A'Villan

I'm just under 90kg so thanks for that!

Just got picked up to play for a team in Australia's biggest street basketball tournament in February. $10,000 prize money. Not bad for a summer day doing what you love.

@lapal_fan I'll have my own poop 'n' deliver service at this rate.

My Dad and I built a wood-fire oven in his backyard and the pizzas it produces are so good. I'd mail you some but that'd be less for me! One of my best friends and his wife (both born and bred in England) tell me ham is not such a big thing on English pizzas. Apparently we pile it on over here.

Our best wide man at the moment. Yes there is an option to buy for anyone wondering. Pretty confident he scored one in three for Ajax. Could have a very impressive player on our hands.

$7 large pizzas from the corner shop tonight. I was feeling the pineapple calling and opted for Hawaiian. Fight me if you have a problem with pineapple pizzas.

Have to admit I'm an absolute slut at the dog parks. As our gets puffed within 5 minutes, and the girls always get chatting to the other dog owners, I often find myself throwing the ball for other dogs who love me because I have a good arm and as much energy as them. We took a photo a few months back with around 10 dogs all anticipating my every movement, waiting for me to throw the ball. While I had the ball in my hand it looked like I was coaching a Sunday sports team for dogs.

We have an 8 year old Groodle at home. She is loved to bits and lives the good life. At the same time I think we need to call in a specialist because her barking is incessant. There is a newborn baby next door which we can often hear crying or making goo-goo-gah-gah noises from over the fence and even in the house. The dog goes absolutely mental barking at this tiny infant, it's like we raised a monster. She lacks discipline as it is but once she gets fired up I am the only one in the house who can get her to quiet down on command and even then I need to be physically between her and the back fence telling her in no uncertain terms to get in the house and shutup. She will run to the front door to meet and greet everyone in the house without fail, except me. She just doesn't listen to the girls in our house even though she's been brought up under their guidance as she's 'their' dog.

I went and saw a personal trainer about getting into a routine to increase my overall fitness and athleticism for basketball. He told me to go home and sort out my protein intake before I thought about adding to my training. He said as I was already training at elite level with my club, not much could be added until I was eating at least 100g (I think it was a 100g) more protein each day. I really should've finished my Physical Education class in high school. I have very little understanding beyond taking someones word for it.

In the very little I have seen of O'Hare I was very impressed with his short passing and movement. Strange that we allowed Onomah the role of AM and not O'Hare but perhaps that was the agreement with both Spurs and Onomah.

Get fit soon Jack. Absolute superstar at this level. Trying to look for positives here. Could it be that we develop other strengths as a team without Grealish? The ball moves faster than the man and for this reason If the off-ball movement is coordinated and understood between the ball handler and the receiver then it's hard to defend. Harder to defend than the man on the ball dribbling his way into attack to draw defenders and play a pass or have a strike, even if the ball handler is superb at dribbling. This is blatantly evident for Grealish who is the most fouled player in the league and so often carries our attack on his shoulders, and people wonder why his strike and assist rate suffer. Because the ball handler will always know where he is going to play a pass before the defender does this means that with a honed passing game the attacking team can keep the defenders on their toes and guessing about where they need to be in order to prevent the attack from occupying the space for a shot on goal. Being without Grealish is going to mean that we simply have to come up with fresh ideas as to how we get forward. I am hoping that it means more off-ball movement to spread the defenders so that we can play it into space. We still have very talented wide men and striker who can cause all sorts of problems for our opponents, we just need to develop a means of getting the ball to them further forward than the halfway line. And so the onus on Smith and the midfield here will be to develop off-ball sequences so that we don't have to play it long and direct for any of our attacking players to receive it in the final third.

I was referring to Taylor. Is Hutton in the dog house for something I've missed? I watched my first full game against QPR since Stoke, I missed Leeds, Swansea and Preston due to other commitments.

Now that we've replaced Nyland our biggest liability is a 29 year old with over 100 Premier League and 40 international appearances. Not a bad liability to have at this level, as far as I'm concerned. People can't wait for the window dealings to begin. I can't wait for a tactician that is adequate in taking us to the Premier League. I think we may have him. He's started better than the last two managers, one was a Champions League winner and the other a record promotion holder. Go and have a quick google to see what Bielsa did for his position at Leeds. Wrote a bloody thesis analysis on the Championship teams and their tactics. And so many scoffed at me for saying he would get Leeds promoted.

