Following a late, three-goal outburst against a fragile Fulham to get their second win without Jack, Villa will go without him once again today. Trouble is, Liverpool are a slight step up in quality.

The table wouldn’t necessarily tell you that, though, as it’s been a frustrating and deflating campaign for the reigning champions. Injuries, fatigue, a certain jadedness, fixture congestion: they’ve all conspired to see last season’s runaway winners brought down to earth.

That might ordinarily sound like a good thing, and maybe it will be this afternoon, but they’ll obviously be looking to bounce back from the week’s 1-3 setback to Real Madrid with a top-four finish still firmly in sight. They’ve not shown that killer instinct much yet, though, and despite how they could be feeling in the dressing room, it might not take much to get at their confidence and frustrate them.

Regardless, we certainly won’t be seeing another 7-2 demolition, something they’ll also have in mind. My guess is that we’ll stick to our usual pattern of pressing and looking for an early goal. Dean likes to start fast, and when Villa do, it usually works out pretty well.

The big change today is that Smith has brought in Marvelous Nakamba to partner Douglas Luiz, meaning John McGinn should be playing further forward. Makes sense on a couple levels: Extra defensive help and legs in the middle, and SJM given a more attacking role.

Bertrand Traoré and Trezeguet will man the flanks, which I expected because of Trez’s work rate and his double last weekend. However, it will be Traoré and Cash who’ll have to deal with Robertson and Jota. Which probably also explains Nakamba’s inclusion, as he and Luiz will be tasked with disrupting the the play into Jota, Firmino, and Salah from Milner, Wijnaldum, and Fabinho.

Both Matts are going to have their hands full, as will everyone else.

Apart from stopping Liverpool feeling good and perhaps getting a lead, Villa will want to stay organized and alert. Defensively, I think Villa are up to it if they don’t get too stretched, and if McGinn can win, distribute, and carry effectively enough. We all know Liverpool’s defense can be got at, you just have to use the space and do it quickly. There’s enough pace with Trez, Ollie and Traoré. If anyone has their shooting boots on, and we can win the ball back higher up the pitch, we just might surprise them. Again.

If not? Well…It’ll be about keeping it tight, being combative, and seeing if the bench has surprises to offer us again today. Morgan Sanson hasn’t made the squad, so at some point it may well come down to which three of Davis, Ghazi, Ramsey or even Barkley can change things round if they’re going wrong.

Win today, and Villa are as well set up for a top-half finish as they can be. A draw is never a bad result against Liverpool. Unless you’re surrendering a two- or three-goal lead. They’ve been terrible at Anfield, but streaks end. We know City want to wrap up the title in a hurry, so next week isn’t going to be a brilliant time to face them. However, the kind of streak they’re on…Like I say, they all end sooner or later. Anyway, that’s next week.

So let’s see how buoyed the side are, and whether the fringe players we’ve been debating all week will once again step up. If they can get a result today without Jack, it might instill some real belief.

Over to you.

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John Clark
John is co-owner of AVL, and has followed the Villa since the '70s. A journalist by trade, he is, by most accounts, a very nice person. You can follow me on Twitter @JClarkKohoutek. It's an astonishing experience. Or a complete waste of time.

Comments 218

  1. Paul Pears

    Wow!!
    What a game ! Bielsa manages to beat Man City with 10 MOTM, with master tactical changes.

    Let’s hope that Villa can show thee same determination this afternoon.

    MK,
    Dean Smith was not going to stand and say these are the targets, but he has certainly been set targets, which he will be expected to meet. Compass did not say here’s the money, hope you can have a good season. He will certainly have been set very definite targets!!
    No Sanson today, not even on the bench.

  2. Paul Pears

    Team:

    Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Luiz, Nkamba, Traore,McGinn, Trezeguet, Watkins

    Subs:
    Heaton, Elmo, Engels, Hause, Taylor, Ramsey, Barkley, El Ghazi, Davis.

    So nothing new in Deano’s plans.

  4. Mark King

    PP- two DM’s? thats different, we are going to hit them on the break.

    I doubt compass have set a get 8th or else target mate, Smith said we were Not expecting Europe this season that tells you something unless you choose not to listen.

  6. VillaMD

    Yeah, great line up. Looking forward to seeing SJM at #10.

    PP – interesting that no Sanson. I’m not sure why we have so many defenders on the bench including 2 CB’s. Surely Cheuwu or Barry should be included

  12. Paul Pears

    Looks like we have gone back to the same old. Mistakes from Mings, stupid cross field pass from McGinn, and he is losing the ball, as much as he is winning it. Giving the ball to Liverpool all the time. Stupid yellow for Konsa.

  22. John Clark

    I’ll admit, seems a ridiculous decision, don’t agree with the way they’re doing it, but that’s how it’s been, so I’ll certainly take it.

  24. Paul Pears

    How can we play so badly, and yet be so lucky!
    I can hardly believe that Liverpool’s goal ended up being offside. Crazy, just like last night.
    Thank god Ollie is on the ball, and maybe he can continue scoring now.

    We should get Davis on there, as the goalie is not a happy bunny. Let’s put them under some pressure.

  25. John Clark

    Will be a very interesting second. They’ve pressed us pretty relentlessly, though it was pressure from us that created the goal.

    Can they keep it up? Do we give them too much space? We’ve limited really good opportunities, but they are getting it upfield quickly and into space.

  26. Paul Pears

    We give the ball away far too much, and Martinez is not finding players with throws or kicks. If we continue to just hoof it upfield, change to 4-4-2.
    Wonder if Barkley will come on second half and /or Ramsey. Davis should certainly get some time on the pitch.

  48. VillaMD

    That’s the end of Barkley. Might as well have played with 10 men.

    At least now that we can’t make top 8 let’s blood a few of the youth

  51. Paul Pears

    Surely that was a foul on Trezeguet from Trent, which means it should have been a penalty, but apart from that we never manged to string more than two passes together. We just did not have the sharpness or desire to win.
    Barkley not up to the mark when through, and could have shot, or passed to Ramsey, which may have been better.
    The slide down the table continues, still with no real desire to win and climb the table.

    This has to change, but just cannot see any improvement until Jack comes back, and that is a very sad situation.

  52. jbd656

    I think there is a hint of the Collemores about Barkley. He’s got all the ability in the world but can’t get it out of his head and into his feet on the pitch. Getting a bit frustrated with the lack of use of Keinan Davies. Think the use of only one recognised forward on the pitch is becoming a bit wimpy and is creating a stick to beat DS with.

  53. Paul Pears

    Exactly jbd656,
    No Davis no win….
    Barkley not good enough.
    Dean must come up with an improvement. If Villa had half the energy of Leeds today, we would have won that game.

  55. Mark King

    I think on another day Liverpool would of won by more they just cannot score like last season and we gave away the ball to much. Still we could of won at Anfield but didn’t again. Not really a surprise.

    What is really beginning to Grate on me is the fans coming out to shower shit on Dean Smith after every game we don’t win like crows hutting the windows in Hitchcocks the Birds.

    How dare Dean Smith not win at Anfield grrr

  56. Mark King

    PP- I’m surprised at you mate you blow with the wind, theres good and theres bad at the moment and the bad is our players passing the ball to theirs at every turn, damn sure Smith doesn’t order that in training.

  57. VillaMD

    Watch the Liverpool winner, Barkley could have challenged and at least put Trent off but he just stood still. Even if he’s not up to speed, at least run and challenge.

  59. Heroes-and-Villans

    Well not going to bang on about the 433 with no jack again 🙂 but to not bring on Keenan I thought was shocking. Against Fulham bang on with the subs and today awful use of subs.

    First half I thought was terrible but weirdly since pool got the equaliser I thought we were better but a game where I was convinced pool would win. Shame as they were there for the taking. Very vulnerable at the back but couldn’t lay much of a glove on them. Would of if Davis played with Ollie but like I said I won’t mention that!

