FLVillan

Emery said that he sent Archer out on loan because he was happy with Ollie and Ings. I don't think a 19 year-old from MLS is a replacement for Ings. The premier league is a massive step up in class from MLS and I don't think Duran will see much playing time between now and May. You need (at least) two players for each position in a decent squad and I think Ings is very much a part of the squad. (I remember when ManUre had Cole, Sheringham, Yorke and Solskjaer in a 4-4-2 and used all four of them regularly to win the treble). All this talk of selling Ings because of making money etc I think is irrelevant to our owners. They would never have sanctioned the transfer of a 29 year-old in the first place if they were worried about his sell-on value. I also don't agree that Ings isn't suitable for our style or that his legs have gone. He's not ancient and since Emery has come in has been extremely effective. We have a history of buying strikers and then not playing them to their strengths - until now. I think because he has thinning hair and sweats a lot it deceives some. He puts in a decent shift has scored regularly when played and is valuable to us. Wet Spam and Everton will try to get him on the cheap - why wouldn't they, given their current positions and lack of scorers. He's a better option than Maupay or Antonio! But unless we have someone better lined up I just don't see him being sold.

Yup, another example of "they do it in America so it must be good." To which I say - bollox. As a former coach I would not have ever wanted to talk to some stupid reporter at half-time, nor would I want one of my players doing it. Stupid distraction that provides the viewer with no real insight or entertainment. It's not like any of them are going to be honest and give away the plans for the second half....

Desperately trying to get Unai to say something to give him a negative headline about Emi in his French rag. Unai embarrassed him.

Fair point. Even Heskey scored on his debut at Portsmouth!

I recall O'Neill signed Dunne, Collins and Warnock the same week and threw them all in together at Small Heath away.

We've had some very good debut performances down the years, but Dublin probably just shades it for me. Notables: Petrov, Didier Six, Benteke, Nillis, Cole, Baros. I also seem to recall Mervyn Day getting off to a brilliant start with us. He'd replaced Spinksy, who had been in an awful run of form and pulled off some great saves. Like Baros, Heskey and others though, he quickly faded. Another interesting thread would be worst home debuts: Tommy Craig.

Still a very patchy atmosphere at Villa Park nowadays based on my recent observations and hearing on TV coverage. But ever since I started going to the Villa (mid 1970's) it's always been that way, even during 80-81 there were games when the fans weren't anywhere near as loud or supportive as you'd expect. Neanderthals still in more of a majority unfortunately - which always leads to the loudest songs being about Birmingham City, which really gets on my nerves. It makes us look so small-time IMHO. Singing about a club who are obsessed with hating us yet have provided virtually no competitive-rivalry to us throughout our/their history.... The "ole ole" song always seems to get a good sustained rendition and gets picked up all around the ground, but that's the exception rather than the rule...

I actually think Maguire wouldn't be a terrible signing. I think he's better for England because the weight of expectation is less. He went for stupid money to ManUre and was made captain almost immediately by the idiot Norwegian. Then everything became his fault and he buckled under the lofty expectations. If he moves he'll have a weight off his shoulders and may actually thrive...

Am I right in thinking this is sarcasm?

Been happening here state-side for quite some time now... In fact when it comes to political "news" that is literally all they ever do...

I've tried my best to reserve judgment having not seen most of this team play live (last game at VP was end of 2019). But, couldn't agree more on Buendia. He puts a shift in when he isn't stropping, but tonight I counted five times when he had either given the ball away or mis-controlled a pass where he's berating a teammate(s), somehow blaming them for his own mistake. One moment in the second half Wolves cleared it up long and pushed out. Konsa looked for an immediate ball back over the Wolves defence and there was Buendia walking back, 15 yards offside, while the rest of our team had run back to stay onside. So Konsa passed it back to Mings who passed it back to Martinez. Another time, Kamara passed to him in plenty of space and he then proceeded to take four touches, got closed down and gave the ball away - he then motioned to Kamara that he wanted the pass played differently. I would hate to have him (Buendia) as a teammate. Constantly making everything about himself and quite frankly, his negatives far outweigh the odd bit of skill that he produces.

