wilko154

So I don't quite understand this... We can only have 5 loan players in a matchday squad. Currently we have Abraham, El Ghazi, Hause and Tuanzebe. So if we sign 2 players on loan we effectively have to leave a player out each week when Tuanzebe returns?

I've just caught up on 5 pages of transfer talk and come out of it absolutely non the wiser on who we are signing.

Understand that completely. But would you agree that if after the second goal went in on Saturday, the atmosphere had become ramped up to the max from then until the final whistle... Would the game have finished 2-1 or would it have finished 2-0/3-0? In my opinion we crumble as a team when the crowd get on the players backs. Things like passing the ball back to the defence, you hear rumblings in the crowd, if it's Whelan or Hourihane who make the pass back they get some abuse from a few people. The defence start looking shaky on the ball, we start getting sloppy with the passes. But if you watch Man City for example, they regularly knock the ball back to the defence and rebuild the attack - granted they are a lot quicker at doing it than us, but it's all about keeping possesion and control of the game.

Where did you get them all from, there isn't many on the Podcast app on the iphone?

I thought it was about time we had a discussion on the Villa Park atmosphere. Personally I am pretty dissapointed in the current atmosphere, it seems to be toxic right from kick off every single week. We wonder why our form has dipped at home, and why the team look to be a bag of nerves at times but in my opinion we need to take a look at ourselves and realise that we aren't helping the problem. This isn't a rant at everyone at Villa Park as I know most on this forum have pretty grounded views on where we are now, that being a Championship football club in a transitional period under Dean Smith. I also appreciate that we have had to watch some pretty poor performances this season (and the 10 years prior) and atmosphere in most cases is generated from the performances on the pitch. But so far this season from the Holte End I have witnessed, people booing or taking the piss out of goalkeepers (new goalkeepers who are finding their feet at the club), booing substitions, booing players for passing sideways or back to the defence, abusing players consistently throughout the 90 minutes even if they have had a fairly decent game (see Whelan, Elmo, Hourihane, Kodjia, Adomah, Elphick, Chester, Taylor, Nyland)... and a cabbage thrown at the manager. We seem to be a fan base that love a scapegoat. Currently it seems to be Hourihane who gets the brunt of it, with fans divided in opinion on whether he's just a set piece merchant or a good midfielder. I personally think he's a good player playing in a weak midfield with a weak defence behind him. Again I understand that everyone has different opinions at a football match, but we are supposed to be turning up each week to support and get behind the football team, no matter who is wearing the shirt. I go to a lot of away games, and the difference in atmosphere is like night and day. People turn up week in week out and get behind the team from the first minute until the last. This is what we need at Villa Park, we saw it last season where we sold out and got behind the team for 90 minutes and helped drive the team over the line. See the Wolves and Bristol City games where we were magnificent for the entire game both on the pitch and in the stands. We are lucky enough to have a stadium like Villa Park, with 30-40k people turning up week in week out. Let's start using it to our advantage. It would be interesting to hear other peoples opinions on the current atmosphere and also what it's like around the ground from the other stands.

Technically it was a stress injury and so the shin pads would have had very little, if any, impact on the cause. Throwing him straight in and risking him playing for 2 games and then being out for the remainder of the season would be absolutely ridiculous. We have another game against a team in the relegation zone so Sheffield United should still be the aim.

I haven't yet read Little's book but Merson and Gregory's are brilliant.

You realise Abraham is the leagues top goalscorer and is one goal away from being our top goalscorer in the league since 1981. He misses a few chances but the difference is busts his balls to get into the right place for those chances, and he converts his fair share. Benteke isn't up front for Villa so it's a pretty pointless comparison.

4-0 Villa, this is the day we turn it back on. Grealish to return on the bench next week along with 2 new signings. You heard it here first, things are on the up. UTV

I'll add to this as I am pretty sad and read some articles on it yesterday. They think that the plane has crashed into the sea and sunk to the bottom of the deepest part of the English Channel, Hurds Deep. On April 16th 1951 the submarine HMS Affray sank in Hurds Deep, it wasn't discovered until 14 June 1951. Herds Deep is a depth of 590ft, HMS Affray was found at 272ft. There aren't many divers capable of diving to the depth of the submarine let alone the bottom of Herds Deep. That gives you some insight into the task at hand for the crews searching for this plane.

Interesting...

