In case you were wondering what had gone wrong at Villa Park, Aston Villa delivered a message in their well-deserved 0-3 smashing of Arsenal at The Emirates: We’re alright, thank you very much. With Ross Barkley and John McGinn back on song, Villa sent opposition fans into meltdown, and moved back up to sixth. Not bad for a Sunday night.

The Good
Sharp, incisive, and even a bit cheeky. Two real finisher’s goals from Ollie Watkins, who, while missing his touch to begin with settled down nicely and also chipped in a lot of good hold-up play. A quick start that yielded a goal within a minute of kick-off. It didn’t stand, of course, but was a beautiful piece of play and showed McGinn at his best. Lots of tactical variation throughout the match. Limited opportunities for the hosts. Solid defending across the back. Martinez looking fully in control and setting Jack off brilliantly following a strong catch he came out for. Emi otherwise not having much to do. Excellent work from Trez, who never stopped running and helping Matty Cash, and whose presence at the back post forced Saka’s own goal. Luiz’s sublime ball into Barkley, highlighting a strong performance. Good pressing energy and midfield bite. Playing for more until the final whistle. We could’ve had five or six.

Last but not least, let’s not forget another imperious performance from Jack Grealish. He really is something special.

The Bad
There were a few nervy scrambles in the box, and some less-than-convincing clearances that contributed to Arsenal’s limited periods of sustained pressure.

The Ugly
Lacazette somehow failing to direct Arsenal’s best chance on goal. The weather wasn’t very good, either.

Final Verdict
Villa were under a bit of pressure coming in, deserved or not, and answered the bell. That’s the biggest thing for me. Fifteen points out of 21 on offer is a great and very unexpected return. Barring a long run of serious misfortune, Villa are well on their way to being safe. The fact that nine of those points came against Liverpool, Leicester, and Arsenal by a combined 11-2? That’s been a long time coming.

On the day, Arsenal will say they were poor, and they were. But Villa had more than a little to do with it, and even though John McGinn’s first-minute goal didn’t stand, it set the tone and rattled the Gunners. From there on, Villa showed more heart and less fear. More team spirit. Never mind having the best player on the pitch. Elneny and Partey did nothing, and Aubameyang never had a sniff.

Apart from commitment and application, we also saw a number of tactical tweaks throughout the game that kept Arsenal from finding any easy-going. Perhaps the most notable was seeing Villa often drop into a 4-4-2 without the ball, leaving Barkley higher with Watkins, and Jack and Trez dropping deeper to fill in the flanks and keep Targett and Cash from getting overwhelmed. Matty and Trez had a lot to do wide right, and they did it well against three overlapping Gunners.

The balance in the middle got back to feeling right, with Villa setting up in a 4-2-3-1 in attack, Barkley being largely left in the advanced role behind and alongside Watkins. Luiz and McGinn did a good job with their defensive duties, contesting the midfield high and low, and keeping things nice and clogged up. At varying points, I saw different players all over the pitch, interchanging and taking responsibility. Jack wide right for a spell and Trez on the left, McGinn and then Luiz advancing or sitting deep.

The match also highlighted the differences in sides throughout the league. In the preview, I wondered which Arsenal side would show up. And the right one did. But there’s more, and it’s that a lot of teams do not want to play like Leeds, nor can they. You’ll get periods of pressure like Villa exert, and then spells where they drop off and conserve. If you invite them forward, you’ll get space in behind and not be harried by a pack of terriers. And to be honest, it’s more enjoyable football to watch, for me. Not just when Villa win, but because it’s not just about relentless running.

Given this, Villa had a bit more time to play: You only had to look at Jack and Ross taking the piss on the edge of the box before Barkley found Targett to cross toward the back post for the opener. But when Villa were quick, they were quick. Maybe the most enjoyable single moment, apart from the beautiful Luiz-Barkley-Watkins sequence, was Jack outrunning Bellerin with the ball, showing good strength at the end and playing Ollie in perfectly. The resulting finish was calm, composed, and exactly what you like to see. No snatching, no extra touches, just a player in the flow and not overthinking.

And as every wag on the internet has pointed out by now, that run made a complete laughingstock of Southgate’s “pace and athleticism” excuse. Nothing against Mount, but let’s see him take the game by the scruff and do that week after week, and more than once a game. It was glorious to watch, a reminder of what’s best about football. Jack wants to win. He wants to drive, score, and assist. He wants the armband, he loves the club. He loves playing and using his gifts.

