juanpabloangel18

2 hours ago, jimmygreaves said:

He's been generally awful

Jesus

1 minute ago, Villan_of_oz said:

The first paragraph isn't even remotely accurate, it is your opinion and that is fine. 

Smaller trophies?? we haven't won any trophy in just under 30 years....

I can guarantee you that Unai does not share your opinion and I'm absolutely glad of that.

So I guess you won't even watch the ECL final if we make then, and you'll just go to bed if we win it...

I think most sensible fans agree that it's fine to rest players for cup games. And Emery has consistently said the most important competition we're involved in is the PL - you can look this up if you want.

The rest, I cba

3 hours ago, Villan_of_oz said:

Apparently trophies aren't that important either

The vast majority of fans advocate rotating the team for league and FA cup games to keep the team fresh to play in the PL. Every single PL team does it, it's routine. If smaller trophies were so important,  this wouldn't happen. Everyone knows finishing as high as possible in the PL is the priority, and that's absolutely fine.

There is also nothing wrong with keeping an eye on whether 5th in the PL gets CL football (and I find it odd that people seem to take issue with that). It's an entertaining side show and adds another dimension of interest to high level games that otherwise have nothing to do with us - and what a privilege that is!

Although we'll get both, Champions League qualification over a UECL trophy all day for me.

• The UECL is cute little tournament, but it has no history or prestige. It was invented in 2021. It would be brilliant to win it, but, see below.
• There's no qualification round in the UCL next year. Once you're in, you're in a massive group and we'd be in the worst pot of teams, so we'd definitely be drawn against some European giants. Villa in a competitive match European match against Madrid, Barca, Bayern? Beating one of those teams at VP under the lights? Imagine!
• People saying 'it'd be a footnote of history' - I just disagree. Villa have not been in Europe's elite competition for over 40 years. It would be a historic achievement to be in it. And I definitely remember when Spurs got in under Redknapp, Leeds got in, Newcastle got in, etc. 
• If our squad get the experience of playing in the CL against elite European opposition, think about what that could do for their development under Unai. Who knows where that could take us.
• We'd probably be able to keep all of our players, whereas we probably wouldn't if we don't. Revenue, long term club health, all improved. People ignoring this fact are the same ones that will be moaning if we have to ship off Jacob or Dougie in the summer if we don't get in.
• Unai will win a trophy at Villa. We may not have a better chance of UCL qualification than we have this season, for several years.

But yeah both

Something is just off with this lad, and I won't miss him. The vibe just isn't right. Was incredibly thirsty for a goal at first (to the detriment of the team), his body language is consistently bad, waving his arms around in frustration like a petulant child. Silly fouls in good attacking areas too.

And don't get me started on him running into the crowd to celebrate an equalizer at home when there was time on the clock to go for a winner.

Yes he's not been his normal self, but he's been out for a long time with a serious injury, and his sharpness hasn't quite returned yet. There have been glimpses. It'll click soon

PS check out this 20 year old Portugese regen I just signed:

Beginning to think this pre-season tour of China was a bad decision

2 hours ago, MotoMkali said:

The biggest thing I've noticed about him is that he's very ponderous on the ball. It's all well and good being able to carry the ball 50 yards and pick a pass. But against good teams we need to play with mroe tempo to break the press and shift the defence to one side then the other to create more space for our wingers and midfielders. 

But the way we are playing, we're extremely patient with the ball in our own defensive third. We pass and probe and then only transition forward with numbers very quickly once there's an opportunity to break through the lines. I think he looks perfect for that approach, personally.

Fair to say my 25/26 pre season is going quite well

On 14/07/2023 at 16:51, The Fun Factory said:

For those who really wanted to leave- this isn't brexity enough and is the ultimate betrayal by the  pinko deep state blob.

Didn't we get one of the hardest possible Brexits?

Probably already been mentioned but in England, if the circumstances are right, you can get £1m tax free inheritance.

E.g, parents own a £1m house.

