KMitch

Not necessarily his fault... We can't get the ball out of our half without giving it away.

Two central midfielders on the bench... and we bring on Ashley Fookin Young... FFS

Also, I may end up going to the Miami/Buffalo game on Sunday. I've lived in Buffalo for 2 years now and finally have a free weekend to check out a Bills game.

Pretty sure this is Detroit's week to finally pull out a win and avoid an 0-17 season... Otherwise the second Bears game is the only other real opportunity to do so. Dan Campbell has actually been coaching the team very well, we're just unfortunate to have such a garbage roster from the 3 seasons under Quinn/Patricia.

It's only controversial because of the revisionist history over his performances after his illness was announced. Petrov got more stick from the fans than any other midfielder during his time at Villa. I remember posts on VT and Vital calling him "The Cruyff Turn Crab" who only passes the ball sideways and wasn't "physical enough" to be a good DM. After his leukemia announcement, he was suddenly everyone's favorite player and a legend. As a player, my opinion on Stan is similar to yours. Bang average for his position in that era of football. I was gutted to hear about illness, hoped for his recovery, and was extremely happy to see him overcome it. He's been a good ambassador for the club since and seems a good dude, but it still doesn't change the fact that he was an average footballer for us.

I don't think either of those two would be considered overrated by Villa supporters. We'll all universally tell you they were garbage. Bowery was a peanut signing and N'Somnia was garbage from the jump.

Cuellar's positioning was leagues better than Collins, plus he was much better with the ball at his feet. . Collins was better in the air, but he was always one tackle away from a red/peno every single game.

From my time as a fan ('06-Present): Most Overrated: O'Neill Era - James Collins - He was somehow beloved by most of the Villa fans when he was here, but I see Mings getting lambasted for doing the same things today. Never rated him. Houllier Era - Barry Bannan - You either loved him or hated him, but some acted like he was Iniesta 2.0. McLeish Era - Chris Herd - Awful footballer who got way too many passes for his poor play because of his goal at Anfield. Most of us were hoping he'd turn into a good player, but his performances just got worse and worse over time. Lambert Era - Gabby Agbonlahor - Only played well when he was moving for a contract extension. Still gets a pass by Villa supporters for his form under MON. Defines the entire Lerner era at Villa. Lots of potential, but was too lazy to do anything with it. Sherwood/Garde Era - Jordan Ayew - I still hear some talking about how much they rated him at Villa during this time. He was one of the most selfish players I've ever seen in a Villa shirt. Reminded me of that kid we all played with when growing up who tried to dribble through the entire opposing team before taking a shot, instead of just passing the ball to a wide open teammate in a better position. RDM/Bruce Era - Jonathan Kodja - I had very high hopes for him when he started, but ended up performing well short of expectations overall. Smith Era - Trezeguet - Villa supporters LOVE a tryer... He's the Egyptian Brett Holman. Runs around a lot, but offers nothing on the ball and lacks any sort of football brain. Most Underrated O'Neill Era - Carlos Cuellar - I loved this guy. Still one of my favorite all time Villa players and I'm still shocked some think he was poor for us. Was easily our best CB behind Laursen & Melberg, during MON's time. Houllier Era - Nathan Baker - Never seen a defender consistently put his body on the line like he did. Made a lot of mistakes, but you could see he had a lot of potential. Clark adapted to Premier League football quicker, so Baker was always compared to him, even though he was younger. McLeish Era - Marc Albrighton - I'm still sad Lambert let him go. He's a legend at Leicester now, but I would love to see him back at VP before he hangs his boots up. Lambert Era - Ashley Westwood - Pure class, but a lot did not rate him because he isn't a brick shithouse DM Sherwood/Garde Era - Idrissa Gana Gueye - Probably the best DM we've had in the past 20 years, but some still talk about how he "hid from the ball", even though he topped every single statistical rating chart for his position in the Prem. RDM/Bruce Era - Neil Taylor - I still don't get the amount of flack some fans gave him. He was never an attacking fullback at any point in his career, so expecting him to come in and be Roberto Carlos was never realistic. Smith Era - Connor Hourihane - Played out of position for Deano, never complained, and still gave his all on the field. Wasn't a defensive midfielder, but he did a great job in our 10 game winning run as the anchor in the midfield. Also has a wand of a left foot.