First trip to Villa Park for three years tonight! I'm visiting family for a couple of days and finally secured a ticket. Don't want to tempt fate here but my last match at Villa Park was THAT game against Derby. The 4-0 win, Grealish returning from injury and that start of the ten game winning run that led to our play-off place and eventual promotion! Come on you Villa boys!

I am in Brum visiting family and finally got a ticket after days of trying. They kept telling me I had to have a booking history as it's a local derby. Despite having an account and valid Fan ID nothing showed from my last two visits to Villa Park. After being on hold with the ticket office for about 30 minutes, I thankfully got a person on the phone who had a clue, she finally found my booking history and I got the ticket. Crazy process!

My final post in this thread. Co-Commentator on the US coverage was Andy Townsend, yes the bloke who captained us and won his only major domestic honour while with us. Listening to him you'd have thought he was on the Spurs payroll. Lost all respect for the man. I understand he should attempt to be neutral but he was far from it. Every time a Spuds player was cautioned it was never a foul, and every single Villa foul should have been a card according to him. Every time we attacked it was against the run of play. Absolutely no credit given to Villa for the performance. Pathetic and sad Andy, I really liked you as a player....

The one thing that I will give credit to Gerrard for is he managed to attract some top quality high profile players, mostly because of his name/connections. I think Digne and Coutinho would have been out of our reach without him. Shame he couldn't actually coach them! On your second points, it is unfortunate that professional football, like many other professions, is very much an old boys club in which ex-pros are given opportunities that they simply haven't earned. You are 100% correct in your assessment. Attitudes have changed somewhat in the past couple of decades but there's a long way to go. Gerrard and Lampard especially had/have absolutely neither the qualifications or experience to be coaching at the level they have. Going back not too long ago, how many clubs employed people like Trevor Francis and Souness before it became obvious they weren't good coaches.

One thing we are quickly learning with Emery is he doesn't always do what is "obvious" with his selections/substitutions and will adjust his team/squad/tactics to suit. I agree that Dendonker has been great so far. He was my man-of-the-match against ManUre. Unai also has played Watkins ahead of Ings even after Ings scored a brace in the previous match....

One thing that has gone unnoticed (maybe).... he has produced man-of-the-match level performances at both left-back and right-back. Remarkable. There are quite a few decent fullbacks that can play on both sides for sure, but there's always a drop-off in level when they're playing on their weaker side. Young.... outstanding on both flanks...

Unai wanted a physical presence to sit in the hole alongside Kamara - Conte had added another central midfielder (because our midfield was completely outplaying theirs) and had told Son to come inside (because Ashley Young had him in his pocket). Plus he knows exactly what he's getting with Chambers having worked with him at Arse. I think he sees Sanson as a good player but he has to build trust.

Reinvented himself as a player becoming a fullback. Absolute quality. And he's not only in the team on merit but is one of our best performers. Many players who reach the stage of their career where they lose that bit of pace or sharpness will tend to fall off unless they can do this. I remember when Ferguson tried to convince Rooney to play in midfield and he was too pig-headed about it, saying he was a striker and wanted to play up front. Top level career over within two years.

He's obviously still part of the thoughts. Preferred on the bench to Dendonker today.

Lots of talk about Unai "resting" the WC players. I actually think it goes deeper than that. He had six weeks with the squad during the World Cup and will have done a lot of work on tactical play. By keeping Cash, Emi etc out of the team he is not only giving them a mental rest, but just as importantly ensuring they get up to speed on what he expects tactically etc. They may be physically ready to play but have plenty of catching up to do.... Introducing Cash as a midfielder today, while keeping Young at full-back illustrates the point...

#metoo Replacing a centre-back if they're not injured goes against conventional wisdom for sure, but he got it spot on. Konsa was on a yellow and it allowed Bednarek to come in and be touch-tight and aggressive in his defending. Son did nothing.

More or less same here in the US. Ten seconds of "Villa played well" then Rebecca "I love the Sky clubs" Lowe immediately changed the subject....

I think that was what the problem was for him at Arse. He had so-called superstars like Aubameyang and Ozil who wouldn't/couldn't play the way they were supposed to, but he had no better alternatives and plenty of pressure from fans/media to keep playing them. I may be wrong...