wict01

33 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

yep i agree

also said a few pages back that 5/6 years ago when i and many other villa fans started making noises about him being this level we were ridiculed, the "good enough to play for barca" line was uttered by me a few times 

but now he doesnt play for barca he plays for man city...i dont think its the way he left villa i think its who he left villa for, if he was playing for bayern last night and did that the bitterness here would be very different

 

I think the ensuing shambles after he left probably didn't help either. We went from a really solid 2020/21 showing to a mess of a side, sacked Deano and appointed a charlatan. If we'd gone on to do well and replaced him adequately, people probably wouldn't have been as bitter. 

For me, it's just having the heart ripped out of the team by the same soul-sucking state-backed plastics that took Barry, Milner, Delph...it's irritating. Another factor is, with us back in the prem with good owners, I'd like to think if I played for and captained Villa, I'd never want to leave. That's obviously purely hypothetical, but another part of the resentment is the fact that he up and left while it appeared that we had a solid upward trajectory and it felt like a shit time to leave us in the lurch. 

22 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

I listen to every Villa podcast I can find. Luke from UTV podcast grated on me at first but now he's grown on me. I watch Holy Trinity sometimes but annoying not on my Player FM podcast app which is where most of the Villa podcasts are on. I prefer listening on way to work than watching YouTube video. I'm in the any content is good content camp

I'm the same, I like to take in as much Villa content as possible - even where I don't necessarily agree with their views. And to double down on some of the previous comments, I have a ST in the Holte End and there are tonnes of people around me who I would pay to never talk about football again. We're all entitled to our opinions (and to be ridiculed when those opinions are dross) but I've heard people around me say Mings/McGinn/Watkins etc are "the worst player(s) we've ever had". I'd rather listen to Pete from Canada than matchgoing fans who talk that kind of utter shit. 

Awful lot of vitriol on that Newcastle page, Christ. We've been an irrelevance in the premier league era? At least we've won a couple of trophies, Newcastle's defining moment was blowing a 12 point lead in a title race. 

The faux rivalry between the sets of fans is utterly boring and I find it bizarre that people can still be upset over a bed sheet from 14 years ago. 

Just now, SecretVillaScout said:

17! that was a depressing season. 

Truly brutal. We've suffered for a long time, Emery is a breath of much needed fresh air. 

44 minutes ago, SecretVillaScout said:

Newcastle have only won 1 more game then us this season. They've drawn 11 times! I wonder if this is a PL record for draws. 
They will certainly will be coming to Villa Park to try and draw this game. I expect 11 men behind the ball job. 



 

Nowhere near the record for draws I'd say - we got 17 (SEVENTEEN!) under McLeish which is what kept us up that season as we only won 7! 

For this one, I probably would take a draw tbh as it's the biggest test of our European credentials so far. A positive result here and I think we can start to dream. 

30 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Not me. Karma. If we'd have got in a half decent manager instead of Gerrard, we'd have probably spent a few middling years being safe but not achieving much, but most importantly we wouldn't have got Emery. 

Stars have aligned for us and. That awful Gerrard year was part of that. He had to fill the time and fail for Emery to arrive here. 

All part of the cosmic plan. 

I like the way you think we must be owed some seriously good times now after the last 13 years or so 

Feels remarkable that even a draw tomorrow would equal last season's points tally with 8 still to play, after the drudgery of the first 11 games. 

I'll never get over people getting giddy about 35 mins of half-decent football against Spurs at home, in a game we lost 4-0. The guy won fewer trophies than St Johnstone while in Scotland, and apart from being "Stevie G", never had the qualifications to manage at this level. The year we wasted with him just makes me sad, if we'd sacked Dean for Emery at that time I'd have understood the decision and backed it as a proper upgrade but Dean to Gerrard was a hard, hard downgrade. 

4 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Would have felt some sympathy for them 10-15 years ago as I didn't mind them but their fans turned in to utter **** dickheads the last time we were both in the PL and then relegated, guys I'd known for years giving it the big un like they'd actually done something of note rather than just won the finished above villa cup

Seems like a younger generation of their lot tried to reignite something from the 70s and it'll bite them on the ass

Yeah I agree, **** these guys and blues too. Hope they both rot. 

53 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

He was somewhat close to joining or the rumours had legs for sure 

Wonder if there's a deal to be struck there which would help us get Kudus in.....

