Indigo

Happy enough with this, his wrists aren't made of wafer so it's a good start. Hasn't played regularly for about a season and a half because Donnarumma is 17 years younger than him and seen as one of Milan's focal points, up until then he was still playing and playing well at a level beyond what we're at right now. Given he's a goalkeeper I'd be surprised if he lost too much of a step in that time. Should give us the sort of qualities Heaton was offering as well as improved distribution too.

Come back big fella 

I really do understand every legitimate reason for why we shouldn't and why it wouldn't work, but I also really don't care. What's the point of even being a Villa fan if you can't be nostalgic for marginally better times. Get him back in as one of two (which would be necessary) and let the joy commence.

For this absolute sex at the 10 second mark he'd already curried enough favour with me to just be quits once he made the error:

Just now, villalad21 said:

Yeah let's keep on ignoring a glaring issue.

At least you're gaining some self-awareness.

I know Douglas Luiz will probably get most of the stick tonight but I couldn't believe Nakamba stayed on when Hourihane came in. He's been absolutely all over the place in possession, just hurriedly getting rid of it in any direction any time it comes near him. We've been terrible at retaining the ball of late and if you're playing a midfield two you can't have one of them playing like this. Hopefully Drinkwater can actually hit the ground running and take him out of the firing line.

Our ball retention is horrendous already but it's being shown up even more playing against a good side.

The goal shows that we have the quality to score goals we just need to actually have that platform to do it more often and relieve pressure on the defence.

The good thing I found about the summer transfer window ending just before the season starts is that you can largely ignore all of the shite that comes with it if you want to and just know about transfers when they actually happen. The January window makes me miss that luxury as it really is just an unavoidable amount of absolute tripe.

3 hours ago, villa4europe said:

said in the summer, and it might be cutting your nose off to spite your face, **** him, he's currently doing what every man and his dog knew he would be doing, struggling to warm utd's bench let alone get many games, whilst donkeys like jones get picked ahead of him, we were interested in him in the summer and he chose utd over us, chose the pay rise and now if we were to go in for him utd have the power to increase his price to over £20m

walk away like a jilted lover

I don't really think it's fair to begrudge him giving it a go to force his way into the side of his boyhood club that for what it's worth are a far bigger club than Villa. Also worth noting that they wanted to keep him/we weren't budging on our then stance of not signing anyone on loan, so there's a bit more to it than just saying he didn't chose us. 

If he was fit I really don't think Jones would be playing ahead of him. Your post kind of reads the same as those who laughed off Tammy wanting to try to be a success at Chelsea, and that went well...

3 hours ago, villa4europe said:

said in the summer, and it might be cutting your nose off to spite your face, **** him, he's currently doing what every man and his dog knew he would be doing, struggling to warm utd's bench let alone get many games, whilst donkeys like jones get picked ahead of him, we were interested in him in the summer and he chose utd over us, chose the pay rise and now if we were to go in for him utd have the power to increase his price to over £20m

walk away like a jilted lover

I don't really think it's fair to begrudge him giving it a go to force his way into the side of his boyhood club that for what it's worth are a far bigger club than Villa. Also worth noting that they wanted to keep him/we weren't budging on our then stance of not signing anyone on loan, so there's a bit more to it than just saying he didn't chose us. 

If he was fit I really don't think Jones would be playing ahead of him. Your post kind of reads the same as those who laughed off Tammy wanting to try to be a success at Chelsea, and that went well...

Off topic but I was bored in work earlier and found myself watching this video and missing this absolute dude. A lot of factors at play, but (even aside from the injuries) if his minutes at United remain sparse and we manage to retain our place in the league I'd love for us to try to get him back. Himself and Mings complimented each other so well as a back two, and furthermore you'd imagine he more than has the capabilities to excel in a back 3 if that's something we'd end up sticking with going forward.

This is 100% too good to be true but I love that we're even trying to make this kind of signing in the first place, would be an amazing signing were we to actually pull it off. The comparisons to Lewandowski might seem lazy because he's a Polish striker, but there's actually merit to it in that he's a bit of a throwback pure natural goalscorer that doesn't really rely on physical attributes too much as just being completely clinical in front of goal.

Was absolutely tearing it up for Genoa when he first moved to Serie A and was one of the more sought after young strikers in Europe. Despite their stature I remember it was a bit of a surprise at the time that he actually chose Milan and it was seen as a massive coup for them. His form carried on to their but has fallen off a bit in correspondence with how average Milan are. They must be putting an awful lot of stock in a 38 year old Zlatan if Piatek has become available because of his return.

Don't trust it will happen but am all for it and then some. We (usually) make chances and he doesn't miss many.

The transfer window and all it entails is hilarious. Getting linked from everyone to Piatek - one of the most highly sought after strikers in Europe not too long ago - to Britt Assombalonga all in one go.

