juanpablosaliceband

We can’t start using tiredness as an excuse already. We have had a good break since Christmas. The squad has been well rotated all season. We may not have huge quality in depth but we do have depth and numbers. Most players have had time out with a combination of injury, suspension or squad rotation. Konsa, Luiz, McGinn, Kamara and Watkins are probably our most used players. Konsa now has a good break. Luiz had a short suspension. Kamara had a long suspension. None of them play international games other than McGinn. The rest of our squad should have a full tank of fuel. I’d be surprised if any of our players have played significantly more minutes than any of the top six, in spite of their deeper squads. 

Giving Tim and Zaniolo three minutes. What’s the point?

1 minute ago, rodders0223 said:

Konsa screaming lining prone holding his knee. Physios come on and work his knee joint for 2 minutes.

Don Goodman "I don't think Trusty caught his face."

Man is the thickest word removed alive

And then calls him Bailey. 

28 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

"Great" is doing some very heavy lifting here.

I think he’s actually one of the worst players I’ve ever seen play for Villa. Had the mobility of a bag of sand and regularly got skinned by poor championship players. Couldn’t pass the ball five yards. He may have been a better player earlier in his career but he was incredibly limited at Villa. Signing players like him and Glenn Whelan kept us in the championship longer than we should have been in my opinion. He seems to have a cult hero status for having a beard, winning headers, being good at taking penalties and for being a decent guy, but I thought he was bloody awful as a player. 

People calling for a 3-0 win but would settle for a 1-0, as if it was a draw. It was the same before the game at Old Trafford. We become half decent and start expecting to smash teams. Any win in the premier league is difficult. A 1-0 win would be a huge result. 

I’m amazed at the amount of people who seem to think a points deduction and relegation would be somehow excessive for Man City. If they are found guilty of these charges, they will have to be stripped of titles. Lance Armstrong was stripped of all his Tour de France titles for winning by cheating. It’s the same thing. The Premier League are not going to be soft on City after bringing 115 charges against them. That makes no sense. 

Man City 

Man United

Rangers

Leeds

Birmingham

Spurs

MK Dons

Wolves

West Brom

Liverpool

14 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

I sincerely doubt Man City will be deducted 20 points. The authorities won't have the balls. 

I think it will be a lot worse than that and can see them being stripped of titles. And rightly so if found guilty. 

9 minutes ago, vreitti said:

Putting on Duran so early has cost us dearly. Was like playing with 10 men. People claim he is some great talent. Utterly laughable. Most sunday league players are more complete footballers.

That’s extremely unfair. He didn’t look out of place at all when he came on. Linked up play. Dropped deep and kept possession. He came closest to scoring with a good effort and had another header just wide. He was a physical presence too. I thought he looked dangerous. 

Newcastle are toast. They’ve got 29 points in half a season. They need 41 points from 19 games just to get to 70 points, which probably wouldn’t be enough for top 4 this season and potentially even top 5. They’ve no chance. If Newcastle pass us out, it won’t be for a champions league place so no point in worrying about them in my opinion. I think we are guaranteed top 5, with Spurs the only danger for top 4. 

11 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

I think Luiz is our best player... But not every week

Ollie and konsa are more consistent 

Luiz has had a tough Xmas without Kamara 

Up until the last few games, I thought he’d been consistently brilliant. I actually think Ollie has a bit to go with the consistency. I still don’t feel certain he’s going to turn up for every game but he’s pretty close. I agree Konsa has been extremely consistent and at a very high level.

The crazy thing for me is that we are second in the league without all our players firing on all cylinders; some through injuries or lack of form or getting used to the league. Cash, Carlos, Moreno, Ramsey, Diaby, Zaniolo, Tielemans, Duran, even Torres are just a sample of players where I think the output could improve for the second half of the season. It bodes well potentially. 

I think Luiz has been head and shoulders our best player. He’s given us so much and makes us tick. He’s been our orchestrator in my opinion. Next level down would be Martinez, Watkins and Konsa. Bailey most improved player. Kamara the most potential for the second half of the season. He hasn’t quite kicked on like I expected when he first joined. I think those couple of injuries last season stifled him a little. But he’s crucial to us and can go up another level. 

5 minutes ago, jjaacckk91 said:

Carlos and lenglet just aren't it man.

Surely cash in for one and a balanced back four makes more sense at this point.

Cash is out sick. Not on the bench. 

A real kick in the mouth and a feeling of five points dropped. But we need to stay positive now as fans, players and management, and push on again. We will have good players coming back and potentially some January additions. We are still in a very strong position and have proven in the past that we can put winning runs together. A few issues there that we can hopefully iron out in the process. If we can replicate last season’s new year form, we are in for a great season. 

Stupid, stupid foul by Ramsey. 

I make it that 11 more wins will be enough for top 4, assuming we draw at least a couple too. If we can get at least two more out of the three games before new year, I think the top 4 job is as good as done. The foundations will have been laid. We would only need 30 points or so from the last 18 games. Interestingly, 5 out of 7 of our games against the other top / big 8 will be at home in the second half of the season, which shouldn’t hurt either. 

17 hours ago, Pinebro said:

Looking at Spurs fixture list it looks very favorable for them

Well we are about mid way through the season so shouldn’t everyone’s fixtures be pretty much the same at this point? 

Saw this again. I’ll be stunned if it’s not overturned. He barely touched him. Ridiculous that the punishment should match that attack by Ben Mee. 

Immense win. Big thanks to Ben Mee for his contribution. Lots to learn from that. Too many players needlessly lost their composure and we ultimately paid the price with a silly red card. But a huge three points, which seemed impossible with 20 minutes to go. 

2 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

No chance, you can't be doing that.

Do you think? I thought it was a soft red. 

2 minutes ago, jayEm said:

Absolutely love Emi. Do think him trying to drag the Brentford man off the ground was a big mistake, no need to inflame things that late on.

I could understand it if we were losing but don’t get it when we were winning. Let Maupay sit there and waste his own time. Bizarre for Emi to get rattled like that and it fed into the chaos. We had no composure after going 2-1 up. 

Should have a good chance of getting that red overturned. Barely pushed him.  

Ridiculous by Emi. 

Filth tackle by a filthy scumbag. 

Clear red card for Mee.