Peter Griffin

Totally with you. One thing that really excite me is that we have proper strength in depth for every position except for GK, ironic since we seem to buy a GK in every bloody transfer window for the last 5 or 6 years. But now that we have a full squad with depth any new purchases should be improving quality and not just adding to numbers. We could have some really exciting transfers in the coming windows. I can't wait to see us upgrading our fullbacks and they type of player we bring in

I get your point. but I believe we will finish above them as have are a stronger squad and some individually brilliant players. Everton really have a weak defence and particularly so at RB. They will struggle this season as they pick up a few injuries. We have so much more depth imo

Its unreal and then add the positional sense, vision and quality on the ball and even at 36 and on 25m a year he is looking a bargain for Man Utd

One down... Will you be readjusting the scores in the other games considering the lack of confidence in the Everton game . 1-3 against Man Utd and 0-5 Spurs sounds reasonable imo

Ronaldo scares the shit out of me. He is just so good

I don't believe Everton have a better team than us, even when DCL, Richy and Pickford are fit. You can't judge after 4 games of the league. Are Brighton better than Man City?

I know, I am not disputing that whatsoever. Just like DS had the luxury to bring on Bailey for Targett when the Everton bench look very week

Most of Sth America in on the Red List, some countries are on amber. Tbh, I suppose it depends on whether the games are home or away. Either way it looks bad for us. I hope we the countries come off the Red list. We also have the African Cup of Nations from Jan 9th to Feb 6th. That is long enough and then add a couple of weeks isolation to that. I think it is just Nakamba and Traore that impacts

How would he know he wouldn't be in the match day squad over a week before the game? Argentina could easily have injures or suspensions which could have given Emi an opportunity.

I agree it is less than the other cups and why the big teams don't put the effort in. And yes, winning it only has about 400k in prize money but there is also the money made from gate receipts. We earned about 2.5m from getting to Cup Final against City. We get 45% of gate receipts which included 45% of a sell out Wembley with 90k people paying for tickets. 42k people at the bridge and it is £25 an adult and £12 a junior. Finger in the air stuff but say 2 adults for every one junior at the game would yield Villa about 320k for Wednesday's game. And if we get a televised game I believe that is worth another 100k to each of the clubs.If we can have a few games like that it would help the kitty. But the draw against Barrow gave us nothing as we kindly let Barrow keep our 45% of the gate receipt.

He was in the squad. He got called up, hence he travelled.

Why would the Argentina manager elect not to have his strongest squad available. He is judged only on how Argentina perform and not the clubs the players play for. I can't see why any international manager would allow players to stay with their club for a very important set of WC qualifiers.

Looking at the replays of the game and Konsa's foul on Gray was a clear red card. Definitely last man back and clean through on goal without Konsa's clever professional foul. We were very lucky that wasn't spotted. I don't get how VAR didn't check that

Of course it does. Cup qualification is via the back door. Wigan won the FA Cup and were relegated. The league shows consistency and the cups allow clubs to have a good day at the office and benefit from a favourable draw

Bloody hell, 140m is only 4%. A lot of £££ in the European competitions

I think the fact the Buendia has yet to play for Argentina is more reason for him to travel than if he was a regular in the team. He obviously wants to get in the team and get a ticket on the place to the WC in Qatar. Refusing to turn up when selected would surely damage his chances of that

They are very dependent on Antonio. It is not good to be dependent on a single player, reminds me of another PL club from last season

Apparently he is being paid 3m a year to sacrifice his self respect. I think I could manage that too

They do with the first XI but they lack depth. A few key injuries and they would struggle to pick up the points they are currently picking up. I expect that next summer if they cash in on Rice too which will hurt

I agree no chance of West Ham for the top 4, but I would also say that about Leicester. I think this year's top 4 is probably the easiest to predict: Chelsea, City, United and Liverpool. I also think that is the order they will finish in.

I agree with playing a strong side and going all out for this. I do think we should revert to 4 at the back to get some practice at that formation with these players ahead of the Man Utd game

Sorry, yes, it was the year before they were in L1

Where did I say we see things differently? I think I have agreed with most of what you said. All I have done is try to explain why I think some people may think we could have improved more

Luton is up there too, they have risen about the same amount of places as we have, so too Sheffield United, I know they were just relegated but they were in League 1 when DS joined Villa. I know DS is doing a good job but there is no denying that we have has massive investment in the squad. This, without doubt, makes improvement easier than if the investment wasn't made. With the money invested it is fully expected that Villa would be a PL team and if we were currently in the Championship I would expect that DS would no longer be our head coach. In the last few seasons DS has shown in games the inability to have a plan B and last season the inability to come from behind in a game. We can see these weaknesses and fans think that perhaps a different manager would not make these mistakes. But as mentioned, DS is still learning, he is new to this so it is expected that he will make mistakes. The key is that he develops as a head coach as a result of these experiences and this will help improve our performances. I do understand the perspective of fans that believe we could have improved more with a different manager.

Look at Villa fans when we had McLeish. A lot of people didn't want him due to his Liverpool links and referring to Everton as a 'small club'. I can understand Everton fans not wanting him as manager.