Rich192

He compares himself to Pogba, and it’s a very fair comparison. 

Pereira and Yokuslu would both walk in to our team. 

5 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Buendia is really good but is he top quality?  I’m not convinced, we need another top quality creative player

I think that’s exactly what he is though, creative. He’s got 34 assists in three seasons for Norwich, and created 290 chances in that time. My only issue with him is a slight lack of pace, and poor discipline. He’s brilliant. 

1 minute ago, BOF said:

Boro's preview article doesn't mention anything about coverage.

Ah for **** sake. You mean I have to work instead? Boring. 

Any idea if it’s live anywhere?

Has to be quality over quantity for me. I would spend all the money on a right winger, a centre midfielder (whether that be a holding midfielder, or box to box is up for debate), and an attacking midfielder or left winger, depending on where we see Jack’s future. 
 

My preference for those three positions would be Buendia, Bissouma and de Paul. However I can’t claim to watch anywhere near as much other leagues as some people.

If we were in Europe, I can understand the want for more numbers, however realistically we don’t need a 25 man squad, we’ve only used 21 players this season, and one of those has left, and another played for 16 minutes. 
 

Bringing in top quality (or as good a quality as we possibly can at our level) is the most important thing, and if that means having to use Hause or Guilbert as back up left back, so be it. 
 

Once again though, the most important thing this summer is keeping hold of Jack. 
 

I have full confidence in the club to get this summer right, and I for one can’t wait. 

I’m torn. On the one hand, he’s looked excellent this season, and Elmohamady looks spent at this level. On the other hand, it’s a difficult game to make your debut in, a derby. Although Ramsey made his debut at home to the Baggies, so who knows. 
 

Push comes to shove, I start Kesler. 

His form since about February has improved considerably. Improved as a player an incredible amount in that time, and not just with goals and assists. 

3 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Spurs go in it if they win the league cup don't they?

Correct. Unless they finish higher than 7th, then that team would go in instead. 

2 hours ago, MaVilla said:

re Bellingham, i would imagine:

a) politically SHA wouldn't want to sell him to us under any circumstances,

b) he's an SHA fan so i imagine that might be a blocker also,

c) i imagine we didnt have the money to punt on a 17 year old at the time, with other keys areas requiring investment,

d) Once a team like Dortmund went in for him, would he really have even considered a team that avoided relegation that season by a near miracle?

 

I just think there were many small things at the time, adding up to a scenario where it would have been nearly impossible for us to have any chance of signing him, even if we wanted to.

I believe Bellingham was actually a Villa fan, or at least his dad was. Not certain, mind, and could just be one of those rumours that aren’t true, such as Bowen. 

Chukwuemeka and Ramsey both came off after an hour, maybe with an eye on them playing on Friday?

Interested to see Afoka play. Good luck to the babbies. 

Yeah he had his best game for a while today. 

1 hour ago, useless said:

No we lost to Leicester's in the quarter-final of the Premier League Cup. Normally there's a premier league cup for the U18s and another for the U16s, but this year because of covid they just had one U17 tournament.

No idea of who played for us, but probably a mixture of some of the younger U18 players and a few of the U16s, I don't think the likes of Barry or Chukwuemeka would have played despite still being young enough, Chrisene and Bogarde played in the earlier games but not even sure if they would have played having since become established with the U23s.

The game against Burton is next Wednesday and presumably wil be available to watch on Villa TV.

Sorry useless, you even specifically mentioned the tournament in your post. I'm so fixated on the FA Youth Cup that I completely ignored all of the information in your post.

That's a shame about the result, but I imagine Leicester have a decent side, so understandable.

We lost to Burton, really? Any idea what team we put out?

48 minutes ago, PaulC said:

He'll be 35 this month so dont think we would get anything for him anyway. 

35 isn't that old for a keeper, it's about when they hit their prime usually.

I'd be gobsmacked if we only gave him a two year deal, unless as someone else stated we had the option for a third. Would've been nice to get a few million for him, but also would be happy to see him getting first team football, he deserves it. 

About time we tried Bogarde, Chukwuemeka and Aaron Ramsey. Right?

I agree, although might be harsh to chuck Ramsey in on that. Nakamba definitely deserves a run in the team, especially given the opposition we have coming up. 

If the FA were aware of his "regular cocaine problems", I'd highly doubt he'd have played so much for England this season.

Turns out hiring a blue nose male might not have been the best idea.

Classic VillaTalk reaction here, with a few comments of common sense chucked in. He's been excellent for ages, he's made one (admittedly big) mistake - it happens. How he played and reacted shows his character. Well in Ty, still a big part to play in our future. 

Excellent assist, and general all round play was good when he came on. Genuinely don't think he's the long term option, but whilst Jack is out we could do a lot worse than lining up how we finished today.

He was very good when he came on. His energy and pressing helped change the game. Big up JJ!

Excellent news. Best defender we've had since Laursen. Anyone got any idea what his wage will be? Deserves to be £80k+.