Indigo

He's only 20 and has already had his progress massively held back by injuries, think under the circumstances he's done quite well, especially as he got chucked back into things quite quickly given he was recalled from his loan and thrown into what at the time was a very much struggling team.

He's young and he's a winger, two things which in and of themselves usually lead to some inconsistent performances. The worrying thing would be if he wasn't showing anything in his performances but that's clearly not been the case, so there's enough to be encouraged by with him. The last few games he's looked very dangerous early on and linked well with Elmo, but they've passed him by after a certain period and he's struggled to get back into them thereafter, hence usually being substituted eventually. As of right now I think he's very capable at this level.

Just now, Michelsen said:

Tony Daley, and he’s clearly not doing that.

I'm watching on a feed that has a man screaming that Villa are cheats because El Ghazi was down injured, I don't think we're talking about the same person.

Wouldn't mind Hourihane for Whelan, we need to find more of a foothold on the ball.

Also who is this numpty on the co-commentary? He's abandoning actually doing his job and just cheerleading Wednesday, it's amazing.

Shame how it's worked out as I think he would have proved to be a very good signing for us were he able to stay at all fit. For all the talk on here about Fer I think Carroll was a better option that suited us more. Still a weird one given he wasn't even fit when he signed for us though, this'll be a case of forgetting he ever even played for us within a season or two.

He's just on a different level individually and takes us up several notches as a team when he's on the pitch. He was only "quiet" in terms of not being directly involved in a goal but otherwise ran the game and was probably more involved than any player on the pitch. That first half was as good as we've played in a long time (outside of grabbing another goal...or two or three) and it was largely due to Jack dictating the game as he now tends to.

2 hours ago, weedman said:

At the start of the season there were people (myself included) saying he wasn't playing well enough and needed to do more. The summer debacle clearly affected him (he's said as much himself I'm sure). That's not the same as thinking he's crap and overrated. Good players can be out of form and while it doesn't change the fact that they're good players, it also doesn't mean they can't be criticised for it.

That's fine and I'm sure you did have that completely balanced viewpoint, but it doesn't really disprove the point that far more than one bloke were throwing out completely outlandish and reactionary opinions on Jack's ability at the start of the season, and that it's all noticeably quieted down now.

22 minutes ago, Jay.P.A said:

Where's that wasteman that was calling Jack overrated in this thread gone? Cmon mate I want to hear your thoughts now

To be fair if you go back far enough to earlier in the season there was a lot more than just one person saying it. All of whom are notable by their absence now, or at least that opinion anyway. Jack will continue to prove a lot of people wrong in the coming years imo, the guy is far beyond this level and will keep proving as much for the rest of the season. We're lucky to have held onto him for this long, never mind if we somehow managed to do so next season (assuming promotion is beyond us...).

Cue Wilder now being at fault for not playing to the strengths of a player that can't control, pass, or offer to even receive the ball...

If he could get himself up to speed relatively quickly then Tuanzebe and Mings would be some partnership during the run-in. Both excellent on the ball at this level and their styles would compliment one another so well. Just a shame it hasn't been able to happen already.

Remember when he was overrated

Having him back at all is a massive boost. I suspect these will be the last 12 games he'll be a Villa player for so it'll be good to see him play as much as possible.

He wasn't at his best at the start of the season but was still our best player, just received unjust criticism based on the expectations placed on him. Particularly once he found form he was levels above anyone in the side and it's really been felt during his absence.

Feels crazy that 10 years has already flown by. Remember that day very well, after throwing the Europa League there was a sense that we had to make good on our promise in the league to justify it. We were on course for a fairly routine win that day - Carew's goal in particular being a highlight - until we royally Villa'd it.

I didn't actually see the Whelan goal as only being 15 at the time I had to bow to my dad's seniority when he insisted we had to leave early. Thought it was a job well done until we were walking outside the Doug Ellis and Stoke fans suddenly started going ballistic...

The fans have somehow managed to be even worse than the team this season.

9 minutes ago, Tayls said:

What did he do exactly? 

Ball got played through to him at the edge of the box, he was clean through one on one with Buckland but panicked and blasted it over upon receiving it.

If ever there was a sign that confidence is shot it's that from El Ghazi. Jesus Christ. Clean through on goal and does that.

Tammy Abraham must be wondering why he's even bothering with this shite.

I despair for certain sections of our fan base at times. I understand that every club has them and you can't help it, but this season alone has reflected so poorly on us. Cabbage Gate was embarrassing, today with Hourihane was ridiculous, and even comparatively minor stuff I've found myself cringing at like the needlessly personal and insulting replies to Villa putting a tweet up wishing Neil Taylor a happy birthday the other week has contributed to this borderline if not already toxic atmosphere. Sometimes we don't help ourselves.

If there's a way of disproving your own point that our squad is good, then listing Alan Hutton as evidence for it is the way to go about it.

I think the signings have been good and we're in a better place for them (do not understand the complaints about Carroll at all myself), but christ on a bike I cannot believe we're going into the business end of the season with Hutton and Taylor still as our first choice full backs. I'm counting down the days until this hellish existence ends.

Can't say I ever thought too highly of him in the Premier League but for where we are now he'd be a pretty good addition, certainly relative to our squad currently anyway.

Not sure where the notion that he's an obvious fit for the DM position we've been lacking in though? He's a bit of a physical presence but he's never really played there to my knowledge and has mostly been either a centre or attacking midfielder. As we've seen with Hourihane, Smith evidently doesn't mind trying players in different roles so I wouldn't be surprised to see him played there, but I dunno if he's necessarily the player that offers the defensive aspects of that role.

Fer has become the new Nigel Quashie in terms of being a perennial relegator of teams, not sure he has the best of reputations from his time with his clubs in the Premier League. Would obviously be a good addition to our midfield in our current state though, but he's really not a defensive midfielder and if there's one thing we're crying out for it's (a good, mobile) one of them and a left back assuming Mings is actually to be used at CB, so it's a bit weird that the talk is of him and a right back we're apparently going to send straight back.

We'd be stronger than we started the day off as though so c'est la vie I suppose.