ChicagoVillan1983

I remain to be convinced if he lucked into that midfield setup through literally having exhausted all of his other options that he thought would work, or if it was by design… but I’ll be damned if I’m going to criticize it.

Felt like we were solid in the middle for the first time under Gerrard - maybe a little exaggeration. But it worked.

Got to stick with that setup until it’s not working again. Very competent and solid.

I pray that Bailey stays fit - I think he could become a Villa legend…

I know I’m going to get wrecked, but just a half of not conceding against city. It feels a bit more hopeful…

Feels like we are playing like a League 2 side against City in the FA Cup

Anyone secretly hoping we lose 9-0 today? Seems to be the magic number...

On 30/08/2022 at 18:27, Spoony said:

I guess they might as well let the Arsenal and City games pan out to more easily justify sacking Gerrard. We are going to lose those games regardless. 

To win over the last 0.3% of Villa fans who think he needs more time??

Gerrard shortened from 6/1 to 5/2 overnight to be next manager to go.

Rogers is 5/4.

Frank 8/1.

I want to be supportive… And if we’d had a good end to the season then I might have been. But I’ve seen nothing to show that he knows what he is doing.

My only real hesitancy is over who we’d get to replace him… Brighton would want a stupid amount for Potter even if he wants to come (not clear) - I think they are guaranteed to drop if he leaves…

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

Thats way too nice for my opinion

He’d make a good head of recruitment - I’ll allow him that…

1 minute ago, Adman said:

We're not the blues

This… At least the highlight of our last 10 years isn’t selling a player for 25 million. So much so that we had to retire his short!

Damn… Purslow should’ve been on the phone to United and offered them McGinn for 50 plus add ons…

2 minutes ago, PerryBarrPet said:

The only reason I can think of to explain why we would not spend money on new players now is because we cannot find/attract players who are better than those we have. One thing we should not do is spend for spending sake.

Or because we have players coming through the ranks that we believe will fill gaps, in which case filling that gap now versus saving the cash for a future upgrade is a consideration.

48 minutes ago, paul514 said:

He must have done something good last season he went from 4.5m to 9m to 19.8m to 27m to 31.5m during the last 12 months on Transfermarkt

I swear Wolves are going to turn out to be a big money laundering scheme.

We’re in this weird landscape given the rest of Europe is basically broke where the only players you can sell are players that would be nailed on starters elsewhere in the league, or your best players going to a better team than you.

None of our players that are surplus to requirements are likely to be nailed on starters elsewhere in the league.

The model most clubs are following is to just acquire as many “good bets” as possible - meaning buying plays with potential that can come good. Problem is you will be left with a lot of players that don’t pan out and that you can’t sell on. Particularly anyone over 25. So it feels like you are blowing a bunch of money, when really you have 1/3 players that you gambled on that become a rock solid nailed on starter and 2/3 (maybe) with a residual value of close to zero.

At our level, those ones that do come good we can’t sell on for a profit without weakening the side. 

2 hours ago, duke313 said:

A CM is a must, I think we could get by with Watkins, Ings and Archer. But the midfield is still unbalanced and needs resolved ASAP.

Agreed. The probablem with the strikers right now is the service, nothing more. They can’t score if they aren’t given goal scoring opportunities…

About 20 f’ing MILLYUN

Epic win. Clearly the kid is easily swayed and is 100% focused on money now rather than what’s necessarily best for his career.

Sure he might be a 100 million player, but he absolutely is not ever going to stay at Villa. His attitude seems poor and there’s a very good chance he’ll suffocate on the Chelsea bench.

This is hands down an excellent piece of business, and I praise Purslow for getting this over the line. This is just sensible business management.

Thought we’d grind out a draw at best. We looked real quality. No complaints going forwards.

Might start that Chambers kid up front next week if it were me - looking like a class attacking player…

We were lucky to keep a clean sheet I thought. But any more than 4-1 would have flattered Southampton. Onwards and upwards - love to see him tweaking the side to figure out what works.

Chambers entire transfer fee paid off with that one pass. Seems like we got ourselves a bit of a bargain!

WTF was that Chambers pass… Worldie!

I think the ref could have done a bit of a better job of keeping a lid on that one. I’m shocked there wasn’t a second yellow in the game. It felt like it was going that way.

We didn’t look like world beaters, but we created and scored. Nice to see Ollie doing what he does best - why are we not threading those kind of balls for him all the time.

Defense was solid. Midfield bossed by my MOTM McGinn. Coutinho great.

Ings just isn’t a fit for how we seem to want to play, unfortunately.

I wanted a front three with Bailey in it today. Just something different!

We don’t, I repeat don’t need a RB…

DM yes please.

CB yes please.

Why the heck do we need a RB… Cash + KKH is golden…

2 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

So, Gerrard plays Luiz in the role even though he lacks the key defensive skills to excel in the role to the level we require. Nakamba is excellent at the defensive aspect of the role and the energy required but lacks the longer range passing we'd want from him. 

The switch between Smith and Gerrard is primarily full backs = attacking players. So the main skill set needs is attacking skills like crossing, ability to create chances, passing skills etc.. at expense of defensive skills. While with the midfielders there is more emphasis on defensive qualities and energy as they cover the full backs or screen in front of the CBs halting attacks in transition.

This is why we've made signing of Digne to take Targett's role. Why Nakamba was shining in the new formation and tactics. It's why we need that Bissouma type player in central midfield.

Amazing when you play someone in a position that suits their game how much better they look…