weedman

29 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Nice of him to dress up for the picture

1 hour ago, Jas10 said:

This is my go to gif when there's any tension in any group I'm involved in, even if it's minor 

4 hours ago, Laughable Chimp said:

I was with you until this. Mcginn and Cash's value have increased multiple times and were bought from weaker leagues. These are great examples of finding gems.

It sounds like you want us to be searching around non-league level for the next Jamie Vardy for all our signings.

 

As good as Vardy is, he HAD to go to lower teams first as well. When he first signed for Leicester they were mid table in the Championship and most of their fans rated him as a decent player to come of the bench and use his work rate. They all said they'd need better if they were to want to get promoted. Had a PL team signed Vardy instead of Leicester he wouldn't have played barely at all and wouldn't have developed in the phenomenal way he has.

Signing these types of players is easier the lower down the ranks you are. If Brighton sign 5 players for £5m each and they finish 8th-16th and eventually sell one of them for £25/30m that's a great achievement for them, if we did that our owners wouldn't be happy as they have more ambitions than that 

2 hours ago, A'Villan said:

Better targets out there I think. 

Think he's off to Newcastle 

36 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Yet to be convinced she is a victim.

She's not a victim, but if, from a group of about 20 men, only 2 are respectful that doesn't say "more about her than them", it says a lot about them, and basically nothing about her.

The "costume" she's wearing is clearly because she's in some kind of pageant in the photo. You are allowed to be respectful to attractive models you know, you don't have to treat them like shit. 

On topic I'm glad to hear that our Phillipe was respectful, although not really surprising given everything we've seen and heard from him since he's been here, doesn't bring any negative publicity to the club, a non story from a Villa perspective really

Ugh the Wesley bashing Vs Wesley praising is tiresome. 

He wasn't that good for us, really bad in spells and decent in others with a few good moments. He was done after a few months for us so we'll never know for sure if he'd have improved or not.

He was becoming more comfortable with the PL before his injury, not to the point of being a brilliant player or anything (although he did look v good in his last game), but enough to be able to think he may have had the potential to be a PL player.

He was a gamble that the management obviously thought was worth the risk, even with the inflated fee for work permit reasons. In hindsight it was clearly a terrible deal, a hugely inflated fee for pure potential for a player that could only play for 6 months before basically retiring due to injury. There's no way we could have predicted that injury happens, so you can't really apportion "blame" for Wesley to anyone. For example, if someone signs Chuckwemeka for £15m tomorrow and he gets a career ending injury in January that will be a terrible deal too. It wouldn't mean the team buying him is stupid for doing so. It's just an unfortunate part of football, that stung us hard due to the fee

Realistically he's never playing top level football again, so we need to just take it on the chin, stop arguing about things we'll never know and move on

7 minutes ago, Ginko said:

Agreed. The guy’s an ex-England international and Champion’s League-winning captain who has spent most of his life on the training pitch. Whether he directly ‘takes’ training or not, I’m sure he spends plenty of time with the players.

Also there are pro's and cons to managers and head coaches. Fergie wouldn't have lasted so long if he was a head coach, he consistently refreshed the coaches which stopped players becoming complacent and focused on the management.

Gerrard clearly does some coaching, but by leaving the bulk to his team, it means its a lot easier for us to refresh that team from time to time rather than having to constantly change managers.

Although I think that'll be a moot point as if he is successful here it's unlikely he'll stay and build a dynasty like Fergie as we know he'd go to Liverpool if the opportunity arises

5 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

Maybe if you try it you would understand the London pull. I lived in London for about 6 years and i worked there for a further 10 years or so. It is a great city. Lots to do, great nightlife, great fun, bars & restaurants and easy access to travel around the world and some really nice places to live. 

Especially so if you're fit, young, and rich

1 hour ago, Xela said:

16yo and 15yo? 

Together, they are 31yo, and just the right age profile for us. Are they 'mates' of Stevie?

AMIRITE?

#bantz

Nah, seriously, good to see the continued investment into the academy. Well done Villa. 

Agreed. It seems that our policy has moved on from picking up decent up and comers in the first team to getting established pros for the first team while filling the academy with top class youth players for the future (or future profit). Very few teams can succeed with a young team (regardless of talent) so ensuring our future through the academy while focusing on older players for the now seems a pretty good approach I'd say

3 hours ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said:

2 kids at school both called Jacob. He got called JJ to differentiate. 

Thank you! 

On 15/05/2022 at 16:01, maqroll said:

Why do people call him "JJ"?

Please can someone tell me this as well...surely it should be JR?! 

2 hours ago, MrBlack said:

I think his point was that his period in charge has us only 2 points above 14th place, and so shouldn't be used as a badge of honour for Gerrard.