Results are great, and systems are great if they give you the results. But personally, I love individual flair that has an end product. I love seeing the confidence, the arrogance, the complete mastery on the ball. The perfect takes, time after time after time. There’s very rarely a wasted ball out and up to Grealish. There’s a fast-growing maturity and intelligence that, at 25, hints at an absolutely glorious prime for him.

But I’d be remiss if I glossed over an excellent day from Ross, Ollie, John and Luiz. Ross was back on form, and it makes a world of difference. That extra player with quality, vision, and confidence for Jack and Ollie to link up has proven invaluable. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge how well everyone else played. Dogged, positionally aware, making good decisions. It was a very good day at the office. When they get the bit between their teeth, they’ll defend, score goals, and are fun to watch. They might even make your proud.

That’s a credit to the players and the staff. You don’t just forget a relegation miracle six months prior, but there’s belief, talent, effort, and cohesion on display. We’re Villa, we shouldn’t get carried away. But we should also enjoy what we’re seeing. We’ve taken a good step forward, and the foundations are solid.

Over to you.

Comments 106

  1. James G I was thinking the same thing about Konsa but as John points out, there’s plenty of time for him and as ever. . . on the plus side, at least he’s not being risked in the International games just yet.
    I’m guessing everyone feels the same . . . . Proud that Villa players are picked for their National sides, but nervous about them coming away unscathed

  2. You’re right in your write up John. . . . we really should “enjoy what we’re seeing” just now. Frankly, if you can’t simply enjoy being a Villa fan over our last dozen games then I’m afraid you will never enjoy being a Villa fan.
    Anyone who can’t enjoy ‘now’ would worry even if we won the league that ‘next season we’ll struggle though’
    Of course the manager and back room staff will have to think those things, but as fans . . . . we deserve to enjoy the good times when they are here!

  3. thanks John spot on other than Trez being MOTM 🙂

    I remember the days on here when I was championing Jack and said he would be a star for England, never doubted him, my only question was what would a step up in quality around him not as friendly as his Villa teammates would do, seen it in to many teams that ego thing. I think he may even force Gareth to give him the Arm band and become his best friend 🙂

    Seriously though if he can win the other England players over to his worth rather than get blanked because he has made them look bad? the skys the limit, might even win us a cup or two.

  4. yeah sometimes we need to take 5 mins and think how far we have come. Its mental really. We could easily of been in serious trouble and be doing a wigan. very very easily. Its not 5 mins ago we were getting battered in the prem under lambert, McLeish etc watching lescott guzan urrrrgghhhhh and celebrating a corner as we hadn’t scored a goal for over a month

  5. Read in one media outlet that our stuffing of the Gunners was the biggest win down there since 1928 so I confidently predict that no lifer can remember us battering them like that in their own back yard.

    Coming a few weeks after battering the Bin Dippers can only fuel expectations. This lifer is really loving the current team. Happy days.

  6. mark

    I think under southgate grealish is toast. he has his system it seems 523 and his preferred players for it.

    foden and greenwood coming back is going to make it even harder also Maddison barnes etc!

  7. Heroes, I think Beaky is more likely to be toast than Jack. The media are on to him now and his only survival route is by winning. Currently, he’s losing with his preferred system.

    Up the Gunners has a better ring about it than Up the Arse.

  8. JC – excellent leader. I love your Good, Bad and Ugly articles with the detailed analysis that you put in. Very enjoyable to read, so thanks.

    R0bb0 – agreed on being worried about injuries on International duty. I would prefer if we just had a WC for internationals, scrap Euro’s and whatever that other new tournament is.

    I’m becoming a huge Targett fan. He’s really looking quality. I was thinking b4 Gooners game to give Cash a rest and play Guilbert. Then Cash has by far his best game for us. Trez was magnificent against Gooners. He’s absolutely quality and gives 200% effort. He has to start ahead of Traore

    As for comments on Konsa, my “only” new jersey for this year has a #4 on the back

    UTV

  9. Paul Pears – I like a word that you used “basking”. We should all be basking because of our great owners, management, and squad.