  60. Heroes-and-Villans

    Troure and trez in the first half were invisible. Trez so unlucky hitting the post though. Ball a hot potatoe with no control or aggression in our passing. I actually wince when we are trying to pass it near the back! Hope trez is ok, looked in real trouble but he is so emotional it’s hard to judge!

  61. Mark King

    I am surprised that Davis didn’t come on but Liverpool have two good FB’s, would giving their CB’s more hassle have unleashed their FB’s even more? dunno. At the end of the day when Trez is your best performing Winger and has pretty much all your best moments you know you need some players still. Squad depth? not much and we are seasons away from that. At least Saunders came up with a side.

    Saunders finishes in the old 1st div 16th, 4th, 8th, 8th, 7th ,1st.

  62. Mark King

    A sums lesson , £250m gets you mid table, £500m gets you top 8 and £????????? gets you top 4 on a rotational basis, 1 billion buys you the title and gets you Pep.

    We really haven’t outgrown Dean Smith yet by a long shot.

  63. Heroes-and-Villans

    Mark

    The thing is pool haven’t won’t at anfield in 4 months! To see the 442 against Fulham work so well and for Davis to look good and next game not start that or change it to that is pretty perplexing

  64. Heroes-and-Villans

    Trez and Toure just couldn’t keep or hold the ball. Our mids couldn’t get forward because of it or our fullbacks. And twice with mcguinn in an advanced role in the first half he needlessly lost easy possession when in good area.

  66. John Clark

    I think we all know there’ll be incomings to address the quality issues we’re seeing. It’s not going unnoticed by anyone in charge. It’s the squad we’ve got and for the reasons I laid out in the last piece.

    That said, we didn’t hang our heads, and could’ve gone back on top, unlucky for Trez, and maybe there was a shout for a peno. I thought there was good energy, and that the decision-making largely got better as the game went on. Still couple brain farts, but there were a couple nice passages, winning the ball back, etc.

    So, it’s not apologetics. We’re missing probably one of the world’s best players, certainly one of the best in world’s hardest league. It shows. Not terribly surprising. I think with Jack, we probably had enough to win, or would’ve at least caused them a lot more problems.

    Ross, it went wrong, and sometimes that’s how it rolls. If he’d have been able to continue showing what he clearly did have in his locker, who knows.

    I hate losing to a stoppage-time goal. I think it was Ramsey who wasn’t aggressive enough closing down on that one, but Liverpool weren’t going to keep losing ‘at home’ for the rest of the season with a CL spot up for grabs. (I put air quotes around ‘at home’ because I believe the lack of fans makes home and away pretty irrelevant.)

  68. r0bb0

    I was working outside this afternoon and missed the game but kept checking in on the BBC live text. The impression that gave was that Villa we’re going for it, competing well and that it was anyone’s game.
    I then come on here and find real negativity. . . really strange. . . . You’d expect villa ‘fans’ to be supportive and yet that doesn’t seem to be the case.

  69. r0bb0

    The BBC chat also said that we seemed to have gone 442 which was a really positive move against Liverpool at home. I thought . . . well at least those fans calling for 442 have had their wish granted
    It’s odd to expect a particular formation to make all the difference when it’s so hard to even recognise when it’s being played.

  70. r0bb0

    By all accounts Ross struggled again today so surely that’s his last chance. It’s sad for us but particularly sad for him.
    At the start of the season, Ross and Jack played off each other brilliantly and we looked capable of beating anyone. To lose both of them is bound to leave us short in the midfield.
    If we can just get Jack fit again and our scouts bring in some great new movie dfield talent you’d expect that we’d be able to consistently hit those heights next season

  71. VillaMD

    R0bb0,

    I thought Villa were unbelievably poor for the 1st 25mins, just parked the bus. We were much better after that and deserved a point.

    Traore has skills, but is too much of of a luxury for me. Ramsey and Cash and Trez and Targett are much better combinations. I know Ramsey is not a winger, but thought he was decent on the right.

  74. Heroes-and-Villans

    The negativity for me and a growing number of fans for me is
    Style of footy. Just a counter team, not good in possession or on the ball.
    433 with no jack and no change in tactics.
    Deano has said the footy has hardly been great last few months so he knows. My massive concern about him and if he can take us to challenging Europe is style of play and tactics. I hope he can improve as I love him. Compass after spending 100 mill again in summer 3rd season in prem might not be so relaxed

  75. Heroes-and-Villans

    Robbo I’m supportive but surly constructive critism is ok. I just call it as I see it.

    I’m still flabbergasted Davis didn’t get on today! He will be fuming.

    Going forward now complete waste of time Barkley being involved. Send him back. Give bidace, chuck experience. Perfect to blood youth now.

  77. r0bb0

    H&V, it was a BBC commentator who praised us for switching to a 442 in an all out attempt to win the game. I was intrigued to know who they thought was paired with Ollie up front.
    I guess what you’re particularly frustrated by is Keinan Davis not getting more game time, whatever formation we happen to be playing and I must admit, I have some sympathy for that. He certainly seemed to have earned that in his last game. DS must have wanted to give Ross another chance but it seems that Davis would have been a better bet!

  78. r0bb0

    H&V, we’d all like to see us playing the way we did at the start of the season, but if you take two players of the quality of Jack and Ross out of the equation then that becomes a real challenge against a good side. ( I know Ross is still playing, but you know what I mean)
    Last season we tried to play attacking football until lockdown and then we changed tactics and tightened up enough to save our place in the premiership.
    Right now, particularly against better sides, DS seems to be judging that we’re better off playing on the break as we don’t have the midfield players to control the centre of the pitch and I suspect he’s right.

  79. Plug

    Gutted we lost. But no complaints about the result. They were there for the taking but we couldn’t do it. VAR once again shocking. There was nothing wrong with the Liverpool goal. Same as the previous night with Wolves. When the lines come out, it ain’t clear and obvious so it needs binning. They’ve had a closed season to rectify it and failed miserably.

  80. Mark King

    To me it comes down to two positions, those who see an easy fix game to the game and those that understand there is a long term plan at play . Sure we can play the kids and fringe players but we won’t be buying 10 players this summer, Smith and the club need to Know what they have, it would be a sticking plaster and I think Smith Knows who’s off etc.

    The proof to me is that very rarely have subs changed our games this season. The ones against Fulham who were already celebrating escaping the bottom 3 being an exception, we hadn’t won from behind all season. What was more worrying yesterday was we lost from a winning position which we don’t tend to do.

    If anything we lost a point at least by doing what many wanted which is to attack Liverpool rather than shut up shop. With Jack they were there for the taking maybe but with 8 saves by Martinez? Liverpool deserved to win.

    Robbo that BBC bloke must hate Liverpool a rarity I know.

  81. Plug

    Ollie ran his nuts off as usual and also scored. Then I’m struggling to find a positive. Tyro had another brain fart but got away with it this time. Traore had a stinker. He set up more Liverpool attacks than he did for us. I was surprised to see him start the second half.

    Hope Trez hasn’t done his ACL. He was distraught when he came off. If he has, Mark will also be distraught.

    Wasn’t impressed with Liverpool. Their distribution was awful. I lost count of the times they passed the ball out of play. TAA was also crap, despite his winner.

  82. Mark King

    Plug I was even more amazed by our passing overall even the mighty Trez misplaced one but he also put a couple of very nicely weighted passes in for Watkins.

    I have sent him a get well card as we are close but mostly its the fact he is our best option on the wing and yesterday pretty much the only player with any creativity that upsets me, thought Ross showed a bit but still so very lethargic, it makes no sense for it to be just fitness.

  83. VillaMD

    Agreed, hopefully Trez is ok.

    For next season I think we need a top striker to play alongside Ollie. If Toon go down I’d like to see Callum Wilson. Would also like to see a blistering fast winger.

    Last, swop Mings for Tuanzebe

  85. VillaMD

    MK,

    I wonder how many teams have both a right footed and left footed CB. For me it’s over hyped. You can tackle with either foot. Granted you have a better kicking foot, but surely professional footballers can use both feet? At least be able to clear the ball with weaker foot.