I think there is a bit of merit in the idea of signing a player in his mould, as for a side with players and a manager that are supposed to be able to play the ball out from the back we seem to be severely struggling with ball retention, while the likes of Brighton, Southampton etc etc are coming to Villa Park and generally looking far more calm and composed on the ball than us. When he's playing well this is something that Drinkwater can aid and in that sense I can see the logic behind it, but at absolute best I'll just withold judgement because there's too many other reasons to suggest this isn't the smartest idea.

Even in a footballing sense he's probably a bit too similar to Douglas Luiz to play in the same midfield as him (particularly if we're to be playing 3-4-3 with any regularity now), and on current form it's a no brainer who you'd have starting between the two. 

Very sceptical but let's hope he can hit the ground running, we need it.

16 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Imagine the 1 touch interplay between Giroud and Jack?

That's the main thing for me also (IF it were to even happen ), especially with Jack now playing closer to the striker than he has previously. Even when Giroud's goal output was low at Chelsea, Hazard himself said he loved playing with him more than any other forward as their games complimented each other's so well. He's not the most mobile and more than likely not the most prolific either at this stage, but he'd give us a quality focal point that would get the best out of those around him. Would be a great signing.

Wanted to kill him when he pissed about with the lob, but he was very good otherwise. Been increasingly impressed by him in the last few weeks.

Gutted for him, was great until the injury. There's no doubting that he's not been doing enough, but performances like this and the few others of a similar standard show that there's a player in there and the "he's not good at anything" brigade are off. Just a shame that he probably won't be able to build on this for a while.

Kodjia's performance when he came on made it more apparent than anything else that we need a new striker in. Always been a defender of the fella but...jesus. 

Found this an interesting thread on Twitter, and a more realistic/encouraging shout than some of the frankly bizarre stuff on here.

I'm not on board with this notion that Smith needs to go as he's still working with an almost entirely new team whose position belies what some of the absolute hysterics from Villa fans would have you believe.

It's hilarious to go from the abuse that was dished out to Bruce last year to now people actually wanting a manager in a similar mould as him. If you want a stop-gap manager then you're getting what you wished for when we only find ourselves in this same position you're losing your minds about now slightly further on down the line.

I like Smith but there's definitely elements that have been missing from our game that have been noticeably missing since he's come in that he was meant to be more of a specialist at previously. That's something that needs addressing - quickly - and IF he were to be replaced we need a more progressive manager in that can bring those things such as properly pressing up the pitch, maintaining possession etc. We've had teams like Brighton come to Villa Park and look entirely more composed on the ball, which shouldn't be happening, and games like yesterday where a team of a similar level to us are pressing high up the pitch and not letting us play out, which is something I can't say I've seen us do well all season.

I was sceptical of Smith in the beginning and he won me over and then some, I'm hoping he can do the same now. If not then we need to get it right, not pie in the sky dreams like Poch or complete has beens. Some of the reactions from yesterday from Villa fans has me in complete despair, up there with Cabbage Gate.

Giving away the penalty was brainless and you could see he did so purely out of emotion when they didn't kick the ball out.

Have to say he was one of the few bright spots for me apart from that, purely because he was one of the few to show a bit of balls once everything fell apart. Whether things came off he was actively looking for the ball when we went 3 down and was always looking to provide an outlet and attempt to make things happen. It's more than can be said of other midfielders we have/have had that have done the polar opposite in that situation, and if nothing else shows the sort of character we'll need for the absolute slog that's going to be ahead of us in the coming months.

I agree, I struggle to come on here/read anything on social media from non-media based Villa supporters because of it at times.

After last season where we got promoted and certain players were pivotal after bizarre abuse such as Hourihane (boo'd by a large portion of Villa Park), Grealish (when he was out of form a few games into the season you can go back on his thread and find people saying we'd wasted out chance to ever get £25 million for him by not selling to Spurs) and Tuanzebe (didn't play well at right back for a couple of games so was entirely written off as being good enough to play centre back) I thought it'd give people a bit more reserve and patience. 

I think if you support Villa you can understand being frustrated as a football fan as much as most, but sometimes it's so largely misplaced that it can become some toxic free-for-all. I say this as someone who's coming to the end of my tether with Wesley myself, but the abuse he gets at times has gotten to a point where it comes across as some almost actively wishes him to fail just so they can be proven right.

Granted this is the case for literally every other club, but the extreme circumstances we've operated under for the past few seasons have just made it a bit more prevalent in this case.

Looking at the squads of the top clubs, there isn't that much in the way of viable loans for the most part, and in some cases like Chelsea players we'd be reliant on them bringing in players first if we were to have any remote hope of a Batshuayi. Would anyone take Lallana? Demarai Gray maybe? He's only had something like one start this season.

Probably redundant anyway, I'd expect we'd continue to do business from outside of the Premier League just going off what most are saying.

I'd be inclined to bring on Elmo for Guilbert at this rate, he's been absolutely diabolical so far.