DRAGONZ_RULE

I don't really think so, mate - it's more been guys saying he is a total liability and waste of money, and others saying he is clearly a very talented player and you need to give him time (in reality the whole season plus next off season too). The detractors demand results immediately (one guy even had the temerity to say he expects Buendia to produce the same output as Grealish did!!), the pro-Buendia group arguing for leniency in viewing his performances until the fullness of time has run its course whilst recognising the special moments he can produce which nobody else in the squad is capable of. I mean, the guy has moved to a new home, a new city, a new club, a new manager (two new managers!), and the best attacking players at the club have been injured most of the time he's been here anyway. If come next Christmas people are still debating whether he is an automatic starter or not, whether he impacts games enough or not etc, then it's fair to question whether he was the right signing for Villa.

So Gerrard confirms that Buendia had a couple of knocks and they wanted to manage his load to ensure he was fresh for the upcoming games against Norwich and Burnley. Well colour me shocked.

To me, what it says is Gerrard understands Villa were next to no hope of getting a result at Anfield against the best team in the league, and rather than have Buendia chase shadows for 70 minutes with 30% possession it was better to have the team's most creative player fresh for 2 games in 4 days against Norwich and Burnley, which are far more important games for Aston Villa than an away trip to Liverpool. Rather than you taking the pessimistic view to the situation, my opinion is that Gerrard is saying to Buendia "You are the guy I am turning to for 6 points in the next 2 games and I'm keeping you fresh for those matches." Based on his performances in the last 3 games prior to Liverpool, there was NO reason for Emi to be "dropped" for Young on form.

Creative attackers almost always take time to bed in to a new team and environment!! Look at Grealish himself, undoubtedly one of the best players in the division and struggling to adapt to life at City. Bernardo Silva is currently the second best player in the world after Salah and if you lot were his manager in his first season at City you would have sent him back to Portugal Leo bloody Messi, the best player in the entire **** history of football, has moved to a new club for the first time in his career and has only 1 goal all season - you guys would probably be binning him off too. FMD the number of people on here who think real life football is FIFA and you can just plug a player into a team and expect 100% output from day one absolutely astounds me.

Yeah that's fair - it's like the time I sold my Porsche, bought a BMW for a third of the price and was disappointed that it wasn't "almost as good".

That is unfair, you don't know him personally. He works hard for the team and gets annoyed to be subbed off, that does not make him a "complete knob".

Sorry it should be read in the context of my first reply to Jonah a few messages above... Creative attacking players. Strikers are different because their job is just to get on the end of all the work from the rest of the team. Creative attackers need time to gel with the team, need time for the team to gel with them etc.

Fair enough. To me every attacking player takes a whole season and the following off season of training with their team before you can truly see whether they'll fit properly.

West Ham paid almost the same for Vlasic and he doesn't even get on the pitch. You need to give creative forwards time with a new team, it is the only thing that works. But yeah seems you're another guy who has made your mind up about Buendia... All because he wants to play for his country alongside the best player of all time, just on a year out from a World Cup that they are a chance of winning. Classic.

Held his own against the best team in the country, created a golden chance which should have been buried to earn a point, still not fully fit yet or integrated with the team ... but reading the posts it seems the same couple of guys are straight on here to suggest he is not good enough. Fascinating how some people get an idea in their head and refuse to waiver from that viewpoint regardless of what actually happens.

Yes, absolutely on Benrahma, but outside of Werner/Havertz/Ziyech trio at Chelsea because their fees were massive, I only included signings from the summer just passed. The point is well-made, though - last season Benrahma couldn't get a kick, and when he did he looked out of sorts. But, a season of training and learning how the team operates, a full off-season to really bed-in the learnings and practice with his teammates, and this season he looks a completely different player. As was pointed out by someone else on the previous page, last time Buendia was in the Prem he ran 3rd for chances created behind only KDB and Grealish, who are unequivocally two of the best players in the league when in form - and he did that for a team which ran dead last. That tells you he clearly has the talent to perform at this level. Just give him (and Bailey for that matter) the time they need to adjust to a new home city / country, a new team, a new manager, new training methods and game plans - and equally as importantly, give the rest of the team the time to understand how Buendia and Bailey think: how, when and where do they like to receive the ball, to give the ball etc. I read through a Twitter thread analysing Buendia's performances this season, and the author highlighted so many instances where teammates (primarily Watkins) simply have not been on the same wavelength so far, resulting in misplaced passes, incorrect runs, split second hesitations which allow defenders to get a foot in or get back into shape etc. All that is completely understandable with new teammates, and the only thing that fixes it is time - training together, playing together. Here is the thread, well worth a read (watch the clips too):