    I was lucky enough to enjoy 1980-82 as a Villa fan and be at European Cup final, but we’ve had a barren time since. I’m excited for us.

  10. r0bb0,

    I have to say, the 10-game win streak, the playoffs and final (who can forget the joy at the end of penalties at The Hawthorns), nail-biting first season up, brilliant restart, and now this?

    Yeah. Enjoy. Been a great fucking run of fun, drama, despair and redemption. All you can ask from football.

  11. Targett, Cash, Watkins, Konsa…

    Very good examples of seeing and knowing a player. What they’ve got, where they can go. Targett and Konsa. Nervy, of course, finding their ways. But both are settling in so well. Targett’s getting closer to his man, still gets up and supports. Konsa? He’ll be better than Mings, I’d wager. Fast, alert, throws his body around. Tyrone still rules the box in the air, a bit more assured on the ball, same great speed. Excellent pairing. Didn’t take long to suss out Hause (who may well come along) and Engels.

    I was looking at graphic of the PL’s Best New Signings XI from WhoScored: Cash, Watkins, Barkley, and Martinez. Early days, but that’s a damn good window. Four of eleven?

  12. Jack and England: Let Gareth keep on motivating Jack. He’s playing for that spot every week, and destroying the competition.

    He has a chip on his shoulder. Not to say I wouldn’t like to see him controlling games for England, god I’d be so proud, but each time Southgate slights him, he just keeps getting better.

  13. Yes MD , I recorded it too.
    I know many have been unhappy with the £14.95 for watching it on Box Office, but as a season ticket holder, I viewed it as Villa actually gave me £12.95 per game refund on my ticket, so I have only paid £2 per game for the best seat in the house!!!

  14. Southgate making strange comments about Villa supporters

    Personally I couldn’t care less about international football, and hope England lose until he’s sacked.

    We have Ireland tonight and Belgium who we need to beat, so i hope we don’t

  15. Well that was quite something, fellow Villans.
    We bounce back from a setback or two and give the Woolwich Old Boys a good whacking… Marvellous!!!
    As a long time resident of “That London”, my plastic Gooner palls seem to have either died or moved… !!

  16. I’d vowed that I wouldn’t give in and pay £14.95 to watch on tv, particularly as Villa fans had been particularly hard done by with 4 of our games having been selected for ppv.

    Then the wife said “we’ve scored in the first minute. . .. we have to watch it” so I relented.
    You can imagine how p****d I was to get online just in time to see the goal ruled out!!

    well. . . . . we’d paid by then so had to watch it.

    ok. . . . . I found it hard to resent the £14.95 by the end of the game!

  17. I’ll also second the comments about International duty and injuries. We know that along with most other teams, if we lose a couple of key players then our performance levels are likely to suffer. It’s why it’s so pleasing to already have almost half of last year’s total points tally in just our first 7 games.
    To put it in context, after 7 games last season we had just 5 points and were sharing 3 of the bottom 4 spots with Watford and Norwich. To sound a slight word of warning though, Bournemouth had started strongly and were up in 8th place on 11 points.

  18. There is no way I’m paying as much as I pay for my Sky Package and Broadband for 3-4 four extra games a month. when I barely watch much on Sky at all bar the Villa and the odd international. Not when Its on the tinternet for nowt. I’d gladly skip all the other crap and just pay a flat rate to watch the Villa games. At least I have the hours in the day to watch them.

    Just heard Beaky saying he judged Jack because he didn’t get many Goals and assists last season?? 8 goals and Six assists? he said at the time he had only got one assist in a run of games at the time.

    Well playing in a relegation threatened team and at times being the only good part is quite hard Gareth, Also mate he was clocking up 2.5 chances a game that were not being put away and a key pass every 35 mins. He finished the season creating 91 chances second to DeBruyne at city with 136!!! and above Alexander-Arnold and Maddison.

    Does the man have no Eyeballs to look beyond actual Goals and Assists? and does he not see that not every player is in a top side?

    Poor excuse Gareth.

  19. And Mason Mounts only crime is not being Jack? feck me Southgate open your peepers nobody else is either in the whole world, take your “all your Christmases came at once” gift and play him.

  20. Stat time, Villa are 5th in Expected Goals in the league (with one game less), that means the chances we are creating are high Quality and likely to go in. Also our shots on goal are the best in the division, Liverpool are second but take the most shots in the league.

