The_Rev

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.

Kamara is important to us tactically, but there are going to be times this season where we have to deal with injury and suspension and I guess if Kamara is going to be missing then at least two of the three games will be ones where we should be dominating possession.

They've really picked up in the Eredivisie over the past couple of months. Their start was so bad they're out of the title race and probably have no chance of qualifying for the Champions League either but they sit currently 5th and just based on results in November and December they've collected more points than anybody else in the Netherlands:

Most fans online have never even been to Liverpool, let alone Anfield on a matchday so they'll happy be judgmental about it. The "quiet" fans at Anfield are a symptom of a problem that has been created by football as a whole, and particularly by the very biggest clubs. Inside the stadium they've got a lot of people you can put into one of two categories, people that have been sitting on season tickets for years (or have had them passed down through the family) who know they can never give them up because they'll never get them back, and people who have had to pay an absolute fortune to get inside because the only way they can get in to see a game is via hospitality or the black market. Not everybody in the stadium is like this of course, but it's enough to make an impact on atmosphere and we went past the point of no return on that front years ago. I know a lot of people will just think Klopp is using a bit of reverse psychology to stir up the fans ahead of the Arsenal game, and to a certain extent he is, but there's also an elephant in the room.

Nor Crazy Train. There’s been a fundamental misunderstanding at Villa about walk out music, having a thing that is a good singalong is more important than having a thing that rocks.

I'm not going to chime in on Elon's website but yeah, that's quite the take. The whole "south Brum" thing is daft too, Villa Park is definitely north of the city centre but St Andrews is directly east of the Bull Ring, It's hinterlands are along Meadway and the Cov Road which run east towards the airport. It's got bugger all to do with south Birmingham. Shit, If you live in Selly Oak or Kings Norton then you've got a direct train to Aston every 15 minutes or so. The dude is angry because he's too thick to be able to read a map.

Yeah, that was funny. I'll just say that I like Adrian Clarke (he's actually an ex Arsenal player, a youth academy graduate who became a mid 90s squad player before being sold by Wenger) but Jimbo remains a shining light in the football media landscape. Everything he's done from Gazzetta Football Italia on Channel 4 through to the Podcasts and the Champions League goals shows have been fantastic.

I might be wrong but I’m of the understanding that YNWA just became a Liverpool thing almost by accident. Clubs started installing tannoys in their stadiums and playing music before kick off and at half time in the late 50s/early 60s just as rock and pop music were exploding into cultural significance in the UK. Liverpool started playing Gerry and the Pacemakers cover of You’ll Never Walk Alone at Anfield simply because they were a local band and it just kinda stuck. Everton did the same thing with the theme from Z-Cars which was set on Merseyside.

Dunno how many beers you had that day but: 1] we played Liverpool. 2] We won.

Leverkusen will be top for the winter breaks as they are four points clear with one round of fixtures remaining before the Winter Break. Bayern have a game in hand because they had one snowed off a couple of weeks ago. Kane is on 20 goals and 5 assists in 14 Bundesliga appearances.

He’s a Muslim so I’m not sure how arsed he is about Christmas.

Of course we have to be clear that Dougie isn't grassing himself up for watching a dodgy stream here. As he was suspended he had time to fly back to Brazil, legally watch the game on TV over there then flew back to England before the lads have even got off the M25.

So we are two points behind Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal in the away table. I'm not sure who they have played on their travels but we've been to Anfield, St James Park, Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane already this season. Narrative eh?