Villarocker

If they wanted to end the season with current league placings the final league placings then fair enough. Let Villa play Sheff Utd BCD at Villa Park and the final positions stand after that. Their Champions League place v our Premier League status. If we can't win that final then it's a fair shout we go down.

Has been as they think China (apparently) started this..... Might as well bring back Dr Xia.

It's a fooking farce!

It'll be interesting to see if players are so committed to tackles as risk of getting injured, concussion, suspected breaks/fractures, head injuries, ligmament injuries etc would probably require hospital treatment. Wonder how many millionaires will fancy a nice trip to A&E?

He was struggling - he was carrying a thigh injury prior to his main injury.

Seemed it last season and maybe he would have been if he wasn't injured?

What about at the beginning of the season when he was brilliant and gaining plaudits from Klopp?

Smith would get Villa back in the Premier League if we went down, I'm confident of that. The secret is Villatalk. Jack Grealish is only Kevan Grealish's brother, so only linked to a Villatalker. If we go back down we should sign AVFC_PRIDEOFBRUM and have a real Villatalker playing for us. I imagine he'd he great for Villa in the Championship.

I doubt that Villa will stay up if the season continues BCD at neutral venues. Even if we played all our remaining games at Villa Park the atmosphere just wouldn't be the same without it being packed out with our fans. No doubt about it, we would find it mighty difficult without them.

Nobody can say that we have been defensively solid as a team so far this season. However, I think Smith has tried to make it more solid by changing tactics, formations and personnel from time to time. Comparing us defensively this season to last season isn't fair as the gulf in class is miles apart generally. Smith proved he could get us solid at the back last season once he could actually brjng in some defenders and rest Chester who was knackered. This season has been tougher but, I am not so sure it is as clear cut as some are suggesting. Firstly, we have had Mings as the only defender from the back-end of last season - Heaton/Reina, Targett, Guilbert and Konsa/Engels are all new not only to the club but some also to the league/country. Smith and Co have had to try to gel them together and I'm afraid that you cannot just expect that to fall in place when week in - week out - they are up against top class players. People mention Sheff Utd but they had continuity. They are a unit of players that were familiar to each other and the system they play in way before they entered the Premier League so it was easier for them. Throw four new players into that defence and see if it's as solid. They also aren't the first to go up and have an impressive first season. Others have done it too but been found out the following season and I wouldn't be surprised if Sheff Utd follow the same plight next season. Overall, Smith has done a good job. He's come to his club and taken us up via the play-offs whilst creating a new club record for consecutive wins. Then, in his first season in the top league in the world he's had to completely rebuild a team, lose his number one striker and goalkeeper to injury as well as McGinn and Mings at times. He's also got his Captain and star player being touted all over the place. Meanwhile, he took the club to a cup final where they didn't hide and gave a decent account of themselves. We've reached 28 games and a game-in-hand win from being out of the relegation places. It's not that bad really.

Spot on ^^

I've got another angle on the players not playing thing. There is a big situation regarding the BAME community apparently being more at risk of catching this virus. Clubs with more players from that community are surely more vulnerable to losing players either with the virus or because of the threat of catching it?

Georgia Guidestone kinda stuff.

Ask him if he ever worked with a man named Allan (Homer) Simpson. That's my brother and I can confirm that if he did know or work with my brother it would absolutely explain his obsession with Villa. My brother is a mad Villa fan and lived and worked in Coventry for over 30 years and loves winding them up. By the way, I've found over the years that Cov folks generally have issues with Brummies. I think it's some sort of inferioty complex

I don't doubt for one minute that people will have Covid-19 on their death certificate even though they died from something else. Whether it be error or because someone did it purposely although, why would someone do that? I mean, it doesn't benefit the government to have increased figures. But, if someone goes into hospital having choked on a piece of toast and they are terminally ill with cancer, if they contract Covid-19 and die of respiratory failure of course it will be death caused by Covid-19. I actually think that there are more deaths than has been reported officially as the amount the figure increased by, when taking account deaths in care homes, just didn't seem high enough to me. I wouldn't be surprised if the actual real figure was closer to 40k.

I know a Leeds fan and your labelling of them being intellectually challenged really does suit him. For instance, he recently had an accident at work and "had to have 10 stickers in his head" and only recently he told me he's "on furlong from work for a minimum of the next 3 weeks". The very same guy, back in the 90s when they were playing a midweek Champions League game at Elland Road, got caught out at work for attending the game. He had previously asked for the day off work as holiday but was denied by management. He didn't go into work on the day he wanted off - the day of the game. The next day he was sat in the canteen having a coffee before work started and the manager (who'd refused him holiday) walked through the canteen. As he passed through he said "Morning Rich, did you enjoy the win last night?" Rich replied "Yes thanks, Tom". The manager then said "I take it you had a safe journey up there then?" to which Rich replied "Yes Tom, and got back safely too". As you can imagine, the exchange didn't go down well with management and Rich was out of the company within 6 months.

In no way should the PL be supposed to continue as normal if games are to be played behind closed doors and at neutral venues. There are so many differences to a normal game: 1) Player anxiety at catching the virus could lead to lower performance levels. Note: even if all are tested negative before a game, the risk of being hospitalised due to injury would still pose a risk of infection and affect performance. 2) Playing at home against the supposed bigger teams is often an advantage. For example, Villa playing behind closed doors anywhere against Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal would pose an obvious disadvantage compared to Villa playing at home against them in front of a partisan Villa Park crowd. 3) Nobody knows how players' fitness has been affected by the lockdown so the competition as a whole has already been compromised. For me, the season has changed too much from what it was at the beginning and a line should be drawn through it completely. I understand teams won't go down or win the league etc and that's why I would wait to start the next season properly and start that season with a handicap system showing the points differences from the cancelled season. That way, those who had a points advantage at the top will start the season with those leads over others and those at the bottom will start with that disadvantage to make up on. PS: I couldn't care less about Sky.

So our manager is a disgrace because he follows the UK government's guidelines on keeping people safe...

Sorry OBE but you really need to get with the times. All clubs are perfect - only Villa are in dire straits!

In which case, maybe he is the chosen one after all!

Keep crusty! The baiting keeps the badgers safe from harm.

Nice to know you got your priorities right.

Liverpool are about to win the league and the game is played at Anfield. Anyone that thinks there won't be thousands of Liverpool fans gathered in Stanley Park is dreaming. Remember Heysel and Hillsborough?

It's pretty obvious that Purslow will want no relegation on the table if football is to continue behind closed doors at neutral venues because that ensures we have another season amongst the fat cats next season. I'm guessing Smith as an ex footballer would see the honorary way of staying up as one where it has to be earnt on the pitch. Football as a whole will be broken for a while now, just like all other aspects of society. We are going through something that comes along very rarely. Nothing is normal so why would/should football be any different? It's a mess and I don't trust any of the money men to make the right decisions.

Footballers may well be fit but that guy who massages them wasn't fit and was seriously ill with the virus. It's not so much about the players but who they pass it on to.