jackbauer24

He's one of the best keepers in the league. If he had better distribution/kicking, he'd be one of the best keepers in the world.

Pretty pathetic really. Ok, you're miles behind them in quality so at least match them for effort and desire. We were so lazy, so passive, so nonchalant about it all. Short passes,silly flicks and no one busting a gut. Martinez would be a truly world class keeper if he had better distribution, could see the difference between the two keepers today. Defensively we continue to throw our bodies at everything but the quality is low. I gave Targett MOTM for his defensive display as it was the most assured of anyone but going forward he was awful. Cash was lazy and stupid with the two yellows, they were both due to not being bothered. The midfield is horrific. I'm not even sure what to say anymore. Luiz and McGinn gave such silly balls away constantly. Luiz couldn't be bothered to challenge anyone. Watkins working hard but little to feed off as usual. I'm surprised we haven't been fined for breaking Covid rules as these lot have been on the beach for weeks now. I really question the work ethic of this team. Smith looked as though he found it all hilarious at the end slapping Pep's hand and giving him a hug. Shows the attitude of the team at the moment - nothing to play for.

Isn't this just the MLS Mark II? Closed shop, franchises... Threw money at aging superstars looking for a final payday. Didn't take off, never became a big league. JP Morgan may finance the first couple of years, but eventually the money dries up. If you don't get mainstream media support they kill it. Online only sports won't succeed without interest from mainstream media and sponsors need a wide audience. I think the vitroil towards it will heavily impact viewing figures - you could even see community clubs taking their place and gaining more supporters. Get Sky, Amazon, BT and the European media outlets to agree not to stream or pay anything other than passing interest to it and it dies. An independent media outlet won't succeed and will inevitably try to rinse every penny from already disillusioned fans. Then 8 or 9 of those teams quickly realise they are now also rans in the new league and subscriptions fall further. This can be stopped abruptly if the media companies come together, the football authorities stand strong and penalise/exclude these teams and if players unite in saying they have no interest in constantly travelling and being away from their families for months on end with no chance of glory and no international careers. One thing remains the same, it will be the fans who have the least say and the most to lose, for all clubs in and out the Super League.

If I was an Arsenal fan, I think I'd be more worried about this than I am as a Villa fan. Villa got relegated and I enjoyed, mostly, our years in the Championship. Different standard, but fun, competitive and interesting. Then we got promoted and had the drama of a last day survival. This year the incredible start which is probably fizzling out to still a solid season. So if this happens, I think I'd be fine with watching whatever standard of football we're left with. But if I'm an Arsenal fan, I probably get to watch us lose 9 times out of ten. I don't get to see any success even at a lower level. It's just infinite pain, infinite embarrassment with no light at the end of the tunnel. After being seen as a massive club all of the average fans life, they suddenly become the Burnley of the new league. It's like they don't understand SOMEONE has to be the small fish. It might be a closed league, but you're never seeing success again ever. Then half way through the season, the 'competition' is over. You gain nothing from 2nd down and there is no relegation to fight so all tension disappears. Tottenham vs Chelsea is the new Brighton vs Southampton but without the fear and passion of relegation thrown in. Basically a friendly. The league may take a little pain for a year or two but sometimes you have to make a stand. Scotland did it in a 2 team league by expelling Rangers. The league suffered a bit but Rangers came back. Remove these teams until they forfeit their place in the SL, they will be back one day. The league won't work, the money will dry up, the plastic fans who like the idea now will get bored, the players will want to play for their national teams and back they'll come starting at the bottom of the league trying to fight back. Get Sky, BT and Amazon to agree to maintain their current financial packages and not show SL games and you starve the new league of exposure and sponsorship. Most fans would probably adopt another team - Wimbledon/MK Dons springs to mind when you push a fanbase too far.

Can I point out that if William McGregor had done this in 1888, all the teams who want to be in the Super League wouldn't even exist* *except they would as people would have got bored if it and they'd have had to revert to a priper competition eventually.

Genuinely think it'd be my 'out' if Villa were involved in any way. Over the years (30+) you realise that the bad times far outweigh the good ones. The logic and reality of supporting Villa is that it will mostly be pain... But logic is irrelevant as I love this club and have followed them through thick and thin. But if Villa got involved in this, or it destroys football completely, then I'd just walk away, I'd be done. And this is why it misses the point so much, forget the money, it's the illogical side - the passion if you will! You get excited because you've known the pain, you get interested because it's always different, you get nervous because you can win and lose. Will, for example, Arsenal be happy being the bottom team forever in a mini league? Will fans suddenly realise someone needs to be the small fish in a pond? And why bother being an invited guest in their league (as they suggest five places may be awarded on domestic league merit) as success is irrelevant. I can't see it getting very far and I'd love to see some current managers and players from these teams coming out and saying "no thanks". 1st step, fine them for bringing game in to disrepute. If they carry on, ban them from domestic league completely. Finally, if they carry on, completely nobble them by banning players from international football. I can see quite a backlash from their own supporters too, Man City and Chelsea fans are newer 'big teams', Spurs are barely that anyway, Arsenal would arguably be the whipping boys - the fans of these teams aren't quite as deluded, self-important and entitled as Liverpool and United fans. This will die, but it's the scars it leaves behind that will mould the future of football.

