handsworthvilla

Good point, I forgot Cahill / Sakho had gone. He'll be straight in their first 11 in that case. Its a tricky spot to fill for us, we need someone good enough but who won't be demanding to be in the first 11 straight away. I'd imagine it will be a right footer who will play understudy to Konsa, and Hause will understudy Mings.

Andersen is a good signing, he would have been ideal for our 3rd CB spot. I know Fulham were awful last year but he looked impressive and became the club captain even though he was only on loan, not sure I've seen that happen before.

Its crazy how much his profile has grown this summer. I remember checking at the start of the last season and he was at around 1million followers on instagram. He has now hit 3million, and pretty much every female under the age of 35 I know is now following him. He has really crossed over into the mainstream consciousness.

Yes it was absolutely soul destroying watch all 3 of them play in our record breaking 10 game winning streak and play off final success. Awful memories

I just don't feel anywhere near the same amount of anticipation / excitement before a game if Grealish is out

So true. Smith-Rowe at Arsenal and that lad Davies at Everton have jumped on the bandwagon To be fair I'm an attacking player and started doing the exact same thing as soon as Jack came on the scene … but I happy to admit its because I'm a complete fanboy

Can't see Barkley or McGinn being dropped after a win If there are no injuries I'd predict we are back to the usual starting 11 (Luiz back in for Nakamba)

Wow. Pretty incredible to think we are on track for a comparable finish to the good MON years. Just a year ago I was pretty much certain we were going to be relegated and have all our best players stripped away. A lot can change in a year!

I loved that team so much. The period of around 96-99 was my favourite time supporting Villa. Just so many characters in the team

I'm a big fan of Conor and think generally speaking he has received some pretty harsh treatment from fans on here and the occasional bit of scapegoating after defeats. But to suggest he is comparable to Barkley talent wise is a massive exaggeration. In terms of natural ability Barkley is streets ahead. You may take issue with his work-rate or sharpness over the past few games, but can't see how anybody can question is ability

Its strange how all the pundits keep bracketing Grealish, Foden, Mount and Maddison together I think Grealish and Foden fall into the 'forwards' group with Rashford, Sterling, Kane, DCL, Sancho, Ings, Abraham etc. Will probably end up being 6 from that list. Both of them have to go in my opinion. I generally think English talents get over hyped way too early (unless your name is Grealish) but Foden is the real deal Mount and Maddison fall into the 'centre mids' group with Hendo, Rice etc. They rarely play in the wingers spots and most of the time play as 8 / 10

Same with most of the pundits to be honest (Souness, Keane, Shearer, Rio) It's a lot easier to trot out the same old lines about "not having enough desire, not working hard enough, players not wanting it enough" than it is to actually do some proper analysis on tactics. I think its less that he thinks they are over-played and more the fact he hasn't got a clue about them so its convenient for him to not talk about them

Out of the 3 centre mids (Luiz, McGinn, Barkley) I would argue Luiz is the least deserving of a spot on the bench Oh well, I'm sure Smith has solid reasoning for this. Lets see how it goes

So pleased for him. Seems like such a top bloke. Says a lot about him that he was banging on Dean Smith's door asking to drop down a division and go out on loan after only being out of the starting 11 for a couple of months

I think it was Glenn Hoddle on commentary who was banging on about it being poor control. If we was watching more closely he would've seen Jack scowl at Ross for the pass and Ross raising his hands to apologise

Exactly. And I actually remember having the same debate about whether Drinkwater had a clause in his contract which said he had to play At the time I was utterly convinced he must have because he was absolutely, unequivocally dreadful each time he played, but started every single game. I was obviously wrong because he got dropped at some point but it was very bizarre how he kept starting

Agree, I think its unlikely he'll drop either McGinn or Barkley for this game. If I had to bet on it I'd say there will be one change and that will be El Ghazi replaced by Traore And agree regarding West Ham's aggression. Whilst I was watching the game I thought you don't usually see teams pressing so hard at every opportunity. Even when balls were being played in midfield they were pressing right up to our centre mids and not allowing them to look up. I remember Grealish dropping deep to get the ball at one point and they pressed him as if he were on the edge of their area

I think its very unlikely that McGinn will be dropped. Smith probably thinks that his overall solid record over the past couple of seasons gives him a bit of grace when it comes to a bad performance or two. Barkley is a tricky one. Big name, big wages, marquee player. Probably received some form of assurances around playing time when he joined (whether contractual or not). Would be a big call to leave him on the bench. Personally I'd be inclined to leave Barkley out for this one, he has looked rusty since he came back and his feet seem a bit slower, he keeps losing the ball and his touch doesn't look right. Although saying that, the player I'd bring in to replace him (Sanson) I've never seen play before other than the youtube clips and the 15 mins against West Ham …. so I'm not really qualified enough to say he should start over anyone (as he could be useless for all I know) The other CM options (Nakamba, Ramsay) I wouldn't bother with unless there was an injury or a cup game

He could've had a goal in the first half if Barkley didn't bizarrely blast the ball as his mid-rift instead of just passing it to his feet

Why so certain?

Good point. I don't think there is a single player from our first 11 I'd swap out directly for one of theirs

Anybody else think Declan Rice is the most over-rated player in the league? I saw some nonsense about Chelsea preparing an £80m bid for him, so ever since I've been deliberately watching him closely in the West Ham games I've seen. I am completely baffled by what he is supposed to be so good at … other than a few inches in height I can't tell the difference between him and Ashley Westwood

Yes he does. He's been quoted on it a few times

That's actually pretty likely. Not the contractual part as I'm not sure that is possible. But I'd imagine in negotiations they most certainly touched on playing time, his England ambitions etc. It was a real coup to get Barkley here so I'd imagine he was given certain guarantee's to get it over the line.

Wow that's really interesting. I said in a previous post, knowing Smith to be the analytical type, I'm almost certain there will be a reason why he thinks minimising substitutes is beneficial to results. I just can't put my finger on it and haven't seen any analysis about it online