So Steven Gerrard’s clock keeps ticking, and Villa go to Elland Road, which is never dull. It’s the kind of excitement I can do without, to be honest.

I can also do without the constant speculation about Gerrard’s future, which I confess to trafficking in. I don’t know what else to write about except ‘4-2-3-1’.

This means that like every other Villan I’ll be pulling for the side with no idea whether victory is good or bad. A loss, well we all know what that means. Sort of.

Anyway. We’ll see Ludwig Augustinsson make his debut, and Dougie Luiz will presumably take up his favorite position again. It’s the hope and then the football that kills you.

Over to you.

Share On:
Facebook
Google +
This entry was published on / John Clark. Posted in Aston Villa Blog, Match Previews and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

The Author

Profile Photo
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 133

  1. Frem

    We will will look clueless as usual

    I just want a good manager who will give us a clear style

    Potch

    I’m sick of watching made up crap

  2. Frem

    In fact watch Leeds dominate us

    He’s been in a jobless time that Gerrard and had Leeds playing good football

    We don’t

    It’s been a year

  6. r0bb0

    Frem
    Weren’t you really keen for us to take on Gerrard?

    Just pointing out that things aren’t always as simple and clearcut as you seem to think they are.

  7. r0bb0

    I like how we’re competing for the ball but must be frustrating for Bailey to have so little support.
    I guess it’s partly because our full backs are staying further back

  28. r0bb0

    Frem, I don’t know how many times . . . .it’s truly ignorant of you to say that Watkins is a pathetic striker.. . However. . . He really isn’t performing at the moment. He desperately needs a goal.

  30. r0bb0

    JG, you’re right about the risk of the ref looki g to level things up.
    There was another very clear yellow card against Leeds which he didn’t give.

  49. John Clark

    r0bb0,

    Yeah, tough. A lot of players were looking good, but there just isn’t any real design to the attack. And there’s just not a lot of confidence up front.

    Don’t know that Ings ever touched the ball.

    On another day, Phil’s goes in and it could’ve turned into a rout. But it just wasn’t happening. Six goals in eight games.

  50. Paul Pears

    The forward play is just shocking with one serious shot from Coutinho, the others were just hit and hope with no real desire. The number of times Watkins could have played some one in, but instead put in a feeble effort. easily his worst game to date for errors.
    At least when Buendia came on we showed more threat.
    This was reasonable Premiership side playing good football, and now just looking a very average and boring Championship team.
    Yes, the defence held out, after even more injuries, and there is more desire not to lose games, but where is any creativity.

  51. John Clark

    Thought Bednarek was really positive and looked to play the ball quickly. Dougie looked good. Emi was very positive, Ramsey doing better defensively.

    Ollie would want a couple of those back, but Mellier did a good job coming out quickly to smother his two best chances.

  52. John Clark

    PP,

    I think that’s the problem. Obviously Ollie is desperate to score, so he’s naturally going to be selfish.

    But there are no real patterns once they get up there beyond going wide and crossing. Lots of opportunities from the edge of the box, but apart from Phil’s shot and Emi going close, nothing was really dangerous despite all the possession and chances.

    Breaking down a side with 10 can be hard, but there was space and we just couldn’t make them pay.

  54. Plug

    Where was the urgency to put them under the pump once they’d had a man sent off? It was the usual bog standard Leeds shithousery and we didn’t really try to win it. Would like to see the software print outs. How far our collective team ran compared to the opposition. Ditto speed over 10 yards. Our lot just don’t look fit.

  55. Plug

    Still suffering from poor substitutions not to mention set up. Slick one time passing along the deck is just a pipe dream. Instead, we get aerial osmosis.

  57. James Gill

    Would luv some of what Gérard on(as long asits not from daughters boyfriend)
    Read plenty since match and don’t feel any support for him at all,point a game from a fairly easy opening 8 games,6 goals
    Our midfield hasn’t worked for 3 years now mcginn and Luis yet sanson can’t get a look in,Watkins needs a break yet archer can’t get a run out,no fit fullbacks and still no Freddie,née midfielder signed for £12/3 m no run out,
    Mcginn played entire match and apart from once in first half never got in opposition box,
    I am fed up,selling tickets and merchandise won’t be easy with this crap we are watching or attracting new sponsors

  58. Paul Pears

    What a joy to watch a clinical Man City. We had similar opportunities if our forwards and midfield worked as a unit, looking to deliver a pass that just requires the clinical finish.
    There was one, but Mcginn failed to call, and Ollie jumped in to spoil it.
    Forgot to say that Bednarek looked okay,

  60. r0bb0

    Plug. . . Yup that’s what I’m saying. Two more losses and he’s gone

    . . . and if he isn’t, expect Villa Park sidelines to resemble a greengrocer display

  61. r0bb0

    Frem. It’s a shame that you don’t seem to understand what I’m saying. I’ve tried to explain it simply but sadly it doesn’t seem possible to make it sufficiently simple for you.

