KMitch

Coutinho has a shoulder injury. Not sure about Buendia.

Kamara bossing the midfield today. Key for us on both ends of the pitch... Too bad Dougie and JJ have been anonymous.

Scary stuff again... We only look dangerous on a counterattack. Otherwise, we struggle to get the ball out of our own half in possession. If Everton score first, I really don't see us coming back without a bunch of substitutions. I think teams are figuring out how fragile we are playing out the back and will press us into mistakes which will unravel our defense.

Yeah, I have to say he's given us some soft fouls and at least one goal kick which should have been a corner.

Biggest problem with Villa is that on average, our players are mentally weak... The reason we looked like world beaters during the pandemic is because the crowd wasn't there putting pressure on the squad. Our players probably look very good in training, but some in particular freeze up on match days, go missing when the crowd is going against them, and/or get caught ball watching instead of concentrating and staying focused throughout the entire match. This squad always seems to get stuck in a rut and can't break out of it until a new manager comes in, changes things up, fills the players with confidence, then they play well again, until they hit another bad run of form and the cycle repeats itself. We need leaders on the pitch and strong characters to drive consistency in our play match after match. THAT is what I'm looking forward to this summer and in the future from Emery's transfers.

100% this... We need to establish an identity for the club in terms of playing style and mentality, with a shortlist of players and staff to go after if there is a vacancy, so that the club doesn't miss a beat when someone leaves. To his credit, Emery has used the entire squad at his disposal. The ones he didn't rate or the ones who didn't want to be here were shipped out at the first opportunity. The 2nd wave of the rebuilding will start this summer and he'll start shipping out the ones who aren't good enough, don't listen to his tactical instructions, or aren't a good cultural fit for his team's new identity. All rumbling out of the club indicates a lot of money will be available for Emery to build with, so hopefully we'll start to see progress in September again.

Rant Incoming: With Manchester United being bought out by the Qataris, it'll mean we'll be competing against yet another sovereign nation with unlimited oil money in the League. This Qatari ownership group has already shown they'll break FFP rules at PSG and bribe officials to avoid anything more than a fine, so what's going to stop them here? Between Newcastle & Chelsea's new ownership and Man City's blatant disregard of the Premier League FFP rules setting the precedent for other English clubs to follow, I'm really finding it hard to bother caring about football anymore. Starting to feel like my love with Aston Villa is like a long term relationship coming to an end. I love this club and I can't even entertain the thought of supporting another one, but I think this relationship will bring me nothing but anger and frustration in the years ahead. What's the point even supporting the club when even at our best, we'll never be competing for more than just the scraps of the oil nations? Why bother subjecting myself with the pain of season after season of finishing outside the 7 teams that are allowed to spend more money than everyone else, hoping that one of them will slip up for a season or two so we can slip into Europe or sneak a domestic cup win before dropping back into mid-table mediocrity? As much as I hated relegation, I really enjoyed our time in the Championship because we were actually competitive again for the first time in a very long time. Going into every match knowing that we were likely to win and competing for the league title, or the very least automatic promotion, was frankly a breath of fresh air after years of circling the drain down the Premier League table toward relegation. That 10 game winning run resulting in the Wembley win and subsequent promotion was arguably the best of times as my ~20 years supporting the club. The Premier League is broken because it's not competitive anymore. There are 7 clubs who can outspend everyone else and on a long enough timeline, they'll be the teams who will continue to dominate the table and pocket more money than everyone else. Sure, occasionally you'll have a Brighton or a Brentford who will punch above their weight for a season or two and take advantage of poor form from the top 7, but that isn't sustainable long term. Look at Leicester & West Ham's fall this season for example... What's the point in following football anymore and continuing to support a broken system that continues to bring me more headaches than joy every season? Before anyone says "go support another club" you're missing the point... I love Villa and I'd rather stop watching footy all together than sell my soul and glory chase with the other plastic fans, but the Premier League is broken. Unless NSWE start regularly spending a ridiculous amount of money on player wages/transfer fees and start breaching FFP rules, even having an elite manager like Emery, the chances of us breaking into the top 4 consistently are very low. I can't be the only one frustrated by this fact... Just look at the match threads when we're losing or the transfer window threads. Every day we're in there venting our frustrations about "why aren't we winning, signing good players, being competitive like the teams ahead of us, etc". For the first time ever during my ~20 years as a fan, we finally have an ownership team who is competent and making consistently solid decisions, but I feel like the Villa fanbase is even more volatile than it was 10 years ago. I feel like the goal posts keep getting moved further and further away from us and we're more and more likely to stand still or fall backward down the table without additional significant financial backing. TL;DR Can Villa compete long term in the Premier League with the continuing injection of oil money into other teams? What keeps you going as a fan, knowing just how stacked against us the deck is? When do we walk away and stop contributing to this broken system?

This is exactly the type of player we should be helping Vitoria be after in the transfer market. Young, highly rated, but would be hard to get a work permit for in England, and/or not quite yet ready for the Premier League yet. If they turn out to be future stars, Villa will get first dibs and at a cut rate.

