mallett

I agree that he was spot on with everything he said and that it should have been kept in the dressing room. However, we all say as fans that we want players who care and are passionate and I think we saw someone being interviewed when they were bitterly disappointed by the result who felt it strongly enough that they spoke more honestly than perhaps was expedient. I saw a player who was really hurting and was reflecting honestly about why it had gone wrong. That’s something I want our players to be doing after a performance like that. He wasn’t just blaming others, he specifically included himself yet the reason Ollie was being interviewed as opposed to another player is because he had done his main job and had scored two goals. As long as the rest of the team are also reflecting on the performance as honestly it shouldn’t affect team morale which is what we are worried about.

Emery’s use of the squad has been an eye opener for me as a Villa fan all season. Back in the summer it felt like we had a really strong squad with the exception of cover for: Cash - which Emery has solved by taking back KKH and getting Konsa to play there. Martinez - we signed Gauci plus Olson wasn’t totally terrible on Wednesday. However, throughout the season Emery has been using much more of the squad than I as a Villa fan am used to trading off short term pain for long term gain. His use of squad players in the group stage of the ECL got them up to speed for when we needed them later on in the season. Bailey hit a vein of such rich form that Diaby’s struggles to maintain his early performances wasn’t a problem or much of a talking point. Use of squad players throughout the season has also increased their value should we need to sell them. The very opposite of the bomb squad mentality that we are used to as Villa fans! It also seems to be an important factor in Emery’s man management. John Townley in his post match podcast talks about how Emery has been saying all season that he doesn’t rest players, what he does is give other squad players their chance. That sort of attitude encourages all of the players to train hard. It means that we’re not just going to attract squad players who are only interested in the money. Being a squad player for Emery’s Villa team means that you are going to get real chances to play and advance your career (in a top team). That’s a world away from MON’s use of the squad. Wednesday night was just a continuation's of this strategy.

Watkins needs Toney to have a poor game tonight. This guardian article says that Southgate has been talking up how big an opportunity it is for Toney this evening. I agree with the basic premise of the article that Watkins and Toney are competing for the same position in the squad as cover for Kane. And in that context it makes sense for Southgate to look at Toney in this game. I am a bit worried on behalf of Ollie that I don’t remember Southgate ever bigging him up in the way it suggests he has been Toney. My preference would be for Watkins obviously - as a Villa fan. I think he offers England the chance to switch how they play. Kane has been pretty immobile as a forward since his succession of ankle injuries. Earlier on in his career, Kane was well known for his pressing and work rate but physically he couldn’t play like that anymore and he showed his quality by adapting his game to drop into midfield and pick a pass whilst continuing to score. That means that on paper Toney is probably a better fit if you want the replacement for Kane to literally just be a poorer version of Kane. Someone who slots into the system so that England can play the same way. My worry would be is that this is Southgate’s preference. Whereas I would like England to switch systems entirely when Watkins is in the team, by playing with a far more fluid and mobile attacking style that makes more use of the attributes of Saka, Foden, and Bellingham. However Southgate hasn’t tried this so it’s not going to happen. Kane has never won a trophy, is that because his goals come at the expense of the overall performance of the team? Before they were scuppered by injuries Spurs looked a much better team without Kane than with him.. He joins Bayern and for the first time in goodness knows how long they are not going to win the league. For England, Kane is arguably a flat track bully perhaps he’s the reason England keep failing to make that final step up? Realistically Kane is always going to be plan A. But in my opinion Ollie should be plan B but a very different plan B. Here Southgate’s incredible Villa prejudice is an issue. He left Villa for the ‘bigger’ opportunities at Middlesbrough as a player which was weird at the time and frankly baffling with hindsight. The treatment of Grealish when he was a Villa player compared to when he was a city. Despite the media hype Pep didn’t make Grealish a better player he just taught him how to play in a different system. But Grealish was picked when he was crap for City and ignored when he was brilliant for Villa. Jack felt he would get more England opportunities playing for City rather than Villa and he was right. For these reasons Watkins needs Toney to have a stinker or be completely anonymous tonight or else I think his place in the Euro squad is in danger. I don’t want Watkins to have his confidence knocked or head turned so here’s hoping for a terrible evening for Toney.

Rogers also gave away three fouls which was probably against the game plan. I think he will come good. The improvement we have seen in the defensive side of Bailey’s game shows that this management team can coach that in a player. And I think that naturally Rogers is much better defensively than Bailey, for a start he’s a real unit. This season in particular our defence has relied heavily on a brilliant off side trap and that can’t be easy for a player such as Rogers to pick up quickly. For Middlesbrough he was playing in a 10 position this season which is very different defensively compared to where he played yesterday. It should be a good learning experience for him even if it’s not been enjoyable being subbed. Unai gave him much longer on the pitch than he could have been expecting and when he substituted him it was part of a quadruple substitution that meant Rogers wasn’t the focus. Once again great management.

