MrBlack

11 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

You know this is a good thing for Villa. Although I hope this doesn’t mean he starts against Denmark. It’s ridiculous they are playing 3 game’s in a week. 
 

Edit: heard there could be 9 changes so he is using the squad well and giving everyone a chance. 

Makes sense. Stick with the team that won the last competitive game, ignoring the performance and making it clear that noone could ever have got into the first team no matter how well they played in the last non competitive game. Its a free hit as we're not expected to win.

Then you can mix it up for Denmark if we are rubbish (which we will be).

Ahh, the days when we were minutes away from oblivion,  had lost a record number of games, had a toxic club environment and were an embarrassment to our clubs once great name.

I'm glad we can now discuss the finer topics in football about how 4231 and 433 are different. Good times are back.

Shame he's come out and said that, although i suspect there is some truth to it. I'm sure he'll continue fighting for his place but if the quotes are genuine he's shot himself in the foot.

I would back him to get game time this season and deliver when called upon, but saying that makes it less likely he'll get those opportunities

At £5 i'd buy it.  Or in a different world where I could watch the game with my mates I'd pay £15 and get them to bring me a beer with them on their way round.

£15, knowing every household has to pay this or be in breach of covid laws is a bit of a scam.

If the clubs need the money, perhaps they should stop paying insane wages to footballers. Needs to start at the top though. 

6 minutes ago, TRO said:

That maybe so, but Jack is a player to be on the ball.....I don't think Jack will ever be great player without the ball.

It was clear last night he was isolated for the early exchanges and only when he drifted over to the right where the ball was that he made his mark.

He is playing with strangers at present.....they will get used to him and used properly, he will raise their game, by helping to win matches.

There was a moment early on when DCL had the ball and needed to pull it back until the box not noone was there.  Jack had watched the play build up from outside the box and didn't move an inch when it looked like the ball might be on.  I dont know if it was ball watching or him not sprinting to avoid injury, but the same happened a few times to a lesser extent before he picked his play up. 

I must say I'd never noticed it in his play for villa, but it would definitely have been fair to criticise Jack's off the ball play last night. I put it down to conserving energy/avoiding injury in a friendly, but i wouldnt say he'll never be a great player off the ball.

18 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

Are you playing funny buggers with me?

In case you would actually like to know, I don't seek to create issues for others or talk down about people as a pastime.

If I were to be unfair with him, then wouldn't I be perpetuating the sort of behaviour that has made people take issue with Southgate's treatment of our Jack?

You are right about being fair to him, but you aren't being fair. You were being overly generous. As another poster pointed out,  their Mrs saw the attitude of Gareth change when he was asked about Jack. I was curious,  and asked my Mrs to watch the interview and ask her if anything stood out... she immediately said (having not seen the game) "did Jack not do very well?".

He is, either by design or accident, trying to play down Jack Grealish in every way he can.

Maybe he's bizarrely trying to protect him from the limelight until he unleashes him full force at the next tournament...

Maybe he takes exception to the fact Jack went out drinking and inhaling nitrous oxide as a teenager in the England setup. Who knows why, but he definitely has an aversion to recognising Jack's ability and performances. 

**** marvellous. Jack, you've made a mistake here,  brought about by Southgate being a total dick and making you think you have to play otherwise you'll never get another chance.

Should have been withdrawn from the squad. Amusing that he still looks the most creative player on the pitch

If we dont get any major injuries to anyone, if we maintain the average performance level of our first 3 games, if we continue to get favoruable (or at least neutral) decisions from VAR, and if Liverpool and Man City don't up their game....the title is ours.

Southgate Asked what he'd seen from Jack,  answered it by saying that he wants him to do what he does for his club.  In the areas that can hurt the opposition. That he's got his opportunity because he's been playing well for his club. 

Totally scripted but at least he's not lying for a change

21 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Livescore  app has the lineup on already and if its right Jack not in, hope its bollox, if its true I'm on my way to London, I'll probably be in the papers tomorrow.

honestly  I'd prefer he wasn't in, and started against Belgium.  I can't see him starting both games and this one means nothing

4 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

If he had said 99 I think emi would still have left. If he couldn't be guaranteed the start after lenis first game back what about the 2nd or the 3rd.

True, I meant if he implied "you're starting unless you're injured" with the 99% , but yes, he was absolutely right to leave given the lack of assurance. And I could not be happier that we've benefited from it

I am very open minded at the moment.  We could avoid injuries or, at least relatively to other teams, get more lucky with them given most of our team are in an age bracket where they should be in or close to their physical prime. 

That said, Mings and McGinn have both had recent injury layoffs, and I would be surprised if they avoided them all season.

If we avoid injuries and play like we did against Liverpool every week, we could win the league.  It almost certainly won't happen, but it could do. Now that we've demonstrated we are capable of this it is slightly less unlikely than it was before the season started but still extremely unlikely. 

If we accept then,  a drop in performance is likely here and there (and repeating the Liverpool performance likely impossible),  that we'll get the odd injury to a key player, and that occasionally we'll face a team that's having their best day off the season,  you begin to accept that any finish in the top half would be a great achievement. We'll have to revise this view every week as we get more evidence and more information about whether what has taken place so far is a blip or the new norm.

