Rich192

Thought he played really well when he came on. It’s more of what we’ve seen the last couple of years for the under 23s. Him signing a new contract would be great news, and anyone saying otherwise has either not seen enough of him, or just doesn’t want to get hurt again, understandably. I know it’s from a pretty small sample size (216 minutes), but he actually had the highest xG + xA per 90 minutes (0.64) in the league for us this season. He turned 18 during this season, I don’t think that’s appreciated quite enough. It would be huge for him to sign a new contract, and I hope he starts at least one more game this season to encourage him to do so.

Another good performance today, following his man of the match performance last weekend. I liked seeing him on the left, his overlap of Digne for the third was lovely stuff, and would like to see him do it more often, especially if we can play Emi in midfield. Still a question mark over his distribution, but today was much better at 87%. You could argue that he played so well because of the opposition, but so be it. If he can keep putting in these performances then we’ll be a much better team, as rightly or wrongly he’ll be first choice again next season.

Thought he was excellent again today. We’re really starting to see the ability that we knew he had. Took his goal brilliantly, he and Emi seem to have a good understanding. See no reason why he can’t score 15 goals or so next season if he gets regular minutes.

Thought he was excellent today, probably his best game of the season, following on from a mostly positive performance last week. Really encouraging signs for his partnership with Ings, too. A lot of us had all but written them both off, but if they keep this up then we have ourselves a strike partnership that works. Hopefully he’s turned a corner, and keeps playing like this. Also, double digit league goals in successive seasons is a very good achievement for a club in our position. He still needs to work on his finishing, but if he keeps this work rate up, his occasional poor technique will be forgiven by the fans.

Another very good performance from him today. Him and Cash have probably been our best players under Gerrard. He does have the occasional brain fart, but he more than makes up for it in the rest of his game. Top guy, and a good defender to boot. We’ll need to replace him eventually, but I’d be happy if he was still first choice next season.

Brilliant performance, and great to see he’s won everyone over. This was my favourite signing of all time when it happened (along with Collymore, but least said about that one the better). Took a bit longer than I expected to settle, but the quality was always there. The through ball for the first was straight out of his time at Norwich. Got a bit lucky with his goal, but he’s earned it. 3 goals and 6 assists is a good return for his first season, that’s a goal contribution every 187 minutes, which is very decent. We must find a way to play both him and Coutinho, and I said in a different thread earlier in the week that Emi can play in midfield. He’s good enough defensively, and having another player in midfield who can actually play would be hugely beneficial. Obviously we’re miles away from their level, but Man City play Bernardo Silva in midfield, and Emi’s defensive stats are far superior to his. Obviously this is an extreme example, but there you go. You might have to sacrifice Ramsey if you did this, which is a shame, however needs must. Decent first season, and don’t worry, he’s just getting started! He’ll go down as a Villa legend by the end of his time here, I’m convinced of it.

Bring in Buendia for him. He can play in that CM role, and if not, let’s at least give it a go.

Mine has gone from £575 to £633. Not the end of the world, my block (K6) should definitely count as price zone 2, so I can’t grumble.

Does anyone know if we can use Archer once he’s played his last game for Preston? He’s under 21 so doesn’t need to be registered.

Him and Buendia were suspended for two games because of the fiasco about them travelling last September. He’s not injured.

I think the tribunal is only for English to English clubs, if he’s out of contract and goes to Dortmund, I don’t think we get anything for him, as I don’t think Derby are getting anything for Festy Ebosele going to Udinese.

I think we need to find a way to get our best attacking talent on the field, whilst also giving adequate protection in midfield. The dream is Buendia, Coutinho and Bailey behind a striker, and in order to do this we’d need two dominant, strong defensive midfielders in midfield. Realistically, and it pains me to say this as I like all of our midfielders, none of them are good enough to do this role if we are to get in to the top 6. Signing Phillips and Bissouma would be an excellent summer in this regard. It may well be greedy, and expensive, and possibly not realistic, but with those sat in our midfield we’d have the ball a lot more to give our quality attackers more opportunities to create and score. If the scouts find a gem abroad meaning we only sign one of the above, then fine, but I’d also be happy with the vast majority of the budget being spent on those two positions in the team. West Ham have shown how important it is to have a midfield two that can be regularly relied upon to allow the rest of the talent to do its thing. Soucek isn’t even that good, in my opinion, so if we were to have two players just below Rice’s ability, in a similar formation to them, we’d be a remarkably better outfit. I can’t see it happening though, Gerrard prefers different formations, but no matter what formation we play, I believe we need two top quality (or as good as we can get) midfielders of that ilk, which give more protection to the defence. I like McGinn and Douglas Luiz, and am gutted we haven’t seen more of Sanson so far, but if we sold them all to buy Phillips and Bissouma (plus an additional £30m probably?) then that would be a very successful summer. We’re not going anywhere quickly with our midfield I’m afraid. I like them all, and they’ve been a huge reason why we’re in this league, but we can’t be sentimental.

Not everything came off for him today, but O’Reilly has real talent. Some of his dribbling and passing were excellent. Real prospect. We looked better with Barber in midfield I thought. Probably deserved a draw in the end, based on the chances we created second half.

We don’t know the details of the loan, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a £5m loan fee and £15m option. That would represent a decent deal for all parties. Although as it’s Newcastle I’d have preferred it to total more like £25m in total, but them getting Trippier for such a reasonable fee early in the window set the tone. That was a very good signing for many reasons.

Cazoo for another year. They’re a good sponsor, hopefully we’ve got a much bigger fee for the year though.

I believe the standing rails are due to go in that corner between Holte End and Trinity Road.

Here’s a good thread with more detail and analysis.

Has it ever been leaked about the loan fee, and if there’s an option to buy?

He’s back in full training.

I did this for the Man Utd game to give my uncle my dads ticket, and the e-ticket didn’t work. He was told to go to the ticket office about 5 minutes before kick off. Luckily, with a lot of persuasion and a wee bit of anger, his son got him in. I’m happy to follow these new rules, but Villa need to meet us halfway to ensure that there are no problems with these e-tickets working. It isn’t the first time within our group that it’s failed, either.

Amazing news! Better than any signing. Oh, and a bit more wiggle room for FFP. The timing might not be irrelevant.

Can’t wait to be honest. More excited by this than the transfer window.

There’s not a chance on this earth that we sign Skriniar.

All over it. It’s Luis Suarez. Deal with whatever happens with the other strikers when the time comes.

Finally managed to catch up in full on this thread, it’s took me 10 days on and off, so good work! I still can’t quite believe he’s here, and of course he got the equaliser. Incredible, the atmosphere in the Holte, and the ground in general was insane when he scored, and for the remaining minutes after. Make no mistake, this signing is massive. On and off the pitch. I’m like a kid, can’t stop smiling. What a time to be a Villa fan!