villaglint

That is a hell of a cameo. Shame it was wasted.

Yeah my thought too, feel like he must be carrying something because he’s been our best attacking player in recent times and it was more than a little odd that he didn’t come on until 89th min or something against Chelsea. Can’t be too bad otherwise he wouldn’t be on the bench but must need some rest.

Welcome Morgan - here's to you firing the mighty Aston Villa to CL glory.

A lot of money for someone who has such a short track record but Monchi and Unai will have seen more than us and are paid lots of money for good reason to make these calls. Fwiw the looks flipping brilliant in the video below got a bit of Ramsey, Buendia and Watkins in him which could be a great mix if he can make the step up.

No Emery is staying he’s got no affinity to Barcelona and they’ve had plenty of chances to hire him in the past.

In most of our away games against decent sides we get pressed relentlessly in the first half and struggle to cope. Usually sides can’t keep it up and we come into the game like we did today. You are correct though that we’ve not played well since Arsenal. Arguably we weren’t great that game after first ten mins, although it was a great defensive performance. Hopefully it starts to click for us again soon. We aren’t the only ones struggling, feel like the second half of the season will be a bit attritional but someone will hit a run of form for sure.

One of those players who takes a good long time to get up to speed when they’ve been out for a while. Could barely control the ball first half. Improved a bit second half when he had more time on the ball.

Chelsea really targeted him first half and he got found out. Second half they ran out of steam in the press a bit and he improved as did the rest of the team.

Yeah another one of those runs. Good news is within 1-10 games more he’ll kick into action and look like a world beater again. In fairness to him in most of those 9 games I’d guess we’ve created very few chances don’t remember him missing that many sitters.

I’m inclined to go with this. He’s been really pants now getting anway from that but he can obviously play. We’ve seen it. Only thing I’ll say is we could really do with him coming good sooner rather than later.

I think judging either players ceiling is virtually impossible right now.

Trying to think rationally about Duran I’ve seen him do four things in a year that have made me think he could be very very good. The volley against City and Palace he had a very sharp spin and shot against Warsaw I think and a good run and finish against O think Hibs. Beyond that there has been a lot of huff and bluster and not much else to get excited about. In terms of physical attributes it’s all there. He looks genuinely quick, strong and arguably has better technique than Watkins. He doesn’t know yet how to hold off a man properly but he can absolutely learn that in time given his frame. His attitude is clearly a concern. He looks horrible to play with, constantly snarking at those around him which is mad coming from someone so clearly worse than everyone he’s playing with. It’s OK to be a bit mad but you have to be able to back it up. There are PLENTY of young players who come to the PL with an attitude to learn and prove themselves not thinking that they should be getting everything straight away. If he leaves I genuinely have no idea if we are losing nothing at all and saving ourselves from a big mistake OR if we are giving away the next big thing. He is probably good enough to play regularly in PL in 1/2 years but impossible to tell what his ceiling is and whether that PL team would be a top middle or bottom one.

The idea of paying money to read Alan Nixons ITK reminds me a bit of the club call days.

Maybe you should give it a go.

Or pretending he is a scout who has access to WyScout so he can watch whoever he wants, whenever he wants.

Chelsea think they are selling to themselves. Something tells me Wolves are not about to drop £50m on a striker.

Just wondering how bad it has to be for £700k a week not to make it OK.

Think a lot of that is fair. He’s very good at what he’s good at and he’s very bad at some real basics at times. He’s a very odd player but overall a big asset.

Seems odd to mention Traore and Chambers by name unless something was close to happening. Maybe reading too much into it but not great for them to be specifically name checked (or advertised!) by a manager in a press conference if there is no clubs currently in for them.

On the one hand I'd quite like it if we all had one set of rules to play for and the club that was run the best had the biggets advantage. This is what we would have now if not for the distorting effects of the CL. On the other hand I think if an owner wants to invest it seems silly stop them as long as the club/fans/community is protected. That said if that rule came in I'd like to see a ban on any state linked investment vehicles being involved in PL.

Also allows you to talk about a mid block as an alternative which is a tactic more commonly used these days. Sitting in middle or parking bus in middle again doesn’t really work.

Fully agree. Like most I can see that there is something about him but there is still a long long way to go before he’s a reliable PL striker. His temperament is clearly an issue he has caused good chaos in some games and been a liability in others. He might come good but feels like a hell of a project right now.

Yes also VAR did more to stop us winning that game than Archer.

It was a poor pass but wasn’t lazy. The midfield offered the defence nothing in the second half. No screening, no cover, no options for a pass. They were cooked every one of them.

Be interesting what the contractual terms are on that. Is it 20 starts or 20 appearances? Either way we are in a sticky spot with tiredness, games, injuries, suspensions we need the squad to step up. He’ll get his chance to show he’s worth the money. Let’s hope he is.