DJBOB

1 minute ago, CVByrne said:

I don't agree, I think he'll be used mostly one of the two central midfielders. We've Buendia, tielemans and maybe others for the second striker position

Buendia is off an ACL and Tielemans has had trouble staying fit.

Wouldnt surprise me to see Barkley in the second striker. Has got all the tools to make it work. 

Ross is actually probably closer to Tielemans in that he will most likely be used in that second striker position. This is particularly useful because he can hold up the ball, which we struggled with in the second half of the season. 
 
And then in certain matches, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the double pivot. 

10 minutes ago, Teale's 'tache said:

I'm sorry but I can't agree with this.

Whether it is in-house or not really doesn't make any difference, it's the talent and competence of the designers and the people that are leading them that is important, I've seen big design companies spit out awful work just as I have seen in-house teams do incredible work and vice versa.

The "brand book" images we've seen today show plenty of coherence to my eye, consistent use of colour and elements, maybe a font-face more than I believe is ideal but nothing awful certainly. We haven't even seen everything or how it is going to be used, and keep in mind that some it (I'm guessing a lot of the stuff seen at the awards dinner) will be used for the 150th year only.

The new crest is not great, and the process and communication of it has been terrible, but there's some good stuff being done as well, I can see the building blocks of an actual brand being put in place, and that is exciting as we largely have never really had one.

 

Agreed - I see the vision down the line. 
 
That the fans dislike the new badge for a variety of reasons I understand but branding doesn’t start and stop with just this badge. 
 
And to be honest, I think they know this current badge of not the best iteration seeing as how they don’t have it on display anywhere but have relentlessly pushed the rest of adidas style images instead. 
 

39 minutes ago, Wezbid said:

For whatever it's worth, the Mrs has no skin in this game. 

As an outsider she's liking the badge from yesterday's tweet or whatever it was. She doesn't care for the circle badge as it looks like everybody else whilst the shield is more unique and recognisable.

I love the circle design if the lion was the other way around but I also completely see where she's coming from.

Just match the badge colours to the shirt rather than the blue of the shirt being different and it'll be a much easier acceptance.

I know VT doesn’t like it but the shield, lion, and name are differentiators. 
 
I think to @Teale's 'tache point, the coloring and what not can evolve but the brand uniformity and the “differentiator” design will have a longer lasting impact. 
 
You can already see it with all of the adidas crossover items. 
 
So while people may not like the lion detail, drop shadow, text, star, etc, it’s more important to have a standout and consistent shape and design that can be evolved over time.

Neutrals will see the shape design, colors and know its Aston Villa. The round badge was not going to be a standout for us. 

Oddly enough, my mates who support other clubs have been messaging me that they like it. One even said he liked the drop shadow. Genuine. 
 
Shows the dichotomy between Villa fans and what others think. 

Eh. Its here. Let’s get on with it. 

A lot can be forgiven with a nice kit. 

Always has confidence in the business end but still can’t really believe it. 
 
Amazing work by the squad.

20 matches played, 10 starts at around 1,000 minutes. About the amount of minutes that Lenglet and Moreno played for us this year in the league. 
 
Doku preferred over him. 
 
Surely all the signs of a summer exit. 

Alex has a good bit on the why behind the stats and the problems (particularly with Kamara injured)

I agree with a lot of it and the next of iteration of Villa already has some hints on the fullbacks they’re targeting. Athletic fullbacks that can absorb a lot of the 1v1 pressure. Cash, Konsa and Digne have done admirably but Unai is targeting a certain type. The Kamara replacement has been beat to death. 
 

2 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Had a horrible opening 20 minutes with Salah giving him the runaround but he grew into it pretty nicely afterwards.

That's the thing with experienced top level pros, they can have a poor opening to a match but they've got enough knowledge to then settle down in ways young players sometimes can't.

He's exactly the sort we need to keep around making the CL but no idea if the finances will allow it.

Have to say way last six months have gone I think I'd be moving Moreno on instead as we've hardly seen him this season so not good if he can't shake off these injuries for next season.

Yeah and fair to play him, had absolute zero protection for a majority of the match. Between McGinn pressing hard and Zaniolo out for a stroll, he was handling 2v1’s best as he could. Also class a few times holding the line for the trap. 

Nice for him to get a point against Liverpool. Only club he hasn’t registered any points for while at Villa. 
 

Edit: Ah never mind, we got a point against them the end of last season. Still looking for his first win. 

