Rightdm00

40 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I rate him. Quality footballer, but I can't for my life understand why he is taking corners. Firstly he is one of our tallest players. Get him in the box. Secondly his corners are largely awful. 

Jack and John both can hit a mean volley off a cleared header. John has already scored one like that and Jack should have had one yesterday. 

Cash could probably take them from the left but we use his pace to cover as last man. 

By the process of elimination Ross is the best choice. 

1 minute ago, Tomaszk said:

Thought he was largely poor up to about 70 mins.

Couple of nice touches from long balls, but so wasteful on the ball when in good positions. Looks really nervous on the ball a lot of the time. Honestly don't know why, that's what was costing him, nothing technical or work-rate wise or anything. Grealish got really annoyed with it a couple of times, I got Wes flashbacks.

70 mins onwards, that's what you pay for. Ruthless. He's there in that red zone every single time. Finish and timing of run also delicious for the third, just class.

If he shakes those nerves on the ball, we won't be able to find a striker anywhere that suits us more. Keep up the good work Ollie.

He had some really poor touches in the first half. No confidence, would do the dirty work then mess up the simplest of touches. Once that first goal went in though you can see how he just switched on. Amazing to see. 

Oh man if he plays all 38 he may get 20. I hate how isolated he can get at times but when the midfield is able to provide runners around him we look so dangerous. 

Work so hard to win the ball then gave it away far to many times with a poor touch/decision. 

Also, what are they playing Arteta for. Arsenal can just hire Dyche and get the same brand of football for far cheaper. 

14 hours ago, Okonokos said:

It was embarrassing and Mings did so well not to hit him. This is his second time doing this against us in two matches now. Just look at the pure agony in his face as he's rolling around. Truly pathetic. I think Mings handled the situation well considering.

Exactly. Second time Bamford flopped to get a Villa player sent off. Would have fooled a championship ref. I was happy Mings man handled him. word removed deserved that and more. 

1 hour ago, GENTLEMAN said:

No way. Maybe the events subsequent to their goal are clouding your judgement. Up until then it was reasonably even, although warning signs were there. Cannot blame Smith for having faith in the players that had just won 4 on the bounce to impose our game on them. We panicked after going a goal down, they grew in confidence. Smith seen this and commented so in post match. I’m sure he’ll address it. 
 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

First time we had played from behind all season and it showed.  Our press which is only halfway decent on a good night absolutely fell apart at 1-0. Pretty much every aspect of our game got worst. 

It's moment like these that I remember we don't have a single field player older than 27. We got mentally disjointed and no one on the pitch was able to snap the team out of the mental haze it had entered.

Live and learn, we didn't play that bad, but you can't quit like that just because you concede one goal. Smith will need to get right on addressing that. 

2 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Love Smith, but should have changed it last night at half time. We were being thoroughly outplayed. 

I felt the game was pretty even at the end of the half. The first 15 belonged to Leeds but we were pretty even for the last 30. This was a game where Leeds took their chances and we didn't. 

We had an xG of 1.5 and got nothing. Feels like yesterday was our luck evening up a bit after we got a couple lucky ones versus Liverpool. 

21 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

He doesn’t take any risks anymore either. Just keeps it simple. Many that wrote him off seemed to forget his just a kid still very much learning the game.  Real talent that city will buy back unfortunately. 
 

Is this the final year of the clause? If it is it wouldn’t suprise me if they signed him in Jan but loaned him back to us until the end of the season. 

Doesn't make sense. Then they assume the risk if anything happens (injury, loss of form......) between then and the end of the window. Price doesn't change between the January window and summer so why not spend all season evaluating then pull the trigger in the summer. 

Even if he does go, as the most obvious departure, Lange and company should have a number of replacement options in mind. 

If current form continues the one that scares me the most would be a club coming in for Konsa or Martinez. Or some other player we didn't plan on leaving. Then we are scrambling and that's a terrible place to be. 

4 hours ago, YouUnastanFren said:

Quotes from Bielsa last night:

"Given how the game went we thought we did enough to create a lead," Bielsa said.

"When an offensive team does not take their chances, the opposing team senses this and starts to grow in confidence."

I don't recall any significant chances to create this lead he's talking about. They had a lot of the ball and put some crosses in, but mainly just seemed to tire themselves out without much threat.

I think Bielsa is spot on. Leeds fluffed their chances in the 1st half and allowed Wolves to find their footing. 

Wolves looked dire in the first half. I know they are trying this new 3-5-2 out but man it is definitely not clicking yet. The xG chart from the game shows leeds had the lion share of chances in the 1st half. What's funny is that this was Leed's main issue all of last year in the championship. Can't put away chances. 

Leed's movement off the ball is very good. They like to overload one side of the pitch sending 3 runners at 2 defenders. Worked great against Wolves in the 1st half but they lack that quality you need to put away those chances. Think back to us last year when Target or Jack would flash a ball through the box and Davis/Samatta would be miles behind getting a boot on it. 

