FLVillan

Points well made. However, it also can be very different from one club to the next what the definition of roles can be. Especially with the Sporting Director/Head of Recruitment etc etc. role which is still a relatively new role in the English game. It seems to me that Lange is very much kept away from the media (notably, Purslow has an Ellis-esque love of the microphone) and most-certainly he doesn't control the purse strings. Granted we've spent a good amount of money on players who have under-performed, but there are significant mitigating circumstances around many of those, especially given public comments from both Dean Smith and Steven Gerrard that they needed "proven, experienced performers" to move the club forward (a clear deviation from how Edens had spelled things out when he first became co-owner). Clearly, at Villa, the head coach/manager has significantly more influence over transfer policy than at other clubs. If you analyze our net-spend over the past few years, it isn't especially high, given the money we've brought in for Grealish, Chukwumeka and others. The owners are also trying to operate a sustainable club while additionally staying within the (corrupt) FFP regulations. I saw an article the other day that we were 14th in the net-spend figures this past year, which ironically coincides directly with our league position. I agree that our players haven't done enough, but I've seen enough evidence from them in small bursts that they are far more capable than our league position reflects. That is solely down to mentality and organization - the responsibility of a head coach and his staff.

100%. Nobody has heard a peep out of Nassef since the Fulham match, but we all know what prompted that immediate decision. Action, not words for me, all day long.

As recently as 10 years ago, goalkeeper training was about 75% focused on handling, positioning, timing, footwork, reactions etc with about 25% on playing with feet and distribution. Now it's probably 60-40 the other way..... We may discover, longer term, that Emery doesn't see Emi as his ideal 'keeper and he wants his coach in place to work on aspects of modern goalkeeping that aren't in the repertoire of Cutler and others. I recall the shock at Citeh when they binned a goalkeeper who'd just won the league, had 70+ caps and was the undisputed number one for both club and country. Replacing Hart with Ederson turned out OK for them..... And no, I'm not speculating that there's any ill-will towards Emi from Emery, as it was Arteta who was at Arse by the time he broke through and was then told he could leave.....

Excuse me!!! You do realize that the destruction of the HP Sauce factory - a Villa Park-locating-landmark, occurred in 2007 and can be directly linked to the beginning of the decline that led to relegation in 2015-16. "Drive past Fort Dunlop on the M6, turn off at Spaghetti Junction onto the Aston Expressway and look for the HP Sauce factory." No bloody fancy satellites needed in them days!!

Don't know if this has been covered, but wondering how Chambers has reacted/will react. From what I can recall he played a fair amount at Arse until Arteta arrived but he spent all of the first season of Emery's tenure on loan at Fulham. He played plenty of games under Emery until he was sacked in 2019. People have brought up the Emi situation, but for me the Chambers one is more intriguing........ I rate Chambers and think that he could be a good pro to have around to help the players adjust to Unai's style and system(s).

Won't take 90 minutes for many... As soon as the first starting 11 is put up an hour before his first game will set some off.....

Wonder if they'll now give Mitrovic a suspension for deliberately deceiving the officials and suspend Michael Oliver and the VAR ref for three games for cheating....? Nope, thought not....

As much slating that Konsa got last season, some of it justified, he's looked solid and dependable these last few weeks. Not yet back to his best of two seasons ago, but certainly far far better. He is certainly not the one who is committing errors leading to goals.

They played Sterling as a right wing-back (not for the first time since they've been on their unbeaten run), with a back-three of Silva, Challobah, and Cucurella with Chilwell as left wing-back, so no not really a fair assessment. Many of our better chances started down the side where Chelsea were playing two specialized left-sided defenders. Chilwell couldn't cope with Ramsey, hence why he tried to break his leg. Regardless of the outcome we were by far the better side until the second goal. Their goalkeeper made two world-class saves and two other very good saves, as well us rattling the post and clipping the bar in that period. After the second goal the wind came out of our sails, thanks in no small part to abysmal positioning by Emi.

Studs up and full speed into the ankle/shin. If the ref didn't see it, it was clear as day for the idiot Atwell who was on VAR duty.....

I'm sure it's been covered in here already, but, what the hell was Emi doing on that free-kick ffs??? Simple rule as a goalkeeper is you set up your wall to cover one side, trust it, then make certain you've got the other side of the goal covered. Instead he cheats across behind the wall and Mount puts it into the space he'd just been standing in. If he'd stayed put it would have been a routine save. Abysmal piece of goalkeeping. I sincerely hope Neil Cutler replays that to him 100 times....

I think Luiz is best-suited as one of two in a deeper role. Like you said, shame he hasn't been played with Kamara as I think those two could provide enough support to the defence and attack and allow us to play with a "number 10" such as Coutinho or Buendia, neither of whom have played there consistently since arriving. A 4-2-3-1 with Kamara/Doug playing behind Ramsey, Coutinho/Buendia and Bailey, with Watkins/Ings/A Traffic Cone as the lone forward.

To be fair to Purslow, Dean Smith came out publicly two summers ago and stated that we needed experienced players added to the squad, players who have proven they could play at the level. That quickly followed with the signings of Buendia and Ings. So the changing of the transfer policy was more about the managers recognizing we'd be scrapping in the bottom half without better players added. Not that it helped much! I think the focus on young talent is still ongoing, albeit at the youth/U21 level rather than the first team.