Had a quick gander at their forum, and since Rodgers' departure was announced they're far more confident and quite a few think they'll "slap" us

I'm feeling nervous for this one for two reasons. 1) after they turned us over at home (albeit I think offensively we played quite well and could easily have at least drawn the game) and 2) we're on the crest of a wave and I'm just so used to this club bringing me back down to earth with a bump. I don't know what to expect but I do feel comforted knowing that Unai has put 110% into coming up with a plan to get the 3 points and that we won't be relying on "individuals" or "moments" to do the job. 

That Sky interview is brilliant, he really is the real deal 

Bought it on my lunch this afternoon. The original was my favourite game for a long, long time (many hours sunk into my ps2 when I should've been revising for my GCSEs) so I am absolutely buzzing for this!

18 minutes ago, Kuwabatake Sanjuro said:

A PR piece in the Athletic today too with plenty of sympathetic voices from the club being heard. They would be insane to try bring him back though given the backlash involved.

He will end up having a career abroad and still make millions.

I have a horrible feeling they will try 

Handled the dangerous Ouattara quite well IMO, recovery pace was excellent. Always exciting when he approaches the box as well, far more dynamism than Digne.

Take all the points re Benrahma, perfectly valid. I know we tend to play with Moreno pushing up and Cash a little more reserved at the moment but I do think we've lacked a property right-footed left-sided player since He Who Shall Not Be Named left us for the bright lights and dollar signs of Manchester. 

Recency bias perhaps after yesterday but I've always loved Benrahma as a player since our championship days, I wish we'd gone for him in the summer after promotion too so I'd try to prise him out of West Ham whether they stay up or not. Would fit the wide left space for us perfectly I think, he has more quality than he has been able to show in a Moyes setup. 

Pathetic from the BBC

36 minutes ago, MarkLillis said:

Although I like Everton as a club I would like to see how they cope with the Championship.

They would add an extra dimension to the competition.

I would like them to do a Sunderland 

8 hours ago, theboyangel said:

GK - Pickford (really let himself down since This Is England)

RB - Luke Ayling (Top knot wearing micro penis)

CB - Ben Mee (professional maimer)

CB - Virgil Van Dijk (overrated, cumbersome and arrogant)

LB - Junior Firpo (absolute waste of space)

CM - Jesse Lingard (tik-toking clearing in the woods) 

CM - Anthony Gordon (Princess Di/Clare Balding hybrid)

 RW - Antony ( showpony with no substance) 

AM - Fernandes (rat faced cry baby)

LW - Zaha (whinger extraordinaire)

ST - Bamford (utter Jessie)

Manager - Mikkel Arteta (Lego haired angry toddler)

 

Antony is a great shout. My mate's barber describes him as "all fart, no shit" 

I hope that goal lets him kick on. I'm not massively hopeful, but there is still undoubted technical ability there that we can utilise until the end of the season. I do think we'll see a parting of ways in the summer though.

I like Moreno so far. He has a bit of dynamism and the things he does, he tries to do quickly. 

9 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Agree and disagree. Firstly, not sure I agree about the bit in bold. You could very well be right, but we as a fanbase tend to rate all of our players very highly but are left scratching our heads when we can't finish above these teams. Like, why is that? Maybe our players aren't very good. 
Take Douglas Luiz as an example. I don't mind Luiz, I think he's tidy enough and he's got better over the years, but how good is he really...? Is he better than Harrison Reed? I bet every single person on this forum will say 'Delphinho, you're mad', but seriously, is he? Is he better than Palhinha? Is Buendia currently better than Willian and Andreas Pereira? 

At some point, us as fans need to realise that we are where we are because we're a below average PL side. Until we start scouting better and finding better players from abroad on <100k a week wages, we won't improve. We're not going to go to another top half PL club and take their better players. What we need to do is replicate what we did with Kamara and go out and find players that are top half quality but playing abroad. It's not easy, for obvious reasons, but there are plenty of them and given the wages we can offer and the size of our club, we can do it. 

"Better" players is always a weird one to me, as 99% of players in the prem will be decent at something at least. I think it's all about bringing out their strongest, most effective attributes in the right team and set up. Are Luiz and Buendia effective in our system, for example? Ish, I would say. Are Palhinha and Pereira effective in Fulham's? They've certainly proven themselves to be so far this season, but then would they replicate that level of form playing for us? Probably not, and that's an issue I think we've always kind of had in a way, certainly as far as back as my brain really dares to go with DOL and MON.