FLVillan

31 minutes ago, UpTheVilla26 said:

In 2017, we had Chris Samba as a CB option. 

In 2023, we have Clement Lenglet. 

Just remember where we were, not that long ago. 

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... 

10 minutes ago, Dillon66 said:

Done deal according to Sky Sports news......any of our avaiation correspondents tracking the plane yet lol...

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....

2 hours ago, jimmygreaves said:

Untill Pep wins something at a club without limitless funds or profile I'll maintain that he's a definitive chequebook manager.

Don't fall for the hype.

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. 

1 hour ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Exactly, hasn't he spent like One Billion Pounds at Sh***y?

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

The new Diaby song sounds brilliant.  Anyone know the words? 

2 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

8 players on the bench with two keepers...

Don't think that's what was planned is it.

Actually, Unai said last year that two keepers on the bench was something they did routinely to aid in the pre-match warm-up routines for the starter and GK coach as well as give the younger keeper experience of match day.  Five maximum subs allowed so he still has more than enough outfield players available.  With the meticulous detail that goes into the planning from Unai and his staff, he knows exactly what he wants on the bench for any given game.

is it just me or did Unai appear irritated by the press conference today?  

1 hour ago, Monkeypuzzle said:

Where has this "second striker" phrase come from? Never heard it before Emery came in. It is basically a rebrand of centre forward (the deeper lying striker, such as Bergkamp, who plays behind the main striker) so what is the point of this new name?

Not a new concept at all, just a re-phrase.... In the good old days they were 'inside forwards' - playing off a centre-forward.  Freedom to play off the centre-forward, roam into wide areas or drop deeper (into what is now called the number ten role).  Gary Shaw (Withe), Brian Little (Gray or Deehan).  

19 hours ago, Xela said:

No disrespect to our friends from over the pond, but i'm glad USWNT are out. 

Trust me, there are plenty, perhaps even a majority of folks here in the US who haven't shed a tear to see this iteration of the women's team lose.  Them inserting themselves into politics, the "equal pay" hoax (they actually receive more than the men, despite their matches/tournaments generating less than 15% of the revenue), and their complete lack of respect for the national anthem have caused many to grow tired of them.

They didn't deserve to even progress from the group, so those saying they were unlucky against the Swedes is failing to recognize the fact that their poor performances in the group led them to have to play a tougher round-of-16 match.  One half-decent performance out of four won't win you a world cup. Rapinoe must have been getting penalty training from Kane... 

Olsen is apparently really good on the training ground, according to our pre-Unai GK coach - apparently keeps Emi on an even keel and understands his role well.  BUT none of that, in my mind, says he should be our number two.  The same qualities were attributed to the likes of Micah Richards.

Olsen is like the Titus Bramble of goalkeepers.  Looks the part, clearly very athletic and agile, even occasionally produces some great moments, but 40,000 (+10) people collectively  themselves whenever the ball/an attacker is within 30 yards of our goal.  He fills me with us much fear as Nyland did.  

I really hope he can prove us wrong, just as much as I really hope we sign a new goalkeeper before the season kicks off. I'll take either.

50 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

I'd be shocked if a club the size of Villa was given a standard colour - unless that's something the club themselves are happy with, ie "here's our regular claret - will that work for you?"

I know for a fact that West Ham's colour is dyed up to a reference by Umbro.

On the Pantone front - you're right that they were created for printed colour references, but they then expanded out into dyed cotton swatches before moving into digital.

If I were running brand at Villa, I'd partner with a US-based company called CSI (no, not the TV show) which can create a bespoke reference swatch from anything and will then provide not just the swatch but the dye recipes to any supplier who requires it.  No excuses for the brand then.

TL; DR - my expectation would be that Villa themselves have been "not that arsed" about a specific claret for the brand and that's why we've ended up with everything from blood to Ribena on our kits.

I honestly think that, under Ellis and probably Lerner, we did just settle for whatever the brand was willing/able to produce.  Ellis most definitely wouldn't have spent an extra penny in this area.... Hopefully that has now changed.  With the money around the premier league nowadays and NSWE leading the way, I'd certainly hope that it has.... perhaps the first indicator was the Luke kits which appeared to be well thought out with a nice shade of claret.

CSI has a lot of sportswear companies as clients, including Puma, Reebok, Asics, as well as our own Fanatics, so quite possible that we will get some consistency moving forwards...

12 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

In my experience of football that's not accurate.