I have never had any vaccines either. Just over 40... And, not that there is a correlation, but I also haven't ever been seriously ill. My parents, in my youth, both worked in hospital. My mum was a trained dietician (I'm contractually obliged to note here the difference between dietician and nutrionist or my mother disowns me!). The parents view was very much 'get dirty' and 'eat healthily'. They are not, however, completely anti-vax and have been jabbed in the last month odd. It's called critical analysis and freedom of choice. Posters suggesting not blindly following the majority is idiotic scare me, it's a small step to losing all freedom of choice. Beer is dangerous - you're idiotic for drinking it or buying your newly 18 year old family member their first pint; we'll ban it as freedom of choice shouldn't be allowed. Some times you make the right decision, some times you make the wrong decision but, ultimately, as long as it's your decision then that should be sufficient in most cases (people refusing vaccine doesnt impact on others as they can still get theirs). Not the same thing at all, but if you don't critically analyse and question then you get thalidomide babies, or if you take endless antibiotics then all germs become resistant - you decide what the risk is on a societal and then personal level. Edit; for note, before I'm attacked, I will eventually have the jab. Can't say it's for any reason other than the desire to get on a plane though!

Well they've changed their mind. I'm not sure the stipulation was to get rid of a senior royal but I did just in case... In all seriousness, the vendors have decided to take my 'lower' offer as we can move quicker than the other people. Remember this lower offer is still 30k more than the list price (OIEO)! So now I've visited a house, put an offer in, rejected then accepted and signed all the initial paperwork... the real 'fun' starts I believe with mortgages, conveyancing and surveys... not to mention gazumping and all that stuff. I might be on here a lot asking wtf questions... First one today; my mortgage company wanting to know my weight!!

Let's forget whether he was racist or whether the monarchy is an outdated and pointless institution or whether it was his paedophile son or his far too modern grandson whom pushed him over the edge or whether Covid had at least something to do with it... Most important thing is he's a very important man in this country and he's died... so do I get a day off work?!

Mixture of things, some which are an unfair comparison to be honest! Firstly, my rent is dirt cheap. I live in a three bed semi from a private landlord I found on Gumtree over ten years ago... Very very cheap. Post 2000 build, garden, drive... Well under standard rent. So, based on value of this house and the mortgage calculator on RM, it's about £700 cheaper than buying it per month (obviously that's an investment blah blah blah lol). How he does it I don't know but not sure it's all legit taxes wise and no middle man EAs!! I suppose it was a lot cheaper when he bought it 15/20 years ago. Then there's fact it's not the nicest area (Kings Heath/Kings Norton border) so a move to anything slighly less crime ridden costs more. It's not the ghetto but I've had my bike nicked twice, car broken in to twice, car stolen after breaking in to house, drug raids over the road... And the worst thing of all... Kids from my school live next door!!! Looking at what we ideally want, and what the mortgage people say we can easily afford, the deposit we've saved up, we should be able to get something that is actually £1k more a month than we currently spend on accommodation. We do have a big excess of wages which have been used for holidays, weddings, epic honeymoon and finally paying off all debt... Now it builds up every month and adds to deposit etc. I can't say a house was ever a huge priority and we're probably paying for that decision now. If a miracle happened and we got a house, we'd still have enough for everything fun so not even going so high as to be tight, we've just decided the excess is now at such a level it could be considered stupid to keep wasting it on 'fun' when our life wouldn't hugely change by directing some of it towards a house. Instead of spending 15% of wages on rent it'd go to 25% on mortgage. The deposit is also not an issue, it's house value to wages. As for the area, we're not even picky! Not like I'm insisting in Henley-in-Arden or something! We've looked in Redditch, Solihull, Bromsgrove, Studley, Lickey... Anywhere this side of the city that keeps our commute to Kings Heath and Hall Green respectively, under 30mins. Like I said, according to RM I can afford a few houses that interest me every month (there's not a lot of choice out there) but, in reality, those prices are a lie and I can't afford them at all. So I'm left with the choice to give up or spend £700-1000pm more just to get on the housing ladder and live in the same place or a slightly better one with worse house!!

That is illegal as I understand it. I can see why people have started contacting the vendors directly as EAs have such a bad reputation and do little to try and change it. The system is completely broken, from the finances to the process and the paperwork. Don't know another industry it would be allowed in.

