WallisFrizz

3 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Mmmm. But we're not playing until 10 days anyway? 

Yes and hopefully he will get tested at least a couple of times between now and then. 

Yep

If Scotland qualify for the Euros tonight, it would surely benefit them if they then limited his game time after that as he is such an important player for club and country that they don’t want him getting fatigued by the time the Euros come round. I’d really like to think that Villa were able to have that conversation with Scotland where they ask for him not to play every minute or every game like last time. Obviously he will play tonight. 

12 minutes ago, Lord Willard said:

You don't think Man City are going to look at a 22 yo Brazilian international CDM for 25m, you're off your rocker 

Isn’t it up to 35 mil now as they didn’t buy him in the summer?

35 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Disagree with you saying you don't think City will come for him and with you saying he has a long way to go before City pay for £25m for him.

But, when has he said he has no relationship with City?

Quite recently, last few weeks I think, he was asked about City and he commented that he doesn’t hear from them. I wouldn’t read anything into it either way. He wasn’t pledging undying allegiance to Villa or fluttering his eyelashes at City, he sounded like he was simply stating a fact.

I think the one thing that might help in keeping Luiz is the Covid market. PL players seem to be holding their value but I think they could get a cheaper equivalent from abroad.

9 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I thought it was a poor decision to not make a couple more changes last night, to get minutes for Conor and Davis at the very least. These are players we could well find ourselves relying on in the near future, and more than for match fitness I think it is important to show some level of faith in them to perform when called upon ahead of time. What better moment than when you are 3-0 up? 

Conor will be getting plenty of minutes over the International break.  Also we weren’t 3-0 up until late in the game so how much would it actually have helped them?

They appear to be resting Partey, Elneny, Aubameyang, Tierney, Lacazette and Saka...yay We should take it as a compliment really.

I think Southgate will pick him for the squad because he can’t justify dropping him but I don’t think he’ll play him, probably not even for the friendly as he won’t want the pressure to select him for the competitive games as he had before. He’ll be hoping the likes of Foden and Greenwood slot straight back in and the team perform well without Jack, then he can drop him next time. I don’t think it’s a Villa thing, I think he’s just not keen on him. 

I’d like to see Grealish and Mount (who is also excellent to be fair) have more game time together. I never really understood why Southgate kept spinning it as a choice between the two of them.

1 hour ago, a-k said:

Could simply be because they don't mind if they get caught out of position on Cash's side, as it would be Trez left free to attack. On the other hand, if they target and push forward on the opposite side, they run the risk of letting Grealish get free in acres of space.

Excellent point 

8 hours ago, TrentVilla said:

Gabby really hasn't helped... dick

I’ve got a horrible feeling that tweet of his is going to backfire then used to embarrass us on Friday evening. 
 

Yes, we’re all enjoying our great start but some  of our fans are getting a little big for their boots. 

38 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I dont believe vardy is out. Smokescreen

I’m sure they’ve tried that trick before as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if a few of their injury doubts recover to make it on to the team sheet. 

It wouldn’t surprise me if both him and Mings feature on Wednesday which is not great for us. I’m pleased that the Leicester game has been pushed back a day.

This international break has been a real inconvenience, the high and the confidence of the Liverpool result is going to feel like ancient history when they actually play again. 

I actually agree that GS has done Mount no favours by twice now making him central to a perceived issue between himself and Jack. Mount seems like a nice lad who has done nothing wrong but now is the butt of many social media jokes as a result of this. 
 

To be clear, I do think Southgate was reluctant to get Jack involved initially but has warmed to him. I think he mainly seems resentful of the media hype around Jack and constantly being asked about him which he doesn’t always handle very well.

I agree Southgate is trying to protect him (and other debutants) but then I also thought that in his pre match comments before the Wales game when he said he would play him but for people to not turn on them if it wasn’t a perfect performance and mistakes were made because they had never played together before -or words to that effect. 
 

It would not surprise me if they actually had a decent working relationship. 

4 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I actually disagree, a bit. Southgate told him he needs to be further up the pitch, in the danger zone, and stop dropping so deeply to pick up the ball. I support that 100%, it's a symptom of us being a one man team for so long. We'd benefit immensely from that being drilled in to him.

That works in theory as long as he is getting the service but last night there was nothing for him to work with until he changed the game by   going to the right to make an opportunity for DCL

To be fair Gareth’s comments re not putting too much pressure on him in his first full game are reasonable. I think he’s trying to manage the weight of expectation on him so he doesn’t get a load of grief if he is not 100%

I think we will regret it if we complete this window without strengthening our midfield. It is the priority area for me, along with competition for Targett.

9 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Non sense.

Nobody has had great pre seasons.

It's all about mentality, attitude and desire.

Their players even played in the Europa League and that is not too long ago.

I think you misunderstood me. My point, maybe badly made, was that OGS shouldn’t be using lack of pre season to excuse a poor performance especially when they played against us the week before and some of their players were involved in Internationals.

My overall point was that we should also be fit and raring to go and I will be disappointed if we aren’t.

I don’t think we should be that far behind them in fitness. We played 4 pre season friendlies, two against prem opposition and one of those on the opening day of the season. The players that hadn’t been that involved in the friendlies were used in the cup game. 
 

OGS used their lack of pre season as an excuse for being piss poor. I would be annoyed with us if our fitness levels aren’t high. 
 

It will be a tough game though and a draw wouldn’t be the end of the world provided we beat Fulham.

For me, we’re desperate for left back cover, a strong physical midfielder and a left winger. In that order if I’m honest. 

27 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

Actually why are we talking about Barkley, has he been linked?

Think someone on Reddit said they’d heard it was happening. Gathered pace as a rumour with no one adding extra knowledge. Then people placing bets on it based on the speculation, then people getting excited as we are then odds on to make a signing. 
 

No journo has linked us. 

6 minutes ago, Villarocker said:

I don't think we really gave up in any games last season. There were games where we were outclassed but that can be expected. 

Bournemouth away. Day before they all went off on their winter break. Not interested and it showed. Also, Southampton away before cup final. 

I’d love it If Mings took number 5. He deserves it.

2 minutes ago, Hornso said:

 

Credit where credit is due Villa. Spurs interest was genuine but we acted quickly, stumped up the cash and got our man. Excellent work.