Exeter Fan Too

Indeed. An example is when last summer Callum Rowe signed for Exeter it turned out he'd spent some of the later stages of last season on trial at Exeter. (Whilst talking about Callum things have at last taken a turn for the better, having failed to get a league start with Exeter and then losing his place at Bath where he had been sent on loan. An Exeter midfield injury crisis led to a recall on Monday, two starts and he's played well in the midfield role he's been converted to.Shows how tough it can be for released academy graduates to stay in the professional game)

Well, I want the best for Ben and hope he makes his Premier League debut soon. But a word of caution about 'he played senior football for Exeter at 15'. He did but it consisted of 5 sub appearances coming on on respectively 88,89,79,79 and 89 minutes. That's a total of 26 minutes (plus added time after the 90 minute mark!). My recollection of his senior debut (in the Small Heath area of Birmingham!) is that he didn't touch the ball in the two minutes he was on. All five sub appearances were in midfield. Three of those games were in the EFL Cup against either League two mainly reserve teams or West Ham's U21s. And his Villa experience is limited too, with just a handful of U21 games against League opposition due to his injury earlier this season. As others have said it would be great for us fans to see how good he is/has become but I'm not convinced that a debut marking Saka for 90 minutes is the best course.

Never? We only have to go back to the second half on Saturday (between the third and fourth goals) when Watkins put Ings through one on one against the keeper. Still available on BBC iPlayer (As well as putting Coutinho through *twice* with just the keeper to beat. Would have been three assists for Watkins if those three had gone in)

interesting that a question when Chambers signed was 'will he get any minutes'? On Saturday as well as playing 95 minutes at CB he could otherwise have been used at RB as a sub for Cash. And others say he should play DCM too.

absolutely delighted to see him on the bench in the Premiership at just turned 18. Ahead of schedule, especially bearing in mind that injury wiping out the first half of this season. Appropriately enough it was EFL Youth Development week coinciding with Villa's line up having *two* Exeter City Academy graduates on the Villa team sheet in Watkins and Chrisene (not bad for a League Two, Category 3 academy!). Great to see Villa developing and giving opportunities to so many home grown English youngsters. As others have said Gerrard's actions show he's prepared to give Villa's academy prospects first team opportunities.

Watkins was trained at the start of his career to focus on the next event after the team scoring, which sometimes takes precedence over celebrating. In interview after scoring his first senior goal at age 18 he explained why he didn't come and celebrate with those fans, including Midlands family members, behind the goal in which he scored (video still available on YouTube). In that Exeter team the most senior pro - 600 league games - never celebrated goals. When at Brentford Watkins continued focussing on what comes next. On one occasion Benrahma performed at outrageous piece of skill - IIRC an overhead volley that skimmed the bar - the crowd and commentators were in raptures and Benrahma sat admiring his handiwork and misfortune - it would have been a fantastic goal. Watkins ran over to Benrahma and pulled him to his feet ...the message clearly was, in effect, 'come on, we forwards have got a goal kick to defend'.

Scottish Premiership is incredibly variable in standard. At the very bottom of it there is an interchange with English League Two players. For example four players released by (League Two) Exeter have ended up recently in the Scottish Premiership relegation dogfight - that includes Livingston centre half Tom Parkes. However, I think that is one of the things that makes it potentially an excellent place to go on loan - go from playing against Rangers/Celtic in front of 50,000 right through to a much lower standard!

Its quite common for new managers to want to see close up the youngsters who have been loaned out. This often results in getting most players back in early January and then loaning out lots toward the end of January. But not necessarily the same players nor necessarily to the same clubs! the other thing that is happening this year is that because of Covid etc many clubs are 'hoarding' fringe players for now, resulting in lower league clubs struggling to sign the loanees they want. Plenty more will happen in th second half of January!

sorry for the lazy reply but is it being streamed?

I've no idea who Jules is ... but I'm not going to treat as reliable a source where the pundit bases his analysis on the repeated assertion that Villa lost *six* consecutive games before Smith's sacking!

Or send him down to Exeter...he'd get plenty of game time and a big opportunity! Exeter's 'play every minute' striker (Nombe) did his hamstring just over a week ago and is out for a few months. In his absence we've lost more games than the rest of the season before that.The alternative options are very limited - the on loan reserve turns 34 soon and has limited availability, whereas the club's youngsters in that position aren't yet ready. Exeter have a good record with loan players going on to play in the Premiership and Championship. You know it makes sense!

Bound to be live on tv. This year there's been oodles of games each round. with some shown on BBC and many on ITV4! Plenty of opportunity to mix the 'all premier' tie with the games involving the underdogs. (though many of the underdogs are away which reduces attractiveness for tv)

No he's not, nor has he ever been.

there have always been two obvious problems with the pairing of Ings and Watkins up front. Inside the penalty area Ings key area is sniffing out the half chances; Watkins spent last season learning to run into these positions. Outside the penalty area Watkins key area is running into the space beyond the defence;. This season much of the space up front is occupied by Ings and the defender marking him.