    It’s like in doubles tennis. Left handed and right handed combination is more natural, but not a significant difference

  86. Paul Pears

    MK,
    Of course Smith does not make his players give the ball away, but he is the manager, that means he is highly paid to get results from his players. If they fail, then he fails. He chooses the players and sets out the tactics.
    Smith was not happy with the first half, but felt an improvement second half, but Liverpool were better. What an admission…..His half time team talk should have been powerful enough to engage the players minds into achieving a result. Otherwise he is failing in his role.
    I have no problem ever with Villa losing a game when I see that the team has done everything they can to achieve a result, but the opposition have had the edge.
    This is the reason I always support Trezeguet, Martinez , Watkins and Cash, because I see them giving their all for the team. Konsa is great at his job, but he doesn’t bring that extra, which he could in moving the ball out of defence, except the odd ball to Cash. Mings has really not been on top of his game recently, and rarely gives a good ball on to the midfield. It is either to Konsa, Maartinez or occasionally Targett.
    I am livid over Trezeguet being out for the rest of the season, and the way it happened, and was glossed over by the ref, VAR and pundits alike. Trent Alexander-Arnold was a very lucky boy to get away with it. He had been at Trezeguet all match.
    I do not feel I am negative. I say what I see, and this is not sport anymore. It is an entertainment business which is a multi-million pound industry, where people demand their money’s worth.
    Managers are paid by results, and Dean is doing his best I know, but it may not be good enough i the end.
    So far today, I have seen two excellent games, and one yesterday, where all the teams have given entertainment, whether they have won or lost, and that is what I want to see from any football game.
    The final judgements will be made on May 23rd at the end of the season, and I just hope that Villa will have recovered sufficiently, to be in a reasonable place in the table.
    How many of today’s players can be said to be playing for the shirt, or even care about the club they play for??
    Leicester had to suspend three players today!!!

  87. Mark King

    VillaMD never made a difference to me but I worked on my left foot, others I played with over the years had a preference. At the top level I think it would matter, Hause has played both sides but not Konsa or Mings nor Chester I think.

  88. Mark King

    PP- In the real world when you are building it can look good and bad, if Smith is saddled with pleasing you 1st then we could easily go down but I assume that wouldn’t matter to you as we entertained you along the way? (I know it would) To Smith thats the end of the road.

    In this rather crazy Covid period we have coped very well really and have also been brought down by it too plus injuries to very important players.

    I can assure you at any level players don’t give a monkeys about being entertaining. Winning , trying not to lose and getting some applause yes.

  89. Mark King

    PP- Cast your mind back to last season, every game we went for it to begin with, won some but were ultimately losing and making huge cock ups. People moaned like fuck about the defence etc, To survive we changed tack because we had to. Would you call that entertaining? for me you are engaged in it because its your team, if I watch other teams its ok but I don’t really care how good /bad they are, they mean nothing to me. I might cheer a Brit club in Europe occasionally but that’s it.

  90. Paul Pears

    MK,
    I live very much i the real world, and understand the world of football a lot more than you think.
    Smith doesn’t have to please me, he has to please his employers, in the process of pleasing them, he will obviously please me, because at the end of the day, I want the same thing.
    You really should stop being so condescending, and just try seeing points of view , other than your own. you are quite knowledgeable, but you are not an expert on the subject, and neither am I.
    I never implied that players wanted to be entertaining, far from it. Though, many these days should hold equity cards for their theatrics.
    I thoroughly agree about the change in tactics last season, which is what was needed, and again to some extent has happened this season.
    My idea of entertainment is tied up in seeing the effort put in to please whether it is “THE BOSS” on stage, seeing his shirt soaked in sweat with his effort, or seeing a footballer on his knees at the end of match, because of the effort he has put in.
    I have not seen many of our players like that in recent games.

  91. Paul Pears

    MK,
    another good example just ended now, with Man Ure wanting it more, being incensed, driven on by their manager, beating Spurs 3-1.
    So glad that Son cheating didn’t win the game. Maybe sometimes justice comes through.
    Solskjaer was on a knife’s edge at United for a long time, and his bosses stood by him, and in the end he has come through, obviously, he has had a better squad to deal with, but at the end of the day, it has been how he has managed it.
    Dean will, and has the same backing, but he has to manage the squad he has.

  92. Mark King

    Well you puzzle me then PP because you said all you want to see is entertainment from a football match when what you meant is some passion and effort. Again you must know that does not happen every game and never will , I hope I am right and you are wrong on Smith, no point in saying more.

  93. Mark King

    I remember when the owners turned up and Wes Eden’s made a speech about being custodians, in it he said they want to return the club to former glory and that he said he knows it won’t happen overnight as his experience with teams in America have taught him that. All he asked was the Fans give the team all the support they can.

    Now that does not sound like a man that makes hasty decisions to me, could be wrong but I think he knows the value of stability at this point over reaching to far to soon.

  94. Mark King

    “I can’t emphasise strongly enough how proud we are and grateful to be part of this great club.

    “We’re appreciative of the fanbase which make Aston Villa the kind of club people look for. We were attracted by the passionate fanbase. this was our number one attraction.

    “We’re here as custodians of this club and we’ll do everything we can to bring it back where it deserves.”

    Edens said: “We want to see Aston Villa restored to the highest levels of English football and do everything we can do to be good stewards of that

    “We think that nothing happens overnight. that was my experience with the bucks and I think it’ll be consistent with what it is here.

    “We have very lofty goals for the club, the organisation and the fans and we want to be the best partners possible for that.”

  95. Mark King

    PP- Stuff like this makes me think Smith may have already reached his targets.
    But Grealish, who this week committed his future to the club by signing a new five-year deal, believes they need to be realistic over what can be achieved in the short-term.

    Jack Grealish sept 20

    “We haven’t sat down as a group yet but I am sure we will do that before the season starts and set out our goals,” he said.

    “Everyone wants to build on what we have done last season. At the start of last year we were probably aiming to finish between 12th and 14th but it does not always work out as you plan.

    “Hopefully we can build on that this season. With the squad we have I believe we can aim high.

    “I think we have to be looking between 12th and eighth. You have to be realistic. You are not going to from finishing 17th one season and then going to fifth or sixth the next, as nice as that would be.

    “I think if we could finish anywhere between eighth and 12th that would be brilliant.”

    The owners must be aware of the drop in form and injuries etc since the Covid episode and its effects and must be happy that the club can plan for the summer in the same league at least.

    The outside chance Of Europe is both a distraction and a motivation but I must admit I find your constant Smith must meet targets line a little irritating as we don’t know those targets for one and for two I don’t think these owners are the run of the mill club owners with a hair trigger.

    From the off they have shown that by selecting Smith above a big name manager. Sorry if you find what I say condescending but your evidence seems based on what happens at clubs on bad runs quite often but I think Smith has exceeded expectations. What pans out in the long run is entirely different but I hope he learns on the job as we grow, already he has beaten some of the big names in this league but has the least experience bar a couple.

  96. Plug

    MK quoting Wes Edens….”We have very lofty goals for the club”.

    Compass are not therefore going to settle for mediocrity. ‘Arry has just called us mediocre. If another cash injection happens this summer, DS will be extremely vulnerable if the team look some way off those “very lofty goals”.

    When the grumbling about Spud increased, one or two Lifers advocated giving him more time. It took a flying cabbage to bring in DS and the rest is history. It’s now a question of how far can DS take us. He’ll be given his chance but progress for sure is going to be monitored.

    A look at the EPL table is revealing. English coaches v Continental coaches.

  97. Paul Pears

    MK,
    Thank you for your further comments, which I appreciate. I have said that the points I am making are not necessarily my own thoughts, but like Plug and others read more into what Compass are about.
    We are also making it clear that a position of tenth would be acceptable, and anything above, would be great. It is the direction in which Villa is heading that is more concerning. Anything below fourteenth, would be a poor return, after the start Villa had.

