VillaParkAvenue

Very much agree about him being good at shooting from 15-20 yards. Sadly, a lot of the time that feels like his only real strength.

Yeah Chelsea really need to beef up their squad a bit, they don’t even fill three buses yet.

The main issue with midfield currently is that it works better than every other part of the team.

Same with his Argentina buddy Romero after the world cup, can’t wait for games to start before he tries to cripple someone.

Surely Villa’s awful record with keepers is related to spending very little (and badly too). It’s not like they are a complete mystery, scout, pay and you’re likely to get a decent one. I’d like us to get two while we’re at it, and send Olsen to Trabzonspor.

There will be lots of clubs that want him obviously. But how many top clubs want goalkeepers that aren’t great with their feet these days?

The whole thing is strange though. These days teams are very much led from the technical area and what the manager says is the law. You wouldn’t see Ederson suddenly changing tactics and not caring about Pep thinks.

There a long article in The Athletic today. It does sound a bit like Emery is on collision course with Martinez. ”Perhaps even more telling, though, is that Unai Emery, his own manager, is not a fan of his antics, believing that his side are slowing things down too often. “We are not taking enough risks,” Emery said after the game. “Football is to play, with combinations and to get the better of the player in front of you. We have to be the protagonists but we are not. “We are also wasting more time than I want. I want us to impose ourselves on teams and to take responsibility. “I’m disappointed, frustrated and embarrassed to concede four goals again. Eight goals at home in two matches is not normal and the performances cannot continue like this.” It’s also unlikely Martinez will be going up to for corners in the future with Emery saying: “He decided himself to go up but I told him I don’t like it,” before correctly adding that the chances of scoring from such a situation are slim.” https://theathletic.com/4225559/2023/02/19/emi-martinezs-antics-backfire-as-he-unwittingly-reboots-arsenals-title-bid/?source=user_shared_article

Would have agreed about Wolves since they’ve looked better, but they lost at home to Bournemouth today. Things stay the same: there are six big clubs. A couple of the others can sometimes outperform for a season only to fall down again (like West Ham this season). Clubs with 3-4 times higher revenue will always win in the end.

Cash was our best defender today, but that’s not saying much. We’ve conceded 11 in three games now.

Birmingham Mail certainly say it every year. Always a massive summer coming up.

Someone has written funny things on Wikipedia, and he appears even taller on Eurosport's site (186 cm or 6'1). In reality he is around 170 cm or 5'8. Shorter than average which is obvious just by looking at him.

Boro are really really good now under Carrick. Always nice to watch games without VAR too.

The price looks very low. When PSG bought a share in Braga recently that club was valued at 90m euro.

Lange is sporting director and in charge of everything football related. He’s not supposed to be a scout or to find individual players, he’s supposed to build a great scouting organization, an effective academy and so on. He should be judged by the money spent on recruitment overall while he’s been here, compared to the level of the current squad and academy. Good enough? Great, continue.

I agree about Gnonto, but would VT be happy for us to sign someone with so little stature?

Gerrard would be ideal, taking them down without a doubt. We don’t have any more games against them this season, so no risk of Gerrard inspiring them to beat us.

I’m against this calling for a rookie kid to start games and hope Unai is too wise for that. Duran is exciting but let’s avoid too much pressure at this point. Why did all the subs look good yesterday? 1) because Man City had stopped playing and 2) because the others had run around for 70 mins.

Maybe Chambers could be allowed to come on and take free kicks in the final third, as he obviously can strike the ball very nicely sometimes. Other than that, he should never be on the pitch.

Bloomberg now reporting a Qatar bid for Man U is imminent and will happen this week. Bloomberg don’t make these kind of things up so probably true. Now the only hope is Uefa standing firm on the rules against owning two clubs in European cups.

Where was he criticised?

This may sound defaitist but I’d be happy if we finish 11th. Leicester look almost reborn with their new signings and Wolves keep improving too.

Watching Köln v Eintracht Frankfurt now, like a breath of fresh air.

Last time Villa played well was against Spurs. Points after that have been lucky tbf. Hope things turn around enough so we don’t get mentioned as being in a relegation scrap again.

Football - overrated