wilko154

I take it we have a striker coming in on loan in the next 3 hours to play up front tomorrow and Tuesday...

This may have already been covered, but if we rushed him in for a medical at 1am this morning are we hoping we can get him signed with a permit ready for tomorrows squad? Possibly clutching at straws but seems a bit random.

Kodjia not in the squad for Saturday. Davis still injured. No striker again... fantastic.

Not being in place for Brighton is annoying, I imagine Watford may also come too soon. Hard to understate how crucial these two games are to our season. We could really be cut adrift without wins, and having no striker in place will be a major part of that.

So watched two films yesterday: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - Strange film as most Tarantino's are. Very slow paced but by the end of it I enjoyed it. Surprised how little I know about the Manson murders, is there a film or series that covers them in any depth? 1917 - Superb, up there with Saving Private Ryan. If the film had lasted another two hours I would happily have sat there. Really hit home what some of the guy's went through in WW1. Would highly reccomend.

It's funny how last season we slated Steve Bruce when we were massively short at centre back. This season we're about to play our 3rd game in a row without a recognized striker and Dean Smith hasn't taken much flak. Not that I want Smith to get slated... just think it's a little odd. It's pretty embarrassing for a PL club to be in this position. Crossing my fingers we sign a striker today, a 4.5 hour journey each way to Brighton on Saturday without having a striker is not the weekend plan I was looking for.

Well the lyrics are unique to Villa. The song is sang by loads of teams as most football songs are. Hardly ‘embarrassing’ to get behind the team.

The point was more to do with the fact we are a Premier League club in a relegation battle without a recognized striker. I understand Hogan is awful but he's on our books and we are picking up a % of his wages. Even if he doesn't play in the PL, competition in training at the minimum is something we could get out of him.

Probably true, I've been quite impressed with him up front.

Not being funny here but why haven't we brought Scott Hogan back yet? We have now played two games without a centre forward, we possibly go into Saturday again without a centre forward... We spent £12 million on Hogan, surely we should at least bring him back as a backup in case we again have to play without a striker?!

50% So £55,000 per week

Some perspective on Drinkwater: After yesterdays game he has now played more minutes in 2020 than he did in the whole of 2019. His last 3 games have all been against Manchester City, for Chelsea, Burnley and Villa.

It wasn't. The whole team had a poor game.

Onto the next one, the start of a huge 3 games and a chance to drag ourselves out of the relegation zone. Brighton are coming off the back of a 1-0 loss to Everton. Really hoping we have some reinforcements for this game, a striker is crucial right now. Reina Konsa Mings Hause Guilbert Nakamba Drinkwater Targett Grealish Trez El Ghazi Hourihane and Luiz were both passengers in the midfield against City. Nakamba and Drinkwater should be able to hold the midfield between them and allow Grealish to float in front of them. Praying Targett is back as I can't bear another 90 minutes watching Taylor. A new striker would be huge for us this week.

I think the players did that instead yesterday.

We need a striker in by Wednesday, there's no way we can go into this Brighton game without a recognized striker. Two days training with the squad should be enough. It's easy to say sat behind my keyboard but why did we not have a striker lined up in December ready to come in during January? We knew we were going to need one.

I could just about cope with him going to Man City, possibly even Spurs. If he went to Man United it would be sickening.

I didn't think he was that bad. Watching the highlights back he was directly involved in the first 3 goals, however he had two players either side who shirked all defensive responsibility all game. We effectively hung him out to dry yesterday. The only bonus is that he now has minutes under his belt and he will improve over the next few games. Technically he is very good, head and shoulders above Hourihane and Lansbury. He will come good, unfortunately time isn't on our side.

I think we might have an announcement prior to kickoff.

This is so true But I still want it to happen just for that 5 minute lift in his first game.

I've been 50/50 over Benteke coming back since the Summer. It's hard to work out whether re-signing him would be lead by your head or your heart. Right now however, as a 2nd striker the risk is low at a time where we need a striker in a very hard market. For nostalgic reasons Benteke coming home would be absolutely fantastic for the atmosphere at Villa Park; I think and I would hope he would thrive under that. This post from the Palace Forum has maybe tipped the balance for me in favour of signing him as a 2nd striker, I think we need a strong player to hold up the ball in games and with some confidence he can do that for us. https://www.holmesdale.net/page.php?id=106&tid=170085&page=239