Whatever, I don't think we had a good season. I don't think Gerrard got everything he could out of our squad. 

I do think he was trying to force a style of play that he thinks will get us European football, and was working out who of our current crop  could deliver it.

Gerrard in. 

I understand that point, but no one is actually using it as a "badge of honour", people are saying that we're 9th since he arrived, so it's actually not too bad and now we're improving the squad further there's a lot to be positive about moving forward. Being told that judging Gerrard since he arrived is bullshit is, well, bullshit. 

The difference between us in 14th and whoever was in 8th is negligible. I know that "you finish where you deserve", but it's so tight between those 6 teams (including us) that a small swing in luck or a refereeing decision can actually shoot you up (or down) the table pretty easily. For example bringing in an actual DM would help us being so vulnerable on the counter which would mean we'd pick up more points against the Watfords or Newcastles last season, stop us throwing away leads so easily like against Wolves or City or even Leeds

I agree that he's clearly decided the formations he likes (4312 or 4321) and has stuck with it despite probably not having the players. He's now adding the players that fit it which can only improve our performances next season. Given that it's so tight in this cluster of teams, and our squad having some real quality but a real problem with balance, the players added already should really be enough to push us up a few places at least

I think he'll be judged to high standards by the owners next season. The moves we're making aren't the moves of a team trying to get into the top 10, we're in the cluster of teams 8th-14th now, his job next season will be to challenge the top 6, finishing ahead of the cluster we find ourselves in now. If that's finishing 7th just a few points from the top 6 and clear of 8th then that's acceptable I think. If we're still in the same group of teams, even if we finish 8th rather than 14th, I think he'll be in some trouble because there's no real progress there, and no-one can argue he's not being backed 

23 hours ago, Zatman said:

I think if I hear Gerrard was 9th again I think i might kill combust with laughter as if they give trophies for when Gerrard joined the Premier League trophy.

Its a pathetic answer when the table said 14th and he managed a large majority of our games playing a version Bruceball. Keep it tight and hope Coutinho can do something 

22 hours ago, Zatman said:

Yes the bullshit i said repeated

The Gerrardistas in force, not seen such a weird cultish obsession  since Rafa managed Liverpool 

Just to confirm, judging Steven Gerrard and including games when he wasn't our manager is fair, but judging Steven Gerrard and only including games that he's managed is bullshit and cultish. Gotcha

1 minute ago, a m ole said:

printed badge 🫣

There's no way those badges are lasting the season with regular use and washing

53 minutes ago, Zatman said:

6 million plus a 20% sell on fee is best we will get

People comparing it to Mings, difference was that people knew we had money to throw around. Forest dont

Yeah it's not like they've just guaranteed themselves £170m or anything 

43 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

You have slightly misunderstood my point which was that right now, if he played for Forest, I don’t think I would try to pay £7.5m for him *for Villa*. I definitely think Forest should try to sign him though.

Yeah but it's apples and oranges isn't it? The reason we're all generally happy to sell him is because we don't need him. Therefore obviously we wouldn't be interested in buying him for a premium.

We bought Coutinho for £17m. If we already owned him would Barcelona have paid £17m to buy him from us? No, because they don't want or need him, so they would consider it a waste of money. Whether or not we would spend £15m on Davis is a nonsensical argument because if we would then we wouldn't be selling him.

Every player ever sold to a smaller team is worth more to the buyers than to the sellers 

Edit, to clarify as well as I wasn't clear, when I said I agreed, I agreed with the first part where you said you were in the keep him camp but would sell for £15m. I don't think we should keep him as we've outgrown him now really (and whether he develops into a top player or not, he definitely won't if he stays and doesn't play for us) but I like him but think £10-15m would be a fair sale price 

44 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

Interesting point. Psychologically this is called the ‘Endowment Effect’ where we overvalue things we own, especially if we think we risk looking foolish letting them go. I have been a proponent of keeping Davis (although I’d sell for 15m) but your wording here has made me think I 100% wouldn’t gamble even half that on him now if he was a Forest player.

I like Davis and I'm in the same boat as you, £15m would be a good price for us and Forest 

The bold is a crazy argument. Rather than think about us now and looking to get into Europe, think about us the year we first came up and needed to rebuild the squad to hopefully avoid relegation. We spent £25m on Mings with 1/2 a good season in the championship and a terrible injury record (including getting injured in the playoff final). We spent £12m on El Ghazi. We spent £15m on Trezeguet. £12m on Samatta. £25m on Wesley. If, when we came up, we had the current version of Keinan Davis on loan to us and was an integral part of the team as well as a fans favourite, would you spend £12-15m on him THEN? Because that's where Forest are, I think they'd be crazy not to 

All signings are gambles, but signings that are already important parts of your squad are less so. Forest have lots of loans and are in a not too dissimilar place to us when we came up, their first priority should be converting as many of those loans into permanent signings to keep some semblance of squad continuity to go with their shiny new PL signings. People on here have suggested selling him for £1m. It's laughable

1 minute ago, Indigo said:

 

The best gif of all time

14 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

 

We did and we did in a very much underwhelming way. We failed to win so many games that we should of won. the games we did win were still pretty dismal.