You mean QPR bossed it up until it went 2-2? Just want to clarify. I personally don't think any team that has 3 successful dribbles, 3 successful crosses and a long ball rate of 1 in 3 passes is ever really 'bossing' a game. That said there were times that I was nervous for us. I was saying in the Match Thread that people were overreacting and that we weren't out of the contest by what I was viewing. I thought we took control well before going 2-2.

Read a stat that he has missed 9 big chances on goal this season, one of the highest in the division. Sounds about right. He certainly knows how to position himself. Knows how to be opportunistic and be in the right place at the right time for a high percentage goal. Then add to this he has skill when on the ball. Imagine that 25 goals to your name and 20 games left to play. Surely you'd be eyeing off 50 just for s***s and giggles. I don't even want to discuss the prospect of him leaving, despite having the likes of Kodjia as backup. Another reason why we need to be doing everything to get promoted this season. Grealish and Abraham, and to a lesser degree Tuanzebe might stay on if that were to happen.

I know what you mean and agree regarding the work of a defender on show. A well timed slide tackle can be as heroic as a precision placed finish, just as an interception that thwarts the oppositions move and forces an error leading to a transition in play can be as visionary as a pass that puts a teammate in behind the last line of defenders and through on goal. A clearance off the goal line as exciting as an opportunistic goal from a striker being at the right place at the right time. You get the picture. The quality of a good defender that I admire most would be their tenacity or combative skills as you say. I think it's as much as an intangible skill as it is winning the contest with physicality and fitness. Take McGinn, you know that he is going to be busting a gut to be in every contest within a 500km radius (I know pitches aren't that big) at every opportunity. "For every principle there's a promise" says everything you need to know about McGinn's tenacity. On principle he gives his all to be at the contest and with that comes the promise that we are giving ourselves a chance of winning it and coming out on top. McGinn isn't even particularly athletic, he's just relentless in approach and backs himself. Confidence is huge in sport, Grealish didn't just come in to this world dribbling at defenders for fun and weighting lead passes to perfection. He had the confidence in himself to try it out and hone it to the point where he became proficient at it. I personally was shooting 300 3pt shots per day for an extended period of time before my shot became adequate to play semi professionally in basketball. When I started with football it took me some months but after practicing daily for at least 30-60 minutes purely at playing keep-ups I could lob it over the electrical wires that ran from the street to my house and catch it to continue the keep-ups. I was never any good at football in high school but then I'd never tried it. Once I made that commitment to practicing for so many hours I have become so familiar with the ball and it's weight that I can manipulate it well enough to play Division One futsal despite only really starting to play in my early 20's. Having played basketball since I was 5 helped because I had an idea for the various concepts that make up a team dynamic. Which brings me (in a roundabout way) back to the topic. Dean Smith as coach and tactician. If I say we're going to counter attack and you, as my team-mate, say sure let's do it, that's our approach for today. I proceed with the plan and play a short push pass on the floor, you are expecting one long incisive pass in the air, my push pass goes to no-one and you've taken off running for a ball that will never come. We are both trying to start a counter but we are coming from different ideas of what that involves. As a result, some bloke in the crowd decides "F*** these two idiots" and starts booing. The situation stinks. Why? Not because Bloke in the crowd is bemused at the showing but because the tactics weren't specific enough to create an understanding and chemistry between us as team-mates. I have read from more than a few sources that Bruce once uttered the words 'I don't really do tactics' and I feel like that was true of his tenure because it's utter bulls***, just like some of the football he served up. Of course he does tactics. Every coach and manager has to. Whether they are any good at instilling the concepts determines the the teams ability to function as a united whole and play with understanding that will woo the crowds as opposed to being a bunch of bozo's running one way while the ball flies the other. It's less important a single player understand his individual role than it is the other ten men knowing what he's going to do so they can plan and act accordingly. If a group of players don't have clarity over the tactics and their role in that game-plan then it will amount to nothing and will have been a bunch of hot air thrown around the dressing room and however many hours spent in preparation will of been for nothing. What is exciting me about Smith is that like we have both expressed, TRO. Smith has an appreciation for the usefulness of various approaches and the necessity that a team has a fundamental understanding of how each approach works so that it can employ effective tactics in accordance to the challenge to be faced. We have already seen us adapt to the the absence of Grealish by having the midfield 3 against QPR occupy the middle third and direct play to the wide men where a combination of wall passes and overlapping allowed us to penetrate into space that might result in a chance. We also played in more long balls than we normally would due to the absence of Grealish, playing one in every six balls long to a forward or to switch the play. Usually we play less than one in ten long balls but without the skill of Jack centrally, being able to successfully link the midfield and attack or cross the play from one wing to the other required more long balls as we were without the skill to play it on the floor. Unfortunately the quality of delivery and execution in the final third was as poor as I've seen it for some time. That's an individual quality though and not an indictment on the methodology or its intent. If people can recall Bolasie's shot or cross that went out for a throw, that was basically the standard of execution in the final third or when playing in a forward. Poor. A few small tweaks in formation and build up approach and we still managed to impose ourselves for portions of the game greater than our opponents. Even though we lacked the cutting edge to create more chances, we won nearly every battle or were equal to QPR's efforts in the other areas of the pitch. I agree we are too vulnerable to conceding via counter attack and from errors when on the ball which afford our opponent possession in territory that allows for the transition in play to be one that leaves them with space and a defense on the back-foot. Ideal for any attacker looking to make an impact. As long as they are incisive in decision making and execute well enough, there is a high probability it will amount to a goal. So yes, this needs to be addressed if we want to gain promotion.

