jackbauer24

Taken off on a stretcher. Doesn't look good. Hope it's precautionary due to it being a head injury.

Our first XI is top 6. Our second XI is bottom 6..., maybe even bottom 4. So it would depend on injuries and suspensions. Push a few of our current starting XI on to the bench and you have a stronger first XI and more depth. The likes of McGinn, El Ghazi, Luiz, Mings should be fighting for spots, not guaranteed it. If we could bring on an Abraham over a Davis, that would be progress. As it stands, 7-10th.

I really really want this to be confirmed asap... But it's just struck me that it's bound to collapse due to administrative issues. To be sealed he needs to be pictured holding a Villa shirt, but the guys at Villa Village can only find this seasons kit in an XXXXL and a junior kit with half the Barkley lettering on before asking for a full refund... To get round this, the Villa bigwigs have gone directly to Kappa for next season's kit... But have been told the design won't be ready til August and that they're only making four standard sized shirts, due in around Xmas. It's a shame as he would have been amazing for us...

Ridiculous guess... Personally I'd say it'll be £86,350,606.25 On five players (2 bigger signings, three smaller/bargains/loans)

If we got JUST Buendia then I think that'd be pretty much enough to make the next leap and fight for European spots. With a fully fit squad we'd be a match for almost anyone like we were at the start of the season, but if we did lose Jack for a spell again, Buendia would ensure our creativity didn't dry up completely. Bring Back Guilbert for Cash cover, use the kids as needed and we're damn close with injury luck. Like Purslow says, a couple of clever signings and we could be set; another CB, a strong midfielder and another attacking option and I'd be confident we could progress even with an injury or two. We are a one man team at the moment. Buendia would stop that being the case.

I've spoken to him and he's fine. He has been advised to stop posting on here and has decided to take a break for the foreseeable future. However, he really appreciated the fact so many of you missed his presence and says there are no hard feelings at all.

This isn't aimed at you, it's what the article says... But who doesn't want to get their business done early?! These lazy statements are what journalism relies on these days. Every team in the country wants their business done early so they can settle in, gel etc. No one wants to leave it late, pay desperation premiums and miss pre-season. Unfortunately, that's not how business works.

I know him and will see him Wednesday... I'd not heard this* but will check he's OK. Edit: *the whole not posting thing.

What a way to kill the mood...

In his one season in the Premier League he had 7 assists for an awful Norwich side. He is seriously talented. Outside the 'big' teams that year, he assisted the most goals and was incredible. And now is the Championship player of the season... Last year it was Ollie Watkins.

Kings Heath, Moseley, Kings Norton are all horrifically poor value. Tiny houses, crappy areas and still high prices. Anything half decent is astronomical. And the current market makes it even worse, fighting over crap. I definitely sympathise. I mentioned the same issues i was having a few pages back, and whilst still a crazy, overinflated market, I should be completing on a house in Church Hill North (Redditch/Beoley border) earlyish next month. Much better but still not what I'd consider valuefor money!!

To improve you need to, primarily, replace the current starting players. Adding depth only helps you for the handful of games you need with injuries and suspensions. So we need to be aiming to sign players that can genuinely fight for that spot. There are some easier targets than others - Martinez clearly isn't going to be given much of a fight! But I think Mings, Luiz, McGinn, Traore, El Ghazi, Trez and, to some extent, Watkins all need a genuine challenge to their spot. If they become the back ups then we have improved as a team. Konsa is ahead of Mings for me. I'd like to see Guilbert back to genuinely challenge Cash but think Cash will win out. Still adds strength vs Elmo periods. Targett has zero threat to position but is only area on pitch I can see we'd be buying purely for back up. Grealish is a can of worms obviously. My knowledge of players outside Premier League is limited to non-existant so I'd be looking at the likes of Tuanzebe, Eze, Pereira, Buendia, Abraham. All would improve our starting line up. We'll probably go for none of them! Could be an interesting summer.

Aston Villa are 146 years old. For 19 of those years we had a circular badge (13%) so it is NOT traditional. For perspective, we've had 20 seasons where we haven't had claret shirts with blue sleeves. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to the home kit; claret body, blue sleeves and a CREST/SHIELD. Tweak, modernise, maybe do little gimmicks year to year or celebrate as a one off (maybe a round badge for one season to commemorate 50 years when we get there) but basically leave it alone. Change to circle on the behest of 40+ year old guys reminising about the glory years and we'll be in the same situation when the next generation reach our age craving the badge of the 90s with stripes etc. Funnily enough, most fans of other teams put our badge as one of the best in the division!

We've had some infuriating players over the years but he's right up there. One minute sublime, the next embarrassing. Today he was a world beater... til it required end product. Could, and really should, have put that game to bed several times over. I just think he's all natural ability which means the second he has to think it all goes to pot, so he sublimely controls, turns, nutmegs and goes on a run... Then his brain kicks in and he forgets to shoot, kicks the ground or plays a stupid ball. Think of his goals this season; largely first touch quality.

The Diana Silva and Mana Iwabuchi ones are a little bit of a surprise considering they came in with a bit of fanfare and were supposedly a sign of renewed ambition. Basically, looks like we're stripping back and starting again... or effectively withdrawing income?