I was only listening to the match on 5 live but the co-commentator was Mark Warburton and he was talking about Rogers being a weakness targeted by Luton for a long time before he was taken off in the second half. It was interesting to hear a professional coach / manager’s opinion. That’s not to say that he didn’t do well on the ball but the fcommentary really highlighted how often he was out of position off the ball or beaten too easily etc. And then Unai hooked him so it seemed he was thinking the same thing.

According to Transfermarkt he got a cruciate ligament injury 24 August 2022. Has hardly played for us since we signed him.

Jhon Duran has played just over 7 x 90 minutes spread over 22 matches this season. He has 4 goals, 1 assist and 5 yellow cards in all competitions this season according to transfermarkt. Ollie Watkins has just over 24 x 90 minutes spread over 28 matches. 14 goals, 10 assists and 4 yellow cards (same source.) He is getting limited game time but at a high level. For a young player he has already played a lot of matches before joining Villa so quality could be more important than quantity. He hasn’t always been available to play so his appearances could have been higher. He is getting too many yellow cards. His market value has gone up (very slightly) over his time at Villa according to transfermarkt but if he played more minutes for us in his current form it would go up more. According to transfermarkt he is the 3rd most valuable player from Colombia and 25th in the World for players born in 2003. Conclusion: He is a good back up striker to Watkins and valuable investment for the club.

On the 5 live commentary of the Burnley match, Dean Smith said that staff at Villa had told him that Duran was an incredible talent (or words to that effect). Unai has also talked about him being a top talent. He’s on a totally different level than Davis or Delfounso - he’s already a full international. But the team is also on a much higher level which makes it harder to break into. At this stage of his career a manager is looking for him to really be growing as a professional. Putting in place the good habits that he will need as a foundation of his career.

I think to some degree this is a vote on how optimistic people feel about the current Villa project. I think that a vote for the champions league shows that you believe that we are building towards becoming part of the sky 6 (7) (8?). To break into the next level of club we need regular cl qualification. This could be our breakthrough season. A vote for a cup shows you don’t quite believe in the longevity of our current success and want something in the bank to quantify it. As an old Villa fan I have seen our good teams be short lived. I voted for a cup. But this team does feel more long term than under Gregory, Taylor, Little Atkinson etc.Could entry to the cl lift us to another level like it did Spurs or do nothing as it did for Everton or Leicester?

No Villa players in the England U17 World Cup squad. Chelsea and Man City have a combined total of 10. How well is our academy strategy under Mark Harrison working? The FA Youth Cup winning team, which helped give a very positive impression of the academy to us fans, was mostly recruited before our current strategy was in place. Ultimately U17 squads are not the measure, its youth players sold for a profit and players into the first team. But what sort of return are we getting on the youngsters we have recruited in the current cycle? Shakpoke didn’t work out. Kyle Pierre hasn’t been setting the world on fire, Louis Barry had turned a corner before his injury but it is by no means certain we’ll get a return on our investment, Lamare Bogarde jury’s out. Kellyman looks the most promising at this juncture. Perhaps like the first team we are looking for young prospects below the radar of the sky 6 clubs (particularly Chelsea and Citeh). Any thoughts?

Highlights from Man City game on their website here: Link

Just a thought but in terms of the academy do we want Chukwuemeka to be a success at Chelsea or not? If he is successful then does that encourage our next great prospect to force a move to another of the sky 6 or does it encourage more prospects to sign for us as we can offer more than one pathway to success? Conversely if he fails does that tell our best prospects stick with Villa (although Crowley’s failure at Arsenal didn’t seem to put off Carney) or does success on the pitch not really matter? Is the £20m transfer and associated financial benefits the goal that youngsters are aiming for?

According to transfermarkt their record transfer fee is €200k. I don’t think they are going to be stumping up the sort of money we need them to for a permanent deal.

Boro fans think that Archer has transformed their attack by creating more space for others. They think that his pace and running is scaring the opposition defence.

Enjoyed the game on Villa TV. A few observations: I thought Raikhy showed some really nice touches playing cute passes and beating his man. He used to play more of a holding role in the FA Youth cup team but today was far more progressive. That may well be something he’s been doing for ages I haven’t seen him much. In my opinion he needs to impose himself on the game more to make it at the Elite level but it would be good to see him get another loan spell next season. we looked shaky at first but then our midfield controlled the game for a spell before Leeds built up a head of steam and scored the opener before halftime. After halftime we looked more dynamic on the transition with Kellyman linking play well on the left. It was a well worked goal. I thought Afoka carried very little goal threat and was often let down by a very poor first touch but occasionally held the ball up well and used his body to hold up the ball. Some good defending at times. Leeds probably deserved it but I think we would have seen a different result if we had some different strikers. Young showed glimpses of his talent but drifted out of the game too often and didn’t always have good end product. A bit like the first team we kept giving the ball away trying to play it out from the back or trying a clearance which was also a pass. Otherwise lots of good things from many of the team.