VillaFaninLondon

10 PL goals for AEG this season! Unbelievable.

Get in there Bertie! Great finish.

Right, another sitter by them (Mount), can we please effing wake up and heed these warnings! Get the ball to Jack FFS.

We're just playing long balls, I wish we'd try playing football like we did at Tottenham.

They have but we're constantly giving the ball away quite cheaply to be honest.

We haven't started well.

Great to see fans back at VP.

To be fair all of the team were on it tonight. Jack still doesn't look 100% fit but was still a class act, it was a joy to watch him start a match again and we looked so much better when he was on the pitch. McGinn also was brilliant tonight, that lovely turn on the hour mark was classic McGinn but his all round game was good today. Nakamba was at fault for the goal but otherwise put in a great performance, made some key tackles and interceptions and also got the assist for the OG. Would keep him in for Chelsea. Traore was typical, moments of great skill then very poor decision making (why didn't he just hit that shot with his left when he was clean through?), but he did do well for our 2nd goal Watkins pressed really well and was an obvious threat and got a goal, but again his decision making was poor at times in front of goal and he should have finished off more of his chances Martinez bailed us out with 2 big saves from Kane and Bergwijn - his time wasting at the end also riled the crowd which was good to see (Spurs fans are knobs) Mings was really good at the back, as was Konsa and Targett. Hause did what he needed to and was solid AEG took up good positions but again his decision making was poor and he should have got at least one goal Overall though a really good performance and great to see two Academy players get on. Hopefully another really good performance on Sunday in front of the fans.

Great win, great performance. Only gripe is it should have been so much more, we missed so many chances. So glad we've beat them as it hasn't happened very often recently. And thought Chukwumeka looked a real talent - he will be very special indeed. So unlucky not to score with that shot off the post. Philogene-Bidace did well too.

Chukwumeka is special.

We should be winning by more - El Ghazi with a woeful finish when he should have scored and numerous other missed opportunities. Crowd are really on their back and the boo boys were out at the HT whistle so we need to keep this going. Hopefully Smith's HT team talk doesn't see us get much worse in the 2nd period like it has on many other occasions as if we keep this going we'll get more goals.

Having real problems with the site today - getting lots of error messages.

Wow, what an own goal!!! Nakamba making up for his error with an assist.

What a surprise, we've barely even been able to keep the effing ball so far and concede early. Useless.

Exciting to see Jack back but it is a bit of an odd side. I can see what he's tried to do but Konsa isn't a RB - but at the same time Elmo against Son wouldn't be great either. Nakamba has helped defensively when he's played this season and after conceding 3 against Palace you can see why he's in. We'll see what happens, really hope we get something tonight.

Super Jack back in from the start wahoo.

They overachieved under Poch when they regularly challenged for the title and they mistakenly think that's their level. I agree we should be looking to overtake them in the next few years.

Quite ironic reading some of their anger against their board on the Fighting Cock forum: https://thefightingcock.co.uk/forum/threads/tottenham-vs-villa-wed-19th-may-ko-6pm-live-on-sky.41042/page-7 We get told by our own fans that we're unrealistic and delusional and unreasonable for expecting more from Smith yet they're going on about Levy and co like they've hung the club out to dry - despite building a magnificent stadium, getting them competing for the top four every season, keeping their debt down (until they built the new stadium), selling players at premium prices and not to rival Premier League clubs. Jeez, with the owners we've had I'd have snapped their hand for Levy for the last two decades. For a lot of my time following football Spurs were more of an also ran than us and in fact were below us pretty much every season while I was a kid. I know we've been exceptionally badly run over the years so they've moved ahead of us, but they are almost as entitled as United fans despite being nowhere near as big. As far as the game is concerned, we desperately need Mings back in and Jack to start. Our record against them is effing awful recently, can we please get something out of it even a point. Need to end the season with some good performances and results.

Yes because no one will pay that. £150m was just a figure plucked out of the air. Just say he isn't for sale at any price and move on for Christ's sake.

If this is true, I am worried for next season (paragraph 5): https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/harry-kane-transfer-chelsea-manchester-united-b1849097.html We CANNOT sell Jack Grealish this summer. Even if City offer £100m, we should turn it down. For me I wouldn't sell him for anything less than £150m and would simply tell anyone he isn't for sale. He's on a long term deal so there is no pressure to sell him. I don't care if that gives us £200-£250m to spend, spending it wisely is another thing and I'm sceptical we're capable of doing that even with Lange and MacKenzie here. If we sell him then we've genuinely lost the plot.

You do realise we're approximately where we should be based on what we've spent? It has been a decent season overall (but a very disappointing last few months) but to think we've overachieved in any way is naive. West Ham and Leeds are the overachievers this season and our aim should be to next season to overtake them (and possibly one or two others). If we finish lower next season after what I suspect will be another summer of investment there is no way it will be acceptable.

That's it, I had mixed feelings about our signings last summer. I actually thought Barkley was the best bit of business and he's turned out to be the worst of the lot (after starting so well). Didn't rate the Cash signing at the time, thought we spent too much on Ollie, and didn't know what to expect from Traore and was sceptical as his last season at Lyon was poor. I rated the Martinez signing because I'd seen how he performed in the FA Cup Final and a few league games for Arse and it was clear he was a top quality GK - how he sat on Arse's bench for so long God only knows. But last season we finished 17th. This season we will most probably finish 11th. Targets will therefore be more ambitious. The reason we've gone backwards in the 2nd half of this season is because we've lacked quality going forward - that's as much to do with inconsistency of Traore as it is the lack of creativity without Jack in the team that Barkley was supposed to bring with him. That's 2 players signed last season who haven't performed consistently when we've needed them to. Ollie and Emi have been 2 great signings but we've been very reliant on them without offering, in Ollie's case, enough creativity and in Emi's case enough protection at times (giving 23 shots to Palace, for example, though I agree that mings and Cash being out made us more vulnerable). The back 5 is fine and solid enough when everyone's fit (though our form after going in front since January is alarming), but our options when they are injured or suspended are not good enough. Cash has been reliable most of the season but hasn't been as good since coming back from injury and has been the most vulnerable of all our defenders this season - though that is also down to Traore not doing his defensive duties. But our main issues lie in midfield and I want to see at least one creative, marquee player come in this summer to take the pressure off Jack. And I've said it many times before but we also need someone with pace because we're not quick enough in the transition. I also want to see another player in the number 6 role as both McGinn and Luiz aren't good enough defensively. Hopefully we'll see the likes of McGinn, Luiz and Traore all rotated next season and not starting every game because we've seen they're not reliable enough to be first choice for a team with European aspirations.

Key will be the summer transfer window. So far I've not been that inspired by (albeit tenuous) links to the likes of McNeil and Pereira who I just don't see taking us to the next level and pushing us into the top 8. I've seen a few fans namecheck players like Fekir and Bailey - if Smith was being honest about fans being excited by the names on our shortlist you would hope it would be players like those two. If you put two players of that calibre in this Villa team with Jack and Ollie alongside them we would be a hell of a threat. But convincing players of that quality to come here is the real challenge and the owners and management have to have the gall to go after players like that and sell them their vision. If they really want to be in Europe within a year or 2 those are the type of players they have to go after.

Everything Wolves did went through Jimenez too - he was the focal point of the whole team. Selling Jota and Doherty had its impact too but I'm pretty certain Wolves would be several places higher had Jimenez not got injured. I agree that we're more a one man team than anyone else in the league though and that simply has to change next season.

I'm sorry but that's simply not true. Jimenez is a HUGE player for Wolves, they are 10 times the team with him in it.