handsworthvilla

After closer examination of your ratings, I'm pretty sure I'm being trolled .... Gabby rated 7 whilst Kodija is a 5? Definitely being trolled.

Can't work out if this is a joke or not ... ?

Needs to play up top for me. Better in all aspects of centre forward play than Gabby, so why not play him there?

What exactly did he do wrong yesterday? The strike was right in the bottom corner he wasn't getting anywhere near that ... Other than that he didn't have a great deal to do because our defence cleared everything away (which you would find hard to believe if you read the Tommy Elphwick thread!) Made a good double save in the first half if I remember correctly. Ok could maybe have held the first strike but showed great athleticism to get up and at the attackers feet for the second shot. Christ he is a hell of an improvement on Guzan / Bunn, and certainly not the reason we looked so crap yesterday.

A hell of a lot of hyperbole here ... we only lost 1-0, I'd say the most worrying thing about the performance was our complete lack of build up play, inventiveness, creativity, passing .... not really much to do with our centre backs who looked pretty solid considering we couldn't keep the ball in their half for longer than 5 seconds. Yes maybe he should have pressed their player before he shoots but its kind of a half-mistake, its hardly a glaring error. Other than that him and Chester headed/cleared/tackled a hell of a lot away, I didn't think he did too badly.

Gotta be worst performance of the season. Truly awful. Not a single chance. How is that even possible considering how many attacking players we have? Bruce is basically playing "hoof it and hope" away from home. Everything was hit in to pointless channels, no chance of creating anything.

I think the slighter build players are actually experiencing something of a renaissance in recent years. In the 90s youth football in england was essentially reduced to selecting the fastest, strongest & tallest players at a young age and developing them from there. Nowadays there is so much more emphasis on technique, skill and touch than previously, there is a lot more opportunity for slighter/skillful players to come through. This has somewhat been driven by the Barca/Spain revolution of smaller players (messi, xavi, iniesta) Although it is one of the big cliche's in english football that when the going is tough managers will always revert back to physically strong players as they are apparently more up for the fight and can be relied on in big 6 point "battles". I'm heavily biased as a smaller player myself but I've always been annoyed at seeing technically gifted players (e.g Carles Gil) be cast aside by fans/managers because of doubts over physicality when some of the most elite players are slight/small (you never hear any complaints about David Silva getting pushed off the ball). I wonder if fans of teams in Spain are as obsessed about physical strength as we seen to be in the premier league. That being said, I don't really think its an issue with Jack. He's a bloody unit. The size of his legs are unreal. The reason he gets chopped down is because he moves the ball and is feet so quickly, not to do with his size.

Going off topic I know, but curious what you mean by Young kissing the badge. Do you mean him kissing the Villa badge (and then subsequently leaving) or did he kiss the United badge in front of the Villa fans? Not something I was aware of ....

Can't see anything other than Steve Bruce being appointed. He is the pragmatic and rationale choice. Just narrowly missed out on the England job and knows better than anyone how to get teams promoted from this league. If people aren't happy with his appointment then it can't be based on his record - of those managers who are 'realistically' available to us he has the best track record. Saying that .... there is a tiny bit of me that wants to throw all logic and rationale out the window and let Tim have another pop at it. Remember the buzz around the place for his first 10 games? Part of me thinks his gung-ho approach and general distaste/aversion to tactics in general might actually work in the end-to-end business of the Championship. I know I'm going to be savaged for this bizarre cult like belief, but its true, I bloody loved seeing his passion on the sidelines and it was the first and last time I've believed in a Villa sides passion since O'Neill.

I'd keep the team the same aside from the obvious changes in centre mid. Gestede will be unlucky not to start but I don't see where he can fit in as we need both Kodjia and McCormack on the pitch. Praying for a win - once we get on a roll we can be a force in this league.

My thoughts exactly.

Perhaps fantastic was a tad hyperbolic. I thought he was our best player. If he gave the ball away once yesterday I must have missed it. He didn't show much end product yesterday but there were a couple of times he was unfortunate and was crowded out by defenders (yes, probably because he was cutting in, but he is clearly trying to find an angle to shoot with his right foot). I was sat in the Holte and every time the ball came to him on the left in the second half the stand was on its feet. Not sure why either Grealish or McCormack would give way for a new player just because he is available. Grealish has been our player of the season so far (IMO) and McCormack is our most likely goalscorer. Both have scored 2 goals already. Would seem like silly logic to drop either.