Yes, shit teams like Small Heath would get whatever royal blue was in the catalogue, but any team in the top division of their national league (and national teams) would get their exact colour unless they didn't have a specific reference.

It wasn't always Pantone - for instance the Italy "sky blue" - was referenced from a swatch of an old shirt.  It would only be if a team said, say, "we play in bright red" that we'd be free to make proposals or put them in whatever our standard team equivalent was.

That's actually the point I was making (referencing college and lower level pro teams as opposed to the very top pro franchises/leagues).  Wolves are a great example with their old gold, they had a kit just a few years ago (adidas?) that was basically yellow, not even close in colour to their true old gold. Villa, Wet Spam, Burnley all get lumped into a single claret category and the manufacturer will produce whatever their version is.  Our Diadora kits a few years ago were extremely light, whereas the Under Armour ones were probably the darkest I've seen.  I'd bet if you could find Villa and Wet Spam kits produced in the same year by the same manufacturer (not sure it's ever happened to be honest) the shade of claret would be identical (if the material had the same density/absorbency). 

Pantone was originally created for printing/printed material and has been adapted more recently for digital. 

2 hours ago, 479Villan said:

This is giving me flashbacks of being on Arkansas message boards and hearing that only Nike could do Cardinal Red and that Adidas and Apex screwed it up and oh god the gin is calling 

I have less belief this is an issue currently as it’s clear Fanatics is doing all the design and printing and Castore just puts a name on for profit. Any errors in the color are on them. Considering they printed for Luke also who everyone loves, I don’t know the issue. 

Tis true.  Only the very very top income-producing franchises can dictate a specific colour shade with kit manufacturers.  For example, when we were supplied by Reebok, and they were also the exclusive NFL supplier, they had colours such as "Dolphin Teal" and "Jaguar Gold".  When I was at Brown University, they signed a contract with Nike because they were the only supplier who produced in the colour brown (no coincidence that they had the NFL contract by that stage and the Cleveland Browns would have needed it). 

This is an interesting thread.  I've always maintained that leaving Villa is, in the majority of cases, a kiss of death.  Very few managers and players who leave us go on to bigger and better.  Yorke, Young, Barry, Milner, Gueye are the obvious recent exceptions. But the list that left and never performed to the same level is far longer, stretching all the way back to the 70s.  

6 hours ago, Zatman said:

Was never the biggest Concrete Ron fan but the shitshow at centre back when he left such a huge gap

Pity nobody ever added the water to the dry mix on that concrete....

10 hours ago, RicRic said:

Any links to any LB’s and CB’s are false i guarantee you we are not signing anyone else in those positions so id wisely suggest to ignore.

In January, we said no chance are we signing a left-back, not a real need as we have Digne, Augustinsson and Young to play there.  

And presto along came Moreno and Augustinsson was out the door!  In Unai I trust, and if he brings in another player I'm not going to make the mistake of questioning the wisdom of the signing or what will happen next.

To be honest, I wouldn't be very surprised to see Mings or Konsa get sold at a healthy profit.  Unlikely, but I trust this management at the club to get it right.  

We all questioned the sales of Gray and Gidman in 1979/80, and look what happened there! 

On 30/06/2023 at 21:47, TheAuthority said:

Well, this is a nice (improved) replica of the away shirt from the worst season in my lifetime (86-7) so now is as good a time as any to banish the ghost with Unai in charge.... 

3 hours ago, choffer said:

Currently enjoying my first MLS live game in Atlanta. Unsurprised to see our Brad’s goal kicks going straight into touch still. 

I haven't seen a live MLS match in over ten years - can't enjoy it to be honest.  Even when I had a couple of my ex-college players at NE and Seattle, I just couldn't enjoy it.

Considering the level he played previously and his experience, surprising really that Guzan hasn't really had a sniff for the US team.... happy for him that he's still making a living from the game though.... 

From a career standpoint this fella has played a lot of games since breaking through as a 16 year old.  Some are concerned he's got too many miles in his legs.  For contrast I'd present James Milner, Gareth Barry and Ashley Young - all who broke into first team football as teenagers and all who were performing at the highest level at age 37 and beyond..... 

1 hour ago, Jareth said:

Eeeesh, that legacy sums up Villa's last 10 years perfectly. 

Jeez, and they could have said "wearing the number 8 to follow in the footsteps of Little, Shaw, Platt, Townsend...."