    Watkins doesn’t shoot much during games unlike Kane and Salah, it appears that he doesn’t need many chances per game to score very much like Vardy.

    The other day I said I haven’t seen Villa play like Brentford yet, I’m beginning to think they never will but they certainly are putting the ball in those danger areas very much like them.

  21. Ian, I’m sure JL remembers the 1928 game.

    I too know some Gooner fans that have spent years jibbing me. It’s nice to be in a position where it’s now my turn to fill my boots. And I ain’t wasting it.

  22. Mark, the more Beaky comes out with his comments, the more ridiculous he sounds. I ask you. Mount or Jack? FFS.

    Like other Lifers, I’m more concerned about injuries. Hope SJM doesn’t wear himself out tonight, never mind getting injured.

  23. roBbO, wise words of caution indeed. But Bournemouth last season fell like a stone. If we avoid injury to Barks, Jack, SJM and Dougie for any length of time, we should be fine.

    I really think this team is coming along nicely. Compass have put their cards on the table. Can’t help but make comparisons with Ron Saunders days.

  24. It really feels like we might be a couple of players away from doing something pretty special…
    Barkley and Grealish sizzle together… It’s all very exciting!!

  25. Well so far jack is behind pretty most of England’s best moments. You can clearly see how the players are thrown by jack slowing it down then speeding up. They are so used to the constant pas and move regardless of outcome or purpose they thrown by it. I think for England he may have to play in midfield unless a like minded player like Barkley plays or jack is actually risked in a full England line up not the stiffs.

  26. Jack, mings and Conor all off now so so am I, England have gone and got boring . I almost turned off when I heated Foden has been the best English player since he was 14 ??

  27. Last night just emphasised why hourihane doesn’t play. I don’t get what he brings. He cirun, dribble l, tackle.

    We need Ramsey on the bench because if Barkley or mcginn go off, hourihane coming on massively changes the way we play because he has no legs or mobility or agility unlike Barkley and Mcginn. Ramsey is very similar to grealish how he glides and closer to how mcginn and Barkley operate

  28. Frem- Ireland were pretty poor haven’t even scored in the last 5 matches and then they only average 1 goal. Not really surprising Conor looks bang average in that team. No he’s not the same type of player as Jack etc but we would be in the champs now but for him and others efforts. Started this season well 1 goal and 1 assist but lost out to Barkley, I would bet that if he played he would contribute with a goal or assist more often than not he usually does. We are not in a place to ditch players.

    Funny isn’t it that Prior to lockdown it was questioned whether JT like Smith was contributing anything as we were awful defensively, Now he’s going to be missed? I’m surprised that you would be surprised 🙂

  29. I imagine our English back 4 love working with Terry. I think they would be gutted to see him go

    Hourihane is a championship player. He helped us yes but doesn’t mean he’s a premier league player. He certainly isn’t

    There is always a pattern with Hourihane

    1) Doesn’t play a game. We struggle. He comes in for next game
    2) Scores a goal in the game. Gets all annoyed he wasn’t played few games before.
    3)Starts next game as well. Is a ghost. Does absolutely nothing. Useless.
    4)Gets dropped for next game

    And it just goes like that all season. Happened all last season. In the championship to a few times when Grealish came back

  30. We need midfield players who give us ability over 90 minutes consistently on and off the ball. Like Luiz. Barkley, mcginn and jack. Hourihane doesn’t offer this

  31. frem

    yeah totally get it re hourhihan and as our squad develops he will be gone. But we must treat him with respect and show class.

    but doesn’t mean he wont contribute off the bench. As we saw last season he got us some vital goals and assists that gave us crucial points. And he is a valuable assist on the training ground. He is one of our best trainers. Total professional and great for youth eg ramsey to learn off every day. Is what you need in a squad

  32. Frem- your preaching to the choir and stating the bleedin obvious, it won’t improve our bench or make Conor go away. God forbid one of the best players gets injured and he’s needed but thats the situation. Come Jan if he hasn’t featured I think he’ll look to move no matter where we are in the league. Now if the team get sussed and goals dry up he just might come in handy. There must be over half the prem that are not prem class whatever that is.