Villa just needs to withstand that first 30 minutes of pressure. Leeds will tire and Villa will have all of the 2nd half to run at the exhausted midfield/backline of Leeds. 

49 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

That's the thing though, people aren't watching the greatest 2 players in my lifetime, they're wheeling off which ever stat best suits their argument 

Why watch messi when you can simply dismiss him based on Ronaldo scoring more goals away from home in the knockout stages of the CL? 

There's no such thing as Jack needs x goals and y assists to be classed as a great player... Just watch him play football and you'll know your answer 

Oh and the "world class" tag pisses me off too

Might as well use fifa ratings while we're at it

2 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

 

This is what opposition managers have to make a call on.

Leave him alone at your peril.

Yep, real interesting to see what Leeds try on Friday. They can try that high line press at their own peril. It will be Liverpool version 2. 

Just a Twitter rumor now but it looks like VVD has done his ACL. 

Man City looks very pedestrian this season. Prem is wide open. 

7 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

They would not be bench cover but rather allow us to rotate/rest/cover injuries/make attacking substutions to change/impact games.

Signing Buendia or Benrhama would give us 5 quality options for 3 spots at 7, 10 & 11 (the current three plus Traore and one of the potential signings - I'm assuming AEG would go out).  We should be aiming for this imo.  Whether we get there in this window or not, who knows.

The rumours at the start of the window were that we had £100m to spend and we have spent about £80m so there could be headroom.  One of the podcasters, I am told, was saying that he had done the math and that we could spend in excess of £120m and still be within FFP?

With us out of the league cup and no european campaign their really isn't much football to go around. About 40 games total if we make a FA cup run.

Jack is a nailed on starter on the left. Maybe he misses a couple games for injury/rest but ideally he plays 30+ for the rest of the season. On the right we have Trez and Traore to split 40 games. Notice I haven't even mentioned AEG.  That doesn't leave much playing time at all for a new wing player. 

If I'm Buendia or Benhrama I'm looking at our lineup and thinking where do I play.  If the manager says I'm being signed as injury cover then I'm probably going elsewhere in search of 1st team football. 

If we do sign another winger it would be a younger player. Someone willing to be an understudy to Jack for a season or 2. Kind of like where Ramsey is currently in his career. Behnrhama is 25. He is looking to make his mark. You can't do that unless you are a nailed on 1st team starter. 

49 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

wage cap - wont work, its too late, the horse has bolted

what they should have looked at years ago was an American style team wage cap, your 25 man squad have a fixed wage aimed at stopping stockpiling and over paying youngsters, if the latest hot young talent at Liverpool / man city / Chelsea cant get his new £50k a week deal because of how much they pay the starting 11 then he might look for a deal elsewhere in the league

I think it benefits English football in a lot of ways, stops stockpiling and the ridiculous number of loans, stops overpaying youngsters, might spread some of the talent around the league

its not talked about enough but 19 year old Hudson Odoi being paid more than anyone in our squad to be a sub at Chelsea damages English football more than what de bruyne earns

I still have hopes for a wage cap but I agree, it would seem a longshot. I do think one way to stop teams from stockpiling talent would be to ban loans for anyone over a certain age. 

Loans as a developmental tool are an excellent way to help the growth of a young footballer. Loans like Villa getting Barkley off of Chelsea only allow teams like CFC to over sign senior players then use the loan system to alleviate their squad bloat. 

The limit could be a certain # of first team appearances. Once you hit that #, and a team wants to get rid, they either come up with an agreeable transfer or buy out your deal. The fact that Chelsea has something like 15 senior players on loan currently is just ridiculous. 

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Seemed like very sensible mature answers to me and also suggests that Jack isn’t quite as upset and angry as the fans are about not playing.

Agree. I think most here have forgotten Jack was carrying a knock into the Liverpool game. It's obviously still bothering because that was a pretty bulky wrap he had on his hamstring versus Wales. Gareth did Villa a massive favor keeping Jack on the bench for the last 2 games. 

8 minutes ago, ender4 said:

they already have that with the Champions League though

Seems like it would be enough right but it isn't. I got lost on the TIFO Youtube channel one time. In one of them it went over the various bonds ManU has issued over the years. To keep it short United pretty much can only miss the champions league group stage 2 times in the next 7 years. When you make that kind of promise the best way to ensure champions league is just to make yourself a permanent member of the league. 

Honestly a euro super league wouldn't be that bad of an idea as long as it had promotion/relegation with the associated national leagues. Of course we all know the major european clubs will want a closed league to ensure/protect their revenue streams. 

1 hour ago, desensitized43 said:

I don't think you can place that much blame for this farce on Parry. He's sat on an impossible situation right now. A lot of the clubs under the EFL umbrella are on their knees and only a small percentage of those have any realistic hope/ambition of playing top flight football. He's trying to beg, borrow and steal as much money as he can as quickly as he can to stave off disaster.

The fault of this lies in...

1. The Premier League as by it's very definition it was set up to create a situation where the bigger clubs take a bigger percentage of the broadcast revenue.

