MadridVilla

Yeah again I wasn't sure how to translate it, but I quite liked the direct translation. I think I might start referring to him as the faithful squire from now on actually, it fits nicely

Haha, I think it's just a bad translation. You'd be surprised how many people think our nickname is 'Villains'.

Great piece in the Spanish media: The Villans revolutionise the Premier League. https://as.com/futbol/2020/10/19/internacional/1603129935_830235.html To see an unbeaten start like this from Aston Villa, you have to go back to the 1930-31 season. Then in the old first division, the Villans of Birmingham were again in second place, only behind Arsenal who also started with 4 wins. Now, 90 years later, they have equalled this historic start after making an unbeaten start in the Premier League. 1-0 against Sheffield United, 0-3 against Fulham, 7-2 against Liverpool in a scoreline that went around the world, and 0-1 against Leicester to complete their winning start. In total, they have 12 points from 12 possible, scoring 12 goals and conceding 2. Villa are second behind Everton, with Ancelotti, James and co. You shouldn't forget that 3 months ago, Villa managed to save themselves on the last day of the Premier League. It was a resurrection that came just in time, after seemingly being destined for the drop and it seemed their days were numbers in their first season back in the top flight. It was 4 games, paradoxically, that changed their destiny (2 wins and 2 draws) and was enough to secure their ticket for the Premier League next season. To change the dynamic, the success in the last transfer window has been key. And they invested almost 85 million euros. Firstly, there has been a jump in the quality of the goalkeeper and defence. Emiliano Martínez, who arrived from Arsenal having won two trophies as the Gunners keeper (and still couldn't secure a spot in the starting XI), has elevated the level between the sticks for Aston Villa. 3 clean sheets in the 4 games they have played leaves him as the best keeper in the league. Also, alongside the partnership of Konsa and Mings and Targett, they added the right back Cash, who arrived having been the player of the season for Nottingham Forest. In the middle, Dean Smith maintains the 2 midfielders with the brazilian Douglas Luiz and the scot John McGinn, who after his injuries will return to be one of the faithful squires of Villa Park. Playing the 'enganche' role, another quality reinforcement: Ross Barkley. The ex-England international arrives on loan from Chelsea, where his importance gradually fell and he finds himself aiming to relaunch his career (he scored the winning goal against Leicester). On one of the wings they have kept the Egyptian Trezeguet. On the other, their main star Jack Grealish. With hair slicked back in the style of the Peaky Blinders and socks rolled down showing his shins, he shows quality in abundance. After nearly 5 seasons knocking on the door for England selection, Gareth Southgate gave him his debut after his impeccable start to the season: 4 goals and 3 assists were enough to pull on the 3 lions shirt. And upfront, Ollie Watkins is the gunner of the team. 5 goals, including a hat-trick against Liverpool in 35 minutes, are starting to pay off the 30 million fee that Villa paid to take him from Brentford. A story that many have found similarities with is that of what happened with the fairy tale of Leicester City: from avoiding relegation at the last moment, to winning the Premier League. However, you have to remember that Aston Villa were European champions in 1981-82, as well as winning 7 league titles, 7 FA Cups, 5 League Cups and a European Super Cup. It's a more than enviable honours list of a team looking to return to being the true villains of England.

I think this has all the hallmarks of being a game for the ages. Villa absolutely on fire, newly promoted Leeds starting strongly, plenty of bad blood from the last fixture. I only wish the fans could be there for it, because a Friday night game against Leeds would be electric. I have to say I have a real love-hate relationship with Leeds - I think they're an old-school club, and their fans are some of the most passionate in the country without a doubt. I've always enjoyed visiting Elland Road for an away game and you can't deny their journey back to the top flight has been a long and arduous one which deserves a lot of respect. But at the same time, especially after the last meeting, there's just something so easy to hate about Leeds. I also think there's an element of a lack of respect for us, as I'm sure most Leeds fans would argue they're a bigger club. But ultimately Leeds love to be hated, always have done, it's part of their character, which is why it's so odd that they're the darling boys of the football press having been promoted. Anyway enough of a ramble, we should have enough to beat them as long as everyone's fit. I don't think the Bielsa style of high-intensity press will really suit playing us, seeing as we attack on the counter and bypass the press most of the time. Defensively we look strong enough to allow Leeds to have sustained possession without allowing too many chances to come of it, I think a similar game plan to Leicester will do the trick.

