JPJCB

If he’s injured it raises even more questions about the pre season prep. Complete mess with players now dropping like flies/ picked despite not being match fit

Source?

I believe it a bit more with Emi. As his interview the other day showed, he knows what it’s like to not be appreciated by the “bigger clubs”. He’s also already achieved massive success with his international team. Plus I wonder how much the standard of football really changes between PL and CL football for a goalkeeper. (feel free to quote this hubris when he joins city next year…)

Just an absurd post

If we’re done I can’t help but think this window was a missed opportunity for us to really show intent. The times have moved on from when teams could have done a City/Chelsea and net spend their way to the top. But this summer was an opportunity given the grealish money coming in plus the temporary relaxation of FFP (not that I can claim to understand how it works). So far we’ve just about replaced grealish in theory with a net spend which is negative. For me that’s not good enough and I’d have liked to see more ambition/statement signings with at least another couple of big names coming in (I.e like JWP). I might be wrong and buendia/Bailey/Ings will more than compensate for loss of grealish and/or we have big plans for January or next summer, but so far I can’t say we’ve made the most of the opportunity the grealish cash presents for us

Still a big fan of his but for me he’s the weakest link in our defence. Good on the ball and generally solid but he has a tendency to lose his head a bit (the sending off at home vs Man City was a good example). And he’s not adventurous enough going forward as others have said

On Bluemoon, they're lamenting Mendy, Ake and Cancelo's performances. I double checked and those three cost £50m, £40m and £60m respectively. I think that **** me off about them more than the outlandish fees for Grealish/Kane who are genuinely world class players. They spunk astronomical money on players who are bang average and inflate prices/wages in the rest of the league as a result - I remember the Ake one in particular being a joke as no one seriously expected him to even get in the team yet they spent £40m on him. Would anyone seriously pay more than £10m for Mendy after that horror show of a performance today?

Weird performance from Jack. A few nice touches and barely gave the ball away as usual but I couldn't work out what position he was supposed to be playing. At times it looked like Sterling and Grealish were both playing as left wingers - maybe some Guardiola genius move that didn't come off. Alternatively, for all his claims that he prefers playing centrally, maybe Jack just can't help himself but drift over to the left. I think his performances have been off in general ever since he came back from injury at the back end of last season both club wise and internationally. Commentators/pundits haven't really noticed it because he still has a couple of magic moments and an exquisite touch. But he just seems to lack any impetus/tendency to grab the game by the scruff of the neck like he did for us at peak form. Might just be that he's not the main man for England/City but I do wonder whether that shin issue is persisting because his england performances at the Euros were nowhere near as good as his ones against Wales and Belgium previously for example

Three things I'd like to see done in response to that game: 1.) drop Targett given he's not fit; 2.) shore up the midfield to get some solidity; 3.) start bailey. On that basis, I'd go with this for the next game: Martinez Cash Konsa Mings Young Mcginn Nakamba Luiz (or Ramsey/Sanson if doug isn't ready) Buendia Ings Bailey I'm actually pretty confident in our ability to create/finish chances on the basis of yesterday and that front 3's track record. But something isn't right defensively just now so we need to do a bit of a project restart mentality and focus on keeping it tight in the midfield so that the front 3 can express themselves further up the pitch.

Completely agreed. the back 5 is arguably top 6 quality as could the forward line if the players click. But the midfield is comfortably bottom half

Watkins wasn’t playing yesterday….

It just struck me that him and Watkins are probably around equal in the England striker pecking order (Ollie probs just ahead). Healthy competition there but hopefully not a source of tension!

I'm mentally preparing for a loss purely because: 1. Newly promoted team playing at home bounce 2. Grealish replacements not yet fully embedded so we're likely to be worse in the short term before we improve 3. Disrupted pre-season with key players (Mings, Targett, Martinez, Buendia, Ings) not getting as much game time as we'd like. That said, I'm excited to see the start of a somewhat new era, particularly buendia and bailey (if he gets on)

Saka and ESR are quality but it's a bit mad how much they seem to carry that Arsenal team when they're basically 2nd year academy grads. The lack of responsibility from the senior players is astonishing and the fact Xhaka is captain says it all. Just imagine where they'd be if Saka and ESR hadn't come through? Probs kicking around 13th/14th

I think we're agreeing to a large extent. We cared about Tammy but he left on good terms (or at least not on bad terms) so no one gave him any grief. It's not a surprise in my book that he didn't celebrate against us on that basis. My point is that, if grealish gets a ton of grief at VP (which I fully expect him to), I can definitely see him celebrating in response if he scores. The Rooney comparison that someone mentioned earlier is bang on point in that respect. He still clearly cared a bit about Everton as he went there later in his career - his badge kissing/celebrations were likely a response to the abuse he got on the day

