MrBlack

That's levy's fault for being a cheap skate and not paying the going rate for players, whilst spending millions on a white elephant of a stadium (only partially joking) As for the other clubs in the lower half of the league, you're right, it is extremely unfair to start allowing 5 substitutions against those teams.

There is an argument that hitting it any softer would have meant it got intercepted...or it could have resulted in us winning a corner, or the defender scoring an own goal. Definitely hitting it too hard in front of everyone does no favours to anyone. It had the feeling of a goal about it, looking like hundreds of similar goals that are scored every season, but it wasn't to be. Davis maybe could have been sprinting harder, suspect his lack of poachers instinct didn't help him either.

But we werent more clinical, hence a draw was "fair". They had a definite goal ignored, and we had a penalty (in my eyes) ignored. They cancel each other out. No one scored. I then bemoaned the fact we played with a non goal scoring striker as a lone striker and probably part explains why we couldn't score. We created a lot but only one shot springs to mind as threatening, which was well saved. Having more shots is not a precursor to scoring more. Sheffield were especially poor by their standards, so maybe we should have won, but on the basis of play that would have been unfair to them

Good result. Draw was fair despite the fact they had a definite goal and we should have had a penalty. Not a great performance but to be expected in the circumstances. Whatever formation Dean was trying to achieve, its not going to create much in the way of goals with Davis as a lone striker and Grealish effectively a wing back. Maybe just going defensive with the opposition in mind

McGinn, and indeed any footballer, should have been able to train and maintain a level of fitness that allows them to reach match fitness when things restart. The fact the Premier league chose to restart before any player can get match fit is a burden to all players, not just McGinn. I don't buy that he'd be in a worse position now than before the Chelsea game at all. Unless he had a recurrence of the injury or some issue directly related to covid-19, he should have been in a better position injury wise when we re-started training, and now be as up to speed as any other player in the team.

Assume the massive sheets serve a dual purpose of looking good and having the ball rolling back to the front of the stand. Limited ball boys and no fans to throw them back could see us out of supplies after 5 minutes, particularly given our wayward passing! Looks lovely though, hopefully the fans on the video screen give the boys enough of a morale boost to give us something like a home advantage.

Rightly so. You can't change the rules of engagement after everyone has started using them without agreement from everyone it affects. A farce to end the season early for anyone. A farce to carry on under different conditions and laws. What's the rush.... oh yeah, money

I get the feeling that the fact he puts in a half hearted attempt to defend is what makes him blow up like he did against Mings. In his mind he's doing his best and trying to defend, but not being a natural defender and (as you pointed out) probably having never had to do it consistently before in his career, means he's not very good at it. Being not very good at it, he will subconsciously be putting in less effort than when he goes forward. With decent actual coaching and a bit of time, he could be exceptional in my opinion. He does need to work on his mentality for when things aren't going his way and the club should recognise this

This has very much been the case in Germany. In fact, after the first couple of rounds of fixtures, away teams were actually more successful than home teams, with home teams only winning 20% of the matches. Looks like the trend continued, so home advantage is definitely weakened, if not removed. Which makes a further farce of the plan to restart in these conditions but, hey, integrity and overflowing wallets etc

Maybe not en masse, but I do think there would be enough of a gathering for it to be newsworthy, primarily of the younger parts of our fan base, just as an excuse if nothing else. As for liverpool fan celebrations around the country, you're probably right. It's definitely a matter of time before we find that out Let's hope we stay up and get to find out what our fans will do!

I hope you're right! I actually don't see the season getting "finished" anyway. If a game has already been called off because a manager has covid, it won't be the last time that happens. And the second wave incoming from the protestors that ignored distancing advice will probably mean restrictions can be expected in ~2 weeks time. Maybe I just see everything negatively now.

Reckon there won't be a gathering of villa fans if we avoid relegation? Sounds small minded but I'm convinced there would definitely be easily a hundred or more of our fan base that wouldn't be able to help themselves. Same with any club achieving anything. Increase/ decrease the number gathering based on the size of the achievement, the size of the fan base, and the general intelligence of the fans. A liverpool title decider being played in southampton won't stop their fans gathering in huge numbers, it will just mean they'll be doing it in liverpool and Southampton

You should probably discuss implications with your employer before doing something that is against the law and likely to hinder your ability to do your job/put others in your job at risk down the line. Whilst the context of Mings' actions would make what he did acceptable in my view, if he didnt consider the people that pay his wages and the safety of the people he works with in his actions then that would warrant a response from the club. Who's to say he didnt get the all clear from them anyway?

Agree entirely with this. The short stints ive seen of him show he has an excellent first touch, the ability to hold up the ball, and the ability to find another player. That all sounds incredibly basic, but comparing directly to what was on the pitch before him on those rare occasions he was a class apart. If he can avoid injury, which sadly seems incredibly unlikely, he could be very good. If he is showing promise in training and is fit, I'd start him.

Something I never thought I'd hear myself say...I'd start Elmo for this game. Did a cracking job on the final and with Samatta's apparent heading ability I think an elmo cross is our best chance of scoring from open play. Would consider the same team that started the final, as it gives us options from the bench to change shape or bring on more offensively minded players if needed. I think Grealish getting silenced against City is less likely to happen against Leicester, but if it does can just switch him out wide. Feeling optimistic for some reason, possibly the length of time without a league game making me forget how poor we've looked lately, but I'll take it. A draw would be a great result, a loss is not a disaster but piles the pressure on even more.

I've thought this for some time too,and lexicon hit the nail on the head with my view. The pressure to perform is already massive, and when you throw in how much the game must mean to him as a fan as well as a player and I think those games are the ones Jack struggles in. Relatively speaking, of course, when compared with his usual exceptional standards

I'd love to see this tried, just out of curiosity. Clearly what we're doing at the moment doesn't work. Unless we miraculously take the fight from our league cup final into our league matches something definitely has to change.

There is every chance we'd have lost by even more with man to man marking, but we'll never know!

Keinan looks like such a good player. It's a travesty that he cant stay fit.

Their goal from a corner that wasnt is looking even more farcical at the moment. **** VAR

Oooo corner

Conor totally bottle that (terrible) pass from Douglas. He must doesn't look interested from open play

Actually they werent on the replay. Both feet did leave the floor very briefly but by the time he got anywhere near aguero the studs were pointing down and one foot on the floor. Overall I'd say it was a foul as a bit over aggressive and potentially dangerous.

If it's good enough for the badge...

Grim reading the result today. Doesnt change the fact that all the teams around were likely to pick up at least a few points between now and the end of the season and we will still need to get some results against teams we will be expected to lose against. Still in our hands, stil need to get better than we have been so far this season.