2. The government for allowing unsustainable business practices within football to go on for far too long.

3. Man Utd and Liverpool for exploiting the situation the EFL are in to try and take control.

 

Personally, I think the solution has to be for the PL to look at being more equitable to rest of the pyramid. It won't happen though. The PL won't be happy with Man Utd and Liverpool doing a dodgy backroom deal with the EFL and trying to railroad the rest of the clubs into accepting this...be a shame if they were booted out. Again, it won't happen though.

 

 

 

No doubt the English game is at a tipping point.  Right now, if the winner of the Championship doesn't immediately spend upwards of £100 million on squad improvements they will finish bottom of the Prem. Teams like Sheffield United buck the trend at times but if they don't start spending at the required levels then they too will be sent back down.

Presently, a club's wage bill is one of the key ways to determine league finishing position.  That is a fact that holds true at all levels of the pyramid. If true goal is to restore a fairer competition level then a hard salary cap on wages/transfers will need to be established. Without a hard cap, Clubs will seek every avenue to increase revenue, and rightly so, because in the end that is how you ensure success in the present day. 

In a way the American owners of liverpool and ManU have shined a massive spotlight on the  loopholes that currently exist in the English games. This would be a perfect time, if the FA is serious about progressive change, for them to address these flaws and find an equitable solution for all of the professional clubs and not just the highest earners. 

Seriously, the Other 14 have a simple question that still hasn't been answered.  What's in it for us?  Why would any club outside the Big 6 vote for this. 

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

A lot of people would - there are a few clubs who are notably very silent.

I'd hope that's because they're preparing a collective response, but I'm not keen on the quiet.

 

I think they are currently in negotiation with the Big 6. Liverpool and ManU going public and getting EFL support was a way to force the Other 14 to the negotiation table. 

37 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the first board meeting and see the faces of the Southampton, West Ham and Everton:

Agenda for voting:

Item 1 - Us 6 main members cannot be relegated, but you 3 can. 

Item 2 - We're cutting out the TV companies and moving to our own streaming service with the subscription income split per viewer paying for each club.  So us Liverpool will have 1bn global subscribers and you Everton will have 2m.

Item 3 - We've decided to take away your special status. 

Every item carried 6 votes to 3.

Of course the second board meeting gets even more interesting when the remaining 6 decide who is next to get chucked out of the club.

 

It ends with the top clubs playing their league matches on Tuesdays and the champions league becoming the main weekend competition. They have been trying different version of this proposal for almost a decade now. The pandemic has finally given them a golden opportunity to get their way. 

1 hour ago, TRO said:

easier said than done.....Dougie is now getting endorsements from one of the best midfielders in world football playing alongside him.....Not easy to replace Brazillian internationals.

Not easy but an expected part of the game. You buy young and hungry players some will want to move on.  Leicester has replaced several world class performers in their lineup over the years.  

I would rather have the issue of young/high performing players being sold for profit over a bloated squad with players on high wages that we can't shift because they stink. 

8 minutes ago, Mjvilla said:

You think Liverpool paid £45m for Diogo Jota and he's going to start ahead of Salah, mane and firmino?

Still isn't a good comparison.  Salah and Mane are both 28 so it makes sense to bring in an understudy.  Given the physical demands of liverpool's system you can't expect Salah and Mane to keep producing into their 30s.

Not even Liverpool would spend £40 million on a player then in the same window bring in a direct competitior for another £40 million. That would be an absolute waste and misappropriation of funds. 

4 hours ago, sidcow said:

Something more is at play here. 

They MUST know that the other teams not in their proposed club will vote against this. Its doomed to failure because its set up to fail as proposed.

So what's the real agenda? 

Use this as justification to leave for a European Super League? Or just to blame everyone else for not saving The EFL? 

Or come back with a new proposal that's not such a shit sandwich but nevertheless contains a fair amount of shit still. 

I've a feeling they might open up the exclusive club to teams like us and Newcastle who have had the most years in the PL until they get a big enough cartel for the vote to get through.   But there will still be something that enables Liverpool and Man U to achieve complete domination ultimately. 

I hope we and other clubs never vote for anything like this. One club one vote is the only fair way. 

Was typing out almost the exact same thing before I saw this comment. What's the end game because the current proposal is absolutely dead on arrival. 

Doesn't the Uk ban anything other than single registration of a player?  You can't be registered to Aston Villa and have some type of future contract signed with another club. I take that back, you can, but it's only allowed to be signed 6 months before the expiration of your current deal. 

A transfer fee is paid to acquire the "rights" to a player. A contract between player and club must be agreed upon separately.  The buy back clause is an agreement between 2 clubs on a players rights. If the clause is activated Dougie's rights would immediately transfer to ManC. City would still need to negotiate a new contract with him though. Could Douglas refuse?  Sure.  His rights would still be owned by City and they would have to quickly find a new home for their now quickly depreciating asset.  That would be a disaster and the main reason why clubs always negotiate player contracts before an official bid is lodged.  

As many have stated though this is all academic. If City come calling then Douglas is going back. No shame in that. The clause isn't a secret Lange will have a list of replacements ready to go.