Parent 1 dies - £325k universal allowance passed onto spouse, plus £175k main residence nil rate band

Parent 2 dies - total allowance £325k x 2 = £650k plus 2 x main residence allowance (£175k x 2 = £350k)

= £1 million, tax free.

What do we think Pau's arrival means for Tyrone's season?

Just now, tomav84 said:

2 things.

1) the ability ratings and potential ability ratings are 3 digits with a max of 200...are you in actually talking about FIFA23, not FM?

2) pretty sure every game you load the ability and potential are randomly generated between a range of 2 figures so that no 2 saves are exactly the same (this one i'm not 100% on i just read it somewhere)

Nah I was talking about FM, which I think it's fair to say - a lot more accurate for player ability? Pinch of salt required still obviously but professional clubs definitely use it.

Potential numbers taken from here:

Quote

 

• https://fminside.net/players/3-fm-23/29074544-tyrone-mings
• https://fminside.net/players/3-fm-23/29141827-ezri-konsa
• https://fminside.net/players/3-fm-23/19188567-diego-carlos/
• https://fminside.net/players/3-fm-23/67217522-pau-torres/

 

FM23 max potential ratings:

• Mings - 71
• Konsa - 73
• Carlos - 77
• Pau - 84

31 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Solihull stays Conservative.

Increased Tories +2, lol. I'll have whatever they're drinking

Side note - I grew up there (Shirley), and was lucky to as obviously it's affluent. But always thought people there were generally quite mean and small minded compared to other areas of Brum. Nowadays it's basically just assisted living homes for the elderly. I could never move back.

Anyway, good day for despising the Tories eh.

4 minutes ago, bickster said:

I think you did miss something, they are criminals in the eyes of the UK law (first law the throbbers passed oon this issue) but not in the eyes of International Law. The UK Law is yet to be tested in an international court

Her KC is honorary, she didn't earn it she gained it when she became Attorney general (A political appointment) unlike almost every other KC. As a barrister, she didn't rise above the C-Panel (the lowest level)

Thanks, but I thought the impact of the new legislation was that you have only committed an illegal act under UK law by crossing if a) you don't claim asylum on arrival or b) your claim has been rejected? Or is it this that hasn't been tested yet?

In the resulting media furore following Abbott's misguided & clumsy letter I've seen basically zero mention of how it minimised discrimination suffered by Irish or Traveller people. All the commentary has been about how the letter was anti-Semitic.

For example, Starmer said her letter was anti-Semitic with as far as I know, no mention of Irish or Travellers.

Funny.

Interview video - Guardian

Braverman's been on Sky saying that all people crossing the channel on small boats are "criminals".

Unless I missed something, it's not illegal to cross the channel if you seek asylum when you get here, and the UK still has an international legal duty to not criminally penalise anyone seeking protection as a refugee.

A reminder that Braverman has a KC after her name and she's a former Attorney General.

39 minutes ago, duke313 said:

We're actually in a decent position, as we don't really need to get rid of any deadwood

• Digne: £160k per week
• Coutinho: £120k per week
• Bailey: £100k per week
• Dendoncker: £90k per week

I'd try and ship them all to free up those wages.

Source: https://www.spotrac.com/Premier League/aston-villa-fc/payroll/

23 hours ago, bickster said:

We did, Forde wrote a report about it.

In which it was made clear that anti-Semitism was weaponised by Corbyn's political opponents, and that media reports of him blocking investigations into AS (which triggered the EHRC investigation) were 'entirely misleading'. 

17 minutes ago, bickster said:

recent quotes by Forde on the current situation at Labour which he knows about as much as you and I on

Was going to point out how incredibly disingenuous this is but can see you have backtracked.

23 hours ago, bickster said:

It's an opinion, that is literally all it is.

How bizarrely reductive. It's an 860 page report by a legal expert commissioned by Starmer himself. It's not exactly a vox pop from Steve in Shirley.

2 hours ago, Seat68 said:

Indie is reporting that Electoral Commission has doubts Tories may not hand over postal vote applications

Someone might be able to explain why these applications are being sent to the tories.

Saw a few Tw@ts about this recently: