KentVillan

Really delighted to hear this. Has she asked you how it went? Hope you can resolve everything and at least this is one big stress lifted from your mind

I’d have agreed with this a year ago, even a few weeks ago. But he has definitely stepped up since the Mings injury.

I think his mentality brushes off on the rest of the team as well. He's a winner and a fighter, and he hasn't had it easy. He'll be a key part of any success we have under Emery.

Agree with this - Konsa is rapid. His main weakness as a defender is the "stopper" stuff... winning headers he has no right to win, big tackles, last ditch blocks, and so on. But the composed positional stuff he's very solid on, and his work in possession has got a lot better under Emery. And then the yard of pace allows him to recover well when he doesn't get these things right. He reminds me a bit of Rio Ferdinand, who also had good recovery pace and wasn't a big one for flying into tackles. I'd still say he looks best with a natural stopper (like Mings) next to him, but the Konsa / Pau partnership is starting to look very good too.

MOTD2 talking about Konsa for England off the back of Dean Smith suggesting it on Radio 5 the other day.

He’s definitely going to be a brilliant highlights reel player, that’s clear already. Keen to see how he progresses as he settles into the side. I trust Emery’s judgment if he keeps starting him. Could be a real match winner for us

No beef with Purslow if he wants to support the team like that. He did a lot of good for Villa, made some mistakes, didn't do anything horrific* or turn on anyone. Overall, he was part of getting us back to being a side challenging for Europe. Have some doubts about his footballing judgment, but in terms of commercial strategy he was solid. * well, okay, Gerrard, but he made that mistake in good faith

Sorry if it came across wrong, but I was answering to the other post about suspicions of ulterior motives. You don’t seem like a control freak at all.

It could be that. It could be early onset menopause. It could be similar to @Genie’s situation. It could be a misunderstanding. Maybe she has good reason to feel this way but isn’t ready to explain it properly. Loads of possibilities. There’s no real benefit to doing any detective work, all you can do is try to keep your head and be open to speaking at some point, and then work things out from there.

Agree with this. Don’t try and FBI it and pollute your brain with conspiracy theories, just take it step by step and make it clear you’re open to resolving things if / when she’s up for talking, and stay as calm as possible. I know all this stuff is easier said than done, but it’s worth it if you can do it. If you have some sensible, wise old heads around… mates or family … who you can talk to, then that is a good idea. Not necessarily for advice, because everyone will have their own opinion, but mainly for sanity. What drives a lot of people crazy in these situations is letting all the thoughts spin around in their own head, and not offloading. And wish you all the best with the appointment on Thursday, too. Sorry you’re having these two stresses at the same time, but hopefully both of them can be sorted out.

From the highlights I thought Everton looked pretty good today. Dyche has managed to turn them into a Dyche team with Beto up top and physicality throughout the spine of the team. Think they will start to pick up a few results.

First game I’ve really enjoyed so far, hope there will be a few more like that

Tbf a lot of the stuff the Greens used to bang on about was counterproductive nonsense. They’ve matured a lot as a party. I think there’s still a big overlap in rural areas with “green” politics that is just thinly disguised NIMBYism from wealthy landowners, with little genuine regard for climate change. Which is why it threatens the Tories so much…! The key to really mainstreaming green politics is making the big global net zero stuff central to the major parties’ offerings.

Felt terrible for Scrimshaw, but his third over was decent. FWIW I think Jimmy Anderson had a nightmare first over in Test cricket, so there’s still hope

Nick Clegg

I agree with @mjmooneythat making big plans off the back off just flirting with someone is a bit premature. However, to reassure you @robby bI can speak for myself and few of my mates that long distance / cross cultural relationships can definitely work, and don't worry about that side of things. If it turns out that you get along well and both want something to happen, then throw yourself into it. Just take your time making sure that actually is how you both feel! Good luck!

I personally don't read much at all into pre-season, besides which players are looking fit and ready. I put more stock in last season, when we looked very defensively tight using a lot of the tactics that Emery is being criticised for now. I'm not using injuries as a cop-out, but the combination of injuries and rotation meant our defence and midfield just didn't look as sharp or as balanced as it should have. We have an excess of "ballplaying" CBs who look fine at home when we can play on the front foot, but keep getting their pants pulled down in away games. That's where we're missing Mings, as you say. I have no issue at all with ballplaying CBs and ballplaying midfielders, but they usually need to be paired up with a more robust player, especially in games where you're likely to have to battle for the result. Having said all that, if you drop Diaby, Watkins, Luiz, and Cash, that is something between a first team and a second string lineup. So maybe we just need to get used to the fact that rotating for a packed fixture list is a bigger ask for Emery than just focusing on the Premier League as he could last season.

I agree, but I think “shock” content feeds on the shocked reaction sometimes. They love to be able to point to all the people they’ve triggered. It’s a fine line between keeping this stuff in check and giving them the attention they want.

This is the issue. The high back line works brilliantly when all 11 men are playing well and working together. The problem is a few injuries or rotations and everything falls apart. I don’t know what the answer is. We could try parking the bus, but I think some of these players would make that look poor too.

Tbf, as much as I hate GB News, I don’t massively see the problem with that joke?

It’s nothing like street parking. Everyone has a locker above their own seat. Some people are just lazy and like to leave their stuff further forward. And FWIW you can’t leave your stuff in other sections of the plane. But yes main source of annoyance was the fact she was smashing the shite out of my belongings … I wouldn’t have cared otherwise.

Fair points, thanks. The thing with Grealish is he actually did achieve a fair bit here. Promotion and survival, given the circumstances we were in, were very solid, and I credit that largely to the group of Smith, Mings, Grealish, McGinn. And a lot of the discussion here isn’t about whether he was a Villa great, but whether he is a good player, with some people seemingly arguing that anyone who betrays Villa can’t be a great player, and we should spend as much time as possible twisting their achievements and their legacy to show how much more important the club is. Ultimately I prefer to just regard him as a phoney clearing in the woods who is also really good at football, and was fantastic for us for about 3 consecutive seasons.

A few people are struggling to separate the question of whether Grealish is a bit of a snake from whether he’s a talented footballer. I don’t much like him, and I think all the stuff about him screwing up his legacy and playing a boring role for a boring side is true … but he’s a really brilliant player.

“Haaland is worse than Shearer because City don’t abide by FFP” is a nonsense take, for example