FLVillan

That is most definitely a true story, as the same thing happened to my wife when she ordered some stuff for me at Christmas two years ago. The online club shop is beyond a joke when it comes to postage and returns policy. The sizing guidelines they post(ed) are also a complete joke. I used to have every single home shirt (starting in 1981) until the second year of Fanatics becoming the distributor. Haven't bought one in almost ten years now.

Was the Maupay clamour before or after Rashica?

1. Pickford 2. Fredericks 3. Ayling 4. Dier 5. Mee 6. Rodri 7. Fernandes 8. Xhaka 9. Kane 10. Grealish 11. Antony

Always difficult to assess from a freeze-frame, but, Ouch. They have six players in the box and we have eight. Only McGinn and Digne actually seem to be doing what they're supposed to be. Konsa, Mings, Dendonker and Ramsey all ball watching (Konsa and Mings on their heels too) with no sense of where opponents are. Kamara wrong-side. Digne seems to be the only one with a sense of where to be, albeit he's having to track their centre-forward and keep an eye on Saka at the same time. McGinn has done a decent job to stop him going down the outside, but Cash should be stepping up, not back on his heels. The fact that 5 Villa players are basically within touching distance of each other, while Odegard runs past/behind with a further two completely un-tracked is awful. In all of this I'd say Bailey, McGinn and Digne are the only ones in good positions and doing what they should be doing (ie. tracking players, not standing in space). Always told my team, space can't score a goal, players score goals.

I think the only time when Watkins has been poor for any sustained period was from shortly after the arrival of Gerrard until the end of last season. I think he struggled to adapt to the "coaching" he was getting and looked quite unhappy. There was some speculation that there was off-the-pitch issues, but I think it was just poor coaching/man-management. Since leaving Exeter he had almost always been playing under Dean Smith (or his former assistant), so an adjustment was inevitable really. The thing that I like about him is that he's always contributing, even when he's not scoring. The pressing, defending from the front, work-rate and tracking back are always there. He's incredibly fit and far more intelligent than he gets credit for. His pressing/movement always has a purpose, not just a headless-chicken chasing shadows. Not many strikers in the league that can give his level of energy for 90+ minutes.

There's always lots of debate on zone/man-to-man/partial zone for set-pieces. One of the easiest ways to create a numbers mis-match is for the attacking team to put two at the ball - this drags at least two defenders away from the danger area. When I coached I used a zone that would change depending on opponent and what type of keeper I had. It was either (roughly-speaking) a 3-3-1 with two spare to cover front post and challenge at short corners or 2-3-1 with two/three spare. If the other team didn't put two at the ball, one of the spare players would be 15-18 yards from goal (in line with near post) to pick up anything/anyone around the edge of the area. If the opponent had an especially dangerous individual (a John Terry type if you will) one of the spare players would be assigned to track and disrupt him. One thing I ALWAYS had was one attacking player far up the pitch. I agree with the other posters who have said that when you have all ten outfield players back in your own box, you have no outlet when the ball is cleared AND you invite your opponent to push as many players high up the pitch as they like. I (somewhat) understand why coaches want all ten back as it gives you the extra body to cover the area, but to me it is an overly negative tactic that does little to help in the big scheme of things. Maybe because we are a relatively small team, McPhee/Unai feel the extra body is needed. On occasion, I would have two-up near the halfway line when the scout indicated they were susceptible on counter attacks or lacked pace. One particular game I actually had three-up, spread across the pitch on the halfway line. It caused a good deal of confusion for the opposition and it wasn't until the second half that either of their centre-backs ventured up!

If you are on an individual-player forum then you'll see comments about that individual, positive and negative. I don't see anyone on here blaming him for the loss, but there is much (legitimate) criticism of his performance today, and more specifically, his time-wasting antics and distribution. That isn't making him a scapegoat. Arsenal were playing with less than 3 days rest so the best way to beat them would be to move the ball quickly and make them chase so that they tire. What Emi was doing was the exact opposite - giving them an opportunity to get back into their shape and get a few seconds rest, throughout the final 51 minutes of the game. I love the bloke, but his performance wasn't good. It was one of the reasons why we weren't as effective as we should have been, but certainly not the only one.