I think you're misunderstanding how this process works. It's a well documented points system where a player needs to accumulate 15 points in order to qualify for a work permit. https://worldfootballindex.com/2020/12/work-permits-premier-league-post-brexit-english-clubs-efl-libertadores/ Key Highlights Post Brexit: Clubs can only sign a maximum of 6 U21 players from abroad every season It's easier to sign South American players than it was prior to Brexit An over 18 player playing in any of the European top leagues basically is guaranteed a work permit under these rules Regular internationals for a top 50 ranked FIFA national team are guaranteed a work permit It's hard to sign up and coming young players unless there is a big fee/wages involved, they're already full internationals, and/or regularly playing in a good league Some leagues are valued/scaled higher for points than others It's easier now to sign players who are internationals or regularly playing outside of the EU, but the U21 restrictions will bottleneck teams like Man City and Chelsea from continuing to sign 30+ of the best foreign youth internationals every season and stocking their academy with "home grown" talent to sell and bankroll their blockbuster signings. Owning additional clubs will help skirt these rules, especially in countries like Portugal, who have much more relaxed work permit and transfer restriction requirements than the Premier League has.

Agreed. Emi is the only player in our squad I don't want to sell, but I would if a world record transfer fee was offered and he really wanted to leave. It's criminal to see so many of our own fans writing him off lately because he is one of the top 5 goalkeepers in the world right now.

The Portuguese League is the most profitable of all football leagues in the world: https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveprice/2021/09/01/how-portugals-primeira-liga-was-the-most-profitable-in-the-transfer-market-this-decade/?sh=275828806690 Porto, Benfica, & Sporting are in the the top 10 of all clubs in the world in terms of transfer fees received. Rules for work permit/registrations are much more lax in Portugal than the UK for young promising South American/Scandinavian players. All these "wonderkids" who aren't good enough yet for Premier League football or haven't played enough international games in order to qualify for a UK work permit are shoe-ins for the Portuguese league. From a purely selfish point of view, this is fantastic news for Villa. We won't see the benefits of this for another 3-5 seasons, TBH, but if Vitoria starts signing the same quality of young players as Porto, Benfica, and Sporting with NSWE's financial muscle, it will only be a matter of time before Villa gets them at a cut rate price.

Jesse Marsch headed to Southampton, which means they're dead certain to be relegated now.

Not sure why you guys think Tim is going to be amazing for us... QPR fans think he's shit and were very happy he was dropped for Johansen a few weeks ago. Hasn't had a good game for them since Beale fooked off to Rangers.

I was still expecting us to lose, but I also was expecting the squad to actually show some grit and determination to try to get something out of the game. They've shown fook all today and are playing like they're already on the beach in June...

Sums it up for me... Sell everyone we can this summer and replace.

Softest penalty I've ever seen... Jack would have never won that in a Villa shirt... Pathetic.

He's the only reason it isn't 5-0 at this point... What are you on about?

Fook it... Sell them all and buy an entire new team this summer.

Chambers again... We're lucky we aren't 5-0 down at this point.

Bailey is so fookin' garbage... First player we need to replace this summer.

Hate to burst a lot of VTers bubble, but QPR fans don't rate Tim... Sounds like he went through a purple patch at the start of the season, but has gone backwards significantly since Beale left. Looking at their forum, they were happy when he was dropped for Stefan Johnsen when he came back from injury. Off Topic: Half their fanbase still thinks Beale is going to be the next big manager to hit the Premier League, but the other half are quick to point out that the team lost his last 4 games before he fooked back off to Rangers, which is why he left while his stock was high. They all unanimously hate Neil Critchley, though... They've been horrific since he took over and are probably relegation contenders at this time.

I think everyone is making this out to be more than it is. Did anyone read the actual article from Ole or are they reading the out of context quotes from the British rags? Looks like the journalist asked him what are his goals and aspirations in football now that he's won the World Cup and he responded with this: "I'm still hungry, I want to win the Champions League. Obviously, I would like to do it with Aston Villa, but it will be difficult because the club is still in its growth phase. I won the most beautiful title there is with the National Team and now I'm aiming for the biggest title. important of clubs". Then it looks like something else was asked like whether or not it's time to move on and he replied with this: “I would like to win a title with Aston Villa. But it's complicated... They knocked us out of the FA Cup in January. You should never lose hope. We'll see what will happen. I have the feeling that today I have the level to play in the Champions League and try to win it." Hell, a few sentences later in the article he says this: "I came close to playing in Ligue 1 several times when I was younger. PSG is a great club with great players. They aim to win the Champions League every year. Who wouldn't love to play there?! Leo and Kylian are cracks! Partners that any player dreams of having". Does this mean that PSG is coming in for him? I doubt it... TBH, he has 4 years left on his contract at this point and will cost someone as much as Grealish did. No, I don't see him leaving for at least another 2 years at this rate.

I would love for us to go after Aaron Wan-Bissaka this summer as I think he'll be put up for sale. Been playing well for the Mancs this past month while Dalot has been out injured, but doesn't fit well into their system long term. That said, he is exactly the kind of defensive minded right back we need in Emery's system. One of the best one-on-one defenders in the Premier League and absolutely rapid. My suspicion is that he was who Emery was looking at when he went to the Forest v Man United match recently.

Not going to lie, I was dying listening to Gabby's story. You could tell by Simon Jordan's reaction while hearing it that it was true... ...but his 2+2 = Yellow for Gabby Logic is hilarious. Gabby is indeed one of the dumbest human beings on the face of the earth.

You're right... We never make good signings at Villa... Like McGinn for 2.5m, Martinez for 20m, or Kamara for nothing. Leeds have signed their share of overpriced dross too, like Daniel James for 25m, Diego Llorente for 18m, or Junior Firpo for 15m... Really sick of everyone pointing out good signings at other clubs and acting like we never sign good players for cheap ourselves...