bannedfromHandV

Well ain’t this just turning out to be a bad day all round 

Concerned we might not see Watkins come out for the second half, seemed to be struggling after the first knock. Bailey off the pace disappointingly in a big game, if he’d just looked up Tielemans was in on goal 

I’m a bit worried they’ll be leaving a bit on Watkins at every opportunity too, chance for them to damage our season big time potentially 

They have lots of pace up top, think the game will hinge on how well they play over our high line 

1 hour ago, allani said:

Is that all the money it brings in or just ticket sales?  I know the facilities aren't great in the NS to put it mildly (although to be fair I think it must be at least 25 years since I went in the North Stand so I am relying on respected third party feedback) but you would imagine that 7,000 fans should be spending a few more million in and around Villa Park on match days but even if that takes it up towards the £9m mark (which would be around £25 per person for 25 home matches a season) so closer to 4% income then maybe you are right that one its own it shouldn't break our FFP planning and so maybe I have over-stated this. 

Although by the same token even if we treble the income to £27m per year that still leaves us a long way short of closing the gap to the teams above us.  But clearly an extra £20m per year is not to be dismissed lightly at all!!!!

I still don't believe that NSWE would have allowed Heck to scrap the plans just because he didn't like it.

If you last went in the North Stand 25 years ago your experience is about as valid as someone who sat in there for the last home game, which is the issue and why it needs to be replaced so badly.

1 hour ago, VillaJ100 said:

The Huddersfield and QPR games will be massive. Let's hope everyone else they have to play like Leicester etc give them a good tonking as well. I have no doubt they'll get two 1-0 wins from an own goal and a shot off target deflected in to stay up again

So two own goals then?

Agree with earlier comment, Everton keep looking to play the ball wide when the space is all through the middle, the right movement and pass and they can get in behind at will

United are there for the taking, as they are most weeks these days

Who was the idiot commentating on our game last night? Fixated on whether or not the ref thought it was a clear goalscoring opportunity when Konsa was sent off then the penny dropped about 5 minutes later when he realised (someone told him) that it’s irrelevant for a yellow card.

The state of football journalism and punditry is really in the gutter, even experienced folks seem to be getting dragged down by the ongoing dumbing down of everything to make it more appealing to the masses.

Good result I guess in the grand scheme of things but pretty poor performance really overall.

I don’t know if it was an intentional tactic, I think it probably was but we very much looked like we were playing for a 0-0, very little urgency to go forward, when we did try the passing was scrappy and we often either lost the ball or were under a lot of pressure due to poor first touches.

All worthwhile if we win the second leg I guess.

In possession very disjointed in general, Diaby has had the best opportunities to create something but hasn’t yet delivered. First touches and passing poor, need to improve massively second half.

6 hours ago, villa89 said:

Time these teams who stab opposition fans were thrown out of Europe for an extended period of time. Too many of them have a lot of previous.

Gonna hazard a guess that it wasn’t the Roma team that stabbed them…….

6 points separating 12th - 23rd in the championship, could be a helluva dogfight for the rest of the season

On 25/02/2024 at 14:26, VillaChris said:

Stoke since getting relegated from the premier league in 2018 seem to exist in complete turmoil.

First year they went down they had a bloated squad full of guys on premier league wages so that did for Gary Rowett and Nathan Jones.

Then squad was remodelled under Michael O'Neill but they never got close to a play off spot and just settled into mid table.

He was harshly sacked and Alex Neil walked out of Sunderland to join them but a very mediocre year of results saw him sacked.

Schumacher then walked out of a very good gig at Plymouth to join them. They had a little bounce in his first 4-5 games but are now on a losing streak with rumours half the squad don't want to play for him.

It's a strange one. I went to Uni up there (put your condolences here) and my first year was when they got promoted to the premier league so I saw up close how they did things with Pulis and Delap's long throws and what a nightmare they were generally to play against.

No identity whatsoever now and just general apathy in the stands so I could easily see them in league one next season. It is a strange one though as the ownership still puts money into the club and it's clearly an attractive job for managers working elsewhere to want to quit their jobs for.

When were you at Staffs Uni? I was there 2002-2005 (Stoke campus, studying journalism)

Every club sells players, particularly these days.

Would City have let Cole Palmer leave if they didn’t need to? Invariably this means we’ll lose one or two of our star players but if we get good value and can replace them well it’s not a major issue.

Guessing we have the toughest run in given that we’ve played the bottom 5 now home and away already, that said, there’s an argument to be made for playing mid table sides over the relegation candidates toward the end of the season I suppose.

I’m trying hard not to start believing too much in the vain hope it would soften the blow if we end up missing out but I can’t stop looking at the table and smiling.

3 hours ago, VillaAlex said:

I might be wrong here but if Man City get to the FA Cup semis, their game with Spurs will be postponed and moved to midweek, and Spurs potentially face the gruelling Man City, Arsenal matches in 4 days like we did back in December. 

Didn’t work out too badly for us 

He’s close to perfect at the moment, oozing confidence and seems to be enjoying every little battle on the pitch.

A lot to learn to play a midfield role here, shown up defensively second half but looked great in the first half.

We played them off the park for 80 minutes in the home game, it finished 3-1 but it was really more of a 4 or 5 nil match, Konsa literally gifted them their goal under no pressure.

They’ve definitely improved since then and their home ground is a bit of a leveller but if we do what we should, we should win, if Bailey’s on it again I reckon we win.

Gabby’s ‘perfect’ hattrick against City 

1 hour ago, ender4 said:

Surely he should have realised that already himself.

When was the last time he played for Villa or a PL team? 2-3 years ago? We are a massively improved team since then and he's probably worse after injuries and not playing for a while. 

He didn't really think he was ever going to get a game ahead of Torres, Konsa, Carlos and Lenglet?

Probably not but I suspect we may have kept it open whilst he was rehabbing to keep him engaged and motivated, all guesses at this stage of course.

Probably putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5 but I have a feeling we’ve told him he has no future here, social media is rarely a great source of truth for stuff like this (remember the anxiety when Mings posted the somewhat cryptic black and white photo a couple of months or so back) but around month ago he posted something (cryptic) about being let down, or to that effect.

It seemed to coincide with him having just returned to training, my suspicion is that we’ve strung him along a bit to get him through the injury / rehab etc and then told him he’s not going to get a look in.

Or I’m chatting absolute bollocks, either could easily be true.