FLVillan

What truly blows my mind in this kit fiasco is that sportswear made from moisture-wicking fabric is hardly a new concept. The materials that are known to breathe (ie not get drenched) have been around since the 1970s. I had an Umbro Villa away shirt in 1979 that was made from some type of polyester or nylon that was breathable fabric, almost a mesh. Nike and others introduced the "dri-fit" materials in the 1990s. How on earth, in 2023 could this company have managed to screw this thing up so badly? And blaming the Chinese production facility is pretty lame, seeing as all the big sportswear companies have been producing over there for 30+ years.

Ian Ross Mark Walters

I think the big thing that gets overlooked is that by our defence playing higher, especially away from home, teams find it hard to create any type of attacking momentum or quality sustained possession in our half. They generally resort to long balls over the top, which occasionally will work, but invariably don't. You'll not see long sustained periods where we are camped out at the edge of our own box, defending for our lives and giving up countless chances. Away from home it is usually "normal" to defend for long periods and soak up pressure, yet we don't do much of that. The key to stopping balls in-behind is the pressure by our "attacking" players in preventing/affecting quality balls being played behind us. It's where we've missed Buendia and Ramsey the most. Eventually Zaniolo and Diaby will get better off-the-ball also.

I think Ramsey will be a faster return than Moreno because of the type of injury. Ramsey just had to let a broken bone heal, while Moreno has to get that muscle built back up and flexible again.

I don't think they're incapable of playing either side, but Unai has made it clear he wants balance with left-footers on the left side at the back. Young was unique in that he was two-footed - a right-footed player but also strong on his left and had played as a left-winger for the first 12 years of his career, so while he was comfortable on the left, he was also more than capable on the right.

Chambers is an occasional adequate fill-in, or to come on late in games to add an extra body or fresh legs, but to have to rely on him for anything more than that is a problem. He just doesn't have the pace or mobility for the way Unai wants to play. If we were a team that sat deep and soaked up pressure he'd be fine. I think the Mings injury has affected the right-back position more than anything else because of the lack of experience we now have centrally. I think the plan for this season was to have Konsa as the alternative to Cash, but we now cannot move Konsa to right-back (yet). With Mings in the team, Carlos would be able to play on the right-side of a three when we play that way. With Mings out long term we will need Carlos central of the three. Konsa aside, the three other centre-backs in the squad, although very good players, have less than 10 games between them for Villa, with two of them being brand new to English football to boot, so Konsa is essential in the middle.

They picked the wrong Flick...

Fixed it for ya....

And the media are getting exactly the reaction they wanted....... Break out the old Flemish-English section in google translate, twist it a bit, fail to report any type of context and away we go...Aston Villa star is unhappy! Personally, I'd be a lot more concerned if one of our players said "Oh yes, I'm delighted that I'm not starting. Very happy to play the odd game here and there." Except Olsen of course...

I agree with this. Tammy was brilliant in terms of his goalscoring output at championship level for us, but at every other stage of his career he has been far less prolific. Also, as you said, he's not got a great all round game in terms of pressing, back-to-goal, link-up play etc. In fact, I'd say he's very similar to Archer albeit more experienced. Good finisher, but doesn't offer much else.

I thought one of these two was a very useful signing and one was a complete waste of money. I was correct. Except I got it backwards...

You were right the first time about Six. On his debut he was outstanding. Then he just went downhill from there. The English league in them days was no place for a fancy-footed Frenchman who didn't like to get tackled.....

Don't remember the song specifically but yes, big Ken took a long time to settle! But he became the perfect compliment for Allan Evans at the heart of our defence. If you break down the European cup winning team there were quite a few who got pelters prior to that team coming together and eventually becoming the greatest. Kenny Swain was signed as a midfielder/winger from Chelsea and barely got a game when he first arrived. He only came to the fore when he was switched to fullback. Never forget the headline on the back page of the Mail: "Shock Swain Switch." Gary Williams really struggled when he first broke into the team. Looked slow and cumbersome. He'd come through the youth system and had replaced Gordon Smith/Mike Pejic. Allan Evans was a converted centre forward from Dunfermline, who looked decidedly average up front. Peter Withe was "too old, too expensive, too slow and ex Blues." Even the great Jimmy Rimmer was doubted during his first year or so. Plucked him from Arsenal reserves after Pat Jennings had taken his place (we seem to do well with Arsenal reserves 'keepers don't we!)

Long long time ago, the old man said "that Tommy Craig is exactly what we've needed for a long time in our midfield." Perhaps the worst signing we ever made prior to Balaban and the Djemba twins. Certainly the worst of the Sir Ron Saunders era.

I'm a big fan of Ollie and don't understand the stick he gets sometimes, but today he was miles off it. Not talking about chance conversion or goal-scoring here, but he just looked lethargic and was giving their back four all the time in the world on the ball. Lost cont of the number of passes that TAA and others pinged forward with no pressure.... Hopefully a one-off bad day at the office.

The attempted dribble out would have worked against 75% of teams, but surely he was aware of how well the Dippers press and defend from the front? He's a "John Stones" type of centre back and it took Stones 12-18 months to finally start to prove his worth at Citeh (despite coming from another premier league club). I remember Unai stating that it was going to take them some time to get Pau ready for the premier league. The Mings injury has put that plan in the dustbin. Mings and Carlos are both physical players, with Konsa being somewhere in-between. When Carlos went off injured today it was as big a hammer blow as when we lost Mings at Newcastle. Forced a change of shape and playing Pau in a two with Konsa was always going to be a risk. Despite what some speculated at the time, I don't believe Pau was ever brought in to compete with Mings, rather to compliment him and be used in some games in a back-four but mostly as part of a three.

Scored a hatrick at Highfield Rd against us (on Boxing day I think it was). The only time I could honestly say, "Paul McGrath didn't play well today." God was later quoted as saying he was literally drunk in that match.

Just had a gander at the arrivals into BHX so far today, and aside from the usual commercial traffic there have been two private/corporate arrivals. One from San Jose, California (SJC) and one from Perugia, Italy. There is an arrival coming in from Alicante due in at 1345 also. So, we're signing an MLS kid, an Italian international and a Spanish international.

Yup. Yet again, I believe Unai is about to be fully vindicated as he was when he let Ings go last year.

I think he's going to be very valuable this season. With him having played the right-side of a back-three for Belgium, he gives us legitimate cover there or in midfield (or as a target man as he did in the last ten minutes when we beat Manure in Unai's first match ).

Rumor has it that Monchi made him an offer and he began to argue that he was worth more, to which Monchi replied, Lip Up Fati.

To be fair, Samba wasn't that bad, when comparing to the fact that Elphick, Bree, Hutton and Jedinak all had games at centre-back that year...

No flights from BCN (main airport) but this little nugget from GIR which is only 35 miles from the city and the more likely airport of choice for private operators....

I've always maintained that Pep has never really had to prove himself as a manager, and if you stuck him into a mid-tier club with limited resources he'd struggle with technically inferior players. You could argue he has blown it big-time in some instances in one-off matches. Given the resources he's had available to him, three European Cup wins in fifteen years is hardly earth-shattering. Winning the domestic league at Barcelona is getting the better of one other team and in Germany it's a one-horse race. Sadly, given their money, England is little better nowadays..... Unai Emery has won trophies against the odds, getting the best from mid-tier/unfashionable clubs and being a master tactician in one-off matches.

He's spent more on his defence than most small countries....