weedman

Just now, Chindie said:

Take a shot every time AEG was called 'a big man' in that half and you'd be in A&E.

According to the commentator anyone taller than Lionel Messi is a big man

52 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I don’t think we’d sell him for 30 million. 

 

No I don't think we would either. And we'd be right not to, he was a £12m investment that's coming good, even worst case scenario we'll make our money back so keep him developing here and see how high he can go

47 minutes ago, paul514 said:

He is worth at least double that.

I mean sure, to us, but that's £60m which would make him one of the most expensive defenders of all time. After 1 good season in a fairly average team with no international experience. He may potentially be worth that in future, if he keeps improving as he is, but not yet. 

I'm not saying we would sell him for that, we are well run and building for the future, so it would take a much bigger offer - one that we wouldn't receive - to let him go. 

Talk of £60m is madness and just shows how much Man Utd have messed with people's brains - they weren't interested in buying Jack for not much more than that last season for gods sake! 

He's worth more to us than his actual worth, no-one is likely to offer us what we'd need, so he'll stay and once he starts making England appearances we can start talking about a £60m player 

You can't compare Konsa with Maguire, Maguire had just come back from arguably being England's best player at a major tournament, was seen as Leicesters top player and his stock was as high as ever when he was sold, Konsa has been solid for us for under a year, has no international caps, and is currently not our best or most saleable defender. His value is probably around £20m, but you add on 10 as we have loaded owners and his potential, so £30m to any buyers. 

In saying that I don't think we'll be selling him as it seems that not what we do these days so get him a new contract and move on 

1 hour ago, WooJung said:

Well there are cases where it is clear that the contact didn't cause the player to fall (see Salah winning a penalty vs City). 

That should never, ever be a penalty. 

The punditry should have blasted both him and the ref(s), instead many praised him for making the most out of that situation.

The problem is the referees and the laws. As it stands referees know when players are making the most of situations, but "by the law" have to give the decisions. Its why 2 players having a bit of a wrestle is let go all the time (see any corner), but as soon as 1 of those players go down they give the fk/pen and VAR will back them up because of "contact" 

Decisions are being given solely on how players react to challenges rather than for the challenges themselves, and until that stops players will continue to go down at the first opportunity because why wouldn't they? 

There's basically 3 types of dive. You get the full dives with no contact, the Bamfords of the world, everyone hates these 

You get the going down easily/buying a free kick. Every team will have at least 3 or 4 players doing this. We have a fair few (including Jack). Typically its the flair players that benefit from this and therefore get singled out (Jack, Salah etc), i think most people don't like these ones but generally accept it as it's the game these days 

Then you get the Harry Kanes and Deeneys, players that will wrestle, barge, trip, push, pull etc all day long, and as soon as a defender does it back they scream, fall over and win a free kick every time because there is "contact". I really hate these but mainly because of the refs, they need to judge a foul on the foul and not the reaction. As it is a shoulder to shoulder is deemed perfectly fine one second, then a definite foul the next based soley on whether the player fell over or not

For me, if they could stop the lot of it then I would be more than happy. I remember when I was young being adamant that if the contact doesn't cause you to fall over and you do it's a dive, and if the ref deems that contact to be enough for a foul it should be a free kick to you and then a yellow card to you for diving. This is obviously impossible to apply due to the pace of the game and the fact that only the individual player will know of the contact caused them to fall

Because every team has players in the 2nd category every team can be accused of cheating by bitter opposition fans, generally the 1st and 3rd are the worst (and easiest to stop) and should see far harsher punishments, the 2nd I just don't see how they can change it, so if you can't beat em, join em 

6 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

To be honest I can’t remember any real howlers on his part.

That's the problem though isn't it? They seem to be only judged on the "big decisions" and none of the others.

I mean Jack got a yellow for pulling back his man on the counter, fair enough. Literally 5 minutes later McGinn is pulled back in virtually the same area on a counter and no yellow. Look at the injury to Cash, 2 players shoulder to shoulder, Cash knocked off balance, gives ball away, fair enough. 5 minutes later for the Luiz yellow card he goes shoulder to shoulder, knocking their player off balance. Free kick and yellow card. 

The whole game was littered with these decisions for both teams 

It's maddeningly inconsistent and that's the stuff that refs need to be judged on, not just the "oh he gave a penalty that shouldn't have been then VAR didn't change it because it was Man Utd" decisions 

5 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

 

If we don’t get over run in midfield you aregoing to get it bad. Warning you in advance  

Mate we could win 8-0 and he'd be here saying "sure, I'm happy we won, but Smith looks like he hasn't had a haircut for WEEKS! It's unprofessional and will spread to the rest of the team" 

Barkley is clearly playing himself back to fitness. He won't get match fit from the odd 15 mins here and there. It's short term pain while he gets up to speed so he is fit quicker. 

