ChesterDad

4 hours ago, avfc1982am said:

I agree. I think he's become much more clinical this season. Very seldom does he miss sitters, always a willing runner and holds the ball much better than previously. 

I watched him early in the game yesterday and his first touch wasn't great for the first 20 but after that he hardly put a foot wrong. Everything stuck, he brought others continually into the game through the transition and was positionally where he needed to be when the final balls came into the box to earn his goals. He's been like this for a good few months now. Yeah he had a blip earlier in the season but nowhere near previous years. He's becoming Mr Clinical.  

I still think he needs to work on that first touch with his back to goal but I don't think anyone could argue how good he is at the moment. He's been fantastic. 

Yes I feel the same - If Ollie’s first touch improves as you say, it could catapult him into elite status among the very best strikers of this era on an international level.

19 hours ago, Tom13 said:

His decision making still infuriates me. Had a couple of opportunities for a cutback at 2-0 and failed to do so both times.

As good as he can be, I still view him as a bit of a fair weather player.

Yes I agree with this assessment - but in fairness it’s something that could be levelled at the majority of wingers throughout the ages. 

10 hours ago, lexicon said:

Better passer, certainly. 

That’s a big call to say that he is a better passer of the ball, than Buendia imo.

I have always thought of Buendia as being capable of unlocking any defence.

I am not saying this will always be the case but right now, I think Buendia is a much better footballer. 

26 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

Unpopular opinion I know, but I think he’s a lovely player. 

No you are right - he is a baller, I like him too.

20 hours ago, colhint said:

For the younger members of our wonderful family and in this I would include all of us. I can't say Sid has been our greatest post war player because that would be unfair to my dad grandad, great grandad, great great grandad and great great great grandad. Such is our history, post war does It mean post WW2, WW1 the Boer war and Rorke's Drift. It means the Crimea and the charge of the light brigade. Because that's how long we've been around, some players and fans were before sevastebol. 

But he's in the top 3

You know what - Sid is not our greatest post war player, this is Paul, who is also our greatest ever player imo - but just to even have Sid in the conversation, just shows how highly we think of him.

Absolute Villa legend - just does not even do justice to Sid.

21 hours ago, icouldtelltheworld said:

Played football with his son when I was younger, and him and my old man got quite friendly (which the old man loved, as you can imagine!) Terrible news - too young to have seen him play for us, but by all accounts a fantastic player and a lovely man

Thank you for sharing and yes you are right , Sid was awesome 

7 hours ago, TRO said:

That's the lowdown of it all.

• Toney has the slightly better scoring ratio in the Prem, but Ollie has played more games, more experience.
• Ollie has scored over 10 goals in 9 seasons consecutively, Toney has done 6.
• Both have good fitness records....but Toney has been out for such a long time, this season.

It is close, but for me to take 3 in a squad of 23, is ok.... 2 is a bit thin.

Totally agree - let’s be fair Toney is not a bad player at all, Personally I just don’t care for him, in regards to his attitude and think Ollie deserves his seat on the plane over Toney but I would be tempted to take all three tbh.

On 27/03/2024 at 15:10, BOF said:

I think that's where 97% of Villa fans have been with plenty of players over the last 20-odd years

Many Villa fans thought that Sticks was awful, but through sheer hard work and dedication, he eventually won the support of most fans.

Did ok in the end - total opposite to Callaghan 

On 27/03/2024 at 14:53, Tom13 said:

Take your point but I also wonder how many points his abysmal decision making in the final third cost us. Don't mind AEG - timid player but he had some ability.

Totally agree - Trez dreadful footballer.

AEG defo had a bit of something about him, just so very inconsistent 

19 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Keeps his stock high for a potential sale in the Summer. 

But why ? He has shown already he has plenty to offer us. 

2 hours ago, chrisvilla4 said:

Gambling shenanigans aside (which is/ has been seemingly conveniently ignored) would anyone here swap Toney for Watkins? Essentially, that's what Brentford did. 

They both offer differing options imo - I do rate Toney and personally I think he will be Southgate’s go to back up striker, however I don’t particularly like his demeanour, Ollie is much more humble and grounded and based on this season Ollie should be the back up guy - it’s a no brainer for me.

34 minutes ago, useless said:

Lets set s*** straight, he's been pretty rubbish for us, the compaisons to Bailey make no sense, as Bailey was never as poor as Zaniolo has been, Zaniolo has not even been as good as El Ghazi or Trezeguet were, so as such it's probably us getting rid of him rather than him not having patience. We will think him for important goals and workrate, and wish him well as he sets off for a new challenge, in a different league he could indeed do well

That’s just your opinion - I challenge this on both the Bailey and Trezeguet perspectives - Trezeguet is one of the worst footballers I have ever seen. Just my opinion of course 

This really has been a difficult season from an injuries perspective - the fact that we are, where we are, is an incredible achievement.

Imagine what might have been with Emi and JJ providing extra attacking impetus, along with Ty’s presence on the pitch. 
Remarkable !

9 hours ago, duke313 said:

Remember when most fans thought Bailey wasn't very good?

You make a very good point - I can’t really see much difference in circumstances and I am definitely willing to give him more time.

