OxfordVillan

Well, we conceded two goals to a player who scores free kicks like taking a penalty. He’s renowned for his ability. I’m sure it’s not beyond the wit of man to have a defender pre-prepared to go to a post as soon as the whistle is blown! What’s the worst that could have happened, concede a goal?!

This one is on the coaching. I’m sat here chatting with my 13yr old daughter and we’re saying how those free kicks are like penalties for Ward-Prowse, we said it before the first free kick and how teams should put a player on the goal line to help the goal keeper. Villa are thick. The change over the last 90 minutes of football to the previous 4 games is staggering. Beyond fathomable. And the inability to alter things from the touch line is really getting to me. We’re 6-0 down over the last 90mins of football and it could have been 10. And Cash should have been sent off. It really has been dire and the early season flame has been extinguished emphatically.

I’d like to think that one of our main objectives in the next window or two will be to get a LB that can REPLACE Targett. For me he’s just not fit or fast enough, think we need a much better physical specimen.

Great start to the season. Look, sometimes.....very occasionally, granted....we have to be able to hook Grealish. Leeds have had him in their pocket, he’s been put off and dithered far too much this evening. Sometimes Dean has to show he can be subbed

Yep. Totally out worked and that’s disappointing. To say the least

Really annoying. We simply haven’t come close to matching the Leeds work rate. That’s the one thing we had to do. Hugely disappointing

There are still things that need improvement in Jack’s game. He has to start shifting the ball quicker.

We’ve got to get a grip in midfield, they must up their energy. They’re just not going with runners

We took the best that Leicester could throw at us, soaked it up, started pushing them onto the back foot with 20mins to go, then knocked them out at the end. I repeat, Bielsa has one way of playing, one way only. There will be no surprises with how Leeds approach the game on Friday evening. Thus far I’d say Liverpool and Fulham have been caught surprised by our goal scoring prowess, and Leicester were surprised by our ability to withstand (with relative ease) their attack. Villa, thus far, seem able to mix up their performances to suit the opposition. Based on the season so far the only way Villa don’t win is if they become complacent and underestimate Leeds. It’ll have to be an off day for 2-3 Villa players. All our wins thus far have been deserved, there’s not been a single half of football where we’ve looked under the cosh and could lose the game. We haven’t fluked any of the games. I’m disappointed Kalvin Phillips is out of the game, I didn’t want Leeds having any excuses come Saturday morning. So the only surprise we might see is whoever replaces Phillips. If we match Leeds work rate we win, if we out work them we smash 3 or 4 past them and win at a canter. Why wouldn’t we go into this game confident and ready to win? We can play stress free and with the possibility of an historic 5th straight win in front of us. This group we currently have at the heart of the club seem to quite like being history makers. I back them to make a bit more history in the coming days.

I hate Leeds. I’d swap the 4 league wins this season to smash a hatful past them on Friday night. Fortunately that option isn’t available and won’t be needed, we’ll beat them anyway and move to 5wins from 5. If form is maintained we win by 2 or 3 goals, I’ll go for a 3-1 win after being 3-0 up. We know exactly how Leeds play, what they’ll do. They have no other way of playing. Match their early work rate and then beat them with our quality.

Absolutely tremendous work rate, a proper team player. One of our vital components at this moment in time, and certainly a vital component at the end of last season. Superb example to every other Villa player.

It’ll be interesting to watch the game against Leeds next Friday, Bielsa doesn’t really do “plan B” football, does he?! Leeds go out on the front foot, they press high and try to do that all game. I expect to see goals in this game for sure.

The difference between this game and last season’s encounters with Leicester is pretty staggering. I think it’s fair to say that last season they showed us zero respect and bossed us for just about 95% of the four games we played them. Fast forward to last night and look at the difference, they weren’t close to bossing it and put much more emphasis on not conceding, staying tight in midfield and at the back. And for the 2nd half Villa got better, gaining the upper hand for the last 20mins or so which ultimately led to the winning goal. What openings did Leicester even create for the entirety of the game? I can’t remember them creating a single decent chance. Villa now have to be respected on the break, respected defensively. That’s a bloody good pair of traits to have in a team. It really is chalk and cheese compared to last season pre-lockdown. Steering clear of longer term injuries is the key for us this season.

Thus far all the summer signings are looking good. Long may it continue.

Can agree with all the above......apart from the, “Hause is a good back up”, part.

The start to a season that dreams are made of! And we can sit where we are in the knowledge that it hasn’t been handed to us with a simple start, we’ve beaten two of the current top 4 (last seasons champions and the 5th placed team) and a team that flirted with top 4/5 last season before finishing 9th. So three our opening 4 fixtures have been against good teams. I’m going to soak it up and just enjoy it for what it is, a great start. We’ve already amassed more than a third of the points total from the entirety of last season, after FOUR games! What’s not to love about that?!