There is a fine line between time wasting and game management. Emi is crossing that line too much right now. He was doing it the entire second half, inviting Arsenal to get their shape, get a breather and come right back at us.

I'd say six years is reasonably accurate. His only decent run of consistent effort was when ONeill was at the club. Houllier wanted more from him and couldn't get it, so replaced him with Bent, then one season under McCleish, a couple with Lambert and the final years under Garde, Di Matteo and Bruce. He had one decent spell lasting about two months during Lambert's first season, with an impending contract renewal up for grabs - he earned a new contract then went right back to taking the p***. So yup, I'll stick to six years. I'm not one those who will ever make excuses for Grealish either. And Gabby is no "fall guy." Plenty of others let the club down between 2012 and 2017, but we weren't talking about them in this thread...

Six years of picking up a massive contract while contributing absolutely nothing for our club. When the chips were down and our club needed a leader he was partying in Dubai, piling on the pounds, perennially "injured", creating division in the dressing room, undermining managers/coaches and was generally a negative distraction. And his goals-per-game record, even when at his best was decidedly below average. Miraculously got "fit" enough to be available when we were playing Small Heath. This club captain was literally sent to "Fat Camp" as we battled for premier league survival...

He is, but they won't give him a proper kit....

I can speak with first-hand knowledge of recruitment in Scandinavia - it is chock-full of scouts from all over Europe, including the very biggest clubs, who are all vying for the top talent out of there. We (Villa) were late to that party unfortunately. While the appointment of Lange may help to increase our presence and connections in the region, we are competing with some of the best scouting networks from all over Europe to lure away young talent. Add the fact that the countries aren't especially over-populated to begin with and that the step-up from their leagues to the top two divisions in England is massive, and it becomes clearer as to why we aren't able to easily attract players. With a handful of notable exceptions, the vast majority of successful players out of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland will have established themselves at lower levels in Germany, Italy, France etc before becoming ready for the premier league.

Konsa, 1.83m (6'0), Chambers 1.84m (6'1), Carlos 1.86m (6'1), Cash 1.86m (6'1), Kamara 1.86m (6'1), Dendonker 1.88m (6'2), Duran 1.85m (6'1)

Culture and associated behaviours have changed dramatically in my lifetime, for the better in terms of racism. To be blunt, racism was considered normal and acceptable in the 1970s' and into the early 80s. The success of footballers and entertainers has actually done a lot of good in terms of breaking the stereotypes that existed. But as recently as the early 90's I can remember the media making quite a fuss about our own Aston Villa traveling to Everton with 8 black players in the team (ironically Ron Atkinson was the boss at the time) - Barrett, Small, McGrath, Blake, Yorke, Atkinson, Regis, Daley. To that stage in their history, Everton, by contrast had very few non-whites at their club. It takes generations to change cultural stereotypes and attitudes. To give some perspective, my mum was born in 1933. She had never seen a non-white in-person until American soldiers arrived in Birmingham. If the media and politicians/government stopped using skin colour and race as tools to divide and categorize we could progress even faster.

Inbreeds...

If this is true, can we assume then that Dendonker and Kamara will provide cover at centre-back? Bednarek going is logical, but without Chambers we literally have zero cover without Chambers. I don't think Carlos will be ready before March, and will really need a full pre-season before he can be expected to be sharp enough to play regularly.

Lazy bid? Mediocre bid? Bla bid? Second-helpings bid? Wait, I've got it..... Mid-bid!

