WooJung

It should have. We should be 4-1 up if not more.

How are Everton still in this?

Barkley what a touch son !

Looks like Friedel's keeping his record?

On paper that's excellent news. Now watch Iwobi have score a hattrick

Fully agree, and on top of that I'd also add that another frustrating thing about the usual selections is that some players can apparently afford to be rubbish week in week out and still be undroppable.

Whereas Traore and McGinn, based on form.....

I wish people calling other people idiots would

Players can get loads of goals from wide positions, he could potentially benefit from having a big man playing centrally occupying their central defenders.

We can't know if he doesn't start

We should finish above leeds though, but to do so we need to beat the likes of Everton (all other opposition we have to face other than palace are even better than Everton)

Hardly surprising though, is it?

A 3-5-2 would be interesting with Matty and Matty bombing forward and lumping crosses for Davis and Watkins, with mcginn or Ramsey making runs from behind. I doubt we'll go for that though, it'll probably be the usual 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 depending on weather we start nakamba, Ramsey or barkley. As a front 3 I'd like to see Davis start with Watkins and El Ghazi on the flanks, and they could switch flanks throughout the game. That would allow us to bring Traore and Wesley from the bench which would be quite exciting. Traore has been poor so maybe dropping him would be a healthy kick up his backside

Am I alone in not wanting us to splash the reported 40 million pounds on Tammy? I do want us to buy a back up striker but I think there's a lot to be bought for much less money, I'm happy with Watkins starting so even if they are marginally worse than Tammy but come say for half the price (I don't think that would be unrealistic) that would allow us to better invest in areas where we desperately need improvement (wings and central midfield above all). We'll also need to replace Taylor an probably Engels too.

He was as frustrating as it gets but I'm confident he would've been a better option better than Samatta!

I would tend to agree, based on who's currently both available and on form I would also go for a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with Davis up front and Watkins out wide. In the long run I don't see that being too sustainable though, especially against team that defend with a low block, I can't see him unlocking defenses or providing consistently good crosses. It can work quite well if we play more on the counter though, we would significantly increase our success rate of long balls with both of them.

He's having a bad run of form in a side which is collectively having a bad run of form. Saying he's going the other way is a stretch

Weather we are chasing or defending a game in most cases it will make sense to bring him on, his physicality against tired legs can be key. If we are chasing a game he creates lots of space for others, if we are defending he's added height on set pieces and his hold up play can relieve the team from a lot of pressure.

If we are to progress he really has to either step his game up remarkably or become a rotational squad player. Not sure if anyone has any stats at hand, but the amount of times he passed it straight at the opposition was really, really poor. On current form the same applies for Luiz, make no mistake. However I do believe Luiz has a higher ceiling and from project restart until the covid break in January has performed to a higher and more consistent standard than McGinn ever has in the prem. Their combined lack of height is also a concern, we inevitably lose every areal duel in midfield and that clearly results us in not retaining or losing possession, which we already struggle with to begin with.

Keinaldo!!!

A late equaliser, a first premier league goal for Davis and Wesley's return really make everything feel a lot better than it really is... Turgid performance, our midfield is woeful and a blind referee would have done a better job just by guessing what was going on... I picked Targett as my man of the match even if he wasn't the most impactful, the level of performances he consistently puts in is staggering. Proud of him wearing the shirt, good lad!

Came on and showed Luiz and McGinn how it's done, very good cameo. He's much better coming off the bench than starting

Is it me, or even in the rarest of events in which we win an areal duel in midfield we are hopeless at directing the header to a team mate and inexorably hand it straight back to the opposition? The lack of hight in midfield is something Villa never adressed in the last 10 years and it's always a constant struggle. I can't think of any tall central/defensive midfielders we've signed in the past decade other than Sanchez, jedinak and scylla. McGinn and Luiz have got to be the shortest pairing in the league, haven't they?

He's been involved in plenty of goals. Konsa vs sheffield, trez/saka vs arsenal, watkins vs Newcastle (in both legs), watkins vs Burnley, watTraore vs leicester all came through him. He's been very unlucky only one actually registers as an assist, but his attacking contribution has been huge. The fact he hasn't scored is hardly an issue as full backs, along with defensive midfielders are usually the least likely outfield players to score

This, and you'd also expect Konsa to be to his right, whereas he's looking slightly to his left