Condimentalist

2 minutes ago, AVTuco said:

Our star is fading, even if we're still high up in the table. I'm afraid we're not going to make it. Conference League again next season will be a good achievement in the end.

Lol. Glad I'm not next to you in the trenches mate

13 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

This boy needs to turn it right up. I have seen absolute quality from him, but recently he has been pretty pants. We need him on fire if we are to keep in the top 4.

Thought he was one of our best players tbh 

I got the disallowed goal but that is a **** penalty FFS. 

We're not playing badly. They are sitting v deep. Need to stay patient. 

5 hours ago, burchy said:

Like this, and I like our current badge which this is similar to (but gaslamp is a nice addition). 

I don't really understand why we're re-running this process again considering it produced a good result last time. I fear the hubris of Heck but we'll see. 

Howe would be ideal 

It's certainly interesting timing with Atairos coming on board to fund "growth and infrastructure projects"... 

Line up here will be interesting. It's a very different game to previous weeks as I don't see Sheff having much ball at all. 

Ideally I'd be resting McGinn as both him and Kamara out for Old Trafford would not be ideal. So:

--

Emi

Cash Konsa Pau Moreno

Bailey Luiz Tielemans Ramsey

Diaby Watkins

--

I'd be equally happy with Carlos rather than Cash, Digne ahead of Moreno, and if it's felt we need more balance then Dendonk in for Ramsey or Tielemans too. 

Lovely to have options, even with players out. 

We are missing players but so are they. 

If we want to finish top 4 we can't conclude that these types of games are too hard. I think we can definitely win today. 

On 07/12/2023 at 19:17, mattyvilla said:

Albion in the fa cup qtr a few years back was special

Sure you don't mean the playoff semi? 

I don't get to all the games sadly but went to a fair few of that run and that one stood out. Probably my favourite VP atmosphere. 

The 6-4 against Blackburn in the League Cup semi 2nd leg 10 or so years ago was also pretty great - including the pitch invasion. 

24 minutes ago, Villan_of_oz said:

Our most important player....

I got laughed at last time but he's more important to us now than Jack ever was.

Not sure this is true. Dougie is brilliant but we have a brilliant team that plays as a team, whereas Jack carried the side. 

3 minutes ago, mrchnry said:

I've completely lost interest in the Europa conference now. If anything we should drop it to keep momentum for top 4 

It's part of our historic treble. 

**** me that might be the best Villa performance I've ever seen. 

Momentous. Unreal. 

Class act

4 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

I think we knew about the RB situation in the summer and didn’t get a new RB in… so I’m sceptical that we’ll get one in Jan. The value and choice are must worse in Jan and it’s a longer term problem, so if the management thought it needed to be addressed you’d think they’d would’ve done it in the summer. 

I am sure they will be looking but agree it'll only be done if the right player is available. 

We got Moreno last Jan, it's far from impossible. 

Really good. Fantastic that he can play off the left like that, solves what has been our problem position so far this season. 

Unbelievably slow bar service in Upper Trinity last night - the reward for which was two cold tandoori pies which had to be returned. 

It's so poor.

1 minute ago, Pongo Waring said:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/11/03/unai-emery-aston-villa-champions-league-jobs/

"it's a matter of time before a champions league make him a offer he can't refuse"

F off Carragher. The top 6/Media don't like Villa being in the top 6.... So the media come out in full force to unsettle Emery and Villa.

Ah the old "media randomly hates Aston Villa" theory.

There's no agenda here - but I do think that there is a huge amount of 'conservative' thinking, particularly from ex-pros, who can't conceive of the idea of change. 

Unai can achieve a lot of what he wants to achieve in football with us. Will he retire here? I doubt it, but there are several more chapters to be written in this story ye before he maybe eventually goes to one of the very top clubs in the world. 

14 hours ago, ejs1111 said:

My 3 areas to review in January- whether we improve in these locations?  I don't know-

GK Olsen- still not sold on him as our no2.  Above average shot stopper, below average distribution, below average command of his area.  Ideally acquire a 21-25yr old GK who can be Emi understudy

RB Cash- I agree with earlier posters that he needs competition for his position.  Originally I thought we would play 3CBs and Konsa would provide RB cover.  But due to CB injuries we use a back 4 much more often.

DM Dendonker- I'd like to see an upgrade here.  Granted he has not featured much- but when he does he's really struggled.  Perhaps the UE system doesn't suit him?  I think his lateral mobility is causing him problems.

 

Thats it for me.  All other areas we have adequate depth (2 deep) or injured players that will be returning prior to January.  UTV

I agree on Olsen and Dendonk but I think those upgrades will get made in the summer. 

RB is the one I can see us trying to plug in January as Cash is playing a lot of games.

1 hour ago, turvontour said:

It's typical isn't it. We should be second or third right now normally.

The reason though is that there's a lot of poor teams in the league, which we also benefit from. We're where we should be (which is fantastic).

His recovery to get at their striker when he blazed over was the reason he missed IMO.

Great pace and determination. Could have been a different game if that went in. 

15 minutes ago, jimmygreaves said:

Benteke?

For me peak Benteke was a better individual. We were basically a one man team at that stage and he could be totally unplayable. He dropped off though.

Sadly my main memories of Yorke were at United.

Watkins has always been a player who makes the whole team better with his workrate and physicality but now his finishing and overall gameplay has improved markedly. 

Helps that he's playing in the best team we've had in decades too. 

I think by the time he leaves or retires he'll be considered our best Prem striker. A lot of this team will be remembered as legends in due course because I think we're just at the start of an amazing few years. 

I'm not going to get carried away just yet but he was excellent last night. 

I always felt he'd be a useful squad option for us, even when he was poor last year, but he's started the season really well and is definitely knocking on the door for a start.