  33. Fuck me. Alan Browne who played the whole 90 minutes for Ireland last night has been found positive with Covid-19.

    That’s Jack, Tyro and Conor at risk. Useless international games.

  34. Apparently, 17 out of twenty positive covid tests are false positives, puts a whole different perspective on things such as in the UK with our Died with Covid bollocks/policy it could mean only 7.5% of suspected covid deaths are real, about 3500 people out of the 50k. We need a bigger crock to put all the shit in.

  35. Chuffed for jack Grealish and Mings, who both had a good game, and should certainly feature again in the team.
    Over the moon for McGinn and Scotland, really increasing his stock value!!
    Sad for Hourihane and the Irish boys, but he did not do his international career any harm.
    Was very impressed at how often Jack played single touches which found his man. He really is reaching another level, and Southgate will be hard pressed to play the team without him.

  36. Mark. It’s time to let the world get back to normal.

    Unfortunately Luiz will be off to Man City in the summer, maybe January and there is nothing we can do about it

    25 million for him is a bargain. Shame we accepted the deal

  37. Frem, Pep Guardiola believed in Douglas Luiz but City’s embarrassment of midfield riches left them unable to convince the authorities that he’d see enough playing time to justify the work permit. They therefore had to lend him out or ship him home. They knew that he ‘would’ obtain playing time and a permit with another club, such as Villa and we were fortunate to win the race to take him on. They were only going to lend him out with a buy back clause and if we hadn’t agreed he’d have gone somewhere else.
    It would have been a shame if we had ‘not’ accepted the deal.

  38. Mark, why do you think the government, investigative journalists and scientists would make up the dangers of covid? I don’t see what’s in it for them.

  39. Robbo- I don’t think they have made up the dangers of Covid, its clearly dangerous to people who are very old with co-morbidity’s even then its not a death sentence. Its less dangerous to 98.9% of us. Those same people can die from any other virus, it just happens to be this one. We have had very mild Flu seasons since 17/18 and to be frank there was plenty for covid 19 to go at.

    As to why would scientists lie? I would say that they all have theories but some bizarre reason they decided only one set knew the truth, the ones fearing the worst and with very dodgy modelling. All others have been labelled sceptics and deniers which is how we appear to operate today, one narrative allowed only. Also Epidemiology is very poor science, its guess work. Add to that a test that is anything but accurate you have the setting for a huge fuck up. Also Don’t give Scientists the chance to be centre stage and run a huge experiment they are to Myopic.

    As to the why did it happen? China and WHO put the wind up the western politicians with their approach and the pictures and vids etc, governments panicked and began following each other in case it turned out bad and “they” looked like cunts while the rest of Europe saved their citizens. Notably Sweden didn’t panic and the results are obvious.

    Why we have carried on with this sham? I don’t know, we have doubled down on stuff thats fairly pointless as you cannot stop a virus or defeat it. Once into the sham the governments can’t back out or they look like cunts, even the opposition are complicit in this.
    Sage the all knowing group all have shares in vaccines and there is not enough scientific knowledge among them about Viruses believe it or not.

    Add the state of the world politics today, the American election, the use of BLM etc, and basically I think the whole thing has been hijacked by multiple groups for their own advancement, There are lots of players out there and the corporations are probably the worst of them. There are Groups that want a complete reset, This is a massive opportunity for various Ideologies to get what they want. Basically don’t give Governments a free hand they are power hungry enough.

    Is there a greater evil involved than that? who knows but nobody has asked the elderly whether they want locking up to live their last days without their family and any fun, and the young haven’t been asked if they want their lives fucked.

    As this chap says the whole world has changed because of something that isn’t true.

    As Mark Twain said

    “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnpnBYgGARE

  40. Mark, undoubtedly there are groups which are at far higher risk of serious illness and death as a result of Covid infection than others but shouldn’t we try to protect those groups?

    For sure there’s an argument about individual choice, but our society ( along with all others) has decided to apply limits to individual choice in order to protect the vulnerable and to avoid anarchy.

    We criminalise not wearing seatbelts, smoking in public places, carrying unlicensed guns, in order to protect individuals and reduce pressure on the publicly funded health service.

    Isn’t trying to limit the spread of Covid just one more examine of this?

