MarkLillis

A striker to help out Ollie.If the right option becomes available then I think adding some experience to the squad in that area would be sensible.

18 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

We need some better players to bring on that can affect games.

The game was good, but I really got the impression we were our own worst enemy and the only way Man utd was going to score was through us gifting it them, very annoying.

They didnt deserve that but I suppose there quality speaks against ours that they made the most out of nothing, while we carried on struggling to put the ball in the net apart from the Traore goal.

I am gutted and not because we played bad because we played better than them for most of the game, just so happens I'm gutted because of two very poor decisions that cost us two goals.

I had this feeling also. We have good players but they are better in and around the penalty area.

Just cleaner and more clinical.

I think it will come though....wether we buy experience or gain it,I’m sure we are on our way back.

Next level

The clubs that could have taken him a couple of seasons ago but didn’t (Levy???) must be kicking themselves.

It is his destiny to take Villa with him on his journey to the very top level of football!

Great thread!

Reading through these memories remind me that I have seen so many good Villa moments!

Those of us who are old enough have been blessed with many good Villa sides and consequently have many many memories to choose from.I’m very happy that our younger generations finally look to have a team to be proud of again.

So with that in mind I choose the play off final as my favourite memory. The day we regained our place in the top tier was an incredibly emotional day and a brilliant experience from start to finish.

Villa will have to do something amazing to top that!

3 minutes ago, Cizzler said:

Agreed. I also have thought Tyrese Campbell (Kevin's son) has looked good every time I've seen him. A Prem team will take a punt on both soon, I hope it's us. 

Agree with this.

Dele Ali?

Not wanted by Jose.....

Also Jack's mate.

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

That is true.

And Ron Saunders didn't either do much of note before arriving to Villa. He made his name with us and hopefully Dean can follow his footsteps.

Pretty sure that Ron was a well respected manager. Who had recently (unsuccessfully) been in charge of Man City in their early 70s pomp and taken Norwich City to  a Cup final.

Although I agree he made his name at the very highest level with us.

General feeling around my Baggies friends is:

1. That they are going down.

2.They are desperate not to get hammered by the Dingles as well.

3.That VAR is an excellent explanation for any bad result

4. They are beginning to realize that Diaganga, whilst having potential....isn't really as good as they thought. 

5.Jack is a good player....but they wish he would stay on his feet more.

Regarding number 5. I think this is excellent progress from Jack, who was until this season an overrated diver (That fcuking Mr. Tumble or cheating Vile B@stard)).He is starting to win them over:)

I think they are good to watch. The scores in their games could be literally anything.

The media love this.

I'm not sure their fans will the longer it carries on.

I mean... watching them play their biggest rivals attacking at 4-0 down made me shudder. They were  leaving massive gaps at back, it could have been really messy and reminded me of how we played against Chelsea in the 8-0 game..

Just 8 points has us in 2nd place this time last season.

I wonder what it will do for us this year?

4 minutes ago, weedman said:

I don't really have much to say, I just wanted to say I love him, wouldn't swap him for anyone in world football. He's absolute class and he's the best attacking player I can remember at Villa (going back to around Yorke times). I felt personally offended when Southgate snubbed him and now actively seem to want England to fail just to justify my position. 

I'm 36 years old and shouldn't feel this way about a pampered mid 20's multi millionaire with greasy hair who kicks a ball for a living, but I'm on this train now, #teamJack

I'm on this page with you weedman.

Its such a good feeling having the number one English player in the Premier as one of us.

I am also very much enjoying fans of our local rivals (some who consider themselves rational and knowledgeable fans) trying to back track on their previously and now almost totally discredited stances on him....

The English player he has clear similarities with is Gazza.

For me he has a better temperament and physique.

Next level he really is I'm genuinely starting to doubt anyone's football knowledge when they try say he isn't all that now.....

Gareth are you listening?

14 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

At first yes.  Now the bitterness is starting to show from some.

This is true. A Liverpool fan i know has spent all summer posting reminders about how they are PL champions.

After Sunday at first it was all fair play,enjoy it,we didn't turn up etc

Yesterday he was reduced to posting a screen shot of the 2016 6-1 defeat.....they've had enough now and want it forgotten and reduced to some strange FIFA 2020 like blip, but while there is no PL football it won't go away.

Excellent work rate 

He protected Matty Cash throughout against a Fulham side that had a lot of the ball.

I think his performance was the reason Traore was restricted to a cameo.