A lesson to never bomb squad and keep everyone involved, no matter how little you rate them. 
 
You never know when they need to contribute. 

Would be easy to put his head down with some shocking misses but kept plugging away. 
 
Will he ever have the physicality to deal with the prem? Question marks but the attitude is there. 
 
If anyone can get him clicking, it’s Unai. 

Had it all on mute but what was going on with Bailey and Watkins? I work with a fair few Jamaicans and have only been on the end of that wide eyed expression when I’ve royally **** up. 

17 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Is it just me or does it look a bit cack?  The pictures look great but the rest looks like an after though or a friday afternoon 5pm job “Yeah let’s get the odd job men to write ‘prepared’ a couple of times and a couple of crests and a Victorian thingy” I think over the different levels of bricks etc doesn’t work.

I like it but that might be just the American in me. 

Over here, they would just hang a banner or something or the other to avoid the terror of wall graffiti. 

3 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

I don't think Spurs will catch us but I'll put a few dollars on because I think the odds are inflated. It's basically a 2 horse race and we're hot favourites but anything over 10-1 is ridiculous

It’s really not. Parlay all the independent outcomes and it’s at minimum 10-1. 
 
 

To put into context, the chances of all sequences occurring (two Villa losses, two wins and at least a draw for Tottenham) are at 16:1 so if you’re a doomsdayer, at least get yourself a nice holiday out of it. 

24 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

The funny thing about these hypothetical scenarios is that even the people who would elect to have more money in this case aren't doing it because they are the club accountants or that they get a cut of profits or something. Ultimately, it's also in the pursuit of trophies. More money and stature = higher probability of trophies in the future. This whole argument is just a short vs long term approach towards the same goal

Some people just seem to be unable to accept defeat and resort to shadowboxing imaginary people. It's amazing how fast this has happened, and how perspective has been lost. You would think we were prime Manchester United or something the way this site completely capitulates after a defeat or 2, without fail. I remember losing back to back to QPR and Bolton in the Championship barely 5 years ago, effectively ending our automatic promotion hopes and I swear it wasn't nearly as toxic as this 

I think Villa fans have a collective PTSD and always have a thought that the bottom is going to drop out. 
 
Whether it’s Deano, Grealish, failed promotion, relegation, MON and that’s just in recent times. 
 
The worst is right around the corner so a few losses gets everyone triggered. 
 
For me, UCL is there and I’m just waiting to pop the cork. 

Dendoncker would have been both huffing absolutely out the rear and given the ball away about 10 times if he was playing. 

4 minutes ago, allani said:

I think we need someone more similar to Kamara - so able to break up play AND then keep hold of the ball, resist a press and release the ball effectively.  This stops Dougie being our main / only midfield outlet and means that we can try and get McGinn and Rogers on the ball higher up the pitch where they are more effective.  We need round pegs for round holes.  I don't think the way Emery wants us to play is open to compromise by shoe-horning players in whose job doesn't fit with the way we play.  In general I think most of your suggestions fit this model pretty well.  But alarm bells ring for me when the question mark on a player is their passing ability.  That is the central theme of the way we play and I think having 1 player that struggles with that will weaken the whole structure.  (Unless of course they've just not had a passing role in their current team OR Emery and the team think that they can rapidly improve that part of the player's game.)

Dendoncker comes to mind and how he really didn’t fit the way we play. 

4 minutes ago, Mazrim said:

I don't think technically sound defensive midfielders are that rare. There seems to be a conveyor belt coming out of Italy, Spain, France and French African nations for instance.
The better ones will be hard to get, sure. But that's what we have to do. Kamara is key to how we play and we need proper cover for him, and somebody to start the first 3rd of the season. Its critical.

Technically sound but also physical and athletic are the key. 

I’m all for it if the scouting team find a player they like that fits the mold but I think Unai will be accepting of a more progressive midfielder that doesn’t fit the mold of a big CDM if he can. 
 
He didn’t traditionally play with a pure CDM at Villareal or most of his previous clubs. 

This thread was funnier when people thought United could catch us. 
 
Now, it’s just doomsday peppers finding ways to dump us out of the UCL. 

2 minutes ago, paul514 said:

My other pick for a midfielder was Caqueret who is a bit more of a Luiz type.

https://fbref.com/en/players/f81ef10d/scout/365_m1/Maxence-Caqueret-Scouting-Report

I’ve seen a decent amount of Caqueret and I think he would struggle in the prem. Got a bit of Sanson about him and not just because they’re both French.