    I am sorry, I do not accept that the injuries and covid are excuses for failing. I re-iterate, managers are paid to manage. My bosses would never accept excuses if I did not meet targets. Their stock answers to all managers is, “We pay you to manage, so manage” the fact you had staffing problems through illness, etc was your job to sort out, and we did by one means , or another.
    This is what other managers do, and often discover the gems amongst their young players when asked to step up to the plate.
    Dean, I am sure will pull through this, but there is a right to challenge him. No-one is saying sack him. Maybe part of the problem is that he has not played the same front three in weeks, whereas the back four has hardly changed, apart from Cash’s injury.

  98. Heroes-and-Villans

    well we may have grealish and Wesley to look forward to before end of season and maybe a run out for some youngsters. Hope so as it now feels like the season has ended! especially with our fixtures to come. But when we reflect this season has been superb, better than I thought it would be anyway. In the top 10 for most of it and talk of Europe…who expected that! We can put our feet up and relax as for once we aren’t stressed right out about getting relegated or winning play off finals! We deserve time to relax!

  99. Heroes-and-Villans

    Its a weird one about entertainment. Obv results have to come first but I wont lie I do finally want a villa side who play with an identity of good attacking footy and can easily keep possession. I honestly thought after bruce ball and getting deano in wed have that by now. You look at your leeds, Fulham, brighton, city, pool you know how the team are going to play with or without injuries. We are just still reliant on 1 man, I know he is amazing but still.

  100. Heroes-and-Villans

    im still pissed with davis not coming on! He must be banging down deanos door today saying wtf after seeing barkley amble around getting on in front of him after davis put an all action cameo in…..you have to earn your shirt?

  101. Heroes-and-Villans

    I mean I was one of the villa fans under o neil who got massively frustrated! 2 games stand out west ham and pompey away we won both but got battered and outplayed just couldn’t completely enjoy it as when you just concede possession and just rely on a counter it just doesn’t seem substainable to me! especially the players we had, barry, milner, petrov in mid we should of been dominating teams. Much preferred life under little and big ron when those teams knocked the ball around for fun.

  102. John Clark

    H&V,

    I was surprised it was Ross, too. My guess? Still trying to suss out what’s wrong, whether we consider buying, and being more of a playmaker. But he was once again useless, and that really could/should be his last chance.

  103. John Clark

    H&V,

    I used to label the defending under MON “Keystone Cops.” It was chaotic and nerve-wracking. We don’t get overrun or really put under the cosh anymore.

    But “counterattacking” seems like it gets used in a lot of different ways. I mean, anytime you take the ball off someone in your half and break, it’s a counter to an attack. Or even breaking up an attack building in their half.

    Then there’s sitting back, keeping it tight, letting teams have meaningless possession or invite them further up to create space, and refusing to get drawn into the opponent’s strengths.

    There’s also desperation bus-parking and hoping to nick the odd goal with a long ball or a set piece.

    But I think the concentration of money has a lot to do with many teams needing to sit and play more on breaks from their half because you can’t let yourself get stretched against City, etc.

    Bielsa complaining that we didn’t play to his team’s strengths is laughable. Why should we? Maybe his system doesn’t work quite so well if you just refuse to play along. The top clubs have those players who can 1-2 it into the box and break you down anyway. Leeds want you stretched so they can just outrun and outnumber you.

  105. Mark King

    PP- I totally get where your all coming from and in any normal circumstance I would be wondering myself. All I have to go on are the facts.

    Fact one, we lost Barkley, not the worst as we still played ok. His loss is felt more now that jack is not available, to me he was Smiths back up without which we don’t function as well.

    Fact two is we got covid 14 players and staff contracted it. This meant no training together for 14 days.

    Fact three is we did not play a match for around 20 days.

    Fact 4, We then went into 6 games in 18 days unprepared and some likely suffering with the after effects ( I have had it and it takes about 6 weeks to be back to normal if you get the temp rise and symptoms etc and I’m not sprinting 13km a game).

    Fact 5, very quickly after the 1st few games the team looked lethargic and slow, the 1st few they came of of the traps well enough, they lost to city, beat a hapless Newcastle then should of smashed Burnley but lost. After that we had three games were we just were not at the races and Jack in particular was getting picked up and marked, a fit jack just shrugs that off and takes the piss. Southampton, west ham, Leicester. Chance creation etc drops dramatically.

    Fact 6 we lost Jack and it was clear Ross was not the same. By this point the team is badly out of shape and not recovering and we begin playing defensively, heads begin to drop.

    So yes you can say Dean Smith has to manage it but its by no means as easy as your making out with your work reference. There is no easy way you can force players that are not at the required fitness level to perform at elite standard. Its not like having a cold then coming back to work next week because there is no fitness standard required to type a letter or attend meetings.

    I would say there has been something happen that is above the norm that managers have to face, Newcastle are the most comparable to our situation. If you get tired and don’t recover but have to play then you will pick up injuries, fluff chances etc. It does not take long to dig yourself into a hole in that situation. I am sure they are looking at Ross and thinking WTF.

  106. Mark King

    Plug – I am sure they will not settle for mediocrity but they have also shown understanding of what it will take. I cannot imagine they haven’t noticed the night and day performances since Covid either.

    They won’t wait around forever because deans a nice bloke but equally he has not done much wrong, if the start of the season was like this part he likely would be looking at the door but the fact remains we have only lost twice on the trot two times this season and all while we were playing well.

  107. Mark King

    Steve Bruce on Covid at Newcastle.

    “Bruce has been shocked to see such super-fit footballers floored by Covid. “It’s frightening when you think they’re young, fit and supreme athletes,” he said. “If anybody needs reminding of how serious this is, then we have witnessed it. Some of them seem all right but then the fatigue element hits them, but for two it’s beyond that. They’re still going to take weeks to get back; you wouldn’t think that this long Covid thing is possible in fit, young athletes.”

    Newcastle will not name those individuals afflicted on grounds of medical confidentiality but Bruce has seen his squad experience a wide range of symptoms and degree of illness. “We’ve had the full set,” he said. “We’ve had vomiting, sores, mouth ulcers, no smell, no taste. The fatigue element is a big problem. For the vast majority who had it, fatigue is the one thing the virus leaves. They go for a walk for half an hour and then want to go back to bed. It’s as brutal as that. It’s been a really difficult couple of weeks. It’s extremely difficult to manage.”

    Now I am not saying we had it as severely (I just don’t know and Villa are not saying) but it doesn’t take to much of an imagination to think that there is so much variance in the level of effect on people that its effected our season.

  108. John Clark

    PP,

    The only nit I’d pick in the “managing” analogy is that you do see certain industry circumstances (like a shortage of processors due to Covid, coincidentally) that do impact companies like Apple, and their ability to “deliver.”

    In my industry, publishing, there are certain events that you can’t control, as well. Say a printer misfolds pages, meaning a new print run, and a 2-3 week delay. We work it out with the distributor (and printer), but it might mean pushing back a publication date.

  109. Paul Pears

    I am pleased that Maybe now at least I have provoked proper discussion, and MK has done an excellent job of responding. These things are good to discuss, bringing a balance to the picture, rather than just having comments which slag off on the one hand, or perhaps are too accepting of poor performance.
    Hopefully, more people will join in conversations and add their thoughts on our club, and its future.

  111. Mark King

    Full on day today, had the day off so went and got the speed restrictor taken off of the Van I Bought and gave it a 100 mile an hour blast down the dual carriageway to test.

    Then as Boris has let us out to play I went to town which was packed and had a full English and two pints outside a pub.

    Got home and remembered the gym had reopened so after a coffee I went and hit the weights, wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be half cut 🙂

  113. Heroes-and-Villans

    I’m not buying into the covid effecting us. Trez and targett both confirmed to have it and performances and energy fine. Bruce only talking about it as he loves an excuse, perfect for him to shift the blame!