  41. Now you ‘could’ say that the measures taken are too great, but we’ve seen what happens to the health service if we take insufficient action . . . . it becomes overwhelmed. Unfortunately, even though there are only a few ‘high risk’ groups, they still encompass millions of individuals and the high transmissibility of Covid means that the health service will be quite quickly over run.

    Unfortunately we (Ali g with most western countries) seem to have fallen between two policies: wanting to stay open for business whilst wanting to prevent the collapse of the health service . As a result we are suffering from a long, drawn out, never ending imposition of varying directives and regulations which leads to confusion and diminishing observation of the rules.
    China’s approach seemed draconian but they brought the virus under control. New Zealand acted fast, with the almost universal approval of the populace and they are now pretty much back to normal life
    In contrast, we’ve delayed and vacillated, and widespread cynicism means that we continue to struggle to gain control

  42. Robbo- Its looking at Covid as if it is something we haven’t dealt with before, its not. The Health service is Overwhelmed every winter as it is coping with all medical problems plus flu etc, It has yet to collapse. At present we are sending up to 40% of the NHS staff home to isolate because of a useless test, that is why they are worried, the NHS is far away from being overwhelmed by Covid, they are overwhelmed with stupidity though.

    Are we now to criminalise every disease? how have we managed to get this far with just an immune system? Consider this, a Baby is born with no Viral load, at one week its gut is full of Billions upon Billions of viruses, how did that happen? I doubt they went to a football match or the pub.

    My mrs works with old people with all sorts of illness and I regularly make new friends and lose them, where was the world before this Panic took hold? where was the concern before everyone decided that they had to save or had the power to save everyone else from dying? its beyond stupid mate. all for a virus that you can Die with? what about all the other billions present?

    I think basically they have used peoples fears and the need to fit in to get compliance, nothing more and nothing less.

    We live in interesting times.

  43. Simple question, why haven’t the entire of Tescos workers and their families all died?

    Another is what happens to NZ once they open to the rest of the world?

  44. Mark, you’re right that we could chose to let the virus run its course but the evidence is very strongly that such a course of action would cause huge disruption to health services and huge increases in death rate.
    If you accept that the underlying death rate is around 60,000 higher this year than would have been expected, the most likely cause is covid. To me that already seems too high a price to pay and I’m fortunate I’m not personally knowing anyone affected.
    It’s undeniable that pandemics can occur and have occurred, the question is whether Covid poses a significantly high enough risk for us to take the actions we have.
    You made a comment about scientific proof earlier and one thing that has become clear is that scientists are only as good as their latest piece of research. The whole principle of science is that it ‘does not’ give absolute answers. It merely seeks to question existing knowledge and try to move closer to an accepted truth.
    We’ve all been expecting and accepting too much from our scientists, however that doesn’t mean we should ignore them. It just means that we have to listen to the evidence and decide whether/how to use it

  45. From what we do know about the virus it’s pretty clear that if everybody was able to completely isolate themselves for a fortnight, it would virtually disappear.
    If it isn’t able to infect a new host, then once its existing host is cured or dead then the virus will die out too.
    In our sceptical/ self-centred western societies that is incredibly difficult to achieve which makes the New Zealand and Australian successes even more impressive.
    The article you posted is interesting but I’m afraid I am sceptical of much reported research coming out of the US because science has been weaponised over there and can be used to appear to prove what anyone ‘wants’ to prove.
    That probably goes to the heart of the discussion . . . . we all tend to believe what we want to, and will use the evidence that supports our own views.
    In the case of Covid though, the risks or ignoring the evidence seem too high to me to take the chance.
    Sixty thousand excess deaths have arisen from somewhere and IF it is Covid, and IF taking no action would lead to a further 60k or more then isn’t that too big a risk to take?

  46. Mark,
    You asked why all Tesco workers haven’t died and it’s a fair question.
    Bearing in mind that in most parts of the country, at any one time, something like one in 1500 has the virus, then there has to be a good chance that a high number of Tesco workers will have touched shopping pulled off the shelf by someone with Covid at some point.
    Every year though, there will be an outbreak of flu, but most people don’t catch it. Covid appears to be more infectious than most flu viruses which is what makes it more dangerous than flu, but even so, for a number of reasons, it will only infect a proportion of the people who come into contact with a carrier.
    This year we ARE taking measures to further reduce the risk: face masks, hand washing, screens in front of checkout staff.
    Also, when someone ‘does’ test positive they are (usually) self isolating so a high proportion of the 1 in 1500 won’t actually be putting other people at risk.
    A number of countries have shown that control measures CAN control the virus. The question should be whether those measures are themselves too high a price to pay.