Pretty poor first half. Second half was really good, exciting stuff. Sat in the Lower Holte with my Mrs and the atmosphere was noticeably quieter. I've never really sat anywhere other than upper holte so it felt different. The club should really look in to creating a singing section somewhere in the ground. I thought Grealish was superb, just lacking that killer assist or goal. Ayew was very dangerous also. Obviously disappointed with the result and our league position - but I still feel strangely more positive about Villa than I have in such a long time. I mean, we genuinely do have a good side. We SHOULD be winning each week. And, we are not actually playing that badly! We are dominating teams, surely that has to translate in to a winning streak soon? I'm convinced that with Ayew, Mccormack, grealish, kodijia & rudy we are going to hand out a few thrashings soon. Quality wise we have such a strong attacking unit, as soon as they click I really think we can go on a solid run.

I thought he was fantastic yesterday. Reminds me of Lallana with his technique. You can give him the ball anywhere with 2 men around him and he will find a way to lay it off. What he needs to do is find more of a killer instinct and make the right decisions when he is playing direct. With the right coaching he can be a fantastic player. Technique wise he is head and shoulders above any other player we have.

Your probably right mate, I suppose there is no necessity on the clubs part to announce a contract as soon as it is agreed, its up to them when to reveal. I also saw an extension for Mark Bunn, maybe they are just keeping that one to themselves considering there is 0% positive PR attached to it!

Ah, cheers for the heads up mate, I'll tell the Mrs to leave the heels at home and expect to be standing

Thanks mate. Just took a look online and seems like it will do the trick, a bit closer than the Barton Arms as well. And to be fair I've been in London for 6 years so I'm not used to seeing any change from a fiver for a pint!

I did mention this one a month ago .... I'm not really sure how it works in football clubs, there must be loads to sort out behind the scenes, because the actual contract was agreed/sent over a month ago ... Anyway, good to see him sign on, hope his form continues when I'm at VP on Sunday

cheers buddy, much appreciated

Great thread! Mine is a bit of a strange one. When we bought Savo Milsosevic in the summer of '95 we agreed to play his old club (Partizan Belgrade I believe) in a friendly at VP as part of the deal. I remember it was a couple of weeks before the infamous 3-1 victory against Manchester United, which is remembered for Alan Hansens "you won't win nothing with kids" quote. Anyway, we won 3-0 if I remember correctly. My dad was really excited because a bunch of new players were on show (Southgate, Draper, Alan Wright, Milosevic etc). I'm pretty sure Milosevic scored. After that game I got a shirt with his name on the back and he was my hero. To this day I'm still unsure why he got such a bad rap from the press and villa fans. His scoring record wasn't all that bad and he complimented Yorke well. Not to mention the screamer in the cup final. It was a great day, especially because we won. I hope one day if I have a son he can be introduced to Villa with a win, because I think that played a big part in my obsession going forward.

Can anyone recommend a decent pub near the ground to take the Mrs before the game? Its my first game at VP in a year and I don't think my southern girlfriend would feel too comfortable in many of my old haunts. Anywhere a bit more mature near VP?

Jedinak finally done! £3.9 mill with £1m in add ons. Quite unbelievable ... but £55k a week! Crazy money for a championship side but its a signal of intent from Tony!

You would think so, wouldn't you? I don't really know how it worked out in terms of them swooping in, but it was as much of a 'last minute deal' as is possible. I think he agreed terms with us but then Newcastle came in at the last minute and he managed to wrangle out of the agreement with us.

I said terms had been agreed and contracts had been submitted to the FA (which was true). Actually Remi Garde confirmed as much in several press conferences after the window, where he complained about our ability to attract players compared to other teams. He referred to the Doumbia situation specifically. For what its worth, I'm not ITK, in the sense that I don't have a clue about speculation or discussions with players. Just see the contracts when they are submitted.

It's written on the contract