Sgl

Just scored a nice breakaway goal

Agreed. It’s just that Emi makes that save 999,999 times out of 1 million, but of course the mistake ones against Utd.

If it wasn’t for the bad luck, we would have no luck

I think thats a fair point, i dont really watch much scottish football and so am mostly uninformed about his time up there and the pressures of getting Rangers back up and 'functioning' as a club. His football career certainly has exposed him to world class managers and given him loads of experience.

I was certainly skeptical on his appointment (less to do with him, and more to do with a general skepticism of appointing managers from the Scottish league, as its such a limited league and easier to look unbeatable by simply dominating one other club), but i have to say i am very pleased with how things are going. We looked superb last night in the first half (albeit against a very poor performance) and arguably should have been out of sight by half time. We have performed very well (even in the nature of the losses to two world class teams) and it seems to be extending further than the usual 'new manager bounce'. There needs to be a level of realism in terms of expectations of game play, if you go gung ho and attack Liverpool or man city you end up with a result like leeds got last night, so im not overly concerned with him setting us up conservatively in the early days against the big teams, and i think in both of those games we were dangerous in spurts so signs for the future are positive. It will be interesting to see what happens if / when he has a full squad to choose from (Traore hasnt been seen, Bailey limited to cameos, losing nakamba, ings just back and poor sanson, who i can only imagine is currently wandering into the path of a hurricane and about to be struck by lightning, is out just as he showed glimmers), and once he has gotten a transfer window or two under his belt to start to turn the team into his 'own'.

I think Dean has done a unbelievable job getting us here and changing the culture in the club (lets face it, we were a complete basket case when he took over) but he had deficiencies in in-game management etc that meant he has reached a natural end to his time here and i will always be thankful for getting us back to the premier league. Gerrard is the Villa Manager so he has my full support. I'm a little underwhelmed by the appointment (less to do with Gerrard than to do with any appointment from the Scottish league, i'm not sure how much of Rangers resurgence is down to Gerrard or down to Celtics utter collapse, but the league is so uncompetitive that i would have preferred someone from a more competitive league). Lets get in behind him now and hope we have a christmas period with some good results. Gerrard is a winner simple as that, hopefully that mentality and experience will drive us on.

This. One game and people calling for his head? Madness IMO. Crappy preseason, away to a newly promoted team with fans back in stadiums for the first time this year, a Villa team that hasn’t really played together, and a lot of upheaval in the last ten days between player and coaches exiting - none of this excuses a shocking performance and a really disappointing loss but one game is exactly that, one game. If a pattern emerges, fair enough the pressure will be on and rightly so, but we should be able to be disappointed at a losing a game in a poor manner without the needless over reaction of calling for the managers head less than 24 hours after the season has started.

I totally agree with this. I do have an unsettling feeling around the first couple of games though, less to do with the Loss of Grealish and more to do with the number of incomings (not withstanding the fact that the incomings are IMO outstanding purchases). This is a bit of a rebuild, new players who will take time to go together and get to know each other’s styles, runs etc, probably a bit of a formation change and definitely a change to attacking philosophy (I.e. no more “just give it to Jack” as option A) - all without a decent run of preseason games with the starting team playing together. I hope it comes together quickly, I believe we will be better at the end of the season than we were last season, but I think it could be a bumpy start.

4 minutes ? This isn’t league one. We don’t have that kind of time. If he doesn’t score with his first touch, Bailey out!

That is what a leader looks like. He is always eloquent and well spoken but this might be one of his most important actions - he knows he’s going to get it in the neck from scumbags everywhere, he knows that several “newspapers” will spend the next week trying to discredit him and run him down, yet despite this, he summed up in a paragraph the duplicity of Patel more masterfully than any political debate. If anything is to change, it’s people with platforms like Tyrone that can help show the way. Legend.

This is exactly how I feel. Regardless of anything else, Ashley is clearly a pro, has played at the highest levels across a few teams and his attitude and professionalism alone will be something that the younger guys can learn from and be inspired by. He is a winner, pure and simple, you cant teach that but you can lead by example. He will also be a good squad player who we can rely on as the younger prospects gain experience and fill the gap until we can grow our own to bridge the gap between the prospects and the first team. He is not the same player he was when he left and thats the point - we would be recruiting him for a totally different reason this time around. I trust the recruitment team on this - whether he arrives or not.

7-9th for me, assuming 1or 2 incomings in addition to Buendia to improve us and we don't lose Jack Maybe a small run in a cup with the younger lads and fringe players getting a good run out. Id love a consistent season with no dip due to injuries etc and I'd like to see us beat Utd, for the love of god I want to see us beat Utd.

Its exactly this. If we are to improve the squad sustainably, incremental progress is the way to go. Pick a position, replace the backup (or third choice) with someone good enough to go straight into the first team, demoting the current incumbent to 2nd choice. If the (now) second choice raises his game and gets back in the team - happy days!, if not we have someone as backup who is an improvement on our current back up. The balance and atmosphere of the squad is so important, I'm sure Dean and the backroom team will be trying to pick players not just on ability and track record but on work rate and attitude as well, so a few incremental improvements will ensure steady sustainable progress. We don't ever want to be in a position where we have to basically buy a full new squad again.

Depends what you mean. Better at football? Almost certainly - I believe most of the population of the earth are. Better at getting paid huge amounts to play football while delivering Almost nothing on the pitch? No way, he’s got you well beat there.

Looks like he has plenty of promise but for me, I’d like to see what he looks like next season. We are often too quick to pass judgement on players who haven’t adapted to the league, language, new teammates, new surroundings etc, I’ve seen enough to think he could be a great signing but let’s see what he’s like in august before he’s labelled either a “squad player” or “world beater”.

It’s 3.27 and he hasn’t made a single sub yet today. National disgrace.

Indeed.

And that ball to Watkins ? Absolutely magical from McGinn.

If they didn’t have Nick Pope, I think they would be afraid to come out for the second half