He's not playing well, but each game since we came back he's been a little better (fitter) and it would be counter productive to drop him now. 

Just now, Vive_La_Villa said:

Genuine question. What would it take you to be happy?

Bielsa getting manager of the year should do it I reckon 

Does anyone know what the fit is like on the retro shirts? I was thinking about giving one a go but I float between a L or XL depending on the fit (XL of last seasons green is actually really tight still). 

If it's the 90's fit I think I could probably get a small (jokes) but tight fitting I'd go XL, anything like our actual kits this season I wouldn't bother. If they make McGinn, a professional athlete look a bit tubby I've got no hope! 

9 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

It's too annoying

He's clearly not going to be banned and takes over every thread. If only you could block the replies to him as well!

Agree, if there was an option to block replies this site would be gold! It's so hard to catch up on stuff because there's 11 pages here and 9 of them are people arguing with an obvious troll, it's so frustrating! 

From what I've gathered no-one knows much about this guy but he's similar to McGinn and would rotate/be backup to him which, given how much we struggle when he's out would be great for us 

Just now, omariqy said:

Looks likely with Man City v Spurs in the League Cup final.

3 minutes ago, omariqy said:

7th I think

Yeah think we'd go above Southampton...would 7th get us European football next year? 

2 minutes ago, wedge said:

Who the f*** cares about Man Yanited?

Leeds, Liverpool and Man City fans

Just now, est1874 said:

The argument that it's clever tactically is a total nonsense.

It's smart in reverse - if a manager knows that a key player is about to come back but plays coy or suggests he's not ready, then his appearance can disturb the opposition and change their game.

What exact advantage does it give Villa if a team like United expects to see Ross Barkley but sees Conor Hourihane on the bench instead...?

As I said, there's no substance to the "keeping the opposition guessing" stuff.

Planning for Grealish to be left or cental I'd imagine would alter a teams preparation tbf

2 minutes ago, sidcow said:

He was announced as fit again by Smith 2 games ago.  It's very strange he's not even in the squad now so people are naturally worried about if something has happened. 

He was announced as nearly fit wasn't he? That's a big difference when it's only been a few days 

9 hours ago, Keyblade said:

That sequence encapsulated him as a player and why he's so important to us.

Helped break up the play, then a back heel to McGinn that set him away on the break. He drives us forward while also not shirking the defensive duties. I'd much rather have that than some big ol' brute that just sits there tackling and passes 5 yards side to side.

It did, but also showed where he is a bit nieve still. I mean it worked and looked great last night, but if that West Brom player was slightly better he was ahead of Dougie and could have got in on goal. I think a top player just fouls the player on the half way line there and takes the yellow. 

I'm not gonna complain as he as v good last night and clearly one of our better players but little things like that are what keep him out of Man Citys team I think 

9 minutes ago, QldVilla said:

My concern is and always has been, the message it sends to young players and supporters of the club when the captain of that club acts in this way? I expect more from a.captain of Aston Villa and disappointing the club so far don’t seem to be taking any action.

Didn't they take action when it happened in March or whenever it was? I'm sure he got internally reprimanded at the time but could be wrong 

17 hours ago, lexicon said:

Understood  - sorry, I just get annoyed when I see Hamilton getting singled out for stuff like this  

I'm no Hamilton fan but I agree, it was the same when Messi and Ronaldo were being done for tax evasion in Spain and everyone lost their shit, none of these guys have the first clue what happens with their money. All they know is if they want something they tell their agent and the next day its theirs, with probably a nominal 10k in an account for them for day to day purchases like cocaine and hookers 

On Jack, he's a moron, keep him away from cars, deserved a longer ban, but all this is basically faux outrage as I'll love him like a son again if he bangs in a hat trick on Thursday, which I guess is the problem really but what can you do? 

3 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

If he starts plays terrible and we lose will it be Smith's fault? Just wondering in advance

Of course it will

2 hours ago, Davkaus said:

This is all the proof I needed to be sure that "xG" is bollocks.

Martinez didn't just make the saves that were expected of him, he made a couple of terrific saves that would have gone in, we didn't challenge their keeper to anywhere near the same extent. I remember discussion on the match thread about someone taking a deckchair out for their keeper. Apart from our penalty we had one shot on target all game, and it was pretty damn tame.

Martinez is the runaway man of the match and people are calling him our best keeper in years. That doesn't happen after a game in which he makes a few routine saves. He had a worldie, and if the "xG" stats don't reflect that, well, I'll believe my eyes and the consensusus of fans rather than that.

xG is a good metric. It's not perfect but much better than any other tool for analysing the match. Remember a penalty is worth 0.8 on its ownwhich I'd assume is the main reason our xG bettered wolves, especially in a game of half chances