5 minutes ago, Spoony said:

One for the yoof I think. 

Aren’t they all? When was the last time you saw a middle age man in a football shirt that looked good?

with the exception of retro shirts of course!

You have to have sympathy for their fans.

Just like we had no choice whilst we watched Dr Tony nearly destroy us,they also have had little say in anything whilst GBS have been in charge.

There is no down side to signing a player like this.

Fingers crossed.

I don't blame them.....quality is quality.

They are serious players in the transfer market, if we were doing similar I wouldn't care!

32 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Nobody except the fans cared so much about Leeds vs Nottingham Forest or Newcastle vs Sheffield Wednesday when they were Championship clubs 

Not sure why the division matters, would people tune into Benfica vs Ajax in Champions League if Man City vs RB Leipzig was on at a similar time

Cant agree with the first line myself, as a child of the 70s and 80s all of those clubs have a certain pull about them. I would happily watch them play each other in the Championship (provided there aren't bigger or better matches available) although its less attractive without fans in the ground.

However, you have a point about the CL and I really struggle to be motivated by the majority of matches involving only continental clubs....so yes I would most probably pick the Man City game.

Back on topic...

Whatever is said about Leeds (for my generation anyway...) they will always be relevant*.

*For the record I don't think they are a big club, or back where they belong either ;))

1 hour ago, VillaJ100 said:

I wonder what was the premier league season with the most traditional 'Big Clubs'.

I think this season is pretty close.

We got rid of three “less traditional clubs” in one shot last year.

I know it’s not political correct but I’m much happier watching Everton v Leeds than say  Everton v Norwich.

I get proper bored when super Sunday has no big names..I mean...Huddersfield!! Who ever wanted them in the Premier?

Of course football needs to have integrity but we all know who the big clubs are and the Premier is a better place when those clubs are in good shape.

1 hour ago, El-Reacho said:

He's continuously said that we're limited in how much we can spend this summer due to FFP. It could be true or perhaps the club are trying to get that message across to clubs they're trying to negotiate with.

Sky Sports will put a negative spin on Villa spending habits.

Us spending big money and it working out well dose not fit with the general narrative of - Leeds, Beilsa..Leeds, back in the big time ,Leeds, spending big on exciting players.....

It seems like they have little interest in things working out for the Villa.

13 hours ago, VillaChris said:

The Man. United one was a very clever strategic move given what we did 3 days later v Palace so I give us a pass for that one, worked out well in the long run.

It's certainly true we took the lead very much against the run of play v Chelsea but history of football has millions of results where a team has been battered and won 1-0, Steve Bruce must've done it with Newcastle 5-6 times last season, indeed they beat Chelsea 1-0 at home in January.

And a week later Chelsea went 2-1 up at West Ham with 30 minutes left and lost 3-2 so that's the sort of spirit I'm talking about that shouldn't be beyond us this season with better players and in game management.

Too often we just seem to accept we're lucky to be sharing the same pitch with some of the opposition players and meekly accept our fate. For us to get better we're going to have to start getting more points home and away v top 8 teams as we can't just rely on beating everyone in bottom half as plenty of those teams will cause us issues, we really struggled against the Southampton press home and away last season so interested to see what we do against them this season.

I agree with all of this.

If we see one thing this season then please let it be a bit more fight against the top 6/8 teams

Like the Arsenal game!

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Lyon fans have watched him in over 50+ games.

They say he's shit. Are their opinions not valid?

I think the majority football fans  cant recognise a good player when they see one.

They usually need to be told by  other supporters,a newspaper or pundit that someone is good before they make their mind up!

Are their opinions valid....yes.

Should you be making your mind up based on those opinions…..no!

55 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

They were only good for 2 seasons to be fair. 3 seasons ago they finished 13th, and Wolves were by far the best team in the league, and in my opinion ever in the Championship. There were a lot of strong teams that season too like us, Fulham, Derby and surprisingly Cardiff.

Yes. 

That season was a tough one.For some reason I remembered Leeds playing a bigger part.

It’s hard to tell what they will do.

Bielsa has them playing a style that would give any side a difficult game.I think they have been the best championship side for three consecutive seasons.

If you ask me they will be ok.They will claim big scalps (definitely Utd) and get the fans a bit excited but inevitably fail to keep it up over the whole season.

If the fans are back towards the end of the season and they are in the relegation shake up then watch the wheels fall off as Elland Rd is a pressure cooker for big matches and not in a good way for the home team.