wict01

Proper gut punch of a result. Played well in patches but we are absolutely gifting the opposition goals now. I’m all for “taking the positives” but when the manager comes out and says it’s not **** good enough then I’ll side with him. Just felt like typical Aston Villa. Always a footnote in somebody else’s story. Sigh.

Really hope we can get a good 10-12 weeks or so of Carlos and Mings at CB before the end of the season. I think it's likely our strongest pairing by a good way.

Arsenal ain't ready

Modern day Villa hero, absolutely delighted

I don't think he's crap but certainly has struggled to adjust since he arrived. He was streaky for Leverkusen in terms of performances but it was more of a 2 or 3 good, 2 or 3 bad thing unlike the 1 good, 7 or 8 bad that we're seeing. Definitely enough of a player there to work with IMO but whether he's truly an Emery player, or if the club want to persist with him, jury's out.

Had a bit of a look on a Boro forum after last night and they appear to be thrilled with the pair of them, with what they've seen so far. Be great for our lads if they could part of something special for Boro this year, they look like they're on a real roll and could have a proper shot at the autos if Sheff Utd have a wobble.

Thinking of potential "step up" signings we could make, I'd really like us to have a look at Lorenzo Pellegrini from Roma if for some reason we can't make Guendouzi happen. Going big on 3 £40-50m or so players like him could be exactly what we need (outgoings dependent, of course) such as Pellegrini/Guendouzi, Pau Torres and then maybe a more wildcard sort of option for a forward like Lukas Nmecha, or Williams from Athletic Club if that interest was genuine. Really keen to see what our team will look like come 1st September!

Has there been any noise on the potential outcome of United's internal investigation about MG? Whatever happens there will be telling, as others have said I'd be surprised if their sponsors didn't have a big say in it

I think Valencia would be thrilled with that proposition - getting rid of Peter Lim!

Famously difficult to get players out of Athletic Club isn't it...the Basque loyalty seems to run very deep. It would probably take a huge sum of money, definitely our new transfer record. Can't help but be concerned after how Kepa has done at Chelsea too, big risk. I like what I've seen of Bono and on the world cup theme I liked the look of Livakovic as well.

There were a lot of "gentrification" kinda suggestions in the survey IMO, things like restaurants and fine dining experiences which I personally wouldn't want in the Holte. Out of the options, the things I was in favour of were more traditional match day food options/independent local traders in the concourse, I think it's important to keep a local feel and help out Birmingham-based businesses where we can. If I want a posher experience, I'll go to the organic fruit and veg stall outside the new North Stand!

50 points and 10th/11th will be it for the season I think. Get the season over ASAP with yet another "Big Summer" ahead, only this time the bloke in charge of it is worth trusting. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised and see us have a real bash at 60 points but that's going to take 9 or 10 wins from the remaining games and I don't think we have it in us, barring a miracle (i.e. Diego Carlos coming back and having a monster 2 or 3 months)

I agree to an extent, and always try to be positive about current players on the whole but the majority of this group has seen off two managers already (one of whom was a total chump, granted). It’s not like they’re new, they’ve been consistently inconsistent for getting on for 4 years now, some of them.

**** City, **** Sky, **** Grealish. Second half better, overall not impressed. Hopefully we can get something next weekend because some of these lads are playing themselves firmly out of a Villa career.

The condescending shite spouted by Neville and Tyler has really wound me up as well. Maybe that's just a comment on my mood after how poor we've been but Sky really **** hack me off

Indeed, they can't change what went before. The complete lack of anything resembling energy or urgency was a shocker though.

First half was embarrassing. Second has been more what I would've expected.

Anyone still welcome that rat back with open arms?

I agree, I think the settled CB partnership for the rest of the season will be Mings and Carlos once big Diego is match fit again

I thought we played relatively well, as others have said. On another day, we could've had 5 ourselves. The main issue for me was Kamara being off it (no criticism, it just wasn't his best game - he has more than enough credit in the bank) and as a result, any mistakes made by the back 4 were amplified. I thought Mings was shaky, as much as I like him, and Digne offered absolutely nothing defensively or offensively in the first half. Moreno was an improvement but, again, punished decisively for his error on the 4th goal. Leicester's front 4 worried me before kick off because it has the capacity to cause trouble and score goals, as it did on Saturday. Defensively they are poor, but they do carry a threat going forwards. That combined with our own complacency cost us the game. Plus Iheanacho, Maddison and Barnes love playing against us so to have all 3 of those on the pitch together was just pure kryptonite. You can see what Emery wants us to do and we have to persist with it. Would not be surprised in the slightest to see us go to the King Power (whenever that is) and put this right.

I think Europe will be beyond us this year, but a top half 9th/10th place finish would suit me just fine after the 12 months wasted under the last incumbent of the managerial hotseat.

99.9% certain this is bollocks

The BBB (Bert, Bailey, Buendia) triple threat is gonna take the prem by storm

Bertie's back, baby (according to JP)