  114. Heroes-and-Villans

    Watching Brighton v toffee men. Both have gone 343. Bloody ideal for us with trez and jack out. Would love us to try it. House was great when in for mings so he deserves a chance. We have 2 fullbacks who are good going forwards and it would give Watkins more support up top. Come on Deano mix it up!

  116. Plug

    Trez confirmed as needing knee surgery. The offical site only says it’s knee ligament damage so can’t be more specific than that. Now let’s see, it’s taken Wesley more than a year to recover.

    One more fact for MK to rely on as a reason for our downturn in form 🙂

  120. John Clark

    H&V,

    Affects people differently, all I can say. Dunno everyone who had it, but Luiz looking off the pace, Ross at walking speed? Hard to say what goes on with anyone, but our change in form/fortunes does have a rather stark dividing line. Flying, then locked down for three weeks, and 6 games in 18 days on our return. That’s also when the season turned. Then of course we lost Jack.

    When it comes to “we weren’t looking good with Jack,” I’m betting he was feeling the shin for a little bit before he came out.

    Always ‘reasons’ versus ‘excuses.’ Don’t like making excuses, but I’m open to reasons. The energy has looked better in recent weeks, but during that return stretch, we looked like zombies.

    Of course, Ross at walking speed still…I don’t understand him being played if that’s all he’s got. You’d think he must be showing more in training to even get a spot on the bench.

  121. John Clark

    H&V, Plug

    In the 4-4-2 vs 4-2-3-1 debate, I was thinking, and the thing that did make sense for me as far as getting Davis on with Ollie from the start would be a 3-5-2.

    Keep the central three, get another striker/hold-up man in, and still athletic at the back. Cash and Targett do cover a lot of ground.

  122. Mark King

    Excuses are made up, facts are facts, they are real.

    Only in the realm of football fans could a virus that has known lingering effects on peoples energy, some for 6 months plus and counting be considered an excuse. I can only think some on here have never run themselves into the ground and probably not had the virus bad enough to know.

    There are numerous accounts of fit people after having the virus going through weeks of this, I have even seen incredibly fit people have similar reactions to the vaccine, a couples of weeks of lethargy. Marathon runners are a particular target because running that far is not good for your health short term and your immune system dives. Running 13km at fast pace has a similar effect its to intense to do without rest.

    That’s why you cannot do intense work in season and if you have periods where you are ill you are then less fit and cannot catch up easily.

    Jack I remember did an interview from his home during the covid period and he very much looked fucked like he had the flu, bags under his eyes etc.

    As for Mr Bruce who does like an Excuse this was very much not one, more a case of the boy who cried wolf to often. Why would he want to not have ST maximim on the pitch for two months then only put him on the bench and not start him? because he can’t last 5 fucking minutes thats why. the rest of his squad had varying degrees of effect.

    So it does not take to much imagination does it to think that Ross Barkley with months out injured and no real training with the squad who was then thrown in to 6 games in 18 days looks decidedly Fucked.

    Not all humans are the same, therefore there varying degrees of immunity and health expressed differently. One things for certain being drained and trying to get fit by playing combative games is a recipe for injuries.

  124. Mark King

    Fact 7 What I have learned from the blog today.

    Pandemics and Communicable disease has no effect on footballers if the fans deem it an excuse, and Injuries are also not an excuse as all our players are equal in ability and the manager should just get on with it and teach them all to be like Jack, or, pull a formation from his arse that will turn the team into instant world beaters.

    Worth getting up for 😉

  125. Heroes-and-Villans

    yeah im only jesting.

    I did see an interesting bit re covid and players last night. It citied toon, villa, mane, Thiago and a few others before covid and after. Massive drop off in each case.

    I still think its just we was over achieving, young squad, no jack was always going to drop in form at some point.

  126. Mark King

    H&V all the more amazing that we haven’t gone on a huge losing streak as others have despite the amount of bad luck we have had in 2021 with illness and injury. That might change over the next few games but we haven’t lost two consecutive games in a row in this bad patch yet.

  128. Plug

    Mark’s put the mockers on it saying we haven’t lost 2 consecutive games yet in the recent bad spell. Man Citeh up next.

    El Gassy and Traore up front? Tough day at the office for the ball boys. Happy to eat my hat if they give Stones and Co a roasting.

  129. Mark King

    Just for full disclosure I still think the lockdowns were unwarranted and that the real harm occurs in those susceptible to any virus/infection ie older I’ll people.

    That said it is not benign for everyone despite my misgivings about the response, the vaccines? That’s another story and although I’ve had one jab I think the evidence suggests it could cause an awful lot of problems down the road.

  132. r0bb0

    It’s been an interesting discussion to catch up on here!
    I suppose the thing to remember is that we don’t have all the facts so the positions that each of us takes on a topic will be guided but our own belief of what the facts might be.

    Take covid for example. It affects everyone differently and you may end up with no discernible symptoms at all or dead, with a whole spectrum of short and long term physical and mental effects in between. We don’t know who was affected or to what degree so we’re all guessing about whether it had a huge impact or next to none.
    Taking John’s point about external influences in the printing industry I’m sure we all know of circumstances that could knock our own companies off track and it would seem very unwise to purely judge the guy in charge based on performance against a predetermined target (if one exists)
    Three years ago a major customer of ours decided to centralise all their buying across Europe at the same time as we were hit with other cost increases which, all combined, wiped an amount off our bottom line equivalent to double the previous year’s profit. At the same time, the banks changed their lending criteria and left us hundreds of thousands short of the working capital we needed. We had to find new sources of capital (personally backed) and significantly improve our profit in other areas to cover the shortfall. Fortunately, we’d seen some of the ‘hits’ coming and had invested in developing new areas (which is why we had needed the much higher bank overdraft in the first place) and these (thank ****) came through for us, which saw us still make a small profit the following year and then make a leap forward last year.

    If we’d been judged purely on the profit target you might have said “get rid of the management” when you saw it drop dramatically two years ago. Happily, the previous planning and work behind the scenes paid off . . . . .and the house and pension are safe, I’m now semi-retired, and the company sales and profits are growing instead.

    This is where I like to think Villa are at. The owners and management have been steadily laying the groundwork (which we all know about) for our future success, but there have been a few setbacks this season which leave a lot of us wondering if the future is quite as rosy as it appeared 4 months ago.
    I still believe in the work that’s being done and how the club is being managed both on and off the pitch. That’s not to say that every decision made will be the right one and I think Dean Smith has been quite open in saying that he’s still learning (Jose Mourinho in contrast seems to think he already knows it all). We’ll continue to discuss where we ‘think’ things can be improved and that’s what makes this blog worth reading!

  134. John Clark

    r0bb0,

    Agreed, ownership is everything. There are different styles, but if you’ve got money, smarts, experience, and ambition on your side, you’ll probably come good.

    Was reading in the Mail how Villa are now valued at £341 million rather than the £100m or so when Compass took over. (Can’t be arsed to look up whether it was more like £87m or £110m.)

    I’m sure there’s a ‘war room’ of sorts where Lange, Mackenzie & Co are going over all the players’ stats, contributions, compared with others in similar positions, fees and salary ranges, all that. They probably know by rote the turnovers, dribbles, key passes, tackles, interceptions, etc., for each player, and also their circumstances.

    When all things are considered, which I think they will be rather than anyone having a knee-jerk reaction, I do expect some exciting business. I think we’ll get faster, more athletic, and better on the ball. Creativity, retention, easing the load on Jack, work rate, winning it back…All top of mind.

  135. Heroes-and-Villans

    i read yesterday on twitter a comment from deano, think from brum mail. Just saying Brexit may make it harder to get foreign signings done and they will prob go for young English talent in the summer

  136. Heroes-and-Villans

    john I cant wait until the summer transfer. so many questions! Surly will send barkley back, but will we?! Will we go for a number 10 if he does go or think hang on lets play jack there and get a winger? Do we get a st and push Watkins on the wing?