Loving the recent bits of this thread. To make the point about youth far less wittily, there is the example of Ollie Watkins compared to Barry. When he was *older* than Barry, he struggled to get into a League *Two* (not League One) *squad* (squad, not team). So had to go on loan to non league, *sixth* tier of English football (not third tier) just as he turned 19. Seems to have done OK since though.

Burton made 9 changes to the starting line up from Saturday's league game. That's par for the course for EFL clubs in the group stages- the game I followed last night both EFL teams had made 9 changes from the weekend. So for most its a reserve team made up of fringe players, youngsters and first choice players returning from injury. EFL League 1 and 2 reserve sides are however quite a bit stronger nowadays - since the rule change preventing them loaning in any players outside the transfer window - everyone has to have two players for every position just in case their ,say, left back breaks a leg on in early September. So 9 changes might not be as dramatic as first appears - see the debate on here about whether Chelsea's changed team in the Carabao Cup was 'first choice' !

why would he want to go from a club in the top half of the Premiership to a club in the bottom half?

Ollie quite often doesn't get carried away celebrating - he is usually then focusing on what comes next, which in this game required everybody to get their heads around the pressure that was going to come in the final minutes from Man U, the crowd and ...erm...the officials! There was a classic example in Ollie's Brentford days about his 'focus on what comes next'. Benrahma had grazed the post with an outrageous acrobatic effort, the commentators were in raptures 'goal of the season if it had gone in' etc. Whilst Benrahma was sat there admiring his effort and wondering how it hadn't gone in Ollie ran over to him, pulled him to his feet effectively saying 'get up, we've got an opposition goal kick to defend' PS as someone who has only really followed Villa for a year I was amazed how the pre-match thread had got the game correctly scripted..until Fernandes missed! I hope those who put money on United getting a penalty bet on it being awarded, not on United *scoring* a penalty!

money gets paid when he plays for England but it may just be a case of bringing the date of payment forward.The add ons take the 28m paid to Brentford up to an absolute maximum of 33m (of which Exeter get 15%) . The add ons get paid based on £1m per season Villa stay in the Premier League (!). £2m paid so far , £1m for one season staying up plus £1m for his 3 England sub appearances (500k for a competitive sub appearance, 2 x 250k for a sub friendly appearance). I think everyone assumes that one way or another the full 33m is what's going to get paid to Brentford, but for a fan owned club like Exeter the remaining payments are still potentially very useful and a bird in the hand etc...so a hat trick today and an England call up would do nicely!

important games coming up; a chance to get back in to the England squad with Calvert - Lewin still out injured. But needs to show some current form to get picked alongside Kane and ..erm... Bamford

I see that his place in the England squad has gone to ..erm... Patrick Bamford. Some people in Leeds will be pleased. Great that he's back, if only for ten minutes. Missing the internationals can mean concentrating on being fully fit for the Premiership in a fortnight.

Saw Barrow at home this time last week when Exeter played there. Horrible wind made it one of the worst games I'd ever seen (from a very strong field!). Finished 0-0 but the wind meant that one side couldn't get out and the other teams high passes got swept away for goal kicks. The sea breeze adds a swirl to the wind making it very difficult for anyone to judge flight of the ball and keep it under as much control. A much more authentic Northern experience than the softness of a cold night in Stoke! Barrow not to be under-estimated. Last season a strong, functional stereotypical League Two physical side. Mark Cooper likes to play possession, attractive football, so Barrow currently in transition. Many League Two clubs now treat the League Cup as an opportunity to rotate, but I think Barrow will have a right go. Mark Cooper indeed a former Blues player. And his Dad Terry was a former Blues manager. Disappointed that Chrisene isn't available - could have got some minutes off the bench if the game was already won. (finally for anyone who thinks Birmingham-Barrow is a long journey, imagine the Exeter - Barrow trip. That game got postponed twice last season, the first time after the Exeter team had arrived at the ground. 136 fans made the trip last Tuesday, the coach getting back to Exeter just after 5am. And my brother got Covid as a result!)

His principal position at Exeter was centre midfield. But because he's technically strong he could probably play in many different positions. I guess his main career won't be at left back; but its a really good education to play different positions and also in the 'what the team needs is more important than your preference for a particular position'

Good to see that he completed the trio of pre season goals yesterday. Left foot, right foot, header.

Swansea would have been a disastrous first move into management. They are losing all their valuable/expensive/good players. The previous manager worked wonders on a shoestring with excellent loans to plug the gap.. and it will be worse this year. Swansea will do far worse this year whoever is in charge ...and I wouldn't be surprised by bottom half/relegation battle.