ChicagoVillan1983

On 03/12/2023 at 15:04, Tommo_b said:

Best ever Villa signing?

For value I'd maybe, maybe fight you on McGinn

7 hours ago, Pinebro said:

Interesting to watch this 5 years later.

Gary Neville is spot on here whereas Carragher is wrong.

Reason why it didn't work out at Arsenal is because of egos and players not buying into his philosophy.

 

This is amazing - thanks for posting. He just described exactly what we've been through.

Smells like more FFP fodder to me. 10 million and move on.

5 hours ago, MWARLEY2 said:

I don't know. Will we be shattered? Our previous games we had taken it so easy. Newcastle play at that intensity every single game. We have played like that maybe twice this season . Everyone seems so fit and full of energy  . We should also not dismiss what our support did last night. That level of backing gave them so much adrenaline i reckon. 

If only they had a World Cup winning goalkeeper in their squad.

16 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

People saying we were drained from the performance but Villa could also be galvanised; one last push and then we can change things around.

Also the luxury of Ramsey, Diaby and Moreno raring to go.

I thought for long periods of the game against man s***** Villa were looking to control the game, especially as the match got into the last ten minutes.

Pretty sure Unai will want to keep a settled team but he can change it too.

Who'd have thought at the start of the season that Bailey would be unstoppable.

See how he holds up though - he looked the most gassed out of the lot. Partly because he's been only used to playing half a game and partly because of the style of his play - so high energy.

We'd have beaten Argentina in the World Cup final yesterday. Albeit it would have been weird to see Emi running from goal to goal to stop shots at both ends.

32 minutes ago, allani said:

In the not too distant past I criticised Dean and SG (to different degrees!) because they didn't have a Plan B (or a Plan A in the latter's case) and so although we'd have some good performances / runs it always felt like there was a bad run around the corner.  In defending them both I said that several players weren't good enough and that we needed to replace a decent chunk of the side in order to address our fundamental issue of balance.  When Emery arrived I was sure that he would improve us but I couldn't see how he could turn us into a team pushing for Europe without bringing in several players.  What really amazed me about yesterday is that most of the players on the pitch weren't new signings made by Emery.  I am still staggered that a team that little over a year ago struggled to string 3 or 4 passes together and now pinging it around like the Harlem Globetrotters and out-passing a team like Man City.  Just incredible.  I don't quite know how he's got Digne, Konsa, McGinn, Luiz, Bailey and Watkins playing so well again.  And also how it feels like they all still have room to improve and develop even further.  I mean Ollie is a great example - I think he's one of 3 players in the top 5 leagues to have scored and assisted at least 6 goals this season.  But it doesn't feel like he's in an exceptional run of form and is playing at the top of his game.  It feels like he's still improving his vision for spotting other players in better positions, there are chances that he thinks he could / should have taken, etc.  That's not criticising him - far from it, it is just saying that it doesn't feel like his run is unsustainable or lucky.  It feels like there's the potential where he could have a mini run of 5, 6 or 7 matches where absolutely everything flies into the top corner or deflections go in, etc.  This run feels "normal".

How Emery and his coaching team have turned this side around is miraculous.  Last night was probably the best I have ever seen a Villa team play (been a fan since 1978) - not so much the scoreline, but if you look at every statistic we dominated Man City in every single respect.  It wasn't a lucky win where everything just bounced the right way.  We absolutely dominated them - the best team and the best manager in club football had no answer to us.  Incredible.

What is even better is that I am 98% certain that Emery and his guys have absolutely no interest in using us as a stepping stone to a "big" job.  The media / social media know-nothings may speculate all they like - but I don't see there being any risk that Man Utd, Liverpool or even Man City come calling and Emery ups and leaves.  For those clubs to come calling we will need to be consistently challenging at the top and if we are doing that then I genuinely believe that Emery wants to create a legacy somewhere.  He has the power and the freedom to do that here.  He might win less silverware but I think he's won enough that that isn't his primary focus.  Winning a trophy here will mean much more than winning a trophy at PSG, Man City, Liverpool, etc.  Winning trophies with us would be a legacy that would extend for decades.

None of the other big teams will give him the freedom and control that our owners have. Certainly not United or Liverpool. 

The way I am feeling right now is that Emery is going to become our Sir Alex equivalent.

If I'm the richest guy in Africa and a wealthy hedge fund manager from Milwaukee I'm backing Unai massively.

At a certain point money ceases to be useless except for the enjoyment it brings you by spending it.

Genuinely the first time this season I voted the Ref as being very good.

Was there keeping an eye on the game, but didn't interfere and just let the two teams battle it out.

Absolutely should be the standard of how to do that job.

Coming into these 3 fixtures (B/ M/ A) my baseline for good was 4 points. Now I fully expected the 3 would come from Bournemouth and we'd sneak a point from one of the others.

A draw or better is in the great category for me - and we should walk the rest of our fixtures for the year.

Beat Arsenal and I genuinely believe we'll be top at Christmas.

7 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

West Ham want him and think he'll end up there and be a "nearly but not quite" CF under Moyes. Or maybe a squad player at somewhere like Newcastle as Howe signed him for Bournemouth.