  138. John Clark

    H&V,

    Brexit may very well make it harder.

    I also think there’s a bias at the club toward players playing in England (not necessarily English), already have permits, etc. Probably easier to approximate apples-to-apples on a young player tearing it up in the Championship, rather than someone in the European leagues. You know, Konsa, Cash, Watkins.

    Not saying Lange won’t be looking, but seems to me we’re going to want more immediate impact and not risk that season-long learning curve to see if they come good.

    I’m guessing Traoré and Sanson were value-based punts, and Traoré may also been some insurance against Watkins getting hurt. Sanson came up at a sale price, and mostly a replacement for Hourihane.

    Basically, just saying I think we’d sign a Buendia or whoever (given price is right) if they’ve proven themselves in England.

  139. John Clark

    H&V,

    What I think we’d be looking at:

    Striker
    #10/CAM
    James Milner-type midfielder
    Strong wide right forward
    Backup at LB

    Which means I can see Ghazi going, Traoré coming off the bench, Sanson a squad player. A lot depends on whether we keep Luiz, and/or Nakamba, and which, if any, of the kids are ready to push for a backup spot.

    If we get a talented 10, and a half-decent backup for Jack, and someone lethal on the right, look out.

  140. Paul Pears

    Everyone is talking about all the possibilities of how we will improve in the summer, and a whole host of names we can sign. This quite amuses me, how people think that Villa can just go out with a cheque book and buy who they want. There is no consideration about whether the player would want to play for Villa, whether they would like living in the West Midlands, and will Villa have demonstrated enough this season to show that they are heading in the direction the player wants to achieve.
    There is also the consideration that competition for players in the UK is going to be much fiercer, with the problems created by Brexit.

  141. John Clark

    PP,

    Every window, yes: “Go get him!” Never so easy.

    So, they’ll have option 1, 2, 3 at every position. Everyone got so worked up over Benrahma, etc., last season. I haven’t followed Benrahma closely, but if I’m reading the stats on TransferMkt right, he’s averaged 47mins over 23 appearances, has 2 goals and 5 assists. Started 11, come on as a sub in 12.

    Cost at least £22m. As far as goal contributions, 2 goals, 5 assists.

    Of course, he’s a left-side player, so that factored into Villa’s thinking, but hasn’t exactly set the world on fire.

    Traoré: Cost £16m, 5 goals, 4 assists, 21 starts.

    Which one was better value, in the end?

  142. John Clark

    PP,

    To continue the thought, I think Villa will be attractive at the market level we’re shopping at. KDB? No. Buendia? Much more likely. No idea whether we’re considering him. Olise? Who knows.

    But Villa are looking stable, players will see they’re being brought in to start for a team with its sights set squarely on Europe, and they’ll be playing with Jack. They’ll also see the business we’ve done, Ollie, Jack, and Mings getting England call-ups, that kind of thing. It’s a good set-up.

    Big question for me will be the fees and how “ready-made” we’re willing to pay for. For me, seems like the #10 spot is where we’ll be really focused. Will free Jack and others up, and we saw how effective we were when Ross was at it.

    Spend? I’m guessing Compass probably feel this is a moment to strike. I could easily see us signing 4 £40m players. Or a couple at that price, then others at £20m-£40m. And we can meet their terms.

  143. John Clark

    On a “#10, if—and it’s a very big if—but if there’s something that explains Barkley’s low energy levels that the Villa staff know about (say lingering Covid) and aren’t discussing but think will pass, then maybe we do go for him, and maybe the price is lower than the £40m we heard being bandied about, given how much he’s slipped down the pecking order.

    Me, I’m pretty doubtful, but you never know, and that would change the spending pattern.

    With FFP off the table, we can spend big if Compass want to really go for it. That takes care of the selling club, then it’s down to the player, as you say. But I bet we’ll be offering pretty good wages, too, for the right players.

  144. John Clark

    And, worth repeating, but Edens’ dealings with the Milwaukee Bucks show he’ll go big ($228m, five-year contract, I think) to keep a centerpiece player and add around him.

    He’s aggressive, and knows winning windows and MVPs are both in short supply.

  145. Paul Pears

    JC.

    I see all that you are saying, but feel that you have really missed the point.
    To anyone who is not a lover of the Claret & Blue, and Aston Villa, who are they???
    A side that has been in the doldrums for years after O’neill left, won the old league once in the last 50 years, not won the FA Cup since 1957, and won the league cup a few times in the same period.
    Yes, they have new owners who have lifted them from the Championship, but almost got relegated again last year, and did ok for a while this season. Got a few good players, and Jack Grealish, a super star footballer. Then, where is Birmingham? it just does not have the draw of London, or Manchester sadly.
    This is a very down to earth view, but is how outsiders see it .
    I know Brum, and it is a great city, Villa Park is an amazing place, has a great history, and some great potential with very demanding fans. You need to be a very special player to win them over!!

  146. Paul Pears

    Having reflected on my comments above, I feel this may be why Compass have made the plan for the future of Villa Park to be released now, as they really need to improve the club’s profile and bring it into the limelight. I really hope that it will do the trick.

    The summer has to also be a very big statement to convince players that we are a club worth taking the risk with to reach the heights, and there I agree with you JC, seeing Watkins, Mings and Jack being picked for England and McGinn for Scotland helps the cause. The first signing has to be a statement signing!

  147. John Clark

    PP,

    I do see what you’re saying…I just don’t know that we’re going for players where it would be an impossible sell. And when you have Edens and Sawiris selling things, they’re probably pretty convincing.

    Take Dele Alli. No idea whether the paper talk has any legs. He’s been watching the season from the bench (or stands), will know Villa, players talk, etc. I think he could be convinced to come start for us. Depends on who else is in for him, of course, but I doubt it’s the top 4, maybe not even the top 6? Does he go overseas or want to stay put?

    Always a lot of factors.

  149. Plug

    PP, I don’t believe our location is an issue at all. Take Liverpool who have no problem attracting great players and coaches to a city where you can’t close your bathroom window without trapping someone’s fingers. Look at Leicester.

    And Compass found us attractive enough. When Wes Edens and his daughter attended their first home game together, they were blown away by the passion and experience. Make no mistake, a rocking VP is up there with anywhere.

    Progress steps need to be measured for what’s on offer, but the pull will steadily increase with team improvement and respect. Talk of Bayern’s coach leaving now that they’re out of the Champions League. Heir Flick anybody?

  151. r0bb0

    PP, I also doubt that location is a huge negative factor for new signings. Let’s face it, Southgate and Ehiogu chose to transfer to Middlesborough!
    If you say it was a vibrant, beautiful, cosmopolitan city. . . . . may I suggest you hadn’t been there? 🙂

  154. Heroes-and-Villans

    Im not sure id want Ali. Rather someone a bit more hungry. Can see him thinking hed be bigger than us and a bit stroppy.

    Id rather have that reading lad. watched him a fair bit and is absolute class.

  155. Heroes-and-Villans

    Paul

    After this season I think we would have no problems attracting players. I know lately its been not good but half the season was getting positive headlines left right and centre. With Jack leading the way players would like to come.

    We need to be getting at least 3 players in that 30mill bracket. Proper quality

  156. Heroes-and-Villans

    Mark

    Know what your saying about Watkins as a striker. But watching him play I think hed be better either side in the front 3. Think he prefers running with the ball at people, facing defenders face on rather than holding up and back to goal. Hes quick and skillfull. But yeah then he wont have as many of those tap in goals. But if were thinking we need another decent striker they’ll want to be playing! Id love tammy back but he wont want to sit on the bench

  158. Heroes-and-Villans

    its a tough one but id put Jackie as a number 10. what sways it is those last few months teams just pining him down on that wing. get him as a 10 and he can roam free and also it would absoutly command us to play more though the middle.

  161. VillaMD

    H&V,

    I’d like a Sarr type player. His pace is scary. No hope of signing him with Watford coming up.

