GlobalVillan

I go to all the world cups and Euros following England but Villa are leagues above in terms of importance and that will never change. I don't go to Qualifiers for example and would take a Villa League Cup win over an England World Cup any day.

I also watch Mexico because my missus is Mexican. But teams I care about? Villa. Thats it.

(I don't even care about the women's team or the U23s either if I'm honest.)

I go to watch Dortmund regularly due to work, as well as PSV and Ajax, but them winning or losing makes no difference to my evening. 

12 minutes ago, Xela said:

They'll be banking of being in a super league by then to keep the money flowing 

That's exactly the plan. It's financial doping. Yet again.

11 minutes ago, withes_shin said:

So if West Ham avoid relegation Villa get an additional £3m from the Danny Ings sale.

Dembele is available for £3m.

Could turn out to be a free transfer!

Yes. If you ignore the 30 million we paid for Ings.

On 18/01/2023 at 16:52, icouldtelltheworld said:

My unpopular opinion at the time was that I would've accepted relegation in 19/20 of it meant winning the League Cup against Citeh. Stand by it tbh.

We'd have been back before long though, wouldn't have ended up in doldrums like SHA unless NSWE **** off as a result

Absolutely no way. That's the mind of small time thing reserved for the likes of our neighbours and could potentially have set us back years amd/or totally destroyed the club. We know ourselves how hard it is to get promoted and we would have had to restart all over again. We were somewhat fortunate to go up last time and, over 3 years, in no way did we ever look like getting automatic promotion.

To go through all that for a League Cup? No chance.

Well, you did say it was an unpopular opinion tbf.

14 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Hmmmmmmm.  I see your point.  But then on the other hand do you have a reputation for being one of the best managers in world football?  This site lends itself to anonymity.  So unless that really is you Sir Alex, I will side with Unai Emery on this one for the time being.

If the criteria for having an opinion is that you have to be Sir Alex then we may as well close the website down, along with every other football forum.

I'm not a manager, although I do work in football, watch football all over the world and one of my  partners is a PL agent so, whilst I am not Sir Alex, I do like to think I know a bit about football. And certainly enough to have an opinion.

27 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

Villarreal were also linked with him, I imagine Unai knows who he was. 

I'm sure he did. But that's not what I was responding to.

2 minutes ago, duke313 said:

If Watkins gets injured, then what?  Selling your back up striker with no replacement is not a good transfer policy.

Get someone like Dembele in now, who doesn't really improve us but offers another alternative, and then go back in the summer to replace Watkins.

I agree that I wouldn't have sold Ings at this stage. And certainly not to replace him with Dembele. We don't know that we are actually signing him yet though.

11 minutes ago, Rolta said:

Don't let that stop you forming extremely strong opinions about how shit he is.

Nobody is doing that. And since you quoted me a few times in the Duran thread where I said he simply isn't ready to the lead the line of a Premier League team yet, it's pretty ridiculous. Learn to actually read what is being posted rather than making it up in your head to attack fellow fans.

I've seen Dembele play multiple times and don't rate him on that basis.

2 minutes ago, Rolta said:

I'm only picking up fag ends here. The first thing you said might not have been hyperbole, but saying you'd rather a player who's never proven himself (yet) beyond half a year at Preston and a few good games for us, over someone who is clearly vastly more established is probably verging on it.

I just don't want us to waste money on Dembele as I don't rate him at all. So instead of being stuck with Dembele for the next few years, I'd play Ollie and hope for the best whilst waiting for the summer to sign a better striker. Archer would just be as a back up.

All that is on the basis that we xant sign a better striker in January, which I accept is difficult. I'd genuinely rather wait than sign this guy.

17 minutes ago, Hughes said:

Transfers are 100% Emery's decision.  

Not according to the post in the Duran thread that says Villa watched him for 6 months before agreeing to sign him. That's a Lange signing if anything.

Just now, The_Steve said:

I imagine it’s going to be say €5m euros on a two/three year deal, if we do sign him. We will still sign another striker in the summer, I’m confident. 

If we sign Dembele and also sign another striker in the summer then we would have signed 3 strikers in 6 months, with Ollie already in the side. That's not happening.

3 minutes ago, Hughes said:

Its completely apples and pears, no? Very, very different players. One does not fit our style of play under Emery, the other is much more likely to. "Sizeable downgrade" and "absolutely zero sense" is just hyperbole, it really is. IF we get him (big if), it will because Emery thinks he fits and is good enough. Transfers are 100% Emery's decision.  

It's not hyperbole as I think he is a poor player and wouldn't score the number of goals Ings does. Therefore a downgrade. A big one. I'd rather recall Archer.

