jackbauer24

Smith was a happy marriage that went stale due to various reasons. However we handled the break up well and Smith and the club split before it became toxic and upset the kids (fans!). A sad end to a good thing but it worked for all parties and was the right thing to do at the right time. Smith moved on to a lovely lowkey new relationship. Villa rebounded to the closest bit of skirt with no morals or style but who looked pretty and will now get royally screwed over in the next divorce settlement after sticking with them for too long in the hope that this is 'the one'.

Highly unusual that not a single Villa player has posted on social media tonight. None of that normal 'not the result we wanted' stuff... Odd. Don't know what it means, if anything, but holding on to the hope it's because something is brewing behind the scenes.

How much would you pay for a CB who is full of confidence? £30m? How much would you pay for potentially one of the most creative midfielders in the league? £50m? How much would you pay for a solid midfield engine in a clearly defined role? £30m? Save £110m+, pay off Gerrard and get a renewed Mings, Buendia, Luiz and probably more. This squad should be fine for top half even with no investment.

I think fans have a tendency to blame the manager for some things that are out of their control. It might be out of form players, or injuries, or lack of investment, or little time to create their own team or inheriting a poor or poorly balanced squad. Gerrard has none of those excuses. We have some gaps but most people believe this squad should be pretty good. He's been supported, he's been given time, he's inherited a good squad and he has the right owners. I genuinely think most of outmost awful managers have been hamstrung in a various ways but I'd take every single one of them over Gerrard. And I included Sherwood and Garde in that.

Couldn't see anything on this forum and can't see anything obvious online; is there a secondary/ private traders or brokers market for airmiles? I'm looking specifically at Virgin Points and know you can transfer them to friends so wondered if people sold them somewhere? I've never really bothered with Airmiles before but have 48k of them and have discovered I can buy tickets to NYC for Xmas for 80k points plus £564 for two people. I can buy 32k extra points direct from Virgin for £495. Would mean total cost would be £1059 (£530 each) which seems quite reasonable in this stupid market. Cutting it down more would be better still! Tesco Clubcard do conversion but unfortunately used all those points to entertain nephews over Summer! So desperate to get away and we love NYC at Xmas, but in todays climate, I've got to cut costs to make it viable. A few years ago we could do this holiday for ten days for around £2k. Now it's looking closer to £3.5k+.

I can't remember what the exact odds were but it was something like 5 draws in 20 years. So we draw them 25% of the time. We should be drawing them once every 63 times if strictly 'fair', or 1.59% of the time. It's astronomically crazy odds to get them that reguarly.

I was very much in the 'time for Smith to go' camp and think Villa had become stagnant, he didnt have a plan without Grealish and he didnt deserve it to turn toxic after all the brilliant work he had done. He left at the right time for him and us. However, he is ten times the manager/man than Gerrard is and would be getting far more from this squad than we are currently getting. If it was now only a direct choice between the two options, I wouldn't hesitate to choose Smith. Careful what you wish for I suppose. Going forward, I doubt there are many worse options out there, Lampard maybe. There are good options and bad options, but even the bad options would be better than Gerrard. He is, considering his starting position/squad, probably the worst manager we've had in living memory. This squad should sleepwalk in to tenth with absolutely no direction. I'd be more than happy to see the back of him and leave a caretaker in place in the meantime. We need him out the club as soon as possible.

I still think this is very relevant. Got to feel today's result was despite Gerrard instead of because of him. Coutinho forced the change and Buendia then transformed the game. If Countinho wasn't feeling a niggle, he'd have stayed on performing well below par. We didnt exactly dominate and were very slow going forward but playing against an equally toothless Everton. The problem is that was a battle we just about shaded, at home against relegation candidates. With this squad. And we were holding on at the end. We didn't look like a top half table team til we had Buendia and Bailey on (two strikers into working) and that was reactionary substitions rather than tactical ones. Bailey was average last week, dropped instantly. Konsa was poor last week , dropped instantly. Countinho was the worst player we had last week (and has been poor all preseason) and is an automatic starter. No consistency. Today gave him a stay of execution, but I doubt anyone can point to some tactics or decisions he made of his own accord today that swung the game. He's got to do way more than rely on the substitions he's been forced to make.

I'm not sure I really count that as a good enough piece of news in the light of another loss. Luiz barely makes the starting XI and him leaving wouldn't greatly bother me! His contract status is largely inconsequential to my positivity/negativity towards Villa's future.

The Premier League announced earlier in the week that all weekend games would be having drinks breaks due to the weather. Resisting urge to suggest it will give Gerrard a chance to review the tactics as we're already a goal down by that point...

We're on Sky, everyone can see we're vulnerable!!

Was that behind closed doors?

Bolton Away - always bloomin away aren't we! How long ago did we have a home cup game?!

I don't actually think it matters who the captain IS, but it causes an unneeded distraction when you say it ISN'T someone else. Mings could have remained captain and still be dropped (and therefore McGinn captain on the day) and none of this story would have mattered. Gerrard has said a captain isnt guaranteed a start. And anyone can lead the team on the pitch, without the title of Captain. Just another of a mountain of mistakes by Gerrard. And I'm not a massive fan of Mings and think he makes too many mistakes for where we purport to want to be. He's also handled it badly in the media, chosen the wrong replacement and doesn't have a clue how to man-manage but I could go on...

I don't think there is a single, realistic, signing that can counter the many issues we have with Gerrard. This squad should be capable of 10th by letting it simply tick over with easy safe decisions, a good manager could get it finely tuned to 7th or 8th... Gerrard is sabotaging it the point I think we'll do worse than last season.