Hourihane was responsible for standing off for Lolley's goal too. So I'm not totally opposed to your observations. Obviously there have been moments where either the flaws of the system we employ are effectively exploited or we make an obvious individual error which leads to the concession of a goal. I think if you read my posts carefully I am not determined to see a specific style either. I enjoy the the craft for all the skill involved and enjoy learning the dynamics and facets which make up the spectacle. There are however some consistencies in the sport, much like anything in life, patterns and cycles of behaviour occur at times and you can come to a better understanding with careful observation and consideration. If I was to have a preference for how I want to see football played at Villa it would be in line with this quote: "Offense is the best form of defense" Because if you are in control of the ball and the scoreboard simultaneously, then you've won as long as that remains true. But then again I appreciate this famous sports quote too: "Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships." Because if you can stop anyone from finding their rhythm and setting the tempo in a game then by default you are also creating opportunities for your team to create scoring opportunities by the change of possession. My favourite two are these ones and the only philosophies I think are true: "It's amazing what can be accomplished when you don't care who gets the credit." "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard" I quite enjoy reading your perspectives on the game but I am again failing to see where Smith is going so wrong in the areas you mention when you look at the little things which make up the big picture. I think the frustration that comes with a disappointing outcome can have an adverse effect on \ability to come to conclusions that remain impartial. A goal only takes a matter of seconds to go in and yet it often is defining in peoples perspective on how a match played out. I may be off the mark but I suspect that the pressing we did put on QPR was overlooked due to the concession of goals which made other efforts seem inconsequential. As I said earlier the math would indicate that my observations are in line with the events that took place over the 90 minutes. Under Smith, on average, we are losing games at a rate that only Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham achieved last season. We are also keeping a clean sheet in over a third of our fixtures. You talk about playing winning football and not conceding as a discipline, Smith is probably deserving of a bit more credit than you give him in my opinion. Bruce was promoted automatically with a total of 79 points and a GD of just +9 with Hull, that's 20 points less than Wolves 99 point haul last season. It's also less points than what he achieved with Villa last campaign. As I said earlier and elsewhere, 18 of his 24 victories in that season with Hull came from 1-0 wins. That's a brand of winning football right there. Personally I enjoy aesthetically pleasing football more than I do winning itself. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder. To me aesthetically pleasing means something along the lines of a display of skill that can make someone with no expertise or knowledge of the art stand up and shout praise or at the very least enjoy a moment of appreciation whereby they are engaged with the act as much as the person performing it. Something along those lines.

That's remarkable, truly. Because I have no idea how to interpret that information other than we are often playing on the front foot. Goes to show you play to the whistle and that means 90 minutes of competition, because moments of class and errors alike can happen at any given time during that period. No good scoring first every game is you go on to concede to the point of draw or deficit.