I'm optimistic that we'll be top half,  and if everything goes our way but we don't achieve this I might be disappointed,  but realistically I'll accept any improvement on position last year and signs that the improvement will continue. 

I'm so effing glad that Arteta said 95, and not 99 or 100. Genuinely think he'd still be there if he'd said that, even if Arteta had been lying about it.

3 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Maguire

The whole team gives me that reaction, it's like it's a reserves/ youth game,  with a smattering of experience to give a couple a run out having missed the last game. Jack should be the exception, but it's clear Southgate sees him as a backup to be used only when everyone else is f**ked.

Just now, darrenm said:

Can any Tories use their subscription to get the text from the article?

talksport has a similar none pay walled article,  I assume from the same source...

https://talksport.com/football/771055/calvert-lewin-saka-barnes-grealish-england-line-up-wales/

Suggests the following lineup

Finally gets called up, and started, and it's for a meaningless friendly 3 days before a competitive game.  Surely just confirms that Southgate has no intention of starting him against Belgium, especially given the other names being proposed to start this match.

Kinda hope he only plays 60 minutes.

21 minutes ago, It's Your Round said:

I’ve just clicked through some more of those clips from that same channel. Oh my god, Southgate’s like a parody combination of Will from the Inbetweeners and Alan Partridge. 

 

He really is...

Also, slim and none?  Bob and No surely...

Waiting until January makes sense.  If we only need cover,  well we do already have it across the pitch. Spending money on cover now limits what we can spend in Jan.

Any more than 2 first teamers being out at the same time is arguably a situation noone can account for, so go with the cover we have for now,  then if we are desperately short in a specific area come January we can make a first team signing for the area then, rather than a back up level quality signing now. 

It also means we target exactly what we need, rather than having to make do.  Yes, we'd have to make do until the window opens, but given its only about 10-12 games it's better to make do for that, than make do for the entire season if we blow our whole budget now. 

24 minutes ago, sidcow said:

 

Anyway, Jack's indiscretions at at that age (and even this year) don't seem to have hampered his development did it so I was rather unduly worried I think. 

I do still have a lingering fear that if/when his court case finally happens they might try and make an example of him... i assume he was drink driving,  and whilst there's no proof, do they just assume it is worst case scenario when you leave the scene of an accident under such circumstances?

Honestly, I don't see that being enough to see him getting given the maximum sentence of imprisonment, but sure Southgate could use it against him to drop him from the England team for a while.  Hopefully I'm worrying over nothing,  but it is a slight concern i have. 

Turns out we were not very well prepared at all.  Amazing what has been achieved in the last 1.5 years. 

5 minutes ago, Danishlad said:

Good shout, imo

Obviously only against the top teams as you say.  Then as the game is closing out you can make changes to suit...if we're ahead and Cash is looking tired you can bring on elmo to see out the last 30 mins. If we're behind and need to push for something you go offensive and shove Traore on. The excessive number of usable right backs we have,  is really just a good level of cover. 

The same can't be said for the left side sadly. After Targett, I rate Taylor very lowly. Losing Grealish (perish the thought) would probably mean Trez moving over to the left,  which is fine defensively, but we'd be crippled going forwards on both wings then, unless Traore proves to be a good signing. 

14 minutes ago, Danishlad said:

Tom, who do you see as back up in the role Trez had against Liverpool. A role where he mostly defended deep , to cancel Robertson’s threat. Or attacking wise playing early crosses. 

El Ghazi can’t do it. And im not sure Traore can. If our wingers can’t track back against the top teams we will lose. 

I think Jack and Trez have really done well defensively in this successful period. 

An injury to Trez and i think personally i would play Freddy. 

I hope Traore convinces me otherwise.

Sounds like a role for Elmo, although I don't think he'd last more than 60 mins doing that.

Tbh, I'd probably play Cash as the further forward option,  and Guilbert at right back.  Nice to have options hey!

Great window so far. I didnt want mass overhaul, as despite performances last year, squad morale was clearly very good. Major changes were just as likely to upset the balance on morale, as they were to improve us.

The improvement we've got from the relatively low turnover is, on evidence so far, immense.

Happy if we get one more in,  happy if we don't.  

7 minutes ago, samjp26 said:

Met him this morning going for breakfast, really nice bloke, said he loves it here and I told him we love him too. 

Nice, with fans out of stadiums their direct interactions with fans are going to be limited. So, one dickhead in such a situation could cause relatively more harm than normal.

34 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Club legend?

10 game winning streak, promoted at the first attempt. Playoff final euphoria, got us to a cup final, kept us up against all odds with a completely rehauled squad. 7-2 win over Liverpool.

Very much getting there.  If he wins a cup or gets us back into europe then definitely as that's all we've achieved in recent decades, and to equal it from where we were would be legendary. You can definitely argue that even without achieving either of those, he is already. 

Proud i didn't join those calling for his sacking,  even more glad that the owners stood by him and have backed him.