A'Villan

I've run out of reactions for the day. So you get a comment instead. You're obviously a top guy and embrace the good in life. Life is fragile and precious. Barack Obama and Condeleezza Rice were the first black people to be appointed to positions of power since Lucius Septimius Severus. That's going back to the f***ing Roman Empire. Even still, Obama and especially Rice served governments which have an atrocious treatment of people of colour. Fred Hampton, MLK Jnr, Bobby Hutton, Malcom X. Assassinated for speaking for their right not to be subjugated to cruelty. COINTELPRO, Northwood Documents, MK-ULTRA, it's all written in official documentation why there's a real sensitivity around how white people have acted.

That's a very sensible outlook. Commendable. We've got differing views on this one though. I could easily get carried away on this topic. Fortunately for everyone at VT it's my bedtime and I don't have the energy. People shouldn't be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of their people. Old mate was obviously having another bad day at the office. Police are a civil force. Civil meaning concerned with citizens and their affairs, but also to be polite and courteous. I think the choice of thread for this story speaks volumes as to any real concern this officer has for this citizens affairs. Which while on duty, is his legal obligation.

On reading your post and re-thinking mine, I still hold the sentiment behind my post but have been unnecessarily rude in the process of writing it. Apologies to @ThunderPower_14 for that. I definitely got that part of my post wrong. The system isn't reformatory. Part of my point is this bloke clearly isn't all there and probably takes the hard road to learning if he ever does at all. 'Good fun' was the sign off from the OP. Who should have to go before a judge over some ice cream on the floor? Honestly @lapal_fan I commend you sticking up for OP here. Ask yourself though do you ever J-Walk? Would you really be remorseful if you got caught? You're undoubtedly smart enough to know defying authority has consequences. We're all human. If an officer has time to arrest someone and take them in, they have enough time to inquire to the source of the problem and to show a little empathy. Bit rich to expect someone to be contrite when the officer is only concerned with the offense itself and no concern for what ails this man causing the event. It's a plastic tray nearly hitting a car and some ice cream that will melt on the asphalt. You put a man before a judge for that?

I loved philosophy class in high school. My teacher called me 'profound' in one report card. Most other subjects read 'Unsatisfactory' or 'Did Not Attend' by age 16.

Bob Dylan goes alright. I noticed your collection on your neatly ordered shelves in the DIY thread. To borrow your phrase from above, I have quite a broad taste in music, Metal is just about the only genre that has never really appealed to me. I have never really done fiction. I think the last one I read, which was admittedly brilliant, was '100 Years of Solitude'. Forget the author but he won a Nobel Prize. Non-fiction and biographies are where it's at for me. I donate most of the books I read to the local book store when I'm done. At the rate I read they probably make $5 a year off me though. I have a tendency to start many finish few.

The audacity! Anyone with a sense of respect for the community would have bent over and licked it up. This is about as close as you'll get to crying over spilled milk. I've always heard Adelaide was boring but gee willikers. If that's worthy of police time and effort then I underestimated just how uneventful things must be that side of the country. What if you'd let that one go? There'd be anarchy. Other hardened criminals of his ilk would see how soft the law enforcers are and would run riot. This guy clearly has some issues. I don't understand the need for such an adversarial and stringent stance from you lot. Give the guy a break. Hope you don't take this the wrong way, I'm sure you just saw it as procedure and part of the job, as well as giving him every opportunity to smarten up. Just out of curiosity, you lot still get free McDonald's? I don't envy police work. Free burgers is not a bad deal though.

Kalanic Elmo Chester Hause Taylor El Ghazi McGinn Hourihane Adomah Abraham Kodjia Bolasie being the obvious impact sub. Wall passes and overlaps out wide with the midfield two remaining deep to provide an extra line of defense against direct counters down the center. Vertical passes from midfield through to the front two with the wide men and midfield two pushing forward as support. Full backs remaining as part of a single line back four. That enables us to have some organisation at all times both upfront and at the back, with 4 men committed to protecting the keeper at all times, up to 6 can commit forward. Lose the ball in the early phases of build up play or in the final third and we have either a single line of four or two lines of two committed to defense. The six players allowed to commit forward in attack are also responsible for pressing. The other four designated to sitting deeper in case the pressing gets played around or penetrated.