This is FAR dodgier than some may have noticed and really the club should be pulled up for this; Last week sometime I logged in to see the state of play and see if games had started again etc and there were loads of items to use your points on from hoodies to glasses to footballs etc. Then they send a reminder email to everyone pretending they have either extended the deadline or are reminding you of the deadline but have removed EVERYTHING from sale. This is pretty disgraceful and tantamount to fraud really. Your points are instantly without value. Whether you value the points or not, this practise is borderline fraudulent.

Gerrard has never shown he's even a good a manager as Sherwood. His teams lack direction, drive, heart and belief. After the new manager bounce, he's been horrific. He still doesn't know his best team, he plays his mate regardless of form, his man-management is atrocious, his behaviour towards the press is poor, he takes no responsibility and has no ideas. He relied on a coach who upped and left as soon as he could and Villa have made zero progress during his tenure, only argument being whether we've actually gone backwards. This isn't one game, this is basically every game in 2022. I think we'd have had a better season if we'd bought no one in the summer and just changed the manager. The only thing more laughable than Villa vying for a European place this season is the idea Gerrard can be Liverpool manager one day, I doubt he'd get any Premier League job. But we're stuck with him as his mate Purslow has said he can stay while he plays his mate Countinho every week. Jobs for the boys. There's not too many worse options than SG out there. Him getting close to being the worst manager we've had in recent history is quite an achievement considering the crap before. Smith needed to go but I'd still prefer him to SG.

This has draw written all over it for me. Away, newly promoted team, Villa still unsure of lineup with debutants as well. The optimistic will claim progress as we lost to Watford last season, they'll point to it being early in the season and that xyz looked good and will only get better when they 'gel/ get up to speed' and that we're only a player short of being top 8. The negative will claim stagnation, they'll point to largely uninspiring pre-season performances and that xyz looked poor and have shown no signs of improvement from last season or coping with the Premier League and we're only a player or two from getting injuries that will see us fight relegation. The truth probably being somewhere slap bang in the middle with average performances leading to average results leading to an average league position - 10th!

Was world class... Not sure he is now. I also think Gerrard has given him zero reason to fight for his place and has assured his mate he will always play. I don't think there are many people who would say, based on current levels and form, that Coutinho is performing better than Buendia and yet he's guaranteed to start. This has been the case at the end of last season and through pre-season and yet Gerrard has clearly implied Buendia is seen as the second string; either being the sub or not featuring today. For the figures discussed, it was a good piece of business, but I'm not sure he should be basically guaranteed a start! His form has been average to poor, outside ten seconds of skill per match.

I've broken up for the summer but must still be in work mode; my mind is looking at the squad in Ofsted terms; Grade 1 (Outstanding) - Martínez, Cash, Digne, Carlos, Buendía Grade 2 (Good) - Chambers, Kamara, Coutinho, Bailey Grade 3 (Satisfactory) - Olsen, Konsa, Mings, Guilbert, Augustinsson, McGinn, Luiz, Sanson, Ramsey, Watkins Grade 4 (Inadequate) - Steer, Young, Nakamba, Ings *Special Measures - Hause, El Ghazi, Traore, Davis I'd like a few more players in the top two brackets really, and based on positions we seem light on true quality along the spine. Two or three top quality players would make us incredibly strong. A starting midfielder, a striker and a CB (in that order of priority) would really make us quite a formidable opponent.

What surprises me most is how weak he has become. The number of times he let's the ball bounce and then tries to shield the ball but loses it is incredible. Same again today, fortunately he tracked back and made the recovery but it all came from him losing the aerial ball near the half way line. Based on preseason alone, which is obviously ridiculous really, but I'd put him as our weakest CB as it stands.

What are the lottery numbers this week?! Spot on!

If, and it's a massive if, there was any truth in this whatsoever then not only would I obviously say he can do one, I'd also suggest he won't make it as a top quality footballer at all. At this age, with the limited experience he has, he's at best got poor taste in advisors or, at worst, is fully deluded and focussed purely on money. This isn't some final payday at the end of your playing contract, this is show your quality on then pitch and then earn the big contract. People don't get stuck on 'low' value contracts if they're pulling up trees. If this is about money, let him go. If this is about guaranteed playing time, let him go. If this is about wanting a better footballing education or a fresh start or whatever, then I have no issue with it. Basically, he just needs to go now in my opinion as I'm not getting worked up over a kid who's done next to nothing in his career so far. Potential counts for very little.

If first team and (direct backup) and kid/utility GK Martinez (Olsen) Marschall RB Cash (Guilbert) Kesler CB Carlos (Konsa) Hause CB Mings (Chambers) Feeney LB Digne (Augustinsson) Young CM Kamara (Nakamba) Chukwuemeka CM McGinn (Luiz) Iroegbunam CM Ramsey (Sanson) A. Ramsey AM Buendia (Traore) Philogene-Bidace AM Coutinho (Bailey) El Ghazi ST Watkins (Ings) Archer In my opinion, we still look like we need another senior option in central midfield as none of those four are consistent and we need two of them to be in form at any one time. Defensively, we seem ok as long as we're prepared to drop underperforming players sometimes... Naming no names... TM. Attacking wise there are questions over Bailey and, more so, Traore. Up front we do seem a little short, especially if Archer isn't deemed ready. Some talented kids help pad the squad out further. Personally I'd be looking for that elusive midfield engine who can tackle (fairly McGinn!) and create and then a striker.

Bought the training wear using the code to make it bearable (Training Pants from £40 to £60 and training tops from £32 to £48 is scandalous) but am going to have to send back. I'm normally a medium in most clothes. With Luke I was a small. With Under Amour/Kappa and all other sports brands I'm a medium. But with Castore, it'll be back to small it seems - the T-shirt is too big. The training pants are weird! They look like yoga pants with a really big waistband and the cut is all over the place - tight in some places, baggy around the ankle. Disappointing as colour is nice. Kappa and Under Armour stuff all fit really well.