from say Villa, Palace, Wolves, Spurs.

Wolves and Palace might offer 12m. Us and Spurs can offer 15-16.

Will the parent club say to Villa "no, we won't sell for less that 45"? No chance. The market dictates prices. If Middlesbrough want to make some money, they won't hold out for an improbable 50m. They will sell for what the player is worth. 

6 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Really impressed by Serie A lately. Seems to me the quality is big improvement over last year. So many cool players! Taty. Scamacca. Chiesa. Ivanovic? Spelling.

I'd like to see Osimhen in a better team. (i.e. Villa  ) 

I feel he would do very well in the PL. 

41 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

He's absolutely bang on though?

Players who have won the league in economy whilst kids are in business? That's unacceptable.

I wouldn't even call it unacceptable.

It's like a teacher punishing the whole class to make some stupid statement. I am the boss, I will make the rules.

It's easy to make a wrong call when you want to set a principle for the sake of it. 

I don't have a problem with senior players flying economy. It might have a negative effect on their form, sure. But to put some players in first class and not the rest, that is just asking for trouble from the senior team. 

12 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

Last week I've watched Danny Murphy and Wes Brown on podcasts talking about the same thing.

How difficult is It to turn earn 50k a week and buy a nice house and put the rest in savings accounts.

 

"If I have a 10, 15 year career at this level I'll have only have earned 10m - 15m net. I need to make some high risk investments!"

The thing is that once you earn 10-15m, and you are a celebrity, you will be surrounded by various agents that try to sell you the dream.

You know you have to do something with that money (it's not just gonna sit in an account) and the sneaky men in suits have just the right idea for you.

It is easy to get burnt.

2 hours ago, villa89 said:

People would have said the same about Highbury, now nobody even remembers it. Times change. 

And because Emirates has been here for 18 years now, I no longer see it as a 'soulless bowl' but just an Arsenal stadium.

3 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Exactly. People don't seem to realise how hard gaps like that are to overturn at this end of the table. You can't just string a few wins together and reel teams in, unless they completely collapse. Which is rare.

 

We're basically to liverpool what Man Utd were to us a couple of months ago. The swing in form required to overhaul an 8 point gap is huge with 10-12 games left. With 4 games left it's virtually impossible

I'd say it's more likely for Luton to finish 15th and overtake Brentford. But that's for another topic. 

What we have to remember is that we are no longer aiming to compete for places between 12-7th. In those places, a swing of 5 positions with 4 games to go is very possible. 

We are talking about overtaking teams who lose 5-6 games all season. Liverpool lost 4.

We are 99% not overtaking them. 

6 minutes ago, sne said:

Is it possible to have done a good job in increasing our sponsor deals with Adidas & Betano (with the help of Nas Adidas connections and Emery on pitch performances) while also have done a poor job in communicating/explaining the 180 on the stadium rebuild & the badge re-brand re-branding saga (with perhaps a shoddy hand from Purslow) and the comical (subjective) AV150 logo launch no launch?

 

 

No, it's not possible. He is either a messiah or a fraud. That is the Villa way. 

On 23/04/2024 at 22:33, KAZZAM said:

Konsa and Watkins are a 100% going now. 

Think they were anyway but Southgate has no excuse now. 

Gurantee he'll take Toney over Solanke aswell which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. 

The only way I would take Toney is if he was made to bet £1m of his own money to score a goal in every game he plays. 

so much better than Lisbon! 

1 minute ago, Genie said:

If United lose this they have to sack ETH don’t they? 

Yup. Will get an interim manager and Southgate in the summer. Please make it happen. 

23 hours ago, villa4europe said:

Id be amazed if the council would let us, they're redeveloping large chunks of the city, largely due to HS2, young professionals, businesses etc etc

football stadiums don't tick that box 

They're not pumping £2bn in to Smith fields to then put a stadium next to it 

I get what you are saying, but a new stadium is not a weekend thing.

It's restaurants, gyms, offices, hundreds of jobs, concerts, maybe a smaller comedy/small show venue.

It would be a 2nd (much grander) NIA. 

It's also thousands of people using surrounding pubs, public transport, going shopping after, using hotels, etc etc. 

It's exactly what a big city needs.

I don't think it will happen, but it might be a boost that the city needs. 

6 minutes ago, Creeper said:

 

Great. That means season 2041/2042 will be shit once he leaves. 

13 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

I'd normally agree with you, but it just got me thinking about how much control we've supposedly given him, and where the line would end.  If he's delivering on the pitch everything and more that's being asked of him,  where do we draw the line off it. 

Obviously sponsorship deals and other none direct football impacting things are out the question. But something like a stadium where we play the games that is a huge factor in our form might not be totally unreasonable. At the very least I'd be shocked if he wasn't consulted and offered a view that the owners would have given more weight than the average manager

Personally I think he would have as much of a say in the matter as Watkins has. 

21 hours ago, MrBlack said:

Given Emery supposedly has the keys to the castle...I wonder if it was his call to postpone the North stand development. 

Its ultimately his spending power that he be curtailing, and maybe he valued the full house and opportunity to qualify for the champs league and play in it to a full villa park more greatly than having an extra 10m to spend 5 years down the line. 

The owners may still want to go ahead but could be waiting on Emery to dictate when that is. 

There is no way a manager (regardless of how good he is) has any say into the infrastructure project of building a new stand. 

53 minutes ago, Vancvillan said:

Funny to see our fans giving Spurs 12 points for the rest of the season while their fans are debating if they can hang on to 5th.

Not as funny as this Chelsea fan though, bless his cottons.

That's like saying 'my wife hasn't been great recently, I know I have had 7 divorces in the recent years, but she just can't do the job. I think I should go for Monica Bellucci' 

26 minutes ago, villan-scott said:

Slot the front runner to replace Klopp. I don’t know much about him!

 

There might be another bold Dutchman available soon. 

55 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

Bellingham strikes late as Real beat furious Barcelona

What's most important you ask? World peace? Stopping climate change? Fighting disease and hunger?
No. It's goal-line technology being introduced in La Liga.

I reckon if Barca players all chipped in 15% of their weekly wage, goal line technology could be introduced.

You know, as a 'make-up' present for all the fuc*ery they are doing to la liga. 

1 minute ago, turvontour said:

What? We started time wasting after about an hour of the first game in a two leg tie. It was annoying me at the game. Its nonsensical. Either refs are continuously wrong or we are time wasting. 

Even if we time wasted in the first game (we didn't) what relevance does that have to a game played a week later in a different country? 

The yellow in 2nd leg was the ref being an idiot, a theme he kept throughout the game.