OxfordVillan

I said the last time we played West Ham that their threat was set pieces/headers. We didn’t defend those properly twice and lost a game we should have won. I expect no different patterns of play this time around, it should mirror the 1st game where we pretty much controlled the play and tempo. West Ham don’t give up many clear cut chances, so we have to be more clinical when the opportunity arrives. But first and foremost we have to limit balls into our box and stay defensively concentrated the entire match.......especially early into each half.

What needs to happen is for our chance conversion rate to improve. We have to start taking a bigger proportion of the chances we create. I’m confident Villa will create more chances than West Ham and have the lions share of the game, as we did at their place.

One of the luckiest wins you’ll ever see. We were poor for pretty much the entire game. For the manager to make just one substitution in the 95th minute is bordering on negligent, an absolute joke that we didn’t utilise the bench, to at least time. Happy to win but not daft enough to see that was pretty poor all around, GK aside.

Ffs make a change

I’m not sure who can be tasked to do it (maybe Barkley?) but somebody needs to be on Romeu more often than not. A lot of Southampton’s good stuff starts with Romeu. However I don’t expect us to pay any special attention to any opposition player, it’s just not what we do.

The need for another CF is clear to see. Somebody to really push Watkins further on, to be an alternative. I don’t think anything is happening this window, I think they’re hoping Wesley gets a couple months or so of this season to see where he’s at. It’s no surprise that when Keinan Davis came on last night he looked completely devoid of match sharpness...... and he isn’t getting any minutes anytime soon.

Everyone has a price. What is in our favour is that JGs price tag will be too high for pretty much anyone, and our owners can’t be arm wrestled. Madrid and Barcelona are in the worst shape they’ve been in for decades, I don’t see Germany being on JGs radar, ditto France. I don’t think any Italian club is in a position to spend the type of sums required either. So we end up coming back to Man City or Man Utd as being the only possible destinations that could probably put up the money required...... and I think the only money our owners might even contemplate would be a new world record. And to be honest I don’t even think our owners will sell at all, I think they’re here for the glory. JG is worth more to us staying at the club. Crazy isnt it, to think that a £200m world record fee isn’t even worth 2 seasons to us in the premier league?! For any transfer of JG to make any sense to Villa at all, then I think you’re looking at a fee somewhere around £250m. Which isn’t going to happen. For comparison, anyone remember Jadon Sancho?!

I **** hate Burnley. How can one team get so **** lucky. We’ve shot ourselves in the foot, big time. This game is the biggest smash and grab in history

What is it with Burnley and good fortune?! This is another game where they should be 4-0 down and game over by halftime, yet somehow they’re still in with a chance at just the 1-0. It’s incredible good fortune, nothing else.

Luiz is off it tonight thus far

For me the next level is finding/signing the likes of your Mo Salah, Mane, Sterling, Aguero, etc. Players that come in and score the quantity of goals that those players have given their teams over 2 or 3 seasons. If we had a player or two posting the numbers of a Salah or Aguero then we’d be very close to top of the league right now. We might still get that with the players we already have here. Who’s to say that with a seasons experience under their belts, Watkins or Traore won’t go on to post 20+ goals in a season? Nothing is guaranteed in football, you could spend £60m+ on a player who ends up being distinctly average and not posting the numbers you’d hoped you were buying. But you need a regular match winner or two in your team to challenge for the trophies. In Grealish we already have a fantastic talent that every other club in the league would like, and I think he’s still got another level to go to. We’re close with our current starting 11, but you can’t stand still and admire yourself for one minute in this league, it’ll catch you out.

Tyrone Mings says Hi

It’ll be similar to our last game against Burnley, we’ll have the lion’s share of possession and chances. Burnley aren’t even going to try and put sustained pressure on us because they are incapable of doing so. Once again they’ll look for the opposition to make a mistake or to get something from a set piece. So we’ve got to be disciplined against giving up unnecessary free kicks/corners that offer them the opportunity to give their meat heads a chance. Having Luiz and Barkley back should make the difference this time around against Burnley, 2 players that can pick a pass or score a goal. If we can pull Burnley’s defenders in, we should have plenty of opportunity for our full backs to hit the line and get crosses in which will have the Burnley defenders facing their own goal. Burnley give us literally nothing to fear going forward, aside from set pieces. Just need our CBs (Mings in particular) to keep it simple. If we turn in our now usual level of performance then we win. We’re due to smash someone again soon.