I don't agree with some of what you said, but I always love reading your posts, Trent. They're always well thought out and you bring a lot of nuance to the discussion.

Individual errors almost relegated us in 19-20. They all pretty much went away with the fans after Project Restart & throughout the 20-21 season. Now the fans return and the individual mistakes are starting to pile up again... It's almost as if our squad plays better behind closed doors.

To be fair, we haven't had a fully fit squad once this season... Having Bailey and Traore available gives us the option to go 433 or 4231 without having to drop Ings or Watkins for El Ghazi.

Targett has been immense so far today. Buendia has looked much better as well and is a big reason why we've been creating so many chances. He's giving our fullbacks a much better outlet to work with in the opposition's half than JJ offers. This game could go either way in the second half with the way both sides are set up. Side note: I really hate watching us play 532... Sure, we look better defensively, but Ings & Watkins go missing most of the time. We've had a few chances today, but the quality of the chances compared to those when we play 433 are night and day.

You hit the nail on the head here.

He's at his best on the right in a 433. Presses well in defense, but he shines the most on the counterattack when he can ping throughballs into space for the other forwards to run into, or when he gets space to shoot from range. Problem is that half his appearances are central and he's playing with his back to goal most of the time, where he gets muscled off the ball as soon as he receives it. Grealish knew how to draw the foul when defenders did that, but it's not something Buendia is good at. I don't think Smith's plan was to play 532 every game this season, but it's been effective in some games, especially when he's missing 2-3 of his wide forwards at any given point. Buendia just doesn't fit into that formation at all. He'll come good when we play him in the right spot consistently.

Spending that kind of money will only get them to mid table before they hit the FFP wall. Even if they spent it all extremely well, they would be hard pressed to start challenging for Europe. Blowing 120 million on Lingard, Coutinho, & Icardi leaves them with not a lot of room to build out their defense, which is arguably relegation quality at the moment.

Old school managers won't survive long term at the highest level against modern methods, and owners are starting to wise up to this fact. There have been so many advances in terms of the science of sport over the past 10-15 years (eg nutrition, strength and conditioning, injury recovery/prevention, team/individual performance KPIs, sports psychology, etc.) that pure old school methods of man motivation and high-level tactics will only get you so far at the highest level of the sport. There is a reason why managers like Pulis, Bruce, Big Sam, Dyche, etc. will never get the opportunity to manage a top side, and that's because the owners of these clubs now are increasingly becoming more and more educated on the idea of sport as a business, and if you cannot talk to an owner as to how you manage your section of the business in leading/lagging metrics, than you aren't the right person for the job. They'll find a Johnny Foreigner who can and has done so already in another country.

Baffled by all the suggestions everywhere that Newcastle spending will equal Man City 2.0... FFP specifically prevents this now and I would imagine that if the Saudis tried to test the rules against the status quo, the Sky 6 will do everything in their power to try to prevent them from circumventing/bending the rules around spending. If it was this easy, why haven't other very wealthy owners done this yet? Villa are starting to be hamstrung by the rules and just look at teams like Everton to see what happens when too much is spent bringing players in without letting some go out to balance the books.

GET IN THERE!!!!

We've been awful in possession. No plan other than to boot the ball into the channel and hope someone gets to it.

Fook.... Poor touches followed by lazy tracking back by everyone there.

Wow... Good thing Emi was alert there. That could have been embarrassing.

This 352 formation really nullifies the oppositions game plan going forward. Pressure all over the pitch and we're winning the ball consistently. Unfortunately, we look confused or rushed when we win possession back.

Just watched the extended highlights... Chelsea get a clear goal disallowed from a VAR review of a dubious foul 30+ seconds back in the build up and JWP gets sent off 75 minutes in because of a clear yellow card which Mike Dean bullied the match official into upgrading to a red. Didn't realize Mike Dean was the VAR official of that match, but it makes perfect sense now. Can't be involved in a match unless he directly impacts the outcome.

You said the same thing about Bielsa the past 3 seasons... Look at him and Leeds now...

What a clowncar circus... This Brighton/Arse game is a complete mess...