Well we weren't at our freewheeling best today, but we managed to find a way to win and points on the board are all that matter. That ability to win when not at our best is absolutely vital. Especially after a couple of easy games, the fact we were in a close game and still came out victorious shows just how good this team really is. It's a flawless start in terms of the results, but there's still plenty to work on in the week, if we keep improving we will have a seriously good side on our hands. But it's also important to remember how far we have come - in the last few months, from being hammered by Leicester; and in the last few years, from one of the worst seasons in the club's history just a few years ago, and hours away from a winding-up order. It really is already a fairytale story that is just getting better and better every week.

As a wise man once said... do you want to bet against us?

May I encourage all of you VTers who will refuse to pay the £14.95 for pay-per-view to consider donating the money to a local charity, food bank, Acorns, or whatever other cause you feel is more deserving of your money. Newcastle fans have managed to raise over £5000 for a local food bank, where the money is in much better hands than the Premier League.

Unconfirmed rumours flying around that Gareth Southgate is actually a blancmange in disguise

I don't suppose anyone knows but can you still buy these games without an existing Sky/BT subscription? Seems like you do, which would be an even bigger blunder than charging £15 in the first place.

Similar story with the NFL and NBA as well. NFL game pass is £144 for a season, where you can watch every game live (around 250 games), plus highlights, features, documentaries etc. It works out at around 60p a game assuming you watch every game. If you only watch one team for the 16 regular season games it would be £9 a game. I think a PL over-the-top subscription model is probably where broadcasting is moving towards. But if they were to charge £15 a game for a model like this, a season pass to watch all 38 games would cost £570; to watch all 380 games would be £5700. I think that speaks for itself at how utterly ridiculous their prices are. I don't mean to be overly academic about things, but there's well-established research that states that segregating losses (i.e. having to pay separately for each game) is bad for people's perceptions of value. This is exactly why the American game passes, season tickets etc. work so well, because you only pay once a year. You think less about how much each game costs to watch, and so getting value for money is less of a concern. Slapping a £15 price rate on every game means people can easily decide whether a game is going to be worth the cost or not (and for the most part, games not chosen for TV won't be worth it). I for one won't be paying £15 to watch the games, especially when there are so many other ways to follow the game live.

Partey to Arsenal a done deal then. Torreira going the other way on loan. He is a brilliant footballer, reads the game so well, dynamic, athletic, can pick a pass and has been a big big player for Atleti in the last couple of years in particular. But the way he has left Atleti has incensed the fans and Simeone most notably (apparently). Didn't have the decency to inform the club his release clause had been met and that he was leaving - seemingly the first the club heard of it was when La Liga informed them the clause had been met and he had cancelled his contract unilaterally. The Spanish press are going to have a field day with this one.

Best of luck to Ørjan, we are finally sorting out our GK department this summer. The last few years it's been like that one drawer where you just put loose stuff you have no idea where else to put, and before you know it the drawer is completely full of useless crap. OK, that's a bit harsh on our Ørjan. I will always respect him for that semi-final game against Leicester, he was influential in getting us to the final last season and for that he should always be respected by the Villa faithful. Ultimately though Martínez is a cut above the rest and Nyland won't want to be sitting on the bench (or sitting at home, for that matter) if he has ambitions of playing in next summer's Euros. Hopefully he'll get picked up and get back to playing regularly, because on his day he can be a really great shot stopper.

I'm only really here for one last victory lap of what has been a rollercoaster thread. Gonna miss it when it's locked for good. Maybe every transfer window we can ritually reopen it and pretend we're going to sign him this time. I couldn't care less if we sign him tbh, sure he looks like a great player, but he will always be overshadowed by the greatness of his speculation thread. I don't think I can cope with such a crushing letdown from the expectations this thread has created.

