villanmac

I should also say, his attacking output which is excellent (and he does get credited for) is massively aided by having Jack in front of him so dont want to make him out to be a complete victim! In that regard he has an unfair advantage over every fullback in the prem.

Not having this improvement thing. Hes being consistently good for us since he arrived and the level of criticism he gets has always bemused me. Yesterday was much easier for him defensively as he and Grealish double up a lot of the tíme against Traore. Usually its a thankless task at left back as Grealish is so far advanced and roaming in-field a lot of the tíme. Now, obviously you wouldnt have Jack playing any other way as you dont want to see him defending all game but it seems if a team gets a few attacks down our left hand Targett consistently gets hammered. If the same happens to Cash or Guilbert nothing gets said. Hes one of the most unfairly treated players i cant remember in a villa shirt.

Would have benefitted from the odd 20 min cameos off the bench in the weeks leading up to a full premier league debut. I know Smith doesnt do subs much but i prefer that to the sink or swim approach.

Spot on. I've given up trying to describe what its like to watch him as a villa fan but that articulates perfectly. It doesn't get any better than this. None of us will see another player come close. The rest of the lads need to get their arse in gear. Barkley was a big step but we can't be losing this f**ker!

Good lad - take the dive. Everyone labels him a diver anyway when he's kicked - see the first half last night. Get them booked and if the ref isn't sticking them in the book, stick them in the book for him. Teams want to single him out for special treatment with cynical fouls and then get all up in arms when he goes down. They can't have it both ways. Brighton were doing it last week and i liked that he got Lamptey sent off for one then too.

Was really good last night. West Ham's central midfield is pretty pedestrian going forwards and he dictates those kind of games. He has this great first touch where he just flicks the rolling ball out to his side to hit (for the goal at Bournemouth last season and for the pass to Barkley for the goal at Arsenal). It looks simple but its brilliant and almost like a signature move for him.

Struggles with the basics at times. It seems like every single forward we have has that problem.

Its an age old tactic for coppers to target footballers on their way to and from training grounds. I remember years ago talking to a copper who told me how they did it for years at United. He reckoned they had half the first team squad on at least 6 points and Fergie was fuming with em always ending up in court but then they clocked him too

Not any type of foul but the contact on the ball was sufficent against the contact made on the player after to not give a foul. That contact was never gonna bring him down so he dived like a salmon to the ground.

It wasn’t a penalty. He got the ball and trezeguet dived after minimal contact.

As talented as he us, Barkley is a liabilty!

The ball gets hoofed over their heads because they are all slow and static. Its not like the cbs just pick it up and hoof it without seeing what options they are. They dont demand the ball and they dont work hard enough in the press or in making themselves available when we win it back. Truth be told they are also painfully slow.

I knew we'd get tonked today. Theres absolutely no intensity or pressing. We're just turning up expecting to be able to play. After Leeds theres no way we shouldnt be at it from the off here.

Some more astonishing tracking numbers from Leeds’ emphatic victory over Aston Villa: Distance covered (km): 106.0-115.2 Total Sprints: 150-223 Leeds ran 9.2km more than Dean Smith’s side and made 73 more sprints In reality we could never go toe to toe with them with Grealish, Luiz, McGinn and a clearly unfit Barkley. They never had the legs. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we should have sat back against them and parked the bus. Not the Dean Smith way but it was what was needed with the 11 we had. Despite Bamford's eventual brilliance on the night Leeds are actually pretty shit in front of goal, if we parked the bus a bit we could have mugged them.

God its amazing how a few villa wins can make the world seem such a better place. When they play like tonight you realised how depressed you really are and how unfulfilling life is.. its like taking the Red pill in the matrix. Already pissed off at the thought of going to work next week and the weekend aint even began.

Gabby is a **** gobshite tbh and we dont need him doing team talks for the opposition.

No, and i ain't paying £15 quid for a premier league game either but its an opportunity to watch a game you wouldn't normally have access to, no-ones losing out. PPV sport has always took the piss but n context of Sky paying 3 billion for 128 games I can see why this one is the way it is.

I must be missing something here: Its 15 quid to watch a game that you could only normally watch (legally) by paying 30-40quid for (i.e. by going to the game). So its not like anyone is going to more out of pocket than they normally would be for watching it. And Sky BT and the likes all pay god knows how much for rights to package of games they get. They ain't gonna do that if fans can then watch any game they want for a fiver a pop. I doubt the clubs see this as a revenue builder anyway. Its more a case of fighting back against the government who wont let them have fans in yet at same time expect them to show all their games for free.

I’d say Helenius lived up to his price tag to be fair!

He couldn't have lived up to the hype of a 400 page speculation thread anyway. No man could.

This fella is all about the bratwurst. Was never gonna leave Germany i think. Thats why he was so set on Leipzig. It was the best he could do in the Bundesliga. I reckon weve pulled out all the stops to convince him but he just didnt want to in the end. Its a shame the German market got cancelled this year, could of swayed him.

Once it hits 5pm delete this thread, bury all the evidence and protect the identity of those all involved. We never wanted the little prick.

Jesus Christ..Keep an eye on that bird, make sure it goes past Southampton!