Bowen is also in his 3rd season at West Ham now, and last season he lost his spot in their team at different parts. He now has more than 60 Premier League games for the Hammers and is looking class in a team that is absolutely flying with a solid defence, one of the best central midfield pairings in the league, and a quick, fluid attack full of confidence. Name a forward at any club in the league who was newly signed in the summer and has hit the ground running... I can think of Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray for Everton, both of whom are long-term PL players who know the league. Ronaldo in the same bucket, and he's also a top 5 player in the entire history of football so... the only completely new to the Prem signings who have done OK are Hwang at Wolves and Edouard at Palace. Here's a list of forwards, many of whom are much bigger names and cost a hell of a lot more than Buendia, who have signed and not performed: Romelu Lukaku, 100m, started with a bang but completely cooled off and now injured Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, 120m between them, playing for the European champions and still struggling in their 2nd season. Hakim Ziyech the same, 40m and he doesn't even play. Jack Grealish, 100m, getting slated by their fans Jadon Sancho, 75m, doesn't even play after coming from Germany as an elite player Nikola Vlasic, 30m, doesn't even play after coming from winning the Russian league's player of the season award Bryan Gil, 25m, doesn't even play Patson Daka, 40m, only plays off the bench or in Europa League Adam Armstrong, 15m, struggling big time and been dropped multiple times already Literally every signing at Norwich, who broke their club transfer fee record multiple times in the summer So many fans think that just because you sign a player for big money from a club or a league where they were dominating, they will come into a new environment and immediately deliver those performances. It's not FIFA on your PlayStation, bloody hell. FIFA on your PlayStation even includes the concept of "Team Chemistry", showing that even they understand that new signings from other clubs, leagues, nationalities, languages etc don't immediately gel together and it takes time to build understanding and, well, chemistry. How about some of you look in the mirror and think about what happens when you move to a new company for work... they offer you increased pay so you make the move, it's the same industry and a similar role ... but does that company expect you to be delivering at 100% of your output from Day 1? Or do they realise that you need to be trained on how the company works, you need to meet people and learn how they do things here etc etc, and you get given time to get up to speed? The funniest part to watch will be once Villa sort their shit out, get some consistency in lineups, the new signings start to gel with the team and so on, and Buendia shows his quality and proves to be a critical player, 3/4s of the blokes abusing him now will pretend they never did ... "Oh it's like I always say, you have to give a new signing a season and a proper off-season to bed in," they will say, before nevertheless ripping into next summer's big money signing after a slow start 2 months into their Villa career.

Thought Gana was one of the better performers for your lot (together with Cissokho and then Gestede off the bench) tonight. The team overall was dire once again. Broke up play quite well, made 8 tackles and 5 interceptions. Set up a couple of half-chances too. Really stupid yellow card in the first half, there was no reason to cynically bring Barkley(?) down with the ball 80m from Villa's goal! Edit: Forgot to include Cissokho.

The cross was Albrighton's, mate - Vardy just happened to scrape his boot along the top of the ball when he was trying to stick it in the back of the net, so he got credited with the assist because he touched it last before Ulloa scored.

They are the reason why I chose to support Leeds as a 10 year old kid - Kewell was my hero growing up! Needless to say, as a 10 year old full of hope for what the future might hold, I didn't think that almost 20 years later I'd be waking up at 6:30am on a Tuesday morning to listen to us go down 4-0 to Brighton and hang precariously above relegation back to the third division

I agree that to look at stats only won't give you the picture you need. Funnily enough, I reckon looking at the Arsenal vs Leicester game is instructive. In the first half, Kante was the best player on the field by a country mile, nipping in and making tackles left, right and centre. In the second half, Simpson got sent off and Leicester were down a man ... Kante became anonymous, I don't know if he touched the ball more than twice in the last 30 minutes. Gana basically has to play with 10 every week given the number of passengers that seem to pull on a Villa shirt these days, and he still has heavy involvement. Obviously I'm joking, but I don't think the point is entirely off the mark haha!