Well I've offered £30k over and still rejected. Makes the whole thing a farce as the difference between our budget and what is REALLY available to us is two very different things. Using Rightmove and setting the budget is pointless as it's obviously far higher than they state. And this is Birmingham (South), not London, New York or Paris!! We've decided to stop looking. We simply can't afford to get what we want, or anything remotely close to it, in this area at this time. Not like my expectations are so ridiculous that I can't find houses I like in my price range... It's just they're not really in my budget! We left it a few years too late so we have to accept it's renting for us. Not spending a load on a house that is worse than what we rent just to get on the housing ladder - the difference between our rent and mortgage would be a thousand pounds a month! I'll use that money to enjoy life instead!

Latest; Found house we were interested in. Offered bang on price (although listed as OIEO) then, given first rejection, increased price by 10k. They got back to us and told us we were miles off other offers, so we've had to walk away. To be fair, given the amount of work needed on it, we were probably lucky they didn't accept our offer!! The dream of how it could look probably can only be achieved by someone with much deeper pockets. However, we've now found another house but again it's the bloomin' OIEO crap. If you want an auction, just put it in an auction and stop wasting everyone's time. What the hell do you offer?! It's all well and good saying "offer what it's worth to you" but who can afford to spend tens of thousands more than something is actually worth?! Surely the mortgage people will have something to say on that too. We've put in an initial offer of 5k over listed price. We could, at a push, go another 30k. So when they ask for our final offer what do we say? Like all houses at the moment, there is plenty of interest. If they reject us, do they (the EA) have to report every offer even if they (the seller) accept someone elses? I'm tempted to just keep offering 1k more and p*ssing everyone off til they tell me what's required or I have offer accepted! If they said the house is £x then we could either afford it or we couldn't. Little bit of wiggle room with individual bids or matching offers etc but OIEO just is bidding blind and expecting me to be a property expert. I just want to buy a house to live in... I could offer a million pounds and then the mortgage people would say no anyway so it must have a recognised value.

Latest update in the insane market... House goes live on Monday basically as I'm refreshing the Rightmove page. Phone estate agents and they say they've just put it on. As they have our details they quickly book us in for the first viewing on the first day viewings will take place, this Saturday. Log on to RM tonight... House is under offer?! So am I missing a step or are people just offering without seeing properties now? Estate Agents haven't told us a thing. Phoning them in the morning but so so bored of this now. People keep suggesting I just put in offers so I can VIEW the properties but that seems a very disingenuous way of approaching it all. Surely you can't just go round offering on 10 houses til you choose the one you like?! Estate Agents don't have the greatest rep and I can see why too, their communication and effort is awful. On saying that, in this market, I suppose it's not worth their time as there is no pushing needed, everything is coming to them. I'm hating this process so much and this was supposed to be the fun dreaming bit before all the gazumping, paperwork and expenses come in to it... I can barely view houses.

How insane is the market at the moment?! Is it always like this? I'm a late first time buyer but am now in a very healthy position and decided to finally get moving on this. Having a good budget, the deposit sorted and very stable jobs in no chain I thought we'd not find it too hard despite our quite particular requirements list. However, so far we're getting nowhere. Found a house... Did a drive by, phoned up Agents and price had risen by about 20%! A week later, find another house advertised on Saturday, phone Monday and it's Under Offer and no more viewings. Find another a few days later and again, 24hrs later they're not accepting viewings. Today, goes live at 3.30 (Rightmove), phone at 4.15 and viewings full and we're ninth in waiting list. I thought this would be the fun part before the paperwork/solicitors bit but I'm so disillusioned already. We've spoken to a few agents who know what we're looking for but they don't really seem to bothered to even send emails... Bar one who decided to book us into a viewing for a house while we were at work... For a house that was half our budget, in the wrong location and way smaller than we'd discussed. Is this normal or shall I just wait for the Covid/Stamp Duty bubble to disappear in June/Sept?

I'd seriously question if we have strong first XI... We have Grealish, without him we're clearly not 'strong'. Are we one of the worst teams in the division without him? I'd say we have a strong keeper and defence... after that it gets shaky! A strong starting VII...!

Every week we get worse. You lose your best player and the first few games you suffer. Then you adapt and use the tools you have to scrape out points. Or, you do what Smith does and just keep going at it the same way time and time again, exactly the way we did when we nearly got relegated. Doesn't matter who the opposition is, play the same way. Doesn't matter how the game is going, make the same subs at the same times. We are possibly the most 'one man' we've ever been. I can't think of a time in the last 30 odd years we've been so dependent on one player. That's a mix of poor recruitment and poor tactics. Luiz is probably only other ok midfielder. Barkley awful. Trez and El Ghazi atrocious. Ramsey too young. Sanson, at best needs time. McGinn really isn't good, he rode a wave, he's been found out... Championship player. You're not going to do much with no midfield. Got to be pleased we played so well and caught a few teams napping or underestimating as the start of the season as since the turn of the year we've been one of the worst teams in the division. Without Grealish this team is nothing. Villa kept me going during 2020 lockdown, now it's just another thing to be apathetic, bored and frustrated by. No real point bothering with most things at the moment and Villa now on that list.