I'm reading Republic by Plato. Will be a while before I'm done I suspect. Loving it though. There's been a few discussions where we have very different views or taste. Not to infer that I don't enjoy your posts, I do. So I have to say, utmost admiration for the amount you read. Good work with carrying the thread on your shoulders. Keep it up!

For the last 7 games since we drew with Stoke, there hasn't been much indication of us doing so, I agree. That makes up one short of half Smith's fixtures for us. The first half of his brief tenure, as I state above, has us as commanding the best results of anyone in the league, in what was arguably one of the toughest run of fixtures. One thing that is worrying is the contrast between the levels of control we have over a game. It makes any prediction difficult, which only adds to the nerves of a supporter. Then you have the 7 game slump and momentum is firmly out of our favour. No wonder we have supporters with doubt and angst about where we are headed. Whilst I don't align myself with the doubts about Smith yet, I can see why they are there. I'm actually more optimistic than I am reserved in judgement.

Another difference is Bruce steadied a ship that had 10 points from 12 games and was seemingly going to continue it's downward trajectory. Whereas Smith has come in to an environment of restored expectation due to our success last season. Smith has been brought in with the expectation of going one better than a predecessor who missed out on the goal by narrow margins. Bruce simply had to do better than 10 points from 12 games to look a better prospect than we'd had before and therefore earned him time. We've had 16 games under Smith. It was only last month that we had the highest points per game ratio in the league under him. We also boasted the highest possession share of anyone in the competition, the most chances created, the highest pass accuracy. Defensively our concession rate needs to be addressed, but if you take a look at the pass completion rates of our opponents up until that time then you see we force errors. We were also averaging a foul count half that of our opponents in every game. It was not us who was on the back foot, we were however vulnerable on the counter. It wasn't until this time last year that Bruce got a 5-0 victory over Bristol, at the time a promotion candidate, we've already seen two 3-0 victories over promotion rivals under Smith. Bruce had 18 wins of 24 in one of Hull's promotions as 1-0 victories. I'm not trying to argue against his methods. He is as you say steady and has achieved results. If you look at his promotions though, none have been spectacular. He has either been afforded transfers way above and beyond his rivals. Or won by a fine margin. It's just a hunch, the potential with Smith is much greater than with Bruce. And Bruce did enough to gain promotion, albeit in years gone by and not in the one that counted.

It simply baffles me why people are writing off this season. "The future belongs for those who prepare for it today" - Malcolm X There's work to be done right now, not only when Dean Smith has his own team or a fresh season. The owners plans will undoubtedly be with the focus of gaining promotion, as soon as possible. We have every chance to get it right, why prolong the duration of a goal coming to fruition? Orgasm is the only time this would be desirable that I can think of. Anything lost can be found again except for time wasted. Okay I lied, you can't regain your virginity once it's lost either.

Next season? 19 games to play, 5 points from playoffs. We're talking about getting it right next season!? DS actually made a league leading start to his Villa career, so to say he hasn't impressed seems blinkered to me. Like @GENTLEMAN says, we should have some balance. We'll be wiser for it. Regression and blips happen in every journey. It's too early for me to define DS' Villa career just yet, it's been a mixed bag. Though I would like to see him given 'til seasons end at the very least based on what I've seen so far. Bruce got the full remaining 34 games after RDM's sacking and didn't achieve a promotion push. Got the whole next season after that. Then a third..

I'd like to acknowledge that the above comment was a silly comment to make considering that was the first I have ever seen Pistol Pete play. I only knew of him before. Dropping my 3rd tier Australian skills is the same sentence as Pistol Pete is slightly embarrassing on reflection. He's doing it in the NBA with a casualness that not many get away with. Don't mind me. Thanks again for posting the highlight reel though @Brumerican

I struggle to remember how the game from a month ago played out sometimes so I might not be the best judge. I just know I've seen him on a few occasions and he never left much of an impression. At the same time he was never noticeably poor either. At 20 he's still a baby. Some athletes professional careers don't become noteworthy 'til they hit 30!

