VillaFaninLondon

Good save Martinez too.

Traore should score, took too long.

Commentator is an absolute bellend.

Hause playing, oh my days. No idea where Konsa is. I was hoping Barkley was going to make the bench at least and that hasn't happened either.

Wet Bum getting thoroughly outplayed but amazingly still drawing at Cit£h. Will be astounded if they manage to hold on.

Fair enough. I’m probably undervaluing Elmo’s aerial ability but mainly because I feel full backs should be rampaging and high energy (like Fred) rather than having height and winning lots of headers. Pretty sure DS will go with Elmo regardless, especially if Guilbert is not performing for the under 23s, but it’s a shame as I feel there is a decent RB in there who should be competing with Cash for the RB spot.

Whilst I don't agree with you on AEG, I definitely agree on Fred. Far better player than Elmo and hopefully he starts on Thursday. Elmo has more experience but he doesn't offer a great deal and is well into his 30s now. He won't bring any extra height or aerial ability than Guilbert to deal with Burnley's balls into the box either.

This is an exaggeration. If you said Taylor, Hause, Lansbury - yeah, they're pretty bad at football and we really need to move them on. El Ghazi is not a horrendous footballer and if his mentality and work rate was as strong as his technique he'd actually be quite good at this level. I don't think he's first team standard if we're looking to break top 10 and push for the European places but he's not as bad as you make out. He's also done some good things for the club including breaking his fast so he could perform in the final to get us up. That right wing position is hardly nailed on for anyone at the club right now, both Trez and Traore aren't pulling up trees, Trez merely gets the nod most weeks because he works hard but he has missed big chances in games for us that have cost us points. AEG is another option for the time being until we bring in better quality.

His health had been bad since he could no longer manage more than one season with us, which went back to his heart problems at Liverpool, but still very sad news. Yes we struggled for much of the time he was here (finishing 9th in the end), yes much of his success came at Liverpool earlier on, but there is also a lingering in my mind of what might have been had Houllier been able to stick around as our manager. I actually feel, given Houllier's ability to sign that higher calibre of player through his close contacts in the game, and his penchant for technical football, that it's a shame he didn't join in 2006 instead of O'Neill. I think his approach would have benefited us more long term despite O'Neill's success while he was here and had he had the money that O'Neill had he would have made the team a much bigger prospect in world football. RIP

Well, he's not. He clearly has some ability, he's come through the famed Ajax academy which hardly produces duffs and also played for Lille who are a top team in France, as well as playing for Holland at just 20 (shame he hasn't pushed on since then, but then if he had he wouldn't be here I guess). He had 15 minutes to do anything yesterday, we went down to 10 shortly after he came on, I'm not sure what you were expecting him to do. He scored the pen, we won, job done. Technically he's absolutely fine, just struggles massively with consistency which is really disappointing because there is definitely a player in there.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a go at a team mate on the pitch, fine. When two team mates on the same team come together in an exchange that could see them both sent off, that is absolutely not ok. It's not good for the players, the team, the manager or the fans, which is exactly the sort of thing Mings is talking about here. Back to the point, I absolutely despise the sort of abuse that El Ghazi took. I have never, ever personally attacked El Ghazi and have tended to call people out on here for vilifying him. Not only that, the abuse he took was actually illogical because he was by no means our worst player last season and also helped get us promoted by putting in a really good performance against Derby in the final. But my original point, and you can disagree all you want if you like, is that while I support Mings' post 100% this is not a Villa fan thing. It happens at other clubs usually when the team is underperforming (which we were last season) and that is one big disadvantage of the rise of social media.