Have to think we're going to be a really exciting prospect for any out of favour forward with CL club. Given the Sevilla connection wouldn't shock me if we went in for En-Nesyri. He's still 26, CL experience and has a decent enough scoring record in La Liga. He'd score a few from the cross Diaby produced at Bournemouth.

Solanke is a good backup to Ollie, but not on his level.

Do we really need a RB or better cover at CB? Because Konsa looked like an elite RB last night to me...

Took him 5 months or so to fit into Emery's system - feels like that should be our baseline expectation for any new player. What Emery has them doing isn't simple.

If we beat Arsenal we're going to start the new year top of the league. Punch it now.

25 minutes ago, paul514 said:

No one has mentioned it yet, but the new tv deal being announced ups our revenue to raise the allowances for spending within the rules.

Eh. It impacts everyone. It's like you get a few extra nuclear missiles and Russia gets a few extra nuclear missiles and it cancels out.

All that happens in the end is price inflation - players cost more for everyone.

There just isn't quite the cutting edge or motivation there for bottom half teams, and a three day turnaround. That's the challenge of fake European football. Going to have results like this.

A point flattered us I think, but we're always threatening up front. Some praise to Emery for the change up - it bought us the equalizer.

A little disappointing with all the results around us this week and the next two games we have - but glad to get a point and move on.

10 hours ago, DaveAV1 said:

Because an opportunity arose to get money for him that wasn’t likely to arise again. That’s what we’ll run management is all about. It was a good decision at the time and fairlylow risk for us, WestHam and the player. Grown up thinking,I’m sure you could ask an adulting your house to help?

Everyone is for sale at the right price. Gotta hit the bid when it's aggressive.

If we're top 4 by Christmas not going anywhere. 

9 hours ago, KevinRichardsonsMoustache said:

Aston Villa History Examination

Paper 1

Answer the following question: 

1. Jack Grealish leaving Aston Villa was the best thing that could happen to John McGinn. Discuss. 

Best thing to happen to Villa, full stop.

Bottom 13 teams build around one player...

3 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Agreed. Plus, it would hurt to lose Dougie, feel like he's grown up with us. Been through our survival season and everything.

If we are competing top 4 - I don't think he will want to leave in Jan.

If we make CL, he stays for sure in Summer too.

7 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Not sure of the finer details, but Arsene Wenger has proposed there be daylight between players before it’s off side. So it would mean a player would be onside unless the majority of their body is in front of the defender.

That would totally blow up the league. Be more exciting brand of football that's for sure. Think fans would prefer that.

Spurs look buried with their injury list. Expect them to go down to City this week.

Pro's - seeing opposition fans sinking when they have multiple goals per game disallowed... Seeing the most exiting brand of football I've every seen Villa play in 30 years of supporting them. 

Con's - Mrs isn't a fan of the stains on my boxers

There's always a price. If someone comes in and meets it and Unai says OK then he can go.

I'm confident we'll spend well on the other side of it.

But if we are 2 points off the top by January 1, that price is going to be astronomical...

Let's throw out a hypothetical, and I know they aren't like for like but let's do it anyway...

Someone comes in with 100 million offer for Doug - anyone feel more comfortable about him going for that price now Youri is showing potential?

2 hours ago, Teale's 'tache said:

I'm all for wanting to find ways to improve etc. However, anyone who expects to go away to Spurs and not be under pressure for a long period, are being naive in my opinion. We had a game plan, I'm sure part of that would have included soaking up pressure, especially for parts of the first hour at least, just stay in the game.

There is no team in history that has dominated every minute of every game they play, especially away from home, Man City, Liverpool, and Arsenal all have tricky periods in almost every game they play, maybe it's 10 minutes, maybe it's 20, maybe it's 45, there's always a spell where they don't have full control and have to defend. That's just football. I think we need to work on reducing how long that period of pressure can be sometimes, we can certainly improve, but it's easier against some teams than others.

Were rode our luck no doubt, but we just needed to keep in touch, the Spurs gameplan was to blow us away early and kill the game and they created enough chances to do that, but they didn't take them, as soon as it got to half time, especially with the bonus of the equaliser, it was obvious we had more left in the tank as well as more options from the bench to change the game, I would not be surprised if that was part of the plan, to be in touch at half time with a stronger bench to call upon.

It wasn't perfect, Emery wasn't happy, the halftime subs tell you that, issues needed correcting, but our manager is experienced and well-prepared for every possible eventuality.

I think Emery is looking for more control in these games, for a few reasons, one is obviously the more of the game you control the more likely the result falls in your favour, but also the more you have control the less energy you use. I see teams like Spurs, Newcastle and Arsenal with this crazy intense press, trying to keep that going for 90 minutes every game is going to have an effect at the back end of the season, especially for those in Europe. This is where an experienced operator like Emery is being very clever I feel, our approach of keeping the ball, slowing games down for periods, and only expending explosive energy when the opportunity is there is very clever and long-term hopefully will benefit us in the business end of the season.

 

 

 

I felt he got the first half wrong, and he knew it. I was impressed with how he changed it up - we have a lot of options on the bench to do that, and unlike previous managers he has more than one plan and is willing to adjust as needed.

No matter how much pressure we took, we always have the threat of going up the other end and scoring one more than them. Very enjoyable brand of football to watch.

Project will keep evolving and we'll get more and more pieces to improve at the back.