    I watched Dortmund vs Stuggard on Saturday. The Stugagard striker looks quality

  163. Heroes-and-Villans

    our u18s are smashing it. I wonder how many of them will make it for us.

    They need a loan out to proper footy really.

    shame the old reserve footy finished. Better standard than the youth games.

  165. r0bb0

    VillaMD. That’s article about Nakamba is really heart warming. . .what a man. It’s not enough to justify him getting more playing time of course. . . . . .but I reckon his performances on the pitch do.

  166. r0bb0

    I saw a stat that Villa are the 12th ranked team in the premiership for playing home grown under 21 players (I think that was it, but can’t find it again)
    I think we’d all be disappointed if we didn’t see our position move higher over the next 12 months and I suspect our owners would too

  167. John Clark

    r0bb0,

    I saw that, and it’s come up a lot, certainly down the stretch here with Europe looking to be a fading dream.

    I think I’ll post some thoughts on the youth.

  168. VillaMD

    R0bb0,

    Yeah Nakamba is quality with work outside football. The fact that they’re looking to provide education for 100,0000 kids – wow!

    On the football side I was disappointed with him last season, but think he’s now settled and playing great (one bad pass against Liverpool). I’d love to see him get a run of games over Douglas- still don’t know if Luiz is a 6 or an 8. I don’t think he has enough discipline to be a great #6.

    Agree on youth. Please, please play them. Look at Bellingham at 17. I don’t want to keep writing the same comment, but surely Chukwuemeka at 17 deserves a run out

  169. Plug

    Yep, I agree that we should be handing some cameo appearances to Kesler, Barry, Chuk and the like. Not all at once of course. But we need to gauge their potential as it stands here and now.

    Unless Deano is worried about the slippage in our league position…

  170. Plug

    Thoughts starting to turn to personnel in a couple of months. I think Deano will let Taylor and Elmo look for other clubs. Maybe El Gassy and Davis will move too. Can’t see us acquiring Barks either so there’s 5 salaries that could be freed up. It’s a question of who replaces them.

    I’d happily bring back Freddie but Deli Ale and Rashica……no thanks. Tammy I’d take any day of the week. We will have to be patient with Wes and Trez for the time being. The likes of Buendia and Sarr are coming back into the EPL so I think that boat has already sailed. What do you think Lifers?

  171. Heroes-and-Villans

    could be a good idea john to post about youth.

    Do they need a loan or should we just play em! if your good enough your good enough? Certainly if we were going to do it theres literally no better time. We are on the beach, season over. 8 games left to give them a taste. Id have one eye on the euros. give the players who are going a rest now.

  172. Heroes-and-Villans

    plug

    not sure about rashica…he could be a bargain now.

    Anyone else thinking sanson a waste of a signing? He seems literally like for like in what we have. rather just give ramsey his spot. Think specialist number 6 and 10 more important

  173. VillaMD

    H&V,

    Need to give Sanson more time. The pace of EPL takes time to adjust to from French league. He has a big reputation.

    Plug – agree with your comments. I would say f$&k Rashica. We were not good enough for him last year.

    Tammy and Ollie would be great. I just hope Tammy can take more chances than he misses if he joins. Have Barry as super-sub for last 20mins

  174. Mark King

    I Don’t know what will happen after losing Trez, its like losing 5 players. It leaves us with no real ten and two dicey Wingers, If DS wants to keep playing 433 then we need to Give Bidace a look in and can Barry play in a front 3? he is a very busy player, not the biggest. The alternative is 352 if we have the CB’s 442 I don’t think we have the players. Ramseys Brother can’t stop scoring so is he a potential 10? Mr Smith has a lot of answers to find and thats with only Three players unavailable. Maybe Wesley will get a couple of runouts.

    The only problem I see is our Fixtures are all against clubs going for top 6 or avoiding relegation bar Palace.

  176. Plug

    I’m besides myself with worry wondering how on earth we are going to make up the missing 5 players that Trez is worth.

    Thanks for the link MK, love it.

  178. VillaMD

    So I live in US. My MD is state code for Maryland. We drove 2 hours north today to pickup a puppy from an Amish farmer.

    Amish don’t use internet or have cars or machinery. They have electric and use phones only for emergencies e.g. child is really sick

    I watched a farmer ploughing land 2 football fields in length with 4 horses. I admire that.

  179. Mark King

    VillaMD lot to be said for the simple life unfortunately the world population has gone way beyond natural ways of sustaining it. There are things like many things that we could implement on the farming front to improve soil etc but none of it involves the way we are heading, its a car crash. Gates is buying up farmland to produce crops for fuel at a rate of knots.

  180. John Clark

    VillaMD

    The Amish are rather interesting. My wife’s family has a small old lake house in upstate New York. Was kind of falling apart, needed new foundation, etc. Her uncle got some Amish carpenters to take a look, they managed to lift the entire thing without any machinery, just leverage and hand tools, build a wood frame for it to rest on, then redo the foundation under and set it back down, all without cracking or twisting a thing.

  181. John Clark

    btw, been a little absent (ie, no article about the youth, yet)….got our second jabs, and were kind of laid out for a bit. Nothing bad, just fatigue, low-grade fever off and on, and body aches. Watched a lot of movies.

  182. Mark King

    JC- Its one of the tragedies that those skillsets are being lost. At the moment money is being put into the digital world with stupid prices for the likes of Facebook because info is the biggest thing to trade and gives a quick return. Meanwhile nobodies investing in Mining etc because the returns are long term. Because there is a massive building project going on worldwide materials are becoming scarce and prices going up in timber, copper etc. It seems we value the immaterial more over the material world.

    Commiserations on the Covid jab reactions, in the UK they want to give us a different second Jab to the 1st received as its all in short supply, I took the 1st against my personal choice but I won’t be mixing it with another version ta very much.

  183. VillaMD

    MK and JC,

    Yeah, there’s a lot to be said about a simple life. I think kids would be better without cell phones and internet. They are probably the best carpenters.

    On football, it’s nice watching games and being totally relaxed. I still can’t believe how lucky we got with our owners.

  184. Plug

    So the 12 clubs who are meeting to start up a European Super League have been named. Man Ure, Man Citeh, Liverpoo, The Arse, Spurs, Chelsea, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barca.

    The owners of these clubs are just greedy schitts. Attempting to set up a monopoly against all rules of fair competition for their own gains. If it happens, the clubs must be banned from re-entering their domestic leagues in future and all players involved must be banned from entry into FIFA, UEFA and domestic competitions including the World Cup.

    And they needn’t bother sending me promotional flyers through the usual channels touting for subscriptions either.

  185. Mark King

    Plug – yep isn’t it just the world at the moment, the super rich dictating the terms to us lesser mortals for our own good, I hope it backfires on them and their own fans desert, a stand has to be made at some point.

  186. r0bb0

    So, 4 of the top 6 . . . plus spurs and arsenal have decided they’re special enough to create a new league. If it goes ahead then it surely will reduce the income available for all other teams and you imagine our owners will be concerned about that.
    With threats of bans from international football, it will be interesting to see how much of a motivator playing for your national side really is.

  187. r0bb0

    I’ve been trying to imagine how I’d feel if Villa were one of those 6 teams and I’m really not sure. I’d ‘like’ to think that I’d be fully against it and would lobby our owners not to take part, but would I?
    Let’s hope that there are enough principled fans of those clubs out there to rail against this cynical move.

  188. Plug

    ROBbo, assuming it won’t happen until the clubs current TV contracts come to an end (otherwise they’ll be in breach of contract and sued until the pips squeak), then Compass will receive what they expected initially in income.

    Further out is more uncertain. But with only 8 cities involved and the mega bucks feeding their greed can only last for so long, I see big issues ahead in sustaining it. Greedy players will be sponged into the league and the rest of the world will find it refreshing that a different team might win its own league each year like it used to be years ago.

    If income is reduced, so outgoings will be reduced accordingly. It will be amusing watching the players agents attempting to get in on the mega buck act. Football is tribal. If the money men ride rough shod over such tribalism, it can only end in disaster.