Tend to agree, though I remember Ty and AEG having a clash of heads about a year ago at home to Wet Spam, Ty wasn't happy that AEG hadn't tracked back and told him in no uncertain words how he felt. So there is a bit of hypocrisy there, though that was understandably in the heat of the moment. I feel the problem with social media is eejits of every fanbase (not just ours) can easily come out and berate the players. It happened with Delph at Everton last year when a fan gave him a load of stick over Instagram and they traded some insults back and forth. Arsenal Fan TV is notorious for the players getting stick, Bellerin got loads of abuse after his performance at Spurs. So we're by no means the only fans who do it and Ty needs to understand that. Constructive criticism is ok, even suggesting someone is not good enough is ok, personal insults are not. I reproach all those that did insult AEG as it was completely undeserved. The guy actually did well at times last season and at other times not so well, some accused him of being a coward which was ridiculous, he's probably not good enough to be a regular for us but is still a valuable part of the squad and for me should still be playing a part. He did well in the cup games this year but got absolutely no credit, while the likes of Ramsey, Traore and Davis got praised. I wish our fans would stop having a scapegoat, AEG isn't a bad guy, in fact he's one of the nicest guys at the club and tries his best, he needs to be left alone and allowed to try and play his football when given the opportunity. Hopefully he feels like he can reactivate his Twitter account now and I hope the fans will support like they do he other players at the club.

Smith deserves credit today for sure, though probably should have taken Luiz off earlier before he got sent off. He does tend to make subs a bit late, but I thought his subs worked well today and were the right ones. Big call to play Ramsey but it paid off and thought the young lad did well, nothing special but assured performance, kept it simple, wasn't an easy game for him so bodes well. I can't stand Wolves and how insufferable they've become since they've turned into a half decent team for the first time in 60 years so great to beat them. They look toothless without Jimenez and could struggle. We were lucky to win today really but should have got points in the last 2 games and didn't so it feels like we deserve it.

I’m actually very happy with AEG. He gets a lot of stick from quite a few of our fans but he’s still a valuable part of the squad imo and he can take pens which no one else can seem to do. Shame Luiz and Cash miss the next game but hopefully Barkley will be back.

Yes he gives cards out like there’s no tomorrow. Tw@t!

GET IN VILLA!!!

There are several alternatives, not just Hourihane.

Faster than the snail Hourihane anyway.

Why are so many wanting Ramsey to play, don't get me wrong I like the guy and think he could have a bright future with us, but the guy is 19 and barely played at this level, throwing him in against Neves and Moutinho is asking a lot from him. Such a risk playing him and I very much doubt Smith will either. I think it'll most likely be Traore or Hourihane, I hope Traore, at least he has some pace and skill to cause them problems, whereas Hourihane is only really a threat from set pieces. Nakamba is another option to free up Luiz but not played much football so doubtful.

12th but we do have 2 games in hand. Unfortunately one of those is Cit£h which is usually an annual spanking these days.

We've also lost to Brighton, West Ham, Leeds and Southampton, 75% of them at home - 3 of those sides finished bottom half last season and one was promoted. Not madness at all. We all want the team to find consistency that's all.

I'd go that too but I fear Smith won't and he'll play Hourihane again. We need someone to track back to help Targett against Traore and that won't suit Jack. Play him in the middle slightly ahead of McGinn and Luiz but slotting into a 3 with them when we don't have the ball. My team: Martinez Cash Konsa Mings Targett McGinn Luiz Traore Grealish Trez Watkins

So the Welbeck one is a high line problem, which was really frustrating. We were nearly punished for doing that after the first Brighton goal too, when Maupay ran through and Martinez had to come out to stop his shot. It's probably why away from home we've done better as we don't tend to do that. I'd like to see us play a bit more conservative at home if we're facing pacey strikers, otherwise it will happen again. I agree, we were unlucky he's banged two in. Again, it's partially hard luck, partially our own fault. You say teams will give away free kicks on the edge of the box, I don't think this is true. Certainly the stronger teams don't do it, which suggests to me maybe our defenders just aren't good enough to read situations better and choose not to foul. It also suggests their positioning needs work. So it is something that can be tweaked tactically, but it's partly a personnel problem. We have a really strong midfield now, but need a proper defensive midfielder in there who will sit and break up play before the ball comes close to our penalty area which we don't currently have. I also feel an upgrade in at least 1 (maybe 2) of the back four defensive positions is needed, preferably someone who has played at the highest level and brings a lot of experience but is still relatively young (e.g. mid 20s).

True. We were unlucky that game, scoring 2 direct free kicks is a rarity and happens hardly ever. But we shot ourselves in the foot by allowing him to do it not once but twice.

It still doesn't legislate for giving away 2 free kicks on the edge of our box when we know full well that Ward Prowse is phenomenal at taking free kicks.