Jas10

It’s gold on claret.. rather than yellow on light blue… it’s already an improvement. Not great either though I think he’s already landed on one or two designs that most, if not all, fans could get on board with.

Sure, kind of did. I miss 2023 Dougie and can’t wait for him to return…there are mitigating factors though. Doesn’t mean we’re better off without him and should sell him. Nor should we forget his qualities and contribution to our success and progress. Can’t be bothered to repeat too much of what I’ve already posted. To each their own I guess.

Oh shit… only just realised and noticed I am responsible for this What a shitshow but like I said… IT WAS ONLY HYPOTHETICAL!!!

What’s Spurs’ excuse?

Mine too, was always my favourite.

Come on Villa!

I would class him as the very worst… at least in the context of the players and talent at his disposal (see what Unai has done with the same ones!)… an embarassing blot on our history, then again… we have made a whole heap of crap and embarassing appointments… at least that’s in the past now. Also… not a football manager or coach… just a guy who lets others do the work for him… sold the club short and was only ever about himself… Benched our best players too… like Luiz, Buendia, Mings and so on… Anyway… Luiz is class and crucial for us.

He wasn’t great… but he was no Stevie G. We are fickle though, most if not all football fans are. It comes with the territory. Or are you referring to Houllier with the accent on the e there? No need for such things with the Scouse clown.

no probs, my main point is someone (esp with Bouba out for a while) who is defensively focused and proficient… defending and intercepting is the main focus combined with composure n the ball and a good passing range, as well as some agility. We have plenty of players who can play the more attacking or creative role in midfield, it is defensive nous and steel that we lack. Back to Dougie… Many would do well to remember it’s because of him, and a few others, that we are even in this position and made this much progress. Tielemans was hopeless before he was moved into an attacking role by Unai, when he started thriving. He has kept improving and is more versatile now. We would’ve struggled with a McGinn and Tielemans midfield earlier on in the season… Bouba was huge too… a big miss… but Unai has managed that as well as possible.

We don’t need a CM, we need a DM… badly.

He was bang on tbf

Played the most hasn’t he? Alongside Ollie and Emi? He’s missing Bouba too but still done well with McGinn.

Don’t like what a lot of us are turning into tbh… we can be a lot better… Very much a case of “what have you done for me lately?” here… how about all he HAS done?

Can’t say I’ve been impressed so far… hopefully he has a big performance in him soon… we could really do with it.

How about Kesler? Better off staying where he was and actually playing…

Unai will be on his case… he’s capable of stepping up…

With Bouba out for a while… it is imperative that we bring in a quality, strong DM who is adept at and can focus on the defensive side of the game… maybe create some proper competition and depth there too… the two could even play together at times behind a more attacking set up… this is the problem, we have CMs filling in at DM and no proper option there, their games are being curtailed by having to play there… and while they are drained or exhausted too.. Dougie shone with Kamara beside or behind him…. that was the way to get the best out of him. McGinn and Tielemans have more to offer going forwards… The worst or most impactful injury has been Kamara’s…

Stuff like this exposes an ugly side of our fanbase now… starting to resemble the arrogance and entitlement of other fanbases we usually criticise… thought we could have a lot more class… Don’t like this turning on our best players… we can’t manage with only 11 players too… we need a strong and varied squad with plenty of options… that’s the most obvious lesson from this season and the adversity we have faced. What happens when Dougie plays well again? Oh, we shouldn’t sell for less than 150m?? Too much of this clamour for selling players and wheeling and dealing… it’s very difficult to replace your best players and most of us don’t have the patience for new players to develop and establish themselves either… one bad game and the knives are out immediately!

This new trend of turning on our better players, that have made huge contributions (and majorly responsible for where we are) for us, and clamouring for their sales (it’s either JJ - who is injured! - or Dougie… who’s next??) is really unpleasant, small time and smacks of short termism and this modern, constant thirst for instant gratification. Almost like some believe we should be winning every game and players should be at 100% every time…. a loss or poor performance just cannot be tolerated which is… delusional… With how well we’ve done and over achieved this season, expectation and demand has increased and probably unrealistically and unfairly so.., we should be more appreciative and a bit more loyal to our players (who, funnily enough, we demand that from)… Perspective is required… new experience and level for most of this group, a real mental and physical challenge with all of the games and difficulties we have had to face… (they are going to learn and develop so much from this, so much gain and benefit) it’s not easy to be consistent when your teammates are getting injured (and suspended) and fatigue sets in… it’s not realistic to expect everyone to be firing in every game. Unai had had to keep shuffling the pack and still gets results! When the team changes so often and the mix in defence or midfield keeps altering… it makes it harder. A lot of form depends on partnerships and combinations too… Luiz and Kamara for instance, which we have been deprived of. That’s still, easily, our best midfield partnership when everyone is available… but they aren’t… I’ll admit that Dougie hasn’t been near/at his best so far this year… but he still had that quality, class and ability in him.. he will be back. He was awesome in 2023. Not so long ago we were calling him our best player, irreplaceable etc. and now want him gone? That’s really poor…