Peter Griffin

Not just him either. DS is starting to get more and more of the youth into the first team setup, it is looking really promising

DS and Lange have does a fairly decent job in the windows at giving us much more options with our formation. Its a long time since we have had so many options to put out a reasonably strong team. It used to be just one formation and if we deviated from that we were playing the reserve players and looking very weak. I like what we have now. I am looking forward to seeing some mid game changes in formation to turn things around. This may help us to try and get something out of a game where we fall behind. We were dire at that last season, once we concede it was game over.

The performance yesterday and knowing the players we had missing suggests we could possibly have a good Cup run this season if DS prioritises it and plays our strongest team. A little bit of good fortune, a little more concentration and with a full strength team I think we have the ability to beat any team on our day.

It is saying something that following a 3-0 defeat the post match thread is not focused on the need for a DM. DS does look to be going the right direction with our midfield

1981 was a good year to be born as a Villa fan. Until you were about 2 you must have really enjoyed winning the league and the European Cup, you've had a tough 38 years since then. Hopefully the glory days will return. Happy Birthday!

And stick Martinez in behind that and I think we will pick up a fair few points.

Thx. I was really impressed with us yesterday. We played far better than I expected and DS played one of his better games as manager. But, there comes a point when you are just beaten by better players and you can't really blame DS for any part of yesterday (although, I like the earlier suggestion of playing Konsa in the middle). The extra 10% though is so difficult and that is what costs the big money, I think Lukaku and Ronaldo showed that yesterday.

Yes, we need Martinez. But we also need better quality defenders. Our GK and help us win games but if he is also required to cover up the cracks in the defence we will concede more goals than necessary.

Yeah, I would like to see it again and as you say Ings and Ollie will gel better with time but for a first view of them together they looked very good. I am really looking forward to seeing our strongest 11 play a game against a non top 6 team. We could be very entertaining

I agree with this. Lukaku looks to have come back from Italy a changed player. He is an absolute beast of a player. The closest to an unplayable player in the PL I have seen for a very long time. He will absolutely destroy some weaker teams and if he stays fit, it will be difficult to bet against Chelsea for the league and Lukaku for the golden boot

I think the performance and result were reflective of where AV is in our progression to a top 4/6 team. We played very well at times and had some lovely attacking passages of play. Smith did a good job and considering the team we were playing and the players we were missing he got tactics and selections fairly bang on. However, Chelsea deservedly won the game because the have better quality players. The were able to bring on Jorginho after half time to try and stop the constant attacking football from us, that is real strength in depth. Lukaka took his goal brilliantly and the pass from Kovacic was sublime. Mendy was inspired and the rest of the team made very few errors. This compared to a Villa team that had Mings making yet another error and he is meant to be our leader and so important to the dressing room and as per the Jan Transfer thread, we cannot get a better CB to Mings. A leader leads by example and when the example is to give the ball away he is not a good leader. Mings and Tuanzebe are simply not good enough to get Villa Top 4 / 6. If we want that we need better quality players. It is not just Mings and Tuanzebe that could be improved but also our fullbacks. We will be good enough for a top half finish this season, we showed lots of promising play and our midfield and attacking players are really starting to look good. But to move to the next level we need better quality defenders. I think last season Emi helped to hide the weaknesses in our defence due to his excellent form

I wish, probably 10m now

And Martinez

I think Luiz paused there to receive his yellow

Our finishing and Mendy are contributing far more than the ref to the scoreline

Surprised Ings didn't get a yellow there for touching the ref

FFS, how did we not score

I thought that was a goal

Keep watching, we are 3-1 up now

Great touch and play by Lukaku.

Oh Poo. He is very very good

Not exactly a high bar to be better than but I do agree

But he didn't get away with it, hence it was silly

That combination of Ings and Ollie looks very promising

Lucky lucky lucky