2 minutes ago, duke313 said:

We've left ourselves short now selling Ings with no replacement.  So, it's either someone like Dembele who's contract is running out or recall Keinan Davis or Wesley.

Need to hope Watkins gets and stays fit ASAP and finds some goalscoring form as the above options won't cut it in the Premier League. Davis couldn't score in the Championship and Dembele is nowhere near Prem standard. Same for Wesley.

Really hope this is smoke and mirrors and we have a quality striker coming in.

41 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

On Dembele I'm not sure is he an upgrade on Ings?

Presumably he is quicker, stronger....what else?

Don't think I have EVER seen him play!

Agreed. In fact I'd say it's a fairly sizeable downgrade and would make absolutely zero sense.

If it were to happen of course, which we don't yet know.

I'd be absolutely stunned if we sign him. Just can't see it. Great player tho.

33 minutes ago, duke313 said:

I never once said we should sell Ings though, did I?

No. I didn't say you did. I simply stated that Ings didn't seem to be trusted by Emery and as such, we needed another, proven striker. Maybe we will get one, maybe Duran will come in and hit the ground running. I am just worried that it's too much too expect from a relatively rookie striker in a new league. But here's hoping. 

Just now, KentVillan said:

Brighton away was a pen and a deflection.

The bicycle kick goal as @Zatmanmentions was indeed a moment of pure magic.

I just wonder if we’ll really miss him all that much. One of those players I rated and personally wouldn’t have sold, but not sure it’s as big a mistake as some think.

Watkins would be a much bigger loss IMO, especially to Emery, even though on an individual level it’s hard to say Watkins is better than Ings.

I though Ings pressed well at Brighton and created space for others to run into. He also scored twice ina game that we came from behind to win for the first time in yonks so I'd class that as good performance.

That said, he clearly wasn't in Emerys plans so let's see what happens. I was looking forward to him scoring against his old club tho. 

21 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Gonna be fun if we’re 1-0 down at half time, since we sold our plan B.

You were one of the posters that tore me to shreds in the Duran thread for saying we needed to sign another striker. I based it on the fact that and I quote "Ings doesn't seem to be trusted by Emery", followed by "we need another striker immediately".

Your response was "no we dont". 

It was clear Ings was up for sale/loan and I was worried that Duran would be the only option aside from Watkins. Hence my concerns in that thread. 

I got dogs abuse for it. 

I never once said we should not have signed Duran, just that it was underwhelming given our current need for a proven striker. Yet my words got twisted around and I was strawmanned to the hilt.

I really hope you can at least be honest and admit that I had/have a point?

2 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

He did, although I was trying to think of games where Ings was a standout player for us. I can’t think of too many, but my memory of the late Smith and entire Gerrard era is pretty poor now as a trauma coping mechanism. Can anyone point to a few games where Ings really shone? I know there must be a few.

Watkins, for all his obvious faults and erratic form, has had some incredible games for us where he’s been the difference.

It's not easy to "shine" as a striker so to speak, other than scoring goals. Which is of course what he is there for. So I'd say Brighton away as I mentioned was a stand out. 

1 hour ago, sne said:

 

https://www.marca.com/futbol/futbol-internacional/2023/01/19/63c856b7ca4741d9628b45fa.html

Thats about 4 days wages for Ronaldo. Which is the worst thing about it IMHO.

I'm a big fan of Emi. He is a battler and a player I think will only get better under Emery.

(And he has a brilliant song  )

1 hour ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

It's possible...

However, the story I heard was that everyone he knew supported Manure and he wanted to be different.

Well done Prince William I say.

Yep. He literally said this himself on interview to Gary Lineker. Think it's on YouTube somewhere. 

Big risk to let a player like Ings go but it was always on the cards. Just hope we actually do have a replacement lined up as it would be a monumental risk to let him go otherwise. 

With Archer gone and Watkins injured, it's too much to expect Duran to come in and immediately fill Ings boots.

Brighton was one of my favourite aways in years so I thank Danny for that.

Interesting times ahead.

41 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

As a Villa fan I'm thinking "We've been on a good run lately so no doubt due a loss"
If I was a Saints fan I'd be thinking "We've been on a good run lately so no doubt due a loss"

 

So.... 0-0 draw?

I could see a draw, maybe 1-1. Can't remember the last 3pm away kick off so looking forward to it anyway. 

If we do win, we will be probably the 3rd best form team since Emery came in which is excellent. Especially with games against the top 2 on the horizon.

4 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

His goalscoring record at that age is irrelevant though.

Ah ok. I wasn't aware of that.