Thankfully Jack can return to Villa today, free from injury and back into an environment where his talents are understood and encouraged. He has the extra incentive of knowing that every good game makes Southgate look a bigger prick. He can get back to focusing solely on the club he loves, safe in the knowledge that it wouldn’t matter if he was at Manchester Utd or even Real Madrid, England currently have a manager who wouldn’t play him, no matter his form or club. Let’s focus on Leicester now and go get something from the game.

Just my opinion but I’m pretty certain that Grealish went rogue in the Wales game. I think Southgate sent him out to fail, in a position and role that restricted and stifled any of Jack’s natural talents. Grealish binned that role off after 15mins of not getting the ball and suddenly popped up in different areas of the pitch, creating chances and causing Wales problems. All against the strict instructions he was given to hold his place and watch the game. He made Southgate look stupid and is now paying the penalty. Pundits, however, are now beginning to snigger at Southgates increasingly incoherent and nonsensical reasons for not playing Grealish. When an England manager starts to become the butt of press and media jokes it’s only a matter of time before his departure. I definitely sense a shift in attitude towards Southgate in recent days, he’s going to come under increasing scrutiny.

Southgate should be forced to publicly clarify comments that were disparaging towards a current player on international duty. His comments basically suggest that Jack Grealish isn’t quick enough, athletic enough, and doesn’t work hard enough. This is a player who was voted MoTM in a 3-0 win a week earlier. Those comments were disgraceful from an England manager on live TV. Let’s hope that Jack can simply shrug off the belittling comments and carry on with his blistering early season club form for a manager and set of fans who love him and have appreciation for his unique talents on a football pitch. Just do it all for Villa, because he won’t be playing at the Euros if Southgate remains manager. A disgrace to the position of England manager.

It’s only opinion of course, but I would imagine that the board are expecting something a little higher than a comfortable 15th. I would think they’d be targeting somewhere between 8th-12th, without a hint of flirting with the bottom 5 or so places. That’s where I am thinking we could aim for without a major injury crisis.

I said a while back that Targett wasn’t fit enough, that he needs to start training like a professional athlete. Look at his shape around his middle in the photo. It’s not good enough and is a big reason that he’ll get left behind if he doesn’t start improving on it now.

Perhaps it’s being greedy, and maybe unrealistic to some, but I still think we need better cover at CB and RW/LW. If it’s possible to strike whilst we’re hot then we should, if finances allow. Mepham would surely have an interest in returning to the Premier League and has obviously worked with Dean Smith previously, so I think he’d be a decent shout as CB cover. Sarr is probably the obvious choice for RW/LW, can also fill in at CF. I don’t see Sarr happening as I think we’ll go with Traore and Trezeguet at RW, Sarr does the majority of his good things on RW. So the glaring hole then is probably LW, and for that reason I probably wouldn’t rule out a move for Benrahma. If that proves to be too expensive then maybe Isaac Success could be a decent back up, if only so we can have Marvellous and Success in the same squad. Stanislas at Bournemouth could be a decent and cheap backup at LW if we want a bit more depth. All that said, I can see us sticking with ElGhazi as the option at LW/RW. I think we needed to shift him to be able to bring anyone else in. So just cover at CB!

I think it’s worth remembering that Luiz would have to want to go back to Manchester City for the buy-back clause to be worth the paper it is written on. The agreement is between Aston Villa FC and Manchester City FC, it can’t compel the player to return. If Villa can maintain a good start and ride the wave until January, and beyond, then there’s many reasons to remain optimistic that Douglas Luiz would prefer to stay where he is. We’re in pole position with the player, we get to speak with him every single day of the week. He can be informed of what players the club are looking to add to the squad, of pay rises he can expect, the ambition of the owners (he’s seeing that already). He’s getting international recognition whilst playing for Aston Villa, because he’s playing every game. Add to that the very real possibility that Pep will be gone within a year, City have integral players that they are struggling to replace and seem to have peaked with their 2018/19 title win.

In some ways he is our statement signing of the summer. He is a player going into his peak years and has come from what many view as one of the elite premier league clubs. He was receiving rave reviews for his displays and was being credited with playing a big part in Arsenals revival and trophy wins. To be seen to be capable of signing a player like that must show the rest of the squad where we aim to be. It also shows other future signings that Aston Villa mean business and are a club to be taken seriously. A snip at the money we paid for him.

He wasn’t overrated, he was clearly a very good player. Injuries done him, made of glass unfortunately. When you miss the amount of time that he did then you fall behind, and he missed big chunks season after season for 3 or 4 years. Make no mistake though, he was very good when he first hit the scene. If I were him I’d look to get out to the MLS and try to salvage some playing time to show for a career.