WallisFrizz

Yep. All of that (still secretly wishing for a EL spot though).

Yes, he will want to forget his last couple of matches but we are doing so well and have transformed ourselves defensively. Mings is a massive part of that and has been largely excellent this season yet people are falling over themselves to have a pop at him. Criticism on here tends to be reasonably calm and rational (match threads aside) albeit not always accurate but other social media platforms can be vile. What worries me is that he strikes me as a confidence player who will be well aware of the change in feeling for him. A Mings lacking confidence is not good for us. I don’t know why our own supporters can be so horrible to our players. How is it ever going to positively impact the confidence and spirit of the team which is so important in achieving success. We need to be with them not against them.

It’s nice you’re confident but I think you’re naive unfortunately. We are building something but I don’t think we can do it at the pace he would want. There has been no proper test of either ours or his resolve with a mega bid from a Champions League club yet. I would be amazed if one didn’t come in the summer. Pogba will leave Utd for big bucks and then they will have the finances and the hole in the squad to push for him. If he has a good Euros, he’ll be one of the most sought after players in Europe, which he probably is already. If we finish 6th-10th, it would be a great season for us after last season but would it be enough to persuade him to stay if a CL club put in a massive bid? I think we’ll have a battle on our hands but our owners are fantastic and will be well up for it.

Agree. This is the side we get exposed time and time again. Trez helps out with the defending but his finishing is lacking, Traore can finish but leaves poor Cash run ragged. They’re fine for the squad, but we need a complete package of a player to be a regular starter. I really don’t think this will be window to do it. Other priorities are another striker and cover/competition for Targett.

I couldn’t believe it when he said that completely seriously and am surprised not many people have picked up on it, it was ridiculous. Obviously Andy Cole agreed with him.

Mings has been fine on the whole. It’s the front line that is worrying me more. Ollie looks fed up and out of confidence.

Is this well known? It’s mental! Don’t see us being the team to change it either unfortunately.

I’m really hoping Dean has a game plan around this.

I’ve been predicting Watkins to score for weeks now. I’m going to stop jinxing the lad.

This match is now being promoted as United’s inevitable return to the top of the table. I was listening to the radio earlier and heard an entire match preview in which Villa weren’t mentioned once. I would so like to cause an upset.

That Spurs game

Cavani banned for this match, definitely good news for us.

Gary Neville already tweeting that they are joint top as if the game against us is already won. Our boys need to get fired up by that.

United will be totally motivated for this game as they could go joint top. They will definitely up their performance levels from Wolves. We will have to be completely on it to get anything. I think 2-2.

When you look at our bench vs their bench, it is exactly the reason why I’m glad the 5 subs rule didn’t get the green light.

Chelsea can play a whole different side and still be competitive eg Giroud didn’t feature yesterday and is one of their joint top scorers. Not saying we won’t win but I’m just starting to think that the optimism levels might be going a little OTT. We need to still back these boys even if the next 2-3 results go against us.

No way will we be playing second string against a revenge seeking Liverpool in FA Cup.

Apparently we’ve kept most clean sheets in the league. Burnley joint second. Maybe the writing was on the wall for this one.

Club has dealt with it (fine and public statement), courts have dealt with it. Media have savaged him, police have released the footage to embarrass him further. I’m not saying any of the above is undeserved but I think it’s time we move on and continue our support of him. I hope he remains as Captain and his teammates rally round him.

He can’t complain at that, could have been worse. Needs to make sure he’s only talked about for his positive exploits on the pitch between now and the Euros. A bit of contrition wouldn’t go a miss either (I did like his distraction car stunt tho!).

Or that Fred’s getting match fit in preparation for Burnley.

I thought he had a good game. If anyone reads The Athletic, there’s a really positive article about him today, mainly around his leadership on the pitch and how he contributes to the overall organisation of the team during matches. I think people forget how much we missed him when he was out injured at the end of last year.

I don’t think our defending has declined over the past few games I just think we defensively flattered to deceive in the first four games: 10 man Sheff Utd who had backs to the wall Fulham who were dreadful. Liverpool- we conceded 2 Leicester- without Jamie Vardy and one of the least creative sides in the prem this season.

The main content person for Whoscored is a massive Villa fan (Martin Laurence on Twitter). Even last season, our players were scoring far more favourably than I would have expected.