Yeah agreed, closest player I've seen to his style. Partly because, like Jack, he's also not that pacey but makes up for it with a fantastic touch. Interesting to see whether he kicks on in the same way. They look a similar level at they're equivalent age (ESR maybe even edges it as you say) but Jack really pushed on from 23 on and became a much more physical/direct player which rounded out his game

TBH, I think the most reliable evidence of how Smith will use Watkins/Ings is what he did in the last pre-season game (against the Italian team whose name I can;t remember) - i.e. Watkins leading the line; Ings as the no 10/SS type player. It didn't work quite as well in the first half (though Ings did still get a goal) but I suspect Smith will persist with it to see if it clicks over time. I fully expect us to start 4-4-2 the first few games with Buendia right, Bailey left and Ings/Watkins down the middle

I wouldn’t be surprised if he did to be honest and I think for a lot of players it depends on how they feel in the moment. It’s looking like the reception will be particularly brutal along the lines of Barry (rather than Milner for example). It wouldn’t surprise me at all in that environment if he decides in the spur of the moment to do a big **** you to the villa fans. I reckon one reason why the players with a tenuous previous connection to the club don’t celebrate is because none of the fans give a toss about them so don’t give them any grief

The decision to sell Martinez and keep Leno is one of the most bonkers in recent football memory

Part of what makes Watkins' role next season tricky to work out is that he's probably in the best shape of anyone in the squad and basically never gets injured. You can imagine that Ings will be in and out given injuries and I'm sure Buendia/Bailey will have their knocks etc. so you'd rotate them around to an extent. But Ollie basically never misses a game if last season is to go by so to shift him/bench him you'd be actively moving him from his best role up front to accommodate someone else. FWIW for that reason, plus Smith's strong relationship with him, I think he plays comfortably over 30 games next season as the main striker with some combination of Ings, Bailey, Buendia, Traore, El Ghazi, JPB and maybe Young in the 3 AM positions behind

Can't tell if this is a joke. Do you mean you'd have any of our individual back 4 players vs any of theirs? Or our total back 4 vs their total back 4? Either way, I think Maguire for Mings and Shaw for Targett would improve us (despite how good Mings/Targett are). It'd be a toss up between Wan Bissaka and Cash (the former edges it defensively but the latter attack wise). I'd undoubtedly take Konsa over Lindelof but it'll be Varane this year who will surely improve them. The best composite 4 would likely be: Shaw, Maguire, Konsa, Cash so not obvious either way

agreed - there's a bit of a narrative that grealish was turning down moves to other clubs to stay/help us. The reality was that no one wanted to sign him when we went down because he was a typical inconsistent young player with off field issues. Spurs came in for him in 2018 and all the evidence suggests he would have gone if they'd paid up. Then last year when he signed a new contract in light of utd interest he got the release clause put in so he could go at a later date. I'm not bitter about that - it's a cynical business - but anyone who thinks Grealish was at villa for as long as he was out of choice is deluded

I think in terms of pure footballing ability/potential the £100m is slightly inflated (which is maybe what Purslow mean by setting a release clause they hoped no one would meet). But once you factor branding/marketing potential I think his value comfortably is above that - he almost added £20m to his value from his PR during the Euros alone which took his stardom/celebrity status beyond anything I'd seen for a Villa player. I actually wonder whether his agent pushed him a bit on that front - i.e. "the £100m is a bit steep so get your face out there a bit more to boost your worth" - he seemed to be doing interviews every day during the Euros and far more than any other player which was a bit odd for a someone on the bench. There's a bit of a missed opportunity there for us because keeping him post Euros would have potentially been massive for boosting our brand/base globally. But once players get to that degree of stardom the player then becomes way bigger than the club which maybe isn't healthy. I wonder if City aren't actually the best choice for him in that respect - Guardiola 's undoubtedly an outstanding coach but I'm not sure he's ever had to handle such a massive individual brand/personality before (Messi was much younger/humbler when he worked for Guardiola). Grealish always struck me as much more of a Utd type player in that respect who have a history of handling those big star brands (Beckham, Ronaldo etc.).

I was quite surprised we let him go to be honest - I can't remember whether we got any money for him or whether his contract just ran down? He always looked pretty decent in the cup games he played

I thought he looked great today. A little clumsy at first but he's the type of player where as soon as he gets the ball out of his feet anywhere near /in the box there's a chance of a goal. Constant threat