Season is done, it's justa case of squeezing in top balf or not. Based on 2022, I'd say we'll end abiut 12th-14th. So, with that in mind, start planning for the future. Get Ramsey on even though he's not strong enough - still better than wasting minutes on Barkley. No more Trez, El Ghazi or possibly even Traore unless as a sub - two of them aren't good enough and Traore is good for maybe 5% of a game. Pack out the midfield and forget width as it's crap anyway and we can't cross. Really fallen flat and disappointing end to the season vindicating the early promise.

I know he has MANY detractors on here but, having seen the last dozen matches, I really don't see how he wouldn't have been a good player to have available at the moment. If nothing else, his ability from free kicks and corners would have at least made us a threat from those positions. We are comically bad without him at set pieces. He might be a 7 in terms of ability but it's 7 every week. Barkley is probably capable of 10 but it's 10 one week and 2s and 3s for the other 14 games. Ramsey too young/lightweight, McGinn really struggling. Luiz could be used differently. I think letting him go on loan was a mistake. Same with Guilbert who would have been an upgrade on Elmo.

Losing faith. It's like the kid who has the best Top Trump card who just keeps winning. The second they lose that card you realise they don't even know how to play. You can't be THAT much of a one man team, especially after the summer spending spree. Line ups are poor, midfield is confused, tactics are none existent, substitutions are predictable and there seems to be no understanding of how the opposition play differs from team to team. Thank you but you, like Mings and McGinn, have reached your ceiling. We need some proper quality now. You cant just have plan A being "let Grealish run the game" and no plan B. Change at the end of the season if we have any ambition. No room for sentimentality unfortunately.

Didn't deserve anything anyway. Two awful teams playing error strewn horrific antifootball with an absolute dirth of any quality. Newcastle arrive awful and still shaded it, least theirs was a intentional goal! Watkins, worst game in a Villa shirt, couldn't hold a thing. ALL of the midfield horrific. Barkley just gets worse and worse, it's farscial. Defence, Konsa onky one any good. Mings made Newcastle look threatening from nothing. Elmo and Targett can't beat a man. Elmo can't defend either. Wrong team too. Just awful, awful, awful. Glad it was a Friday, can forget this and have a football free weekend. The drop off in form has been horrendous and statistically im sure we must be a relegation tea since the turn of the year. Season done, delighted we have the points we do so relegation off cards but surprised if another win this season. We have nothing about us.

Yeah there's making a point and then there's ridiculous statements... Benteke rarely scores (these days), Davis will NEVER score! Benteke has five goals this season... Davis won't score that many in the Premier League in his entire career! He's only got two at Championship level so I wouldn't be confident he'll reach 5 in that league over is career either!! Of course, he just needs a loan then he'll come back world class...

I don't think we're in with a chance of Top 4, but it's almost a little insulting we're not even in the conversation in the BBC article by Danny Murphy. Mentions West Ham, Everton, Arsenal and Spurs - all but Everton of which we'd be ahead of if we win our games in hand. It's a bit like someone insulting your parents instead of you; I'm happy to point out our deficiencies but everyone else should have a little respect for what we've achieved to this point.

Clearly some people missed my ever so subtle nomination on page 4...

While it is to be expected, and the progression has been huge, our lack of depth is going to bite us on the ass for the remainder of the season and I'm thankful we have as many points as we do to leave us not worrying about relegation. If our luck had held out we may have snuck in to a European spot but I think that dream will be dead by the end of March given the injuries and form. Grealish is an obvious loss but Cash is right up there as one of our biggest players with a massive drop in quality in his replacement. Barkley hasn't been good since his return and I think our minimal squad rotation is beginning to hurt - although looking at the quality of the squad you understand Smith's reluctance to use it. Martinez will give us a chance in a lot of matches (lose him and I'd genuinely be questioning where the points would come from) but I can't see us winning many more games this season without Grealish or Cash. Some teams we might be able to sneak a win against (WBAs), others we'll be resolute in our defence against and pick up a point but teams that we go at toe to toe will pick us off and destroy us! I genuinely think Leeds are one of the worst teams we could play at the moment and can see it being embarrassing. If we were playing Man City I'd be more optimistic of a point. Leeds or Wolves at the moment are too fluid and energetic for us but not 'big' enough for us to get our mindset right like we do for the truly top teams. Could be worse than reverse fixture.