  47. Mark King November 15, 2020 at 6:00 pm
    Your comment is awaiting moderation.

    Robbo- Clearly that evidence has not been used to prove anything in fact its been buried as it states in the article, The media totally missed the point that did report on it. As the science never being finished thats true but if you can explain to me why the advisers to the government are using projections not facts you would have a point, many more facts presented by other more eminent scientists are ignored, in short they are not listening but sticking to a narrative. The whole 4,000 deaths a day by Xmas thing was shot down and they had to admit it was made up.

    The truth about Excess deaths will out, at least 29,000 deaths in excess of the norm that die at home occurred during lockdown, 3% involved Covid the rest were all heart attacks etc that went untreated as we were saving the NHS. Its true that at the time in march April there was an excess, shortly afterwards that dipped below the norm for the entire summer and still remains below, by year end it will very likely look like no excess for the year. Corona viruses are seasonal.

    Viruses don’t disappear, the only way that can happen is if all the hosts die, a virus can lay dormant in the body and reappear but usually it seeks to live with the host or it cannot spread and replicate. They do transform and leap from one animal to another and back but the last thing it wants to do is kill you and that is why it becomes less deadly over time. Covid has been with us since we have existed and is one of the most successful ones out there.

    One amazing thing is if you look at a graph from Sweden their deaths go straight up and straight down, ours goes straight up then down in a curve, thats the only effect you will see from lockdowns, a small drop in the death rate . I suspect this window will see off the people missed in March and that will be that.

    As for suspects the World economic Forum are looking very suspicious at this moment looking to reset the whole worlds lives in one go. All headed up by those in power and without those are are supposed to serves consent.

    https://www.weforum.org/great-reset/

  48. Mark, yes, some viruses can lay dormant and if the body hasn’t developed or maintained a defence mechanism it can re-emerge. HIV is a case in point, where the current medication is unable to eliminate those viruses that ‘hide’ from it.
    We’re still at the early stages of trying to understand if this will also be the case for Covid. It’s too soon to tell if the body will retain vaccine induced or naturally gained immunity and it could be that the mutation rate will be too fast for us to gain complete control although it does seem to have a slower mutation rate than many other viruses.
    It’s indeed incredibly difficult to completely eliminate a virus, but not impossible.
    I remember one lad in my class at junior school wearing callipers on his legs as a result of polio infection but that virus is on the verge of being completely eliminated worldwide through the use of vaccination. So happily, that is not a sight we have to see these days.

  49. Mark, that world economic forum report is interesting. (Will have a proper read later)
    There are certainly some big challenges for at the moment and let’s hope that there are some World leaders capable of rising to the challenge.

  50. Can’t help but think about our lack of depth could stop is having a good season.

    Behind our starting 11 is just a bunch of players not good enough to keep the quality we have.

    I hope in January we sign a few more quality players

    We are one injury away from becoming a much worse side

  51. Grealish has made Villa proud l. He’s been absolutely brilliant

    Still think his best position in left on a centre mid 3. He needs pace wingers running in behind for him

    This England team has no pace

  52. Beaky is surely a gonner. This defensive crap will sink him. Once again Jack ran the show. Hope he and Tyro get a rest for the next game. We’ve got the Seagull’s on Saturday.

  53. Yep only caught glimpses of the game but Jack looked a good as ever, the supporting cast not so.

    Frem- thinking about the lack of depth?you? that does surprise me.

    Robbo- It appears that many already have immunity from Covid from other corona viruses. Not sure I like the idea of half a dozen Vaccines being deployed, the last time they rushed one it was the Swine flu (another non starter) some people who took the vaccine ended up with Narcolepsy including NHS staff and are being compensated. My Mrs has had the flu jab twice because of here job and been sick both times, second time she had 4 bouts that winter.

    I’m not a anti vaxxer I’ve had plenty of them, loads when I went to India, can’t tell whether it was them or India that made me ill for ages 🙂 I do think that this has the potential to be a fuck up of biblical proportions though.

