MrBlack

wow, that's a lot of players

I reckon his recent performances have put him above Lansbury anyway. Can't see a situation where you'd want to bring Lansbury on over Ramsey Or Conor. The possible scenarios: Behind trying to score from our limited options - conor Drawing but can't find a break through - conor Winning comfortably need to blood the youth -ramsey Winning need to see a game out - conor/ramsey/nakamba depending on opposition Lansbury just doesnt have a role to fill now. Also..6 days from topic created to signing...we're getting better. Means we might still sign someone we've not been linked with so far

Does probably mean Ramsey not getting much air time for the next couple of months or so (until injuries/fatigue start setting in) but gives us a massive step up in quality for both the first team and the bench (assuming he replaces Conor). Great loan, doesn't significantly help Chelsea (and actually hurts them based on what some fans are saying), massively helps us. Great business.

If he could be more selective about when he gets them that would be ideal. Way easier said than done to change your whole mindset and approach, but in a game where every tackle is going to matter and the game will be very heated (like we can expect vs Leeds), or a game where we need to be fighting for every ball (like Liverpool or leicester) I dont see him being able to avoid getting a yellow card. The one last night, when we're 3-0 up, was a poor decision. Still my MOTM, but worth calling out to see what others think.

Am I right in thinking that decision even went against Watkins? I did think it was bizarre in live, looking at that it's outrageous that it wasn't a foul, a booking and debatable whether it should have been a sending off.

Good performances all round. Despite being an extremely comfortable away win, there wasn't really anyone who stood out as exceptional for me and I think the scoreline was exaggerated thanks to a genuine lack of any form of defence by Fulham. McGinn MOTM as the best of a very good bunch, but only marginally. As a team performance I thought we were brilliant, but felt it could have been even better if we'd had a killer instinct. Nitpicking here though so UTV. Dean could have made more changes or made the ones he did sooner, but understand why he didn't (Trez offered more stability and shape than Traore and Watkins had a real chance to open his PL account). Good performance rating for Dean from me. Thought the ref was poor, bizarre to see so many good ratings for him. He was trigger happy with the yellow cards but then Fulham should have been down to 10 for at least one of a few possible decisions. Seemed like he tried to control the game with bookings, failed to do so, and then bottled a bigger decision to give a second yellow. The disallowed goal was a good call from him ... although I'd be amazed if he'd have made the same call in a full stadium. I do feel it was the right one by the letter of the law, if a little harsh given the foul almost certainly had no impact on the goal.

I get the experiment tonight, it confirms we do have another cb to call upon in an emergency, but hope it doesn't dissuade the bosses from signing a cb. Elmo isn't a viable option for the league if we lose Konsa to injury. Still need to sign a backup cb that is better than Hause if we dont trust Engels. Elmo did have a great game under relatively little pressure, and has cracking distribution. I wouldn't be against him playing the odd game there against weaker threats, but as above, a proper CB signing please Dean!

What a class act you are. Genuine impartial match review from the opposition, and especially impressive restraint given the technological failings of the website. Thanks, the forum is a richer place for non-villa fans like you. Respect aside, it was so refreshing for us to win comfortably, against opposition from a lower league, especially one that is doing well in that league. I can't remember the last time it happened. And pretty sure it has never happened when we've made 11 changes to the team that played our last league match. Let's hope our good run continues against Fulham, because it would be so "old" villa for us to lose to a team searching for their first league win...

Is that first sentence what you think is happening, what you know is happening, or what you want to happen? 99% positive reactions suggests this is not a bad move for anyone concerned. Provided it wouldn’t be a choice between Ross or a more defensive CM, i'm all for this.

AEG is in terrible form at the moment. The Burton game showed that. Give me the AEG from 2 years ago and I'd pick him every time. Trez is in good form, by his relatively low standards, and was the better option to guard against last minute counter attacks. Agree, he's frustrating, and ideally he'd be an impact sub to throw on when all else has failed, but until Traore is match fit and until AEG shows any indication that he actually still wants to play football, he is our obvious first choice. I would have brought AEG on for the last 10 minutes, but fully see the merits in not doing so. First game of the season, the most important thing was to not concede a late goal, and we didn't.

One very specific stat does...

To be fair, Liverpool have three of the best forwards in the world already, addind an extra one to that is probably enough. We on the other hand have Trez and El Ghazi as our third choice (assuming Grealish moves into midfield like he wants to).

Nice to be top of the league when it comes to an offensive based stat. Wonder when we last achieved that.... What do you mean, we've only played one game against 10 men? Shush.