They aren't over at all, win tomorrow and beat Reading next Satuday and we are right back in it. Derby have Millwall (game moved FA Cup) and then Preston, both are potential slip ups. Boro have Bristol City and West Brom, they could potentially lose them both. Even if we claw the gap back to 4-5 points we are still in with a shout with Grealish coming back.

Realistically he will have given lists of the players and priorities to the board, they then take over in trying to obtain the players. It's not Smith's job to negotiate deals with clubs. January is a strange window and most deals happen at the very end when clubs make decisions on players. It wouldn't surprise me to start seeing movements from Tuesday onwards.

Probably not for this thread or this time with what has happened this week, but I ended up looking into this and found the below article. It's actually pretty mental stuff, these guy's are nuts. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34484972

Can anyone reccomend the best striker to use with Villa? I'm playing 4-2-3-1 with Grealish in behind the striker. Abraham just isn't scoring (on about 7 goals), Kodjia is just back to full fitness but also isn't doing it... Still top of the league as the midfielders are banging them in, Adomah is on fire. Just annoying that I haven't got a striker scoring and regularly getting 6.4 ratings.

Thats the spirit

Brentford are actually a very well run club. They don't have the benefit of being a club flush with cash and so are making the best of buying, developing and selling players for high prices. Eventually they will benefit from this and they have proved that they can spend the money wisely and compete in the Championship. 2015/16 - Arrivals - 9.37m Departures - 22.95m 2016/17 - Arrivals - 4.64m Departures - 12.96m 2017/18 - Arrivals - 5.49m Departures - 13.65m 2018/19 - Arrivals 5.90m Departures - 26.51m A lot of clubs in the Championship have to work this model until they finally acheive promotion, some doing it better than others. It's something we now need to be doing as well instead of spunking money up the wall at every oppurtunity.

Not even his left arm

This is what I would go with this weekend. A potential gamble but something that I think would work against a poor Ipswich side. Kalinic Hutton Chester Elphick Taylor El Ghazi Hourihane McGinn Green Hogan Abraham Back four to stay the same, it's poor but we don't have any other options really. El Ghazi and Green to start (Adomah looks out of sorts and Kodjia can be used as an impact sub) Drop out Bjarnasson, he offers nothing and at times hinders the midfield. Two up front means we can be more direct and either striker can drop in to pick up the ball deep when required. Hogan up front... give the lad a chance, have him play off Abraham and have players knock balls through for him to run onto.

This is actually a bit of a myth that seems to be going around Villa fans this season. Maybe to try and reason with the idea that we aren't winning games... Abraham's current shots per game are 3.1, in the 1884 minutes he has played he has scored 17 goals. The Premier League top goalscorer is Mo Salah with current shots per game of 3.2, in the 1940 minutes he has played he has scored 16 goals. Second top goalscorer in the Championship is Neal Maupay with current shots per game of 3.2, in the 2225 minutes he has played he has scored 16 goals. The idea that he didn't score many in the Premier League with Swansea shouldn't be used, if you are in a team that doesn't create chances for you then you won't score. Tammy's shots per game for Swansea were only 1.4, he managed 5 goals in 1721 games. But if you are only getting 1 chance a game it significantly decreases the likelihood of scoring.

I hope it doesn't happen. It just leads to needing to sign another centre back in the summer and then bedding them into the team. The signing of old past it players needs to stop and we need to start getting some young hungry players in starting from this month. Easier to say than do but we need to start somewhere. Saving 75k a week from Bolasie should pay for 3 players wages in the Championship, that's a left back, a centre back and a centre midfielder.

Something I have noticed is that it's always the full backs out of position, Taylor and Hutton can't play as wing backs. I don't understand why we don't tell them to stop pushing past the halfway line when we attack and let the winger and the extra midfielder work the attack, this would keep the shape at the back and we wouldn't be hit on the break as much as we are being currently.

This would be a typical Villa loan, if Abraham were to then get injured we would be left with Abraham and Davis. Tell him he can go in the Summer if he still wants, but we need to keep him for now. Next season we won't have the luxury of a player like Abraham and Kodjia could be vital. Personally would bin off Bolasie and use Kodjia, Green and El Ghazi with Adomah as 4th choice. I would also give 4-4-2 a run on Saturday against Ipswich with both Abraham and Kodjia up front.

Spot on, and something I have been trying to allude to since Saturday. It's an easy option to blame a goalkeeper for not making a save, but the concern should be how are the opposition being allowed the time and space to take a shot inside the area for Kalinic to be tested.