He may improved Villa’s metrics, but the over all picture is that it didn’t transform an awful lot. We were poor, we were obvious and we didn’t achieve much more than what Smith and shakey did.

maybe it’s not having his own preseason, maybe it’s stevie G, maybe it’s the players. But I’d expect a “tactical genius” to overcome these hurdles. 
 

it’s a shame he won’t be proving the doubters wrong this coming season. But he’s got a big boy job now and I wish him all the best. I’m sure we will find someone else. Hopefully someone who can make a real difference. 
 

I mean there are limits to what you can realistically expect a coach to do. Their job is to make the team better at those metrics that you dismiss. More solid defense, more dangerous attack. Different managers will have different priorities and different ideas on how to best improve and what style will give them the best chance, but much of the rest comes down to players and their decision making/ability. 

We've seen a marked improvement on both xGA and xGF since their arrival, whole that hasn't translated to a drastic improvement in results, with Gerrards player pull you'd realistically be able to argue its only a matter of time before that work brings some rewards 

1 minute ago, CarryOnVilla said:

I mean, he's improved the defense while also making us more dangerous in attack, sounds like good coaching no? How much of that is on Beale and how much is on Gerrard and the other coaches is unknown though

4 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

0.29 improvement? 
 

We improved our xG a fair bit in that time as well

50 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I'm shocked there's talk of £15m and there are actual Villa fans who are like "hmm not sure, maybe we should use him properly"

I like Keinan, but it's highly unlikely he will ever score anywhere near enough goals to play centre forward for a club who want to be in Europe. That's if he even stayed fit for long enough. Maybe, and I mean *maybe* he could get there one day, but he would have to play week in, week out to find it. So think long and hard, do you really want him leading the line next season? Or even as 3rd choice? What about 4th choice? Or what about £15m towards somebody who has a better chance of being a difference maker?

Bananas question. Take the money. 

Has anyone actually said that? From what I've seen it's some people saying "bite their hand off for anything over £5m" and most other people agreeing that £15m would be a good deal for all, he's a good player who will likely never reach his potential at Villa as we've got better already and are likely looking to improve further

1 hour ago, CarryOnVilla said:

I have the foggiest to what people are seeing when they talk about KD’s potential. It all reeks of Villa bias… It’s nice that he’s one of our own and we treat him like that. However, the lad is 24 and he hasn’t really improved since We came up. 
 

It’s best for both Him and Villa if he try else where. 
 

good luck fella. 

I mean it's generally because he works hard (and we've had plenty who don't bother) and his all round game is very strong, he just doesn't get into scoring positions often (if you think about it, Grealish didn't really post good numbers of goals and assists until his last season and we all gave him virtually a free pass because the rest of his game was so good, Keinan is like a worse version of that). He still has plenty of potential given that this is pretty much his first consistent run of games since Steve Bruce took over in the championship.

He's been majorly hampered by injuries and being too good to sell or loan out, but not quite good enough to play for us, so he's just been sitting on the bench not developing 

I agree with the rest though, he's not likely to ever be good enough for us (although I think he could be a mid table PL player in the future if he can get over his constant injuries) and his stock is high enough now being a key part of a promoted team and its probably best for all parties if he was sold this summer. I think we should be getting £10-15m selling to a now PL team. Some of the figures being banded about here are crazy low 

21 minutes ago, floody555 said:

https://castore.com/collections/football/products/black-newcastle-mens-21-22-home-shirt?variant=39450261684361

See link to Castore website for Newcastle kit from season just gone, there's a size chart which I've attached a pic for as well

The issue with this is that most people know their size but not their measurements, even though those sizes change a bit between brands, so I know on loose fitting clothes I'm an L, but things that are tighter I need an XL. Brands like Superdry I'm either an XL or an XXL depending on what side of the bed they woke up on the morning they made it. With Kappa, I don't know. I bought 2 shirts, both XXL and 1 fits fine and I is still a bit tight overall

I get that the fashion is for tight fitting kits (and clothes in general), but surely most designers know once you get past a large the tight fit becomes a bit too tight for the body shape and they should really be loosened incrementally from there. It's one thing being Tyrone Mings and wearing a large shirt which is skin tight, it's another thing being Big Dave and wearing an XXL that's skin tight