I can't see how this is even a debate personally. The obvious, and only, rival would be Grealish and he's missed a huge chunk of the season and had quite a spell out of form. An ever present, who has matched our clean sheet record, improved our defence/GA record beyond comprehension and is single handly responsible for about 20% of our points this season. No brainer. I'll wonder what people watch if he doesn't win it. There is no reason for Villa fans who genuinely follow us to choose anyone else.

Frankly embarrassing. End of season, doesn't matter so if you want to put in that little effort then put on a load of kids. Elmo, Hause and Davis aren't Premier League players. Luiz is on an awful run of form. Ramsey isn't close to being ready, mostly physically. Grealish didn't have any impact, Watkins was quiet and Konsa struggled with Hause next to him. I said to my wife I'd be calm whatever as it doesn't matter... But I was fuming at that second half, it was embarrasing how little quality and effort there was. That's on Smith.

We can all use that stat but it doesn't work out favourably for him; This year you say 258mins and 1 goal, 1 assist. Let's go to last year... 657 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists (7+ games) But that's Premier League, maybe he'd be prolific in Championship? Wait, we've been there... 18/19 147 mins, 0 goals, 0 assists (injured a lot for a young kid) 17/18 1635 minutes, 2 goals, 1 assist. (18+ games) Throw in the fact that actually if he's coming in it's because we're throwing kitchen sink at opposition so much more attacking and tyat is woeful. Hogan, McCormack, Heskey, Harewood are better... I could go on. Delfounso will have a better career than Davis. There's hope and then there's just blind faith and anyone who still sees Davis as having a future at anywhere near the top level of English football is quite simply hoping for a fairytale in my opinion.

My honest answer to that is 'form'. That was Keinan, it was typical Keinan, in fact I doubt anyone could tell me the difference between a good performance and a bad performance with him as the standard is so low. The other players actually impacted on the game. Unfortunately they were largely negative impacts!! But they all are/were capable of playing at in and around this level. They've shown it. Their form brings them down due to expectation and because they were actually involved in the game. Davis wasn't the worst because he wasn't involved. He stayed on 0 while others were minus.

Why is it so difficult to see he's simply not a Premier League/ Championship quality player?! (I'd argue League One!) Full 90 minutes, doesn't get many (which shows he demonstrates little in training) and really what did he do well? We had a lot of possession in the first half and yet he wasn't an option for our midfield. He should have been desperate to make an impact and yet he didn't bust a gut or create spaces or even win that many duels considering his strength. He strolled around like Barkley. Furthermore, the one time he got in to an advanced position he didn't have the sense to look up, and smashed a ball across the box to nobody. He should slow it down from that angle, look at the options. He doesn't create, he doesn't score and he actually doesn't work. He can hold the ball up by putting his body in the way of it and the opponent, but when it comes to doing anything with it he is severely lacking. Can we stop this dream of a miracle turnaround please. He wasn't close to the worst player on the pitch... But he was largely anonymous and completely ineffective. There is too much evidence he is not cut out for anything like this level.

My new favourite game now the season is finished for us... working out who is the worst player on the pitch each week. And it's fun! McGinn has decided not to play this week which is highly unusual. Fortunately, Luiz, Traore and Barkley have truly stepped up to the plate... Barkley is the favourite week in and week out and has been sublimely awful... air balls, misplaced passes, no tracking. Traore is challenging hard, a couple of good step overs followed by a waste of a ball or no ball at all. I'm not sure he's ever beaten a man. Luiz, well he's playing it differently, he's not trying to much to impress, preferring to just lose every duel going and not complete a success pass. Second half is going to be interesting... got a feeling one of them will walk away with it and money is on Traore this week. If Grealish makes is on he might influence Barkley enough to bring him back to mediocre, but Traore is on one of those insane days and there's no pulling him back from the brink.

"Not fit enough to start" This isn't a Grealish point, but I've never quite understood that philosophy with injured players returning. Especially key players. Surely, you DO start them. They then play 60 minutes or however long they can survive. But if you use them as a sub the risk of them breaking down after 5 minutes means you waste two subs. Furthermore, they can impact the game and get the team ahead - not coming on probably chasing the game. If they're not fit enough to start then my view is they're not fit to play. Is there a footballing reason for bringing injured players on at the end of games rather than the start of them?

Shameless... but I don't care! The place is incredible, not that I can compare it with much. The space is impressive and the offices upstairs overlook the gym and the training pitches which I imagine is quite useful (and very American). It really does look state of the art and I imagine it would impress future signings.

That was painful... Surely there can't be a worse team in the top division than that?! A point thanks to shocking finishing and the post.

You can see us winning every remaining game?! Against two teams in the top 4, two teams above us and a quite solid Crystal Palace? Our finish to last season was somewhat exceptional and the reason we stayed up. If we matched 8pts from the last five games I'd be pretty pleased!! Last night we were very good, but this calendar year we've been pretty awful, we're not suddenly winning six on the bounce. If we stay 10th or above I'll be pleasantly surprised!