I think there is definitely a player in there 

2 hours ago, ThunderPower_14 said:

Gabby has England caps. Sure you can say that his only real asset was pace, but that pace was absolutely blistering to the point where it changed everything about how the defence had to set up and created space for himself and his teammates. It's like arguing that Shaq was only good at basketball because he was enormous.

I think Duran shows signs of being a more well rounded striker, but if he ends up starting almost every game and scoring 50 odd goals over the next 4 seasons as Gabby did at the same stage of his career, we'd all be pretty happy with him.

I think the reality of Duran being here in two season is unlikely never mind 4 - equally I think  he will go on to enjoy a really good career elsewhere 

54 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Duran has done nothing in his career to suggest he’s better than Gabby at anywhere near his peak. 
 

He might have shown the potential to eventually be better than Gabby was, sure. But on current ability he’s nowhere close. 
 

Im not sure how this comparison has come about given they’re massively different players. But anyway

Gabby could run very very fast, but not much else imo.

Duran’s ceiling is significantly a lot higher - again imo 

1 hour ago, DakotaVilla said:

Yeah, best to look at Gabby as two different periods V1 - he was unplayable at times and scored so many critical goals for us - and Gabby V2 post MON where he completely shat all over the fans and the club. 

It’s hard not to detest him after he downed tools during our darkest days but still deserves some credit for what he did before MON left. 

Never really considered him unplayable tbh with you. Sure if he kicked the ball in a straight line past you, he would most likely win the race to the ball, but never really offered much beyond this. 
I just didn’t like his attitude - in my opinion he lacked awareness of his own limitations as a footballer and therefore he had an over inflated view of himself - again this is just my opinion of course.

Its interesting that as far as I can recall - we never received much interest in his services, and equally more telling for me, I never heard opposing fans, say they would have liked him in their team.

Thankfully we now have much better strikers

10 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

As much as Gabby let himself and the fans down this is just ridiculous. Gabby was smashing it for us under MON. 

Gabby scored 84 goals in over 300 games for us. Even his biggest fans could not call this “ smashing it “  dreadful footballer, who continues to steal a living as a pundit.

Dont think I have ever felt more annoyed as a fan, than the time Bruce exclaimed “ Gabby has been in at 08:30 because we were playing Blues at the weekend

2 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Aside from all that's been said.

Are people just assuming his gestures were at Villa fans... Due to the snippets of said fans wearing Claret and Blue?

Is anyone going to point out the obvious?

You might well have a decent point here JV  perhaps it was the camera angle, making it look as though it was aimed at our lot.

31 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Sometimes i think alot of us think we bought a wonderkid who was developed physically and technically beyond his years. He got spotted in Columbia, got a move to Chicago which is League 1 standard at best and then had a half season on the bench before getting into the team. Did pretty well and showed big potential. 

 We only spotted him because we were looking at a keeper and then got all excited seeing Duran and got a march on the Portuguese teams watching him . Also he got called up to the national team maybe earlier than he should have based on his potential. 

In many ways he is the modern day version of the Gabby project where we took on a 15 year old who was quicker than the wind but couldnt control a ball to save his life and taught him how to play football .  So much to work on still with Duran but its clear to see the potential of working with him in the hope he gets to the top of the tree . 

Think you make some pretty valid points, although I think the comparison to Gobby is a tad wide of the mark, when you consider how long Gobby played professional football, and was still absolutely shocking at the end of his career.

In the case of Duran - there is plenty to work with and is already significantly better than Gobby.

I am definitely of the view that we should keep him - If anyone can coach him the finer arts, it’s Unai.

Its then down to Duran to listen and take on board the advice available to him.

4 hours ago, Newry_Villan said:

Watkins has been guilty of doing this as recently as a couple of months back. I'll go check his thread for consistency in your judgement  

Sorry - I’m not sure I know what you mean ?

2 hours ago, spiezels said:

Ah who gives a shit, football fans can be such snowflakes sometimes. Call a player a word removed at the ground and online when they dont play well, then cry when they get shushed. 
Get a grip. Not necessarily aimed at you…. 

Look personally - I am too long in the tooth to care, and as I mentioned in my op - I don’t see Zaniolo as being a self entitled player, he just doesn’t strike me as this, but equally, when you give up your Sunday to travel to the smoke, pay a fortune for a seat in an atmosphere less stadium - And let’s be clear, many of those present yesterday would not be detractors of him, do you really want to see this from one of your own players? I’m just a little bit like - Come mate, see the bigger picture here, and I am a fan of his.

5 hours ago, Jas10 said:

 

Yes - maybe it doesn’t look great from this angle does it - and I don’t like to see this, what I would say is this,many players do this as a self entitled gesture - not so sure Zaniolo is one of these. 
He should though remember those people spent probably the best part of £100 plus going to the game to offer their support to the team.

4 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

That goal was finished with such technique, it's almost like he fakes to hit it with his other foot. A lot of players would have snatched at that. 

You are absolutely right - as soon as it went in and I saw the view from behind the goal.

That was no mean feat - and for me it further highlights, we do indeed have a player on our hands 

1 hour ago, WooJung said:

He didn't, but you could say the same about Watkins today.

West ham had both of them in their pockets, denying them any space 

Agreed - I do feel for him today. His start was justified imo and he had very little in terms of service and/or luck.

I hope this does not curb his enthusiasm.