I watched the game too. Had a great stream which was a pleasant surprise. I would be interested in you elaborating on how analysis conveys a contradictory message. I like to take in the game first hand most of all, analysing statistics is no where near as much fun. However they serve a purpose, being a semi professional athlete myself I can tell you from experience that if you are not keeping checks on your development in a way that is quantifiable you are not going to improve anywhere near as much as you would by analysing your approach and technique and making adjustments accordingly. The simple task of recording how many you make against how many you take gives an indication of success rate. I'm surprised if you didn't see our players closing down the opposition, or at least attempting to. The stats are in line with my observations from watching the game. We won 55% of duels on the floor, so I don't know how they can be 'quicker to the ball quite often'. It was us who won the contest, more often than not. The only reason I can currently think of which would have you believe QPR 'had us floundering' is that they went 2-1 up in a game where we lacked the quality on the ball to create the goals required to overcome the two we conceded. It's a funny old things, points of view, I agree we were awful at times, but it was on the ball that we were awful and clumsy I thought.

The role of the midfield three was different without Jack in the side. Because Grealish wasn't around to penetrate centrally, build up play was more reliant on creativity from the wide areas and therefore we utilised wall passes and overlaps from the full-backs to get forward where Grealish would normally play maestro. We played more long balls than we usually would too, 1 in 6 passes were long balls vs QPR where we would usually play less than 1 in 10. The way I saw it was they were responsible for winning the ball back and being a safe passing outlet when we were on the ball in order to retain possession more than they were for getting on the front foot and getting involved in attacks with the front three. If an attack broke down on the wing a midfielder could support the players on that wing in switching the play or playing it back to defense to start a fresh attack, as I said, not overly concerned with joining attacks.

Stoke do. Easily. And they are 14th for it.

I'm sorry TRO but if losing the aerial duels 29-33 is being beaten to headers at an alarming rate, I'd like to read the superlatives you'd use to describe the things we do well. We won duels on the floor 75-60, We had the same number of tackles as QPR and yet we had half the fouls. The ball was ours 60% of the time and played over 150 more passes than them. We had half their interceptions and a third of their total clearances because it was us occupying the territory and the onus on them to defend. Nearly a third of their passes were longs balls. That's one in every three. Doesn't allow for much build up play, does it? We kept them to under 70% pass completion rate. How? By pressing the ball and forcing errors and turnovers in positions where we can start attacks closer to the goal we're attacking. When defending a one-on-one it's better to stand off the ball as long as you remain between the opponent and his intended target than it is to over commit and get beaten giving up a easier opportunity. There's a saying in basketball 'don't reach because I'll teach' which means don't reach in for the steal because a worthy ball handler will leave you behind en route to scoring an open goal. It's true for football too. I play Division One futsal and if you are too eager to dispossess someone then you get left for dead. Because we chase down the ball high up the pitch one of the inherent flaws of this system is that there is no space occupied by a steady line or two of players sitting deep ready to stifle the opposition attack once it reaches our defensive third. We don't get that luxury. We rely on offense being the best form of defense by controlling the game as best we can by being on the ball as much as we can, and when that fails, we do our best to chase down the angles of our opponents intended target as soon as they take possession. So maybe what you are seeing is defenders standing off the ball because they are on the back foot and run the risk of allowing the opponent to penetrate and go 1 vs 1 with the keeper. There's a lot more freedom to make a tackle when you are immediately surrounded by teammates deliberately positioned to have your back if you get beat by the man on the ball. It's a different proposition when you're the last man between a whole lot of space and your goalkeeper. That's one of the aspects of our game that can be exploited. If we turn it over playing it out from the back or have the opponents play through our press successfully then there's a canvas of space to be pained by opposition forwards and our defenders are forced to scramble back on the back foot. Yes it needs work but I think 6 wins, 5 draws, 3 losses considering our opposition it's a good sign that with a bit of improvement it will be adequate and effective strategy for us to adopt.

I hold a somewhat different take on things. To sum it up in a nutshell I think people underestimate how difficult it is to come out on top consistently in sport. Even the absolute all time greats usually only win a handful of competitions. For example Lionel Messi has won four Champions League titles in the 15 years he has been involved in the competition. He has never brought home silverware with Argentina. Michael Jordan has six NBA titles from the 20 years he played in the competition. Even the all time greats are walking away with the highest accolades less than a third of the time they try for one at the highest level. We still drew and conceded 5 to Forest with Grealish and Tuanzebe in the side, Taylor too. While I agree with what you are saying about Tuanzebe's form and performances under Smith and the obvious quality that Grealish brings to the table. I think we have adequate backup in place. Most of our players, even fringe players, have either a respectable history in the Premier League or have been elite at Championship level. Even our arguably biggest liability is a 29 year old with over 100 PL performances to his name and over 40 appearances as an international.