N'golo Kante is being spoken about as one of the best (or perhaps even THE best) defensive midfielder in the league right now. You guys are lambasting your own in Gana, saying he is nowhere near Kante's level and can't pass the ball. These are the stats this season: Interceptions: Kante 4.2 per game; Gana 4.2 per game (=1st in Premier League) Tackles: Kante 4.2 per game; Gana 4.0 per game (3rd in Premier League) And as far as ball distribution and passing goes: Kante 37 passes per game at 81.6% accuracy Gana 55 passes per game at 85.3% accuracy. This is I find to be very interesting. In a team with fluid movement and what appears to be better players, Kante is actually a less successful passer than Gana despite only averaging 2/3rds as many passes as Gana does. What this says to me is two things: Perspective is so important. Kante is playing very well in a team that is absolutely flying, and as a consequence everyone thinks he's amazing. Gana is arguably playing just as well (if not better) according to virtually every key statistical metric that exists, but he is in a team sitting dead last and really struggling .. so people automatically think he must also be playing poorly. The team matters. Gana is averaging just as many 'key passes' (assisted shots) as Kante is, but Kante has 3 assists to Gana's 0 ... two of Kante's assists have been to Mahrez (vs Swansea + ManCity), an elite player whom Villa simply have nobody that compares. When Kante gets the ball, straight away he has a simple pass to Drinkwater, a wide ball to Mahrez or a direct ball to Vardy, with fluid movement at pace to make it difficult for the defence. When Gana gets the ball, he looks up and gets a choice of a static Agbonlahor, a static Bacuna or Gestede or Kozak or Westwood or ... well feel free to take your pick. He is left needing to either do things at a crazy pace himself just to try and create something, take a wild shot from outside the box because there's nobody else likely to score anyway, or recycle possession. The way I see it, Gana is far and away your most competent midfielder (and in my opinion easily your best player too). I truly believe that if he was playing for Leicester in Kante's position, he would be doing just as well if not even better, and he would be viewed in exactly the same light. Anyway, apologies for the long-winded post. I am a massive fan of Gana, and I think suggesting that he is nowhere near the level of Kante ignores so many aspects, not least of which are that all the stats suggest Gana is actually performing to exactly the same level!

In short, no. Sky Sports is owned by BSKyB, whereas Foxtel/Fox Sports is owned by News Corporation. BSkyB don't operate in Australia and don't on-sell Sky Sports channels to Foxtel, so you can't watch it. The only way to sit and home and watch Sky in Australia is over the internet, using VPNs, subscriptions to UK TV sites and a fast internet connection (Oz is notoriously well behind the developed world in terms of high speed internet!). Occasionally Championship games will be on-sold to Foxtel, but it's quite rare.

Hi guys, first post on this site! I'm a Leeds fan living in Sydney, and it's basically impossible to see them play on TV more than about once every 6-8 weeks. I am able to listen to them over internet radio, but it's so different to watching on TV and I generally choose to watch Premier League matches instead. There is a weekly highlights show for the Championship on Foxtel, from memory about 6.30pm on Monday nights. I normally manage to find a brief highlights package on the net somewhere on the weekend though, and I work later than 6.30 anyway so don't watch the Foxtel show. It will will the same for you guys too I would imagine... So I reckon you need to hope that you do a Leicester in the last 2.5 months and miraculously stay up!

Hi guys, I am a huge football fan from Sydney, Australia - unfortunately not a Villa supporter though ... I support Leeds actually, how well are we going at the bottom of the Championship! Always remember that as bad as you think things are, there are always others doing it even worse haha. Reason I'm keen to join this forum is that I'm really into fantasy football, and for the last couple of seasons have been quite invested with Villa's fortunes given some of the players I've had in my squad over have included Gana, Gil, Gestede (somewhat regrettably!), Kozak (more recently, but also somewhat regrettably!), Hutton (let's not talk about it) and Gabby (brought him in for a 1 game stint a couple of weeks ago and he scored vs Norwich, happy days... but let's REALLY not not talk about it). With Gana now probably one of my favourite players in the Premiership, and me arguing with any football fan here in Oz with a deep enough knowledge of the Premier League about just how under-appreciated Carles Gil is (I mean didn't you see THAT goal in the Cup last season and THAT assist against Chelsea?!), I'd love the chance to jump on the forum and chat with you guys about football ... and hey, if Villa do end up in the Championship as it's now looks unfortunately and increasingly likely, next season we can banter about our H2H match-ups (if we survive that is!), and agree on the fact that the Championship is where the "real football" is played. Funnily enough, I used to say the same thing to my glory-hunting Utd/Gooner/Scouse supporting mates when the Mighty Whites were doing it tough on -15 points in League One ... those were the days! Anyway, just wanted to say hello - and I hope that you guys can accept a Gana-loving Leeds fan onto your forum! Cheers, DRAGONZ_RULE