Spoke with a mate yesterday who is an Evertonian - he said "we've got no chance of getting Poch or Tuchel." He knows they're in deep, deep poo. It's very similar to us after Lambert/Sherwood, when we brought in Garde. Continual decline culminating in inevitable relegation. The best they can hope for is Dyche or Bielsa, and only because they happen to be available. Beyond those two they'll be taking an even bigger risk on an unproven manager. He actually thinks big Dunc would turn it down as he wouldn't want to do a Shearer and be the manager when they get relegated. I may be in the minority but I personally wouldn't want to see Everton get relegated. They are a proper, traditional club and the only remaining ever-present in the premier league outside of the five Sky clubs (Dippers, ManUre, Chelski, Arse, Spuds).

I can assure you that it is...

My biggest criticism of Mings until recently was his tendency to drop behind everyone and play everyone onside. Emery seems to be fixing that and the only times we've seen the back four getting caught out recently has been one of the fullbacks not holding the line, which tends to be the "normal" way that defences get caught out (fullbacks tracking runners too deep). If he can speed-up his brain/decision making on the ball (he still tends to think about his pass after he's got it under control as opposed to knowing his next move before he gets it) then he will have eradicated two of his flaws.

If it's any consolation, the media have been discrediting us my entire life. Even in 1980-82 we were not supposed to finish ahead of Bobby Robson or beat Bayern. The magical "do you want to bet against us" interview quote by Sir Ron summed it up. Don't care what they think and they can keep discrediting us all they want as far as I'm concerned.

Can someone give me the lyrics to the Unai song that the away fans were singing today - so I can belt it out across Florida. Many thanks. Starts out with "we've got super Unai Emery....."

Watched it live and just watched the extended highlights again. How anyone can say we were lucky or that Southampton were unlucky is beyond me. The foul on Ramsey in the build up to the VAR-disallowed goal was blatant. The ball was going straight to where Ramsey was positioned to head it clear until the Southampton player shoved him and stood on his achilles. Even in real time I said it was a foul. It was only the incompetence of the referee that led to him needing a VAR review. In the 90 minutes we created far more chances and on another day could have been 2 or 3 goals clear. The Buendia shot, the Kamara header, the Moreno effort, the Ramsey shot and yet another air-shot by Bailey all spring to mind. They had a purple patch for about 15 minutes in the second half and Martinez made two decent saves. There were a few passages of play that were brilliant one-touch passing moves that had Southampton at sixes and sevens. The only worry I had was Moreno was struggling defensively and they were definitely targeting that side in the second half after moving Ward-Prowse deeper. I think its going to take him a few more games to get up to the pace and physicality of the league. Southampton threw the kitchen sink at us in the second half, but we didn't panic and saw the game out relatively comfortably. My better-half always asks me why I don't celebrate when we score and I have to remind her that I've endured decades of Villa sides who will find a way to capitulate in those types of situations and ruin my week. Today I jumped up when we scored as Unai is bringing a sense of optimism and confidence about Aston Villa that I haven't felt in a very very long time!

Unfortunately, Chelsea have a far bigger profile than us on a global scale and hence far more revenue. Ask most American/Asian football followers about the premier league and they'll reel off the names of the two Mancs, The Dippers and the three Lahndan clubs. The revenue from these two continents is massive. FFP came in at just the right time for the rich to get richer and prevent anyone outside of that bubble from matching them. Sky and other media money caused this and gave these clubs global exposure and the subsequent revenue from merchandise sales, TV subscriptions etc etc. Our owners, Leicester owners and a few others could easily match the spending but are not permitted. Corruption in the name of "equity." Kind of like the US government....

I think the owners are doing what they said they wanted to do in the first place and making us sustainable and also keeping us within the stupid FFP regulations. I believe they will spend big when they want/need to, but credit to them and Purslow for doing some very good deals to keep a sustainable wage/transfer fee in place (ie Chukwuemeka, Ings, Grealish sales and long term deals for the likes of Dougie, Emi). Over time, with the correct management the club position/profile will improve and we'll be generating more revenue as a result which should lead to more money for players.