Pepe Reina

[VillaChris]

3 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

 

He had a social media post at some point before he joined in which he praised or expressed support for the far-right political party Vox, I remember that much.

Have to say I wasn't impressed by that at all, but he came in and did a job for us and on a professional level I'm grateful.

Don't know too much about them but is it simply him wanting independence for Catalonia or something more sinister in their policies?

[HanoiVillan]

1 minute ago, VillaChris said:

Don't know too much about them but is it simply him wanting independence for Catalonia or something more sinister in their policies?

Vox are the exact opposite of Catalan nationalists; they reject regional autonomy and have sued the Catalan Parliament in the past. In terms of ideology, they have quite a lot in common with the Marine Le Pen/Geert Wilders type of far right politics focusing on opposing Islam (and demanding 'repatriation' or expulsions of Muslims), though Vox are less bothered about appearing as if they have 'modernised' than other European far-right parties. In Spain you've also got the legacy of Franco, and they hark back to his politics in some ways as well.

They're bleak stuff to be honest. The extent of Reina's commitment to their politics is not particularly clear to me; one tweet could be a sign of ignorance as much as anything. But it wasn't good (it's not exactly the same, but imagine if one of our English players had endorsed the BNP at some point).

[Wainy316]

12 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

 

He had a social media post at some point before he joined in which he praised or expressed support for the far-right political party Vox, I remember that much.

Have to say I wasn't impressed by that at all, but he came in and did a job for us and on a professional level I'm grateful.

Disappointing as he interviews really well.  That said, generally I’m pretty bound by my moral compass but if you’d offered me Hitler or Pol Pot to score the winning goal for Villa today I’d have bitten your hand off.

[mikeyp102]

5 hours ago, Genie said:

I think it’s great to see how happy he is, shows what a good group of players we have. 
I shudder to think how bad it was a few years ago with the likes of Lescott and Richards stinking the place out

Yes one thing you can say about a Smith side is they have unity.

Lescott I agree with, seemingly horrible. But Richards, for all his injuries and poor performances, comes across as really likeable. It was always said he was a big part of the dressing room the last few years. 
—————— 

As for Reina, he’s had some shaky performances, but his experience and communication have been vital the last few games and played a massive part in keeping us up

[Jareth]

Reina was a mixed bag - some massive arrogance that hurt us, some world class saves too. He won't be back, but given we've stayed up, Pepe I thank you. 

[AVFCDAN]

Loved his passion but he’s clearly past it now, quite happy for Heaton to come back in next season.

[sharkyvilla]

I'd be happy to see him cover until Heaton is back fit.  Once he realised he hasn't got the legs to be sweeper keeper he was fine.  Even if he isnt top level any more his presence and experience seems to have helped the back 4 and meant we gave away fewer shots and they dealt with set pieces so much better.

[GarethRDR]

I can say with absolute certainty he's the best emergency goalkeeper we've ever had.

I realise the competition is Gábor Király, but still.

[tonyh29]

From his post match interview  ,he thinks he has 2 years left in him .. I can assure him he doesn't     ... His presence seems to have helped the back line , but far too many mistakes, and we should send him back to Italy with our Thanks  ,but No Thanks

Edited July 27, 2020 by tonyh29

[Zatman]

I said it before but I expect him to go back to Liverpool. Adrian is leaving and Reina has no issue being a No. 2

[TrentVilla]

11 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Frome his post match interview  ,he thinks he has 2 years left in him .. I can assure him he doesn't     ... His presence seems to have helped the back line , but far too many mistakes, and we should send him back to Italy with our Thanks  ,but No Thanks

He didn’t say 2 more years in the PL though.

I suspect he will play on just not at this level.

It will be Italy or perhaps the US but not the PL.

[StanBalaban]

4 hours ago, AVFCDAN said:

Loved his passion but he’s clearly past it now, quite happy for Heaton to come back in next season.

Whether Heaton is fit again for the start of the season or not, I think we need a new no.1 keeper. Reina is clearly past his prime, but his attitude was invaluable to our restart. I also noticed from day one, he would play the short ball to the defenders which would invite pressure back on to us - mainly due to our inability to retain possession. With Konsa and Mings pairing up, and Luiz looking reborn, this started to make sense. His long distribution was excellent too, and I'm not sure Heaton had this in his locker.

Getting the best keeper we can acquire makes a huge difference to our season. As an extreme, look at the difference Allison made to Liverpool.

[rodders0223]

Thanks Pepe. 

Go off the MLS and enjoy the weather and retirement. If Tim Howard can play till he is 40 you've got another 2 decades left in you at least.

[WooJung]

2 hours ago, GarethRDR said:

I can say with absolute certainty he's the best emergency goalkeeper we've ever had.

I realise the competition is Gábor Király, but still.

You could argue both Steer and Kalinic fit as emergency goalkeepers, with very different impacts

[VillaChris]

11 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

Vox are the exact opposite of Catalan nationalists; they reject regional autonomy and have sued the Catalan Parliament in the past. In terms of ideology, they have quite a lot in common with the Marine Le Pen/Geert Wilders type of far right politics focusing on opposing Islam (and demanding 'repatriation' or expulsions of Muslims), though Vox are less bothered about appearing as if they have 'modernised' than other European far-right parties. In Spain you've also got the legacy of Franco, and they hark back to his politics in some ways as well.

They're bleak stuff to be honest. The extent of Reina's commitment to their politics is not particularly clear to me; one tweet could be a sign of ignorance as much as anything. But it wasn't good (it's not exactly the same, but imagine if one of our English players had endorsed the BNP at some point).

Interesting. He seems popular in our dressing room so wouldn't have caused issues for Trez or AEM (or any other muslims we have). Was just hoping he supported them because he wanted independence and didn't really look too much into their wider policies.

[ChinlessWonder]

His Leicester brain freeze aside i think he's done very well and if he's 1 of 3 goalkeepers with us next season i'd be very happy with it. Still happy with Heaton as number 1 though.

Certainly played his part in the great escape.

[Taxahunter]

18 hours ago, sidcow said:

What a dude. 

I once had a massive drunken row with a mate who claimed La Bamba translated as The Goat.  I told him to stop being such an idiot and what a stupid song that would be.  Ended in a massive drunken row with loads of people telling me I was wrong. 

This was the early days of the Internet and I recall finding some evidence the next day when I fired up the dial up Internet so I had to apologise and eat humble pie.

However now I put La Bamba into Google translate it doesn't in any language come up with The Goat and I can't get any language to translate The Goat into La Bamba.

I'm now pissed off all over again. He emigrated to America about 20 years ago and I've no idea how to make contact again. 

La Bamba is the name of a dance, i guess it comes from bambolar which means to wobble. Goat is La Cabra as a user said.

[Gillz]

He came good in the end, albeit some dodgy moment before the lock-down.

I would expect Heaton back as No1 next season, and Steer filling the gap until he is fully fit.

Nyland and Kalinic im not fussed about either way

[AVTuco]

9 hours ago, AVFCDAN said:

Loved his passion but he’s clearly past it now, quite happy for Heaton to come back in next season.

But Heaton isn't fit, from what we've heard. If we don't get a good replacement, I'd try to keep Reina for next season.

[Spoony]

I wouldn’t really mind if he stayed until Heston was fit then played back-up or left. The guy contributed massively to us staying up so he will now always have a special little place in my Villa heart.