JPJCB

I was just thinking this. When’s the last time we had as good a CM pairing as these two? Petrov and Barry came to mind? But I think even those two didn’t have the same degree of control and composure as Doug and Boubs

They’ve had a tough start in terms of fixtures but this is really the stage of the season where they need to be outperforming since once the CL fixtures kick off their squad is gonna be stretched to the max. They’ve still go the likes of Jacob Murphy, target and Willock on the bench who aren’t good enough for the biggest games

Their game against Brighton will be interesting next week. They’re arguably the best pressing team in the league while Brighton are the best at beating the press

Actually read what I said. I don’t think Watkins is a selfish striker in general (although, I wouldn’t describe his link up play as “off the charts” either). My point is that he didn’t work as hard as ings to make the partnership work.He showed less evidence of wanting to link up with him. And his comments in the article show why- he was insecure and didn’t want ings to outperform him. Look back in this thread from around that time and you’ll see plenty of posters noticing this about Watkins’ performances at that time For all that you say about ings before he joined us he showed clear evidence of being able to play effectively in a 2 while at Southampton alongside che Adams

There seems to be a trend of refs wanting to go public talking about theur career after retiring (see clattenburg as another example) but they don’t seem to realise that “confessions” such as these are a completely different nature to any other ex pro talking about controversies. They genuinely bring the game and it’s officiating into disrepute

Perhaps I should be happy about this as a villa fan but if he’s insecure about the likes of Danny ings challenging his place than he can wave goodbye any chance of playing for any established CL club where the pressure and competition for places is on another level

Yeah tbh that’s disappointing. Beyond the insecurity point, I always got the sense that when ings and Watkins played as a two, Watkins wasn’t interested in making it work as a partnership (unlike ings who could be quite selfless) which also chimes with what he’s saying. Not great form and a bit unprofessional tbh

I will gladly admit to having been completely proved wrong about him. In the latter stages of the Smith reign I doubted his long term future here as I didn’t think he functioned well in a midfield alongside McGinn- I still don’t think he has got quite enough energy to play single pivot. But in emery’s system he’s been truly spectacular so fair play to him

Despite having been a critique of Watkins in the past I think this is basically right. He’s not quite elite in terms of goal scoring and he can be v frustrating at times with finishing and hold up play but his other attributes (stamina, off ball work, athleticism) are basically world class. He also has the helpful habit of never being injured!

This is the key point. Sport in general and football in particular convey soft power of a given nation. The PL does so for the Uk as do other leagues for other countries. We should be inherently against the rise of a league based in a country using it to launder its horrific human rights abuses

Frame this post and hang it in the Louvre. it’s a real shame that he slipped out of favour as I think he’s done far more for this club than the likes of bailey. Another negative product of the Gerrard era since I doubt smith would have frozen him out in the same way and it’s always hard to come back once you’ve been out in the cold

McGinn is standing off camera as a translator

The fees are v small particularly for JPB which suggests to me that the board are rushing a sale so that we can do some more business this transfer window with the FFP increased capacity. Even if JPB wants leave/have first team football ordinarily you’d surely loan him so that he can be in the shop window and fetch a higher fee next year. The only reason to sell now is if we want to buy now as well

While Everton are absolute dogshite, to an extent they are more likely to expose Torres’ weaknesses (physicality, aerial duels). It would have been interesting to see how he did for the full 90 had DCL stayed on. For those at the game, how did he fare while DCL was on the pitch? To an extent, I’m more worried about him against the likes of West Ham, Everton, forest than against arsenal, Brighton etc

I reckon he’s gonna be our top scorer this year. You can see how hungry he is to score each game

I’d go with: Martinez Konsa Pau Chambers Acuna (if signed) Kamara Tielemans Bailey Mcginn Watkins Zaniolo Retains a lot of core strength while rotating where we can reasonably do so without a drop in quality

Just watching the MoTD highlights of their game against city yesterday. Foden got loads of joy dropping into central pockets of space between their midfield and back four. Makes me wonder how much more of a fight we would have have put up had Buendia or even Ramsey been fit since their game is somewhat similar- that was a big part of how we thumped them at VP. Instead we had Bailey and diaby- who like to stretch the play- and McGinn who likes to come toward the ball so didn’t really have that gameplan

How is he not begging for a move to Saudi?! Surely it would be a dream ticket for him

When is Pickford gonna get called out for his aggressive and dangerous attempts to play the man in one on one type situations? Destroyed van Dijk’s knee a couple of years ago and nearly did the same to Watkins last season(?) and nearly knocked his block off today. It’s his moronic starfish style attack leap which does it- I’ve not seen any other goalkeeper come close to injuring other players that badly

“Oh crap! I shouldn’t have bet on my own game; Oh crap! I shouldn’t have made bets from a fake island; Oh crap, I certainly shouldn’t have made bets from a fake island in my own name!”

Pretty terrible timing for the holte suite to be out of action

You should send this to the FA as evidence

Tbf I think the zouma example was used to demonstrate fans still remember things rather than the level of abuse he will get. There are a subset of folks out there who were genuinely angry/outraged at what zouma did as cat lovers (me included!) but it’s gonna be nothing compared to the anger people have around what greenwood did. Itll be interesting to see what happens. Maybe posters are right that he’ll just live with the abuse and things move on. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it does start to affect performances given the likely degree

Comes across really well and impressive that his English is so good already

Completely disagree. At the time he was roughly our second most expensive signjng ever after Buendia and was seen as a statement signing by the board (see purslows replacing grealish video. He was £10 million more than we got for Chuk. That’s right: we got good money for Chuk. He was £10 million less than Newcastle paid for Gordon. That’s right: he was an expensive signing as well. I don’t really see what these examples prove?