MrBlack

Turning right.. go for it Going straight on? Give way to those turning right Turning left? Ha, good luck I like it. Not sure how we translate that to our front 3. Maybe you have to do 270 degree right turns before you're allowed to cut inside from the right wing?

I wonder if he is an absolutely lethal finisher in training and they were just bemused that he finally did something in a real game. He definitely has 90% of the attributes he needs. I pray he gets some composure and kicks on from here.

Dean Smith in the post match interview : "I've seen a few no look passes but not sure I've seen any no look receives before" Hahaha

Important things achieved, that's all that matters in this game: - got through to the next round - no injuries - gave the fringe players a chance to prove themselves/prove they aren't worth keeping - Davis scored -Watkins scored on his debut (and looked very very good) Overall, not an enjoyable watch but with the above achieved, alongside the obvious, today is a very good day.

Lovely Jack. Just lovely

Oh Keinan

Time to find out if keinan can score...

How have they not got a booking. Ref hoping we'll get an injury before he has to get a card out?

Glad Hause, Lansbury, Taylor (even with his lucky assist) and to a lesser extent Elmo won't be in our team regularly this season. Playing themselves out of contention nicely.

Not sure he had much time to react and it bobbles up as he went to hit it. Unlucky.

Decent probing but lacking a quality ball in the box. Elmo seems to have forgotten how to do the only thing he is good at. Taylor continuing to be awful. Guilbert and Targett better have the league spots. Promising signs but need a decent chance for Watkins

Not hating but don't think you're giving Dean's Villa blood the credit it deserves. Even if not for what he achieved (getting us promoted, getting us to a cup final, keeping us in the league), the fact that he is a Villa fan, when Jack loves the club as much as he clearly does, will be a big factor. They'll talk to each other like fans talk to each other (not like they do in here, but like they do down the pub). They'll be best mates at the club. Look at Jacks post where he was hugging Dean after the season ended. There is a lot of mutual love and respect there. That isn't to say another manager wouldn't have had the same impact on Jack, but they would have had to go an extra mile to do so, and i'm not convinced that there was many extra miles in the squad last year from the managers we would have had available to us. On Dean, my main criticism of him is his delay in making changes when we're on the back foot. I give him grace for this given the sparcity of quality on our bench. Looks like he'll have no excuses on that front this season. Try a little positivity, it wont kill you.

I think we'd be foolish to think there isn't one (even Messi has one!), but there's no way Jack doesn't have Villa's best interests at heart. He is 1000% not Delph.

Didnt know about the bit in bold, useful information, but as you say, they will know this and will know how our system will work with this desire. Other than that, a big thanks for this as it is almost exactly what my long winded post that got lost to the archives of VillaTalk was saying. Agree entirely.

He was rumoured to have said that...and is since rumoured to have said that he just wants out to anyone in the premier league. Both rumours may or may not be true, but latest opinion is he might be interested in us. Having seen us pay Jack 140k a week, he may be sold the vision.

Be amazed if an outright release clause is less than 150m. A relegation release clause might be around 80m mark, although I doubt our owners are even that negatively minded to go there.

Great news. Never in doubt Feel sorry for anyone negatively minded that misses the news and thinks we've sold him after seeing the post count sky rocket.

I guess some of our signings this season may be due to push him down the ranking. This would ensure he stays top is my reading.

Would start him tonight, wouldn't start him against Sheffield United. He can learn a great deal from Elmo, and expect he'll be our right back for many years to come once he's settled and got up to speed with the league. For now, for me, Guilbert would keep the starting place in the league, but looks like Smith has other ideas.

Just typed a massive speech on this, editor lost. In short: - concerns over his attitude and the fact other teams haven't got the best out of him, we've never been exceptional at this ourselves. - lots of top flight experience in Europe and England - ability is there if we can offer the right environment for him If he signs, we'll have a potential bargain, or a saleable asset in a couple of years where we'll recoup most of what we spent.

As well as being true of Elmo (they know exactly what both Elmo and Guilbert are capable of), it just doesn't make sense why they wouldn't give Guilbert a run out over Elmo, even if only for his fitness. Unless Guilbert has a knock, is awaiting a covid test result, or he's kept himself in top shape and smashed the bleep test through the roof, I'm confused why he didn't get any minutes.

bizarre he doesn't play today unless carrying a knock. That really makes no sense

Awesome thanks. I only know VERY basic Portuguese and assumed that this may be something like how native speakers drop certain words. In this case, that suggests some promising developments for his recovery. Fingers crossed

That result will do nothing for the already low morale at West Ham. Nothing there to change my pre season prediction that they're one for the drop. Other quick take aways from the opening day... Palace looked OK, Zaha seemingly back in the zone which bodes well for them, but their keeper played a blinder which he won't do every week. Leeds looked better than i was expecting, but that defence of theirs looks inedible shaky. Liverpool seemed to take defending lessons from them. Glad it's back, especially given we looked pretty decent today in our friendly today