VillaParkAvenue

Every single kick from Martinez has gone directly to Burnley.

Why is Martinez playing long every bloody time? The ball is coming straight back before Villa even begin to chase it.

Wish Martinez and Mings didn’t play long that often, we already know they’re taller so why throw it away.

After Dyche was sacked, Burnley have actually been playing out from the back quite a lot. Something for Watkins to be on possibly.

If Chambers plays DM, that’s is another surprise in itself but would also mean SG isn’t experimenting with the formation.

Burnley’s formation is rarely a surprise though, always 442.

Very surprising to see 3-4-1-2, did Gerrard ever play 3 at the back at Rangers? Also surprising to see Coutinho on the bench, didn’t believe SG would ever do that. Go Buendia! Not having tried this formation before could be a negative but the selection looks good.

Mbappe apparently close to sign a 2-year extension with PSG. Would give him a ”loyalty bonus” of €100m, and a salary of €50m per year after taxes (about £1300k per week before tax).

More important to get something from a top team for once.

I’d want us to actually take a point from either Liverpool or Man City. Doing that would be a big difference to how we normally deal with top teams.

I wouldn’t have the bollocks to play Buendia deeper either. He’s incredibly creative and always tries unexpected things, which is great higher up the pitch. But he plays with high risk and will always give the ball away a number of times. Don’t want that happening too deep.

Villa often try and progress the ball quickly, playing relatively difficult passes (McGinn) and lots of one touch passing (Ramsey and others) which often ends in lost possession. The coaching staff could of course work to change this, but don't see any real signs of that yet.

Found a graph showing Ligue 1 midfielders defensive and progressive contributions (assume it's made about six months ago since Wijnaldum and Guimaraes are both in there).

The last time he got minutes was in February and I don't think Gerrard intends to give him any at this point (would be happy to be wrong). Ramsey out probably means Sanson or Luiz will take one of the remaining nr 8 spots (McGinn is a given). Possibly time for Nakamba to return. My guess is a midfield three of McGinn/Nakamba/Sanson or McGinn/Nakamba/Luiz.

Wouldn’t mind to have the kids playing but disagree with the general idea. People started talking about the season being over already in March and that is a prime example of lacking winner’s instinct. Always give 100% as long as there are games left, there is always something to play for. Price money, the badge, the fans, making others lose. Villa must learn to see every game as life or death, not lose focus as soon as we’ve secured another season in the Prem.

What are they complaining about in that post, him being religious?

Maybe Watkins can use you as his personal human richshaw for London games.

West Ham allegedly offered Leeds 50m for Raphinha in January, Leeds said no and so they returned with an offer of 50m again but this time for Phillips (and were turned down again). I like Watkins and don’t think it would be easy for us to get a better allround striker in the current market. Certainly not for less than 55m or so. Whatever one thinks of him he’s one if our most valuable players and it would be insane to sell cheaply.

"However, they were quoted an extremely high valuation of the player and did not end up pursuing him. Speaking on the West Ham Way Podcast, Ex said, “Moyes really likes Ollie Watkins at Aston Villa. We made a tentative enquiry for him in January and were quoted ridiculous figures.” https://www.westhamzone.com/news/david-moyes-wants-to-sign-aston-villa-forward-ollie-watkins-after-january-west-ham-enquiry/ I wonder how high a ridiculous figure is, as West Ham have given Rice a pricetag of 150m.

I agree one player leaving isn't a problem (although I believe CC will become a very good player) and there have been no signs of other academy players hesitating. The responsibility lies on Gerrard to keep bringing academy players into the team, almost even more so if the transfer strategy shifts towards older players.

Bailey had a good season 20/21 in the Bundeliga with 9 goals and 8 assists, while Traore in the Prem made 7 goals and 7 assists. Maybe the difference in quality between them isn't that big.

A new manager can implement a whole new way of playing and have huge influence on a team. Like Vieira taking over Palace after Hodgson, it’s radically different. Or Potter taking over Brighton after Hughton, leading to no more long goal kicks, high pressing, less direct play and much possession which demands different things from the players. Or Conte at Spurs, implementing pre-rehearsed patterns which are used in every game. Teams often become almost unrecognizable. I’d say the manager’s importance is more often underrated, the way a team plays isn’t improvised unless you’re at a low level. Ancelotti is unusual as a top manager as he doesn’t have a clear style. He lets the teams he takes over more or less continue as they were set up before, making smaller tweaks.

We’ll score twice?

Part of it is about mentally dividing the pitch into 4x5 squares, and no more than two players in the team should ever be in the same row horisontally or vertically during play. I can imagine it being quite annoying to remember that all the time before you get used to it.

Of course he will, that’s how the collective intelligence of internet works. Everyone from Bogota to Jakarta learned to combine the phrase ”100 million” with the laugh/cry emoji, wouldn’t matter even if JG was the best player on the pitch.