Feels like too much change for me. I said at the start of the window that I would like no more than 7 signings, given we bought Cash where I didn’t expect us to make a singing, that number becomes 6 effectively so I accept that number now may be a struggle to get what we need in. Watkins, Traore, Martinez an ideal 3 so far. And for me... those 3 remaining signings in priority order would be: Left Winger (Jack moves to middle and conor becomes an improvement on the bench over lansbury) CB (backup to konsa and Mings otherwise were screwed) CDM (an alternative to playing luiz and mcginn as the defensive 2 in midfield against top half opposition) Left back I can live without for now, but it is a signing I'd have made over a right back if given the choice for this season. Striker will be a replacement for Samatta if we sell him, which would have been outside my expectations when saying I wanted no more than 7. I guess my concern with too many signings is it sees too much transition and potentially generates bad will. Losing guilbert and (to a lesser extent) Samatta just to make extra signings this window feels a bit drastic and doesnt reward loyalty in Fred's case. Obviously if it results in better players replacing them you weigh that up against the turmoil it causes, so can see the other side of the debate.

Only as strange as how suddenly they loved us when he signed. They'll move on if/when he's sold and the next club can repeat our cycle.

Our infrastructure (training facilities and stadium) and history are significantly better than any of those clubs. It doesn't make a huge difference in the scheme of things, but there is a slightly unique proposition about playing for the club that founded the league. Also, there are clear signs of intent from the owners for any concerned that history is no indicator of future ability. We may still have to pay inflated fees, but that's dictated by the selling club. It's the position we're in, and I think they're doing OK with it so far.

With Rashica thread closed, do we predict just one more forward signing... or none?

Unlucky not to get one last night from a chance he couldn't have done more from. Unfortunate not to get one from a chance he could have done more from. Exceptional run and play to get into a position where he had to be fouled when through on goal. Overall, a very solid PL debut, with indications that he'll be a great player for us this season. He'll get into great positions, he'll create chances himself, and he'll create chances for others. Couldnt ask for more from a centre forward.

if @Villan4Life thinks he's good he gets my vote. Am I to assume you don't completely agree with the second part?

I would love some news from the club on this. Its all well and good doing this for a player like McCormack, but when it's someone who played the last game of the season, was by most accounts one of our better players in our second last game against Arsenal, and has publicly stated his love for the club, country and city on social media, it seriously raises questions. If there is a transfer on going that the buying club want kept secret, surely a fake injury story would be better than silence and questions being raised.

You're missing out the fact he played on for a few games carrying that injury before he was signed off. That seems to be colouring people's views of him when they say he wasnt that great for most of last season. Whilst that may be true, it's because he played a significant portion of it either injured, coming back from injury, or coming back post lockdown. You can argue that those who support him are only basing it on a very short time frame where he played well in the PL, but our point is not that he's definitely going to be a world beater for us, it's that he's shown already he can do it, and we have to give him a fair opportunity to do it again. An injury hit season that got split in half by a global virus, followed by one game of the new season is a crazy time to be passing judgement that he won't cut it.

This...absolutely this. And given both Konsa (hamstring) and Mings (something to do with his knee?) were hobbling around at some point during yesterday's game it is actually more a case of when, not if. CB is high on my list of needs at the moment. Just behind a right winger, and closely followed by a better Nakamba.

Anyone questioning this and saying "so what, we weren't being pressured by Sheffield utd and should have had someone on the pitch to help create something" is seriously deluded. Had AEG come on and not done that pressing (we all know he wouldnt) that would have allowed Utd chance to get breaks away and see us risk losing our 1-0 lead, which would have been a far more likely outcome than going 2-0 up given AEGs performance against Burton. Fair enough, it might have helped, but to write it off as a wasted opportunity, when we comfortably held on to the victory is madness. Also, to say he did nothing of note is ignoring laughable chimps stats from a few pages back where he was demonstrably one of our better players. No, he wasn't great, but he was still miles away from awful.

Indeed. Kepa looks truly shocking. I'm only glad Frank stuck by his blind belief that he is a good keeper, and Martinez was sold a vision by our leadership that persuaded him to take a step down. Looks every bit the gk that Arsenal fans were upset to lose.

Did the one thing I was worried he wouldnt do this season; changed our shape when we were clearly not making in roads, early enough for it to make a difference. Yes, more changes may have been welcome, but there just aren't any other players on the bench that would have made an impact. The AEG of 2018 might have been a good choice, but the one that played against Burton did nothing in that game to warrant a call up. I'd have thrown him on for the last 10 mins but not to change the game, just for some fresh legs and to give him some time in a winning team for some confidence... but that's a meh kind of point for me. Great work from Dean tonight.