    Yeah the World economic Forum, even the likes of Bono go, anyone with a lot of money or power. They are really gearing up to change things as according to them things will never be the same again? really?
    sounds very convenient 🙂

  54. What’l has happened to Engles

    I actually thought he did fine last season. He didn’t look out of place.

    He’s not even our sqaud anymore

  55. Robbo- I didn’t realise this but apparently the announced Vaccine that is 90% effective arrived at that figure by giving it to 43,000 people in 6 countries, 94 of them , yes 94 got covid and from that they deduce its 90% effective?! I wonder if they told them to go out and try and catch it? I know the Oxford lab where my brother works are struggling to get samples from enough infected people.

    The actual chance of you getting it in the 1st place is 50 in a million, if you do get it your chance of dying from it are 1 in 2 million, the recovery rate is 99.7%, effects of rushed vaccine unknown yet.

    Basically if you are below 70 and fit your fine (unless you are obese which is not counted as a co-morbidity even though all the young people that died were pretty much Obese)

    Now there is a push to make speaking out about the vaccine or Covid a criminal offence, all for a disease with the above lethality which very likely you don’t need a vaccine for 🙂

    I don’t know about you but when someone shuts down conversation about a topic rather than engage people and give some reassurance and facts it doesn’t look good, Hang on is someone knocking at my door?

  56. Mark, it’s always good to see both sides of a discussion and he makes some good arguments. I missed the bit about vaccines though . . . .did I switch off at the key point?
    I did listen right to the end where he asked for donations but I’m guessing that’s not the bit you meant.
    What this discussion demonstrates is that there are few clearly proven answers. We would all like to think that someone can give us the right answer but the fact is that nobody can at the moment.
    It would be helpful if people were honest enough to admit that they are peddling opinions and prejudices rather than facts much of the time.
    My brother headed one of the UK teams developing an antibody test and he can say that test detects antibodies to a specific level of accuracy but what he can’t say is how long the antibodies remain in the body or how important they are to subsequent immunity. So even someone at the forefront of the fight has more questions than answers.
    What IS clear is that different countries have had varying degrees of success in suppressing the virus so it’s clear that it IS possible to influence outcomes but we’re still not clear exactly which actions need to be taken at what points in time in order to do it.
    What makes it even more difficult is that actions probably need to be different in different parts of the world according to population density, social behaviour, climate etc etc.
    The one thing we DO know is that if someone says that they have all the answers, you can safely ignore them.

  57. Michael Oliver confirmed as the ref for our game against the Seagulls. Could be worse. We might have got Mike Dean, or heaven forbid, Kevin Fraud.

  58. I’m still giving some Gooner fans stick. Can’t help it. I’ve suffered from their wise cracks for years but as I’m still buzzing, they can have some.

  59. Recent media reports that Man Citeh will come in for Jack and Dougie in a 100m quid swoop. The Sheikh can keep his wedge in his pocket. OK, he may be able to get Dougie for 30m quid legally but Jack for 70m quid? When that cart horse cost Man Ure 84m quid.

  60. Recent media reports that Man Citeh will come in for Jack and Dougie in a 100m quid swoop. The Sheikh can keep his wedge in his pocket. OK, he may be able to get Dougie for 30m quid legally but Jack for 70m quid?

  61. Robbo- We have plenty of information as this is a corona virus, they follow a pattern and we have seen it play out identically. The problem is once a Virus is in the country there is not a fat lot you can do, those countries that stopped travel early had some success, places like Czechoslovakia that did ok have now come into their flu season and things are not so good there.

    One little known thing is Microbes and Viruses travel on the winds, the trade wind shows the virus travelling along it path from country to country at various times of the year.

    Your immune system doesn’t stay on red alert or you would be Knackered, it does maintain a data base of viruses it has come across and can start up when in contact, thats my understanding.

  62. Mark, most viruses are quite fragile so whilst they can be wind blown, that’s generally a very minor factor in transmission.

    Yes, as I undetsrand it too, the immune system is generally ‘primed’ but not on full alert.

    Yes, we have lots of information about corona viruses, but clearly not enough, or more countries would have had the knowledge and wherewithal to get on top of this pandemic

  63. It has been nice to see Jack shine and show the world what we’ve long known. But of course now that means anyone with £80 million in their pockets might well come knocking again.

    Which is a segue to a new post up from Ian.

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