Thanks for posting this. I'd never seen him play before that. Great pass on him, amazing peripheral vision. I'd argue he was no greater than Magic Johnson in that regard though. Just because he can do things others couldn't doesn't make him GOAT. I'm the only person I know who has ever spun the ball on their finger whilst running from half court and only releasing the spin mid-air on the way to dunking. I play in Australia's 3rd tier. I've also got some nice highlights where I pretend to pass by releasing my hands from the ball and push my arms forward in the regular passing motion, leaving the ball temporarily suspended in air, before catching it again and putting up the layup or floater. Gets that big man protecting the paint to try and block the pass every time meaning he has no hand up to block my shot. I can throw an around the back pass too. Pete's got some slick moves, probably a pioneer in his own right. That said I'll take fire over flash every day of the week. Jordan did some things incredible things too.

All I have to say on this topic is that I told you so!

Have never seen him do much for a game. Personally would be surprised to see him play ahead of El Ghazi or Bolasie. Possibly Adomah based on recent showings.

Thanks for the update. I was hoping to see him on the pitch so ditto what you said,, frustrating.

We still don't have a fitness coach as far as I'm aware.

We'll see what the new hierarchy are made of. Whether it's 10 or 25 to come in is not so important, as long as they are equipped to handle the challenges of the coming season. Losing Grealish is something I really don't even want to think about. Promotion this season it is then!

This is so good to hear. The Villa prodigy licking his lips at putting on another show for us. Brilliant!

I was just attempting to be playful rather than taking things to heart. High caliber players became so due to thousands of repetitions they do honing their skill in accordance with the TACTICS that their team requires them to learn and implement. Another thing, clarity and familiarity with the tactics actually allows players to play HARDER and FASTER than they would otherwise. So this idea of playing with initiative is actually hugely boosted by a players understanding of his role within the tactics. When the team knows the game plan they can sprint to space without having to look over shoudlers to check for support. Bodies instinctively knows what to do and when to do it.

Here I was thinking you just called me stupid. I was brought up under Keep It Simple Stupid. Straightforward is a little more apt and less derogatory. "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" - Albert Einstein. This applies to tactics as well. For if an individual player lacks clarity on his role the plan does not go accordingly. Even the anomaly that was Barca's tiki taka. The taka has to be there for the tiki. There is no blueprint. Every player was brought up in a different manner. Their coaches having different ideas on how to play. The difficulty for Dean Smith will be coordinating his players under a single mindset. You leave it up to the players and they will go with what they were used to which will differ from one to the next. That Leaves us vulnerable to exploitation when there is confusion as to who goes where in order to support the other.

I think initiative is the perfect word to describe what is required of any athlete, across any sport. I agree with you in part on the level of its importance in determining an outcome, I'll explain why. 45 minutes of play that is heavily contested by two teams consisting of players of a similar caliber is a long time to expect any rehearsal to go entirely to plan. So for that reason it is the initiative of the players to win the contest at every opportunity. To do this successfully enables a game plan a greater chance of being implemented successfully. There is obviously a balance which can tilt to one side on any given day. One one hand you have 11 individuals come together with the objective of scoring more goals than an opposition of equal number and relative skill. Does a team that is unified under a game plan designed to expand and contract according to the way the game develops have an advantage against a team that has not communicated or coordinated itself? Absolutely it does. On the other hand you have the same setting but this time the 11 individuals have a higher intensity and work rate, committing a greater level of energy to winning the ball than their opponents. The advantage clearly lies with the team of greater commitment. On the third hand (because we're weird like that), you have a greater level of talent and skill level than the opposition. I'd say these 3 elements are probably the biggest contributors to how a game is decided.