  189. Plug

    The silence is deafening. There was supposed to be a statement at 21-30 GMT. If there’s anything in it but its not immediate, relegate the clubs involved with immediate effect to the 4th Tier of English football. No relegation from the EPL. Six clubs promoted for next season.

    These teams have been speaking at the EPL meetings with forked tongues. Nothing but Judas’s. Make an example of them.

  190. Mark King

    Hmmm I cannot remember being polled about this. Its globalism in Sport now. with the amount these clubs will earn they will suck other clubs dry of talent, just as things are beginning are get interesting in the prem they seek to destroy competition. The answer to this would be make the champions league a Knockout cup again and only the league winners play. This is about the big teams not making money against the minnows in the champions league due to capacity and draw.

    “Football is the only global sport in the world with more than four billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires.”

    The Super League competition will see 20 participating clubs – 15 founding clubs and a further five teams able to qualify annually based on their achievements during the previous season.
    It will begin in August with clubs participating in two groups of 10, playing home and away fixtures, some during the week, with the top three in each group qualifying for the quarter-finals.
    Teams finishing fourth and fifth will compete in a two-legged play-off for the remaining quarter-final spots before a knockout format is used to reach the final at the end of May, which will be staged as a single fixture at a neutral venue.
    In exchange for their commitment, founding clubs will receive an amount of €3.5bn (£3bn) to “support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic”, the league’s statement said.
    Club players will be able to continue competing in their national leagues and, as soon as possible after the men’s competition begins, a women’s league will also be launched.

  191. Plug

    So now we know. The stench of greed. The arguments put forward for its inception are plain lies. It’s only to replace the Champions League they say!! Do they think we will wear that garbage.

    The Chairman of Real Madrid says it is designed to give the fans what they want and deserve!! Fukc me, the fans don’t want or deserve this.

    The clubs involved have to be booted out of their domestic leagues since the obscene amount of income will make their advantage over everyone else untenable.

    The proposed format gives each club a minimum of 18 games per season rising to 25 games for the 2 finalists. It’s time to tell them to Foxtrot Oscar and form their own league, ban all players involved from joining any of the current leagues. FIFA, UEFA and all domestic leagues should never countenance attempting to accommodate this outrage. They need bricking in.

  192. r0bb0

    So far we’ve heard pretty much universal disgust and condemnation of the proposed new league. Ultimately though the question is whether it would attract audiences and cash, and if it would, then there’s every chance that it will happen.
    Parallels have been drawn with the Packer era in cricket, but are the parallels really there? Although there was huge interest in test cricket, the day top day county game was a niche sport, poorly attended and the players poorly paid. It was hard to keep the floodgates shut against the flood of money which Packer threw at it, many players buckled, and went for the cash (including Tony Greig, the England captain) and the new World Series Cricket steadily grew. After two years the game was changed forever.
    The differences with football are that club football is already extremely popular, the emotional connection between the clubs and the fans huge and the players are already extremely well paid.
    There are plenty of ex footballers decrying the moves, but will current players have the guts to stand up and do the same? You’d like to think that someone like Marcus Rashford will be talking to other players behind the scenes and we’ll hear some sort of player revolt.
    It’s been encouraging to see fan groups of the 6 English clubs speaking out very clearly against the move and there is a chance that the greedy few behind this move will be shown that the plans are so unpopular that they will be forced to think again

  193. r0bb0

    It’s hard to imagine that Spurs fans would enjoy being stuck in a league where they come in the bottom 3 every year without even the prospect of the excitement of rebuilding in the Championship. I know we were all gutted when we were relegated, but let’s be honest. . . . .the fight back was exciting and the first time we’d really enjoyed football for nearly a decade.

  194. r0bb0

    I’m not sure that immediately booting the guilty clubs out of the Premiership is a good idea. It would create martyrs of them and they, and their fans would feel that they ‘had’ to support the new league.
    Banning players from ever playing for their country or returning to play in the domestic leagues might however have some impact.
    If this went ahead then the new league would attract the highest wages and therefore, probably would attract the best players. It would be a comparatively small league though and imagine the number of players who will find themselves unable to get a new contract when their first one expires. You could see a whole swathe of players on the scrapheap in their early twenties with no prospect of being able to play competitive football ever again.

  195. Mark King

    I would imagine that the money the players would get would mean the 6 in the prem would have two 1st teams on the books and cement themselves into the top 6 places and we would be sniffing after the crumbs for 7th. The big problem for those in the champions league is maintaining a push for the league, it would solve that.

    They could of course save it all for the super league and Prem would be second rate and the result largely ignored or a place to blood there youth teams. The eventual destination for this will be a world league have no doubt about that.

  196. r0bb0

    Hats off to the German clubs for not taking part in this festival of greed.
    Looking to the future, if the new league does go ahead, the Champions’ league would continue but presumably the number of qualifying English clubs would be reduced to 2 or 3, but there would still be plenty of very big name clubs in this competition and bearing in mind the loyalty of fans to their own clubs, there would still be huge interest in this competition. Clubs such as Villa, West Ham and Everton would grow in stature and maybe, the allure of some of the Greed clubs would wane.
    It will be important though that all clubs not involved at the start state that they will not countenance being one of the 5 ‘qualifying’ clubs for then Greedy League.

  198. Plug

    They have to break away and form a rogue league. There’s no alternative as the damage has already been done.

    Imagine VP when the fans are back in and one of these 6 teams come to town. The hatred would be so damaging.

  204. Heroes-and-Villans

    plug read your post.

    Surly they must have to do a rogue league. Along with the other clubs which make it the same as the super league!

    I cant belive that it will actually happen. a complete minefield

  206. Mark King

    The prems on a hiding to nothing, it will lose 6 big clubs potentially lowering its perceived value or look weak, the 6 will gain you would think monetarily but it will be guaranteed rather than having to fight for it. The governing bodies will lose control over the game at least in Europe. Its a mess whatever occurs now.

  210. Plug

    Mark, I can’t see it prospering. The money will only be guaranteed for a period before it runs out and needs the likes of you and me to subscribe. I can’t speak for anyone else but I defo will diss it.

    H&V, the World Cup is FIFA’s to do what they like with. Qatar FFS. So they will just invalidate any partaking country from selecting those players. Likewise, the Euro’s are UEFA’s to do what they like with. The same rules will be applied.

    Goose, egg, golden, laying, killed. Rearrange. And boot the 6 out altogether. If they back out and get cold feet, put them in the 4th Tier like the Scots did with Rangers as punishment. UEFA can ban them from the Champions League next season too.

  211. Mark King

    Plug its about them getting £300m from the super league and god knows what from world wide fans and deals and not us local bods, they specifically said we owe it to the billions of fans that support these teams. UK population Circa 70m.

    It will put a massive pin in the prems balloon as the worlds most popular league. I hope that the world realises though that its only a good league because its so competitive, this will be as real as canned laughter, the shock will be if Spurs and Arsenal win a game.

  213. Ian

    You can’t dream this stuff up.
    The quality of play in the domestic leagues won’t be affected that much. The difference in quality between the very best and the not quite the best is small. Being disqualified from domestic play if you even set foot in the ESL will deter plenty of players. The ESL is already planning to prevent domestic teams/leagues from protecting themselves through the courts. That proves they are on shaky ground already.
    Money is the big player in all of this and leagues really need to do “do vigilance” when they give the go ahead to prospective owners of teams. How can anyone be surprised that the English teams that are owned by Americans, who only have the bottom line in focus for their empires. Capitalism at that extreme will fuCk anything up.
    It’s Become a piSSing match for the super wealthy. Not satisfied with boats big enough to claim village status they are onto the next thing to show off. They should be shot with balls of their own shit.

  214. Mark King

    The sad part is if it rolls and gains prominence then 4-5 years down the line they won’t care about domestic leagues except as feeders it will be intercontinental etc and the best of the rest of the prem will join.

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