Tonight's demolition will have astronomical fallout for Liverpool. To be torn apart so easily by Leeds and then utterly obliterated by Villa could be the turning point for Liverpool's rise under Klopp - seems like teams are aware of how to beat them and Villa did so with devastating effect. I can only imagine the Malcolm Tucker-esque outburst from Klopp in that dressing room. Oh to be a fly on the wall

200/1 at the moment

Meanwhile their accountant is slightly worried how much they're gonna give away to the AV Foundation this season

Undoubtedly this is our best ever Premier League game. And probably will be for a very, very long time. Enjoy it Villans

Edit: @Loxstock92 beat me to it

Open the thread before he's announced at half time

I think they will just have to play with what they have. If they had an injury crisis they wouldn't be forfeiting games because they couldn't pick a full strength team, so I would imagine the same precedent will happen here. I think games would only be forfeited for safety reasons i.e. to protect the other club. But there isn't really a precedent for this, except perhaps the Orient vs Spurs game in the league cup.

I know it's 'normal' now to play a massively weakened side in the cup competitions. But at the end of the day football should only exist for the fans, and fans want to see silverware. The idea that rotating the squad can help with a team's season has over and over again been proven to be absolute rubbish and it drives me insane watching us struggle for a chance to reach a quarter final when a stronger team would have breezed past them. Smith knows that team isn't very good, otherwise he would pick them for the starting 11 in the league. It is obviously because the PL is more important for financial reasons, but that's another debate about money changing football. If football was really about the fans cup competitions would be treated seriously.

Wouldn't go as far as calling myself a Fred lover (I think he's pretty good), but Cash just has that little bit extra. They're both tenacious and physical, like to get stuck into tackles, but Cash seems to have better timing, better judgements, better decisions for when to go and when to hold back. Guilbert would often make spectacular sliding tackles which are impressive, but really a good defender shouldn't need to go to ground so often. Cash has got pace, a consistently good cross and linked up a bit better with Trezeguet today as well. I think he is my candidate for surprise package and next cult hero, taking the mantle from the Scottish Cafu. I like Guilbert a lot and I would love to see him compete with Cash, because I think they could push each other on. But Elmo is the model pro and a popular figure in the dressing room, and I think he is favoured by Smith for the back-up role. Sad for Guilbert that he hasn't really had a chance to compete, and I wish it were different for him, but that is the Premier League and he has been spat out the other end of it.

Based on the season start so far, it's clear we are looking like a better side already. From the back Martinez is a massive upgrade on our previous GK corps, Cash was brilliant this evening and my MOTM, Konsa and Mings both look stronger than before and better organised, Targett was fairly unspectacular but remains part of a defensive line that has now kept 2 clean sheets in 2 games. Across the midfield McGinn looked like the McGinn we all recognise, Luiz was tenacious as ever and Hourihane got forward well and put in a great shift for the team. Up front Grealish is just Grealish (thought he was a little disappointing today, but those are his high standards), Trezeguet was great today and Watkins put in a big effort for the team, just needs to get his PL shooting boots on but he is getting in the right positions and making the right runs. As Smith said after the game he adds so much to Villa's counter-attacking game. So many positives to take from the opening fixtures, though we haven't played against particularly strong opponents, I think that just shows we have moved forwards where others have moved backwards. We are still a long way from the finished article this season, and it's easy to look at a mostly fit squad and be impressed by it - when injuries pile up, we don't have a squad full of quality that can step in. But it's so exciting to be a Villa fan at the moment, as we seem to be on the up rather than the last decade of predominantly declining. I think also there were a few warning signs from today against an attacking side who managed 16 shots and dominated possession 65%-35% - we will get punished by better sides playing that way. I know it is easy to sit back at 3-0 up, but the way we played out of possession was probably my one concern from tonight. I really thought Smith got the tactics right for this game, because Fulham were absolutely woeful defending the counter-attack, but it will be interesting to see how Villa change to face other teams.

I'm not saying Dr Tony was right all along, but next summer will be 5 years since he claimed Villa will be as famous as Real Madrid and Barcelona in 5 years time... Make of that what you will

Hmm. Interesting now Brighton have apparently outbid us. I would presume we will now match or counter that bid, seeing as we have sent in a couple of lowball offers to test the waters. Definitely no cause for panic unless Martinez has a particular penchant for overcrowded beaches and long piers