villanwesty88

Anyone know the best place to park to be able to have a mooch around Bristol centre, but not too far away from the ground for when the game finishes?

I think we still struggle to break them down. We should play the same system as them and invite them to attack us and aim to catch them on the break in my opinion. Otherwise if we attack attack attack we will be up against 11 behind the ball and vulnerable to the counter ourselves.

He did fine for the first half but in the second half errors started creeping in and noticeable fatigue. I was surprised he stayed on the pitch and Lansbury didn't especially as he had a yellow card too.

What is our best eleven with the new recruits? I'm finding it hard to pick and also to work out our best formation. It is nice to have options though! Seems to be pretty good competition in each area. 4-3-3? ---------Johnstone---------- Bree Terry Chester Taylor -------Jedinak-- Whelan------ -----------Lansbury-------- Green -----------------Elmohamady --------------Kodjia 3-5-2? ------------Johnstone--------- -----Chester---Terry---Samba----- Bree----------------------------------Taylor -------Hourihane---Lansbury----- -----------McCormack--------- ------Kodjia-------Hogan------- 4-4-2? ---------Johnstone---------- Bree Terry Chester Taylor Green Jedinak Whelan Elmo ------Kodjia----Hogan---

Great news! Hope he can go get some good solid game time in the EFL this season (probably not for us).

Agree with you. Although I could see the 30 point gap being eaten into somewhat with a stronger mentality seeing out those games we were leading and then gave it away at the death. That could be worth 10-15 points over the season. Then for me fitness, confidence but also quality competition for every position will improve us greatly. Perhaps we lack this most at the moment on the wings and in goal. I think a good quality winger should be our priority to deal with the creativity options. Back when we had Milner, Young and Downing rotating on the wings we score so many goals!

46?

Split between going to Telford or Kiddy. I don't suppose we will know the squads until the night?

Seems to contradict the OP - how did you sort that? I was planning on turning up on the night but don't want to risk not getting in

I think we should really make the most of the free transfers and loans potentially available. A shame we didn't go in for George Boyd who went to Wednesday but some good possible players out there. I think goalkeeper and a winger are our most critical signings required. Goalkeeper; Ruddy (free) Midfield; Ledley (free) Winger; Kightly (free) or Piazon (loan), Moreno (loan - Man City), Patrick Roberts (loan)

I ruddy well hope so! A very good goalkeeper on a free. No brainer! Whereas Johnstone for £2.5m, that's a real brainer!

Perhaps this highlights that these guys have to get out and play as much professional football as possible. Youth football is all well and good but less is riding on the results, the competition isn't as strong and the crowds are small. National League/League 2/League 1 would all be good leagues to get a few months of game time in IMO.

I think those two should go and get some game time in League 1 or 2. Didn't Sulliman play for Cheltenham last season? Not sure how he got on there.

Any players in our youth teams likely to make the step up this coming season? Any hidden gems like Andre Green in there?

He's saying he had 1% battery on his phone, received email from Bruce asking if he can sign Alex Bruce, replied saying sod off. #word

I've said it a few times that there are some good frees to be had. I still like the idea of John Ruddy in goal on a free.

It's true they haven't won the league for 13 years but let's not forget they've spent loads of money on a new stadium and had to cope with the rise of other teams spending lots of money. I think they have been in the mix to win the league a few times but then seem to run out of steam because of the lack of depth in the squad. If they can bring in a couple of top players and have some luck with keeping everyone fit I could see them winning the league again under Wenger. Maybe not having Champions League football will help them like it has with Chelsea.

Certainly possible. John Ruddy would be my choice on a free.

We seriously need to look at what Bradford City are doing - cheap tickets and match day experience. Surely if you get more people at Villa Park for a lower price they will spend on other things too, so in a sense we wouldn't lose out. Most importantly though it allows the next generation (and current) to be able to go to games building us a solid fan base for the long term. If what psychologists say is true (that fans can have an impact on the outcome of a game) then surely any slight subsidised cost would be coming back ten-fold with Premier League millions if a regular full Villa Park pushes us to promotion.

Perhaps a free transfer or two would be useful for us; Premier League frees (obviously some are completely unrealistic) https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/endendevertraege/wettbewerb/GB1 Championship frees https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/championship/endendevertraege/wettbewerb/GB2 George Boyd, John Ruddy and Ryan Bennett would add to areas we lack depth and quality.

Is there a new shirt sponsor due for 17/18?

Far to early to say this for me. There are free transfers to be had, players contracts running down (so good deals available), players from lesser clubs who will sell at low fees (low for us but high for them). Constraints will force us to sell off deadwood/loanees and that is a good thing. I don't think an open chequebook policy is too clever anyway. We have a pretty decent defence, it's going forward and in the middle that needs the work. But even in that area of the pitch we have some good players still settling in. Also, we don't know what everyone elses team is for next season yet. We're talking about the teams ahead of us and teams coming down but there is bound to be a surprise team too. So it is far to early to say we won't be near the top 6 (IMO) - I think we are probably just a few players away (of the Chester level) from being a challenger.

Also, if it forces us to utilise youth players more that can only be a good thing. Johnson and Robinson from Preston for instance, could play a part in our current squad. This is the best way to save on wages and transfer fees and ultimately even generate money from selling some of them. We have to be far more savvy in this regard.

I'd like to see us play some pre-season games in different parts of the country. It's great we regularly play lower league sides from the area but why not mix it up a bit? It would give fans from different parts of the country a chance to watch us. Clubs I'd like to see us play; Torquay United, York City, Oxford United, Cambridge, Hearts.