The_Rev

He was standing in front of 6000 Newcastle fans at the time. I think it’s obvious why he did it.

They don’t have the shape either. The ball out from the keeper to the pivot has been a hospital pass a few times, they nearly got done in the first half and they didn’t learn. There’s got to be an easy first time pass option for the guy receiving the ball from the keeper or he’s just going to get pressed into oblivion.

This game is great. It’s making me really want to play Small Heath again, it’s been too long.

It was still on the BBC. Anybody with iPlayer could watch it, whether you were in Edinburgh or Birmingham.

They didn't even give him a transfer window.

I think it's Luiz by a hair's breadth. McGinn is playing the best football of his career at the moment, Konsa has stood up when we've needed him, Dibu is Dibu, Watkins is one of the best forwards in the Premier League right now and there are half a dozen others who have been fantastic for us all year but Dougie is the heartbeat of the team.

@VillaBrum We are 13 points clear of Newcastle. If they catch us now then that will say more about us than it does about them.

If Newcastle beat Liverpool 7-0 tomorrow then we go top on goals scored!

He'd have also been in Barcelona in the 80s so a lot of the institutions to promote Catalan as a language following the death of Franco hadn't really sprung up yet. I believe it was the 1992 Olympics which was the coming out party for Barcelona as a global city and as a place that would rep for Catalonia. Catalan getting taught in schools was banned for decades under Franco and that would have just been starting to spin up again, as well as cultural events having a lot more chance of getting funding if they promoted Catalonia and Catalan. Same thing in Bilbao and the Basque country, I was out there during the Aste Nagusia festival this summer (highly recommended btw) and just from talking to people out there it seemed that local/autonomous regional government in Spain tends to be full of true believers right now and funding is poured into those languages at school and in the cultural/arts spaces but Spanish is still the language of business and it's what most people's first language will be, especially if they are in bigger cities. It's interesting to see that Athletic Bilbao fans would rather get relegated than have non Basque players represent their club, even if the definition of what being Basque means is changing as time goes by. Back to Lineker though, and a wider point about footballers abroad. He's said multiple times that one of the first things he wanted to do after signing for Barca was just learn the lingo as he figured he'd actually enjoy being there if he could integrate fully with the city he'd be living in. I don't understand people who don't share that viewpoint. Surely you'd have a much nicer time somewhere if you could have a laugh and form friendships with the people who are surrounding you? As a footballer you'll definitely have the time and the help to do this too, even if you're not speaking that language at home. I've noticed Villa seem to be pretty good at getting the foreign lads into speaking English and I applaud it as we don't want to ever end up with another situation like we had with Savo where he basically felt isolated from everybody and everything during his tenure in England.

He's fluent. I believe he has Japanese down to at least a conversational level too.

He did tell them that he’d take Birmingham out of The Championship!

Nah. He’ll have been guaranteed at least one transfer window before they judge him.

Appreciate Gary Lineker opening his interview with Unai by saying Buenas Tardes.

Been home for a couple of hours now and have had a bit of time to collect my thoughts. Firstly: That's a game every three (ish) days for five weeks. In that time we've played Spurs, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, a Bournemouth team who appear to have temporarily turned into Real Madrid and had a very much must win game against Legia. We've come through it with aplomb. We've averaged more than two points a game over a brutal looking run of fixtures, won our Conference League group and we've done it while dealing with injuries and suspensions. This is beyond our wildest dreams stuff considering the bulk of the squad were here under Dean Smith. As for today? Dug deep, won. I've barely skimmed the thread but I'll agree with the consensus that JJ isn't match fit yet. Diego Carlos hasn't convinced me at all. I think we look better when Bailey is coming off the bench but I get you can't really leave him out and keep him happy when he's pulling up trees in terms of end product. We've definitely lost our shape a bit too, I figure it's because the players who had that consistent run of games together from August to November all knew where each other would be running to and the passing just seemed so crisp and sharp, there have been times where a ball to the outside that would have been on before just isn't there at the moment because players aren't making the same runs. We've got to deal with other teams being more prepared to face us too, nobody is buying the attempts to bait the press on Martinez anymore, they just stand off and let us have the ball which probably explains why Ollie can't get isolated against their centre half any more. Teams are really focussed on stopping the ball into Douglas Luiz too, he's often the trigger for an opposition press because they seem terrified to let him have time and space. Konsa is a total baller, he's been great at right back but I think we need him playing in the middle with Pau and if Matty Cash isn't the main to play at right back then perhaps that's where we strengthen in January. It's gonna be weird to have a whole week between games, I figure they get a couple of days off and we use the fringe players in the cup against Middlesbrough (I suspect they'll rotate too given they've got a League Cup semi final three days after they play us) and we should see a more familiar looking team against Everton in a couple of weeks. When he leaves Burnley he aint doing it to go sit on the bench somewhere else. If he's as good as he looks (and it's important to remember he's only turned 21 a few weeks ago and has played just half a season of Premier League football) then the best thing he can do is play regularly at a club who are going to play out from the back. I can see him at a club like Newcastle when they eventually sack Eddie Howe.

It was at half time. He was born in Jamaica but grew up in Aston.

Looking a bit leggy but winning against a Burnley side who are here to play football. At the moment it’s just having better forwards that has made the difference. Not feeling the makeshift back four at all, Carlos looks well off it. JJ isn’t yet back to where he should be either, hopefully just getting minutes in the legs will solve that problem.

This popped up in my YouTube feed for some reason and it made me chuckle enough to bump the thread.

How do you think Manchester United feel? They paid twice as much to Ajax for their other winger who isn’t as good.

Considering most of their online fan base have never even been to Liverpool, let alone Anfield, is it at all surprising that they don’t care about local rivalries?

It’s one of about 837 reasons, but yes.

Looking at the Sheffield United vs Luton game. Sheffield United really did use all of their luck up against us didn’t they?

They have got a good squad, it’s just that Eddie Howe has run them into the ground with his style of football.

Under Wilder it’s dropping, we will see if he’s managed to tighten them up further.

About 50 times for Leverkusen.

24 starts, 2000+ minutes in the Premier League. Played in all their Champions League fixtures too. He was getting 2000+ minutes in La Liga for Barcelona and playing in all their Champions League games except for 2021/22 when he was in an out of the team. He played at Euro 2020 (in 2021) too so the guy is hardly a donkey, the main concern is just his lack of football at Villa could mean he's a bit rusty. He looked OK from what I saw of him in the Conference League and I'm sure Sheffield United would kill to have a guy like him on their bench.