None taken. If it were about solving all his issues for him and carrying the weight of his world on my shoulders then yes I would be out of my depth, but also robbing him of his own experience and journey. So that is not my purpose in his life. My involvement is purely to be someone who's in his corner, the fight is his, as are the blows he will be dealt and the glory. Clinicians don't have all the answers and it would be a sad life if the only people who he can look to for a source of positivity and guidance are professionals who are paid for their time with him. It takes a village to raise a child and I have no issues with being someone who has his back and supports him in turning this corner. My powers of observation are in tact. I think I'm capable of discerning if my actions and influence are of a positive nature or not. I will not act in any way that would lead him astray, and that includes befriending him in any way that would become detrimental to either of us. Life certainly has no hesitation about throwing us in the deep end and I think the reality of becoming a father at his age was a scary prospect. I'm guessing he felt alone in his fear and anxiety surrounding everything transpiring for him and also alone in that he didn't want the burden and responsibility to be passed on to others. Because let's be honest, some people would rather point the finger and tell you to be a responsible adult or make wiser choices than to care to think of the circumstances with understanding, compassion and empathy. What good is condescending advice in supporting someone through their trials and helping them to avoid other pitfalls? It's just an ego trip for the person who is pointing the finger and turning their nose up. Some people don't want to know about it. How can we pass judgement without being willing to walk a few steps in that persons shoes? Yet people often indulge the former and overlook the latter. Thankfully he is making some excellent decisions and following through on the things he has expressed as that which he wants to do. I am pretty confident that he and the girl share a bit of time together, he was referring to her as his ex but I think that's also a sensitive point for him, as I'm not sure there was much support for the relationship from outside parties, and now he calls her his girlfriend. But I don't know all that much, I like things to be upbeat and lighthearted where they can be, so I don't pry for information or try and delve too deeply in to his personal life. Spot on, I know what you mean. And unfortunately it's the case with many youth and even adults. It's 'cool' to be cold and corrupted because that way you are not concerned with the difficulties and disappointments that life will inevitably throw your way at some point, in one way, shape of form. Choosing to adopt an 'I don't care' attitude like it's any different from sticking your head in the sand. Unfortunately that only leads to neglect and tragedy. People act like they got it good as long as someone else is doing worse than them. How's that for an identity crisis? When I heard that he'd been locked up and was being violent I had some concerns. I didn't want to make it my business but I really hoped this kid would not end up ruining his life and potentially others with his behaviour. No one deserves that life but this kid is very kind at heart and you could see he wanted to act on it. Sometimes it's the little things and so I've just made a note of reminding him of the positives and that he has people looking out for him without directly coming out and saying as much. But he knows there will always be an upbeat and lighthearted conversation and a good basketball game there if he's up for it, and if it's needed we can talk about life and whatever is on his mind. I think the whole pregnancy would have been a big shock for him, I can only imagine, aside from that I think he just wants to be liked and respected and as you say being 'in' with the bad boys can certainly make you popular and give you pull. Let's be real here if society had the backs of these people we wouldn't even be discussing the issue so there's is more than just the allure of being cool when it comes to why people get in to toxic ways.

To express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, is very difficult to do. So the issue was not with you at all, rather her relationship to herself. See the idea is running water never grows stale, so you have got to just keep on flowing. Never stop learning or dreaming and you will grow up rather than old. How can we ever have time, if we don't ever take time? Invest in you. A good place to start is with one of our more precious resources. Time. Invest time in yourself. That will make you acquainted with self-love and put you en route to sharing that love with others. You want inner peace and acceptance because you won't find either externally until it comes from within. Obviously we're not talking about a committed romantic relationship that is purely physical here when using the word self-love or love, I'm not talking about masturbation or sex.. I'm talking about your energy and your relationship to it. Once that is of good health it will make a committed relationship of romantic nature all the more worthwhile. I wish that your next 30 years are not spent with feelings that leave you wanting but are filled with best of company (especially when alone) and health. Last corny thing I have to say is this. Thankfully love is more about chemistry than it is biology. What I mean in saying that is the complex emotional and psychological interactions between one another make for the spice of life, because it would be ever so mundane if it were purely physiological. As Demitri said, happy for you!