Football will catch up with Burnley, just as it did to the likes of Stoke, Wimbledon etc. They revel in being lauded as the spoilers, their managers soak up the plaudits lauded upon them by certain sections of the media who proclaim them to be a supernatural genius turning water into wine. But it’ll be relatively short lived. Teams gradually wise up to the likes of Burnley, they refrain from over committing to attacks, trying to get the win that they think their football has merited. No, if it’s getting late in the game and your 80 mins of playing football around them hasn’t produced a lead, then you must simply remain defensively sound and just keep playing the same way, don’t give up any silly mistakes (as per Liverpool the other night) in the pursuit of 3pts, be content with 1pt. The wins will come for the footballing teams like Villa etc. Burnley will always be left scratching around for 0-0s if teams remain constant against them. Burnley have only set pieces. They don’t do possession, they can’t do counter. They rely on opposition frustration to lead to a mistake. Their entire set up is built upon frustrating everyone and pushing the rules of the game above and beyond what should be acceptable. Dyche’s “talent” is in having created a myth that Burnley are simply a hardworking, honest little lot who are taking on the role of David in a battle against Goliath. Burnley are the epitome of football shithousery. I sincerely hope they get the absolute spanking that they so richly deserve from Villa this evening.

He looks every inch the insurance policy for Ross Barkley. Looks really good business to me, well done Villa

A decent read https://www.sportskeeda.com/amp/football/no-bruno-no-problem-why-marseille-s-morgan-sanson-could-be-the-answer-to-manchester-united-s-midfield-woes

If you never rated Kenny Sansom then you have issues..... kenny sansom was a fantastic LB

Bournemouth would be a good move for Hourihane. A good footballing team at the sharp end of a promotion race. This is in and around Hourihane’s level, and he’d showcase his talents better in a promotion race rather than a scrappy fight at the bottom of the premier league in a poor team. It would be a good move for all concerned.

I think Sanson potentially coming in could be a savvy move, with the player being good enough to slot into a starting 11. Villa also have to be wary of ManCity taking Douglas Luiz back, and so we give ourselves time and cover for if that happens (and it probably will as Man City will now be viewing Villa as a threat at the sharper end of the table). Sanson coming in now gives him half a season to settle into a new environment before a full preseason going into next season. Villa will be under no pressure to quickly find a replacement and get held to ransom. It makes perfect sense.

I think West Ham desperately need the money. Expensive players on expensive contracts at West Ham. The owners there don’t have deep pockets and they’re losing revenue big time with no fans in the stadium, West Ham are losing out on around £2m in gate receipt revenue with empty stadiums. I’m pretty sure they don’t have the capacity to buy big this January.

Traore is not for me, thanks. A relatively small purple patch of form last season, other than that he’s proved to be very little other than a very fast, fine physical specimen.

Don’t think Brighton would have any easier ride with work permit than ourselves. They spent £20m apiece on Webster and Maupay, £18m on Trossard, £15m on Bissouma.

Why would/should we let him go on a free transfer? He could easily go to a championship club and his set pieces get that club promotion........worth £170m minimum. Or he goes to lower end Premier League club and his set pieces help keep that club in the league (worth a minimum £100m). He has 18months left on his contract, he has value.

A loan would be fair, I’d probably even entertain a permanent move if there was a sensible offer on the table (something in the region of £5m). He’s served us well and he needs to play football to secure his international place. A loan is definitely more likely, though, as I don’t really see any other Premier League club coming in for him and so it’ll be a championship club I would think.

The sensible thing to do is to assess in the summer. If it were my money I wouldn’t be paying £30m for Ross Barkley at this moment, on the basis that there’s a reasonable concern over his time out injured, both now and over his career to date. I don’t buy into the argument that there’d be no resale value as a reason for not buying at £30m, because when you’re trying to break into the group at the top of the league you have to accept that some player purchases are for the “now”, and will not bring profit. There will be financial losses on some players, you have to factor that in. But if I’m buying one of those players for the “now”, I would hope for them to be available for at least 75% of the time. Ross Barkley is a talent, Villa look really good with him in the team when he’s fully fit. But he’s been unavailable for 8 of our 13 league games, and that’s nowhere near good enough for the expenditure that would be required to sign him right now. Chelsea clearly don’t want him and they’re carrying a player on £100k per week. Let’s wait until the end of the season and see how Barkley has performed over the entire season, and how badly Chelsea want him off the wage bill. Villa are in pole position for Barkley if they want him and Chelsea are looking to let him go.