Agree that the contract is only as god as the fee we can get for him, but from a business standpoint this ranks even better than getting the silly money we got for that Chelsea reserve a few months ago..... If the performances on the pitch can one day match the business acumen of the club we will be in very good shape. We live in (never-ending) hope.....

What baffles me is that the loss of Nakamba last season was the catalyst for the drop in form. Gerrard even said as much (on more than one occasion). Getting Kamara was a clear upgrade in terms of technical ability, but Nakamba was doing/will do all the pony work in front of the back-four. It is bizarre as to why it was Luiz who came in as the replacement for Kamara, when it was Nakamba, by Gerrard's own admission, who was the more natural defensive midfielder. His "passing stats" shouldn't even be a factor - getting the ball back and protecting the space is what that role calls for in a 4-3-3 / 4-1-4-1 / 4-3-2-1.....We can live with the occasional misplaced pass from a player who is consistently winning it back for us..... Luiz is a good player, but in that "number six" role his involvement should be limited to the games against weak teams at home who only play with two in the middle (ie. hardly ever). From the outside it looks like the Kamara injury prompted the response of "oh good, I can pigeon-hole Dougie back into the team now without having to drop McGinn."

Am I the only person that thinks a midfield three of Nakamba, Luiz and Ramsey would be far better than what we currently have?

I think the problems with Coutinho are two-fold: 1. Mental and 2. Positional. 1. I think he's mentally weak in terms of his own confidence levels. When he was his best at the Dippers, he was in a team that won most of the time, surrounded by other productive attackers. He had no pressure to perform so he was relaxed and produced magical moments. But when he's in a situation where his team is not performing and is low on confidence, he himself is affected by it. Gerrard has repeatedly said that he needs to feel "loved" and I'm sure he is, yet that seems to have had little-to-no effect on his performances. He looks sad to be honest. 2. It's well-documented that his struggles at Barcelona started almost immediately because he was not ever going to be playing as a central player while they had Messi (and Iniesta). Barcelona bought a number 10 and tried to turn him into a left-sided attacker. His best years were as a number 10 and his best season since leaving the Dippers was when he played in that role for a season on loan at Bayern. If he is ever going to recapture his old form he needs to be given a number 10 role. However with the weakness of the current Villa midfield we cannot afford to play with a number 10, hence why he's played on the left. Do I feel sorry for him? No. But I do feel he is utterly wasted in his current role. Unless there is a dramatic change to our system of play and personnel, we will never see the player he could be.....

They couldn't. There's no blame to be apportioned here. I think some just like to have someone to blame when things go wrong. It's just bad luck. Of course, the non-scientific explanation is that Kamara and Carlos both came straight into a frenetic league with a pace and required fitness levels above where they've come from. I'm sure they are/were up to fitness in terms of cardiovascular capacity, but muscle development/adjustment maybe not quite. Nothing the physios or fitness trainers can do about that.... The only real thing they can measure is heart rate, speed and distance.

Proper assistant manager and loyal to his managers. Never heard from him publicly, never sought the limelight, just went about his job in the most professional manner. We'll never know how pivotal he was in the transition period after Sir Ron left and Tony Barton took over, but I'd take an educated guess and say the stability and consistency he provided was likely pivotal in us becoming the best team in Europe and arguably the greatest team this club has ever produced. As assistant manager he could have thrown his toys out when Tony got the job ahead of him, but there was never even a whisper of discontent. May he Rest In Peace as another Holte-Ender in the Sky....

You might want to watch the two Arsenal goals again. Let Jesus run across him on the first (after both Cash and Konsa had stood off their respective men). On the second he did what he's been doing for three seasons now. Stood three yards off his man (Saka), let him get it onto his strong foot and pick a pass, six yards away from our goal. He is a terrible 1v1 defender and has been responsible for so many moments like that. Shouting and yelling and pointing can't mask it. Posting on social media doesn't make him a good 1v1 defender.

Young ahead of Guilbert is on deck...

Not that rare among the fan message boards... . I think even Tonev and Makoun II "just needed a run of games" at some stage of their Villa tenures....

I've never rated Fernandes to be honest. Take his penalties away (thanks Emi :)) and he's a bang average, lightweight "number 10."

The Intrepid museum (Aircraft Carrier that has a Space Shuttle and Concorde on it's deck among others) is worth a trip if you like that sort of thing, and a walk down the High Line (old railroad that was converted into a park). Staten Island ferry (free) gives you a nice view of NY Harbour and Statue of Liberty. The Top of the Rock will give you (in many opinions) the best view of Manhattan/NYC area. Little Italy has some incredible restaurants. If you want to do some cheap designer clothes shopping there is a store called Century 21 close to Ground Zero/World Trade. Macy's (near 34th St and Penn Station is the US version of Harrods and there is also an open market near there. If you've got the energy you can take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge (East River). Grand Central station is worth a visit (main hall is spectacular and there is a great food court in the lower level (not to mention the only public restrooms in midtown). Bring a good pair of walking shoes and a zippered pocket for your wallet etc.

I'll second that sentiment. The park really isn't much to write home about. Just unique because it's in the only bit of grass on the island. I used to walk through it on my commute to work every day and the only bit that I liked was the path and tunnel where the scene from Home Alone 2 was filmed....