  63. James Gill

    Robbo
    Hope it doesn’t require 2 more losses,Gérard a bit like Bruce gets a draw just enough,but at the minute 4 wins from last 18 almost half a season is sackable

  64. jbd656

    robbo

    May I offer my sincere admiration for your cool-headed patience with f##m.
    He/she drives me metaphorically screaming up the f#####g wall and off regular attendance of this great villa site. Bloody well done!

  66. r0bb0

    JG. I’ve said a few times that I believe Gerrard should be given until Christmas.
    There have been a few signs that he’s at least now prepared to try and change.
    There have also been signs that he’s finally realised that it’s not all about him.
    Having said all that, it was a curious appointment to make in the first place, and there’d be greater justification for getting rid of Gerrard than there was to get rid of Dean Smith
    If we’re able to take on a good established manager sooner rather than later though, youd not hear me whingeing about it.

  67. r0bb0

    Jbd, I’ve had a few good interchanges with Frem and he does sometimes make good comments but it’s a shame that he sometimes goes into a totally negative state of mind about particular players and then any possibility of sensible discussion goes out of the window.
    It’s a shame and frustrating unless you just stop reading his comments. . . which I have done in the past.

  68. Paul Pears

    r0bb0,
    You make excellent points, especially with regard to Frem. I also think that there are signs of improvement, and it should be at least until Boxing Day for Gerrard now.
    I was impressed with MOTD2 today, Troy Deeney and Jermaine Jenas made spot on assessments with Ollie Watkins and his problems, and you could also see the frustrations that Steve Gerrard was suffering on the touchline.
    It was also good to see them point out how good Grealish was yesterday, something which seemed to be overlooked on Sky.
    Nice to see Almiron, who I have picked out before, starting to prove his potential for the Toons.

    Another great result for our girls, beating Man Utd in the WSL Cup!

  69. r0bb0

    PP, like you, I’d like to see Gerrard given time to learn, adapt, and turn things round but the nature of the game is that if we don’t show real signs of improvement soon he’ll surely be gone and I can’t imagine that 2 more losses would be tolerated. Three more losses and the atmosphere for the next game at Villa park against Brentford would be truly toxic.

    Having said that, have the media heard things that we haven’t? Up to now they’ve been very supportive of ‘one of their own’ but neither Sky nor the BBC were rushing to defend Gerrard yesterday. It was curious that Sky were grossly understating the number of Villa attempts at goal but I suspect that was incompetence rather than playing out some sort of agenda. Both channels, particularly the BBC, were (in my view) unjustifiably complimentary of Leeds and critical of Villa. Even before the sending off, Villa were marginally the better side despite playing in a harsh atmosphere away from home.
    If the media have judged that Gerrard is on the way out, you can however understand their reluctance to sing his praises in front of the camera now.
    Alternatively, they could just have been recognising that Villa have a much stronger squad than Leeds and simply aren’t making the most of it.

  70. r0bb0

    As Plug and someone on the BBC pointed out, when Leeds went down to 10 we should have stepped things up, but we lacked that sense of urgency which turns games.
    we started brightly and DID have the urgency to close the ball down and get back to defend but we didn’t show it at the other end of the pitch when it really mattered.

  71. r0bb0

    JC, I think you’re right about Ollie being so desperate too score that he’s being less of a team player than usual. . . . . or maybe he’s been told to be selfish and ‘go out and get that goal’?

  72. r0bb0

    I see that the Leeds manager has been studying the Russian PR rulebook of accusing your opponents for things of which you are guilty. He blamed Villa for slowing the game down to a snail’s pace. Well Jesse, it’s hard to build any tempo in a game when your players were more interested in seeing how many Villa players they could leave horizontal, than actually allowing the game to flow.

  73. r0bb0

    I really should be working outside whilst the weather is good instead of reading about yesterday’s game and writing on here so. . .last comment for now!

    Here’s a recent quote from Ollie Watkins:

    “I feel like I have been playing well.
    “The number one thing is I always work hard.
    “Maybe I need to be a little more selfish and shoot. I like to think I am a team player. It will come.
    “I will score some goals and go from there. I just need to be patient.”

    It looks as if JC called it right but the only question is whether he’s decided that for himself or been ‘coached’ to behave that way. As it happens, maybe the ‘team player’ Ollie would have worked better for us yesterday?

    It’s a tough one, as supporters expect their strikers to score and tend not to value assists as highly as they should.

  74. Plug

    robB0, yep Marsch said his team are fighters. Literally true. Harrison for instance kicked anything that moved. When he plays football he’s very dangerous. It was to our advantage that he decided to foul rather than play. But they all left their feet in when tackling, it’s a Leeds trait. When Zorro came on he was at it as well.

  75. Plug

    Thought Bailey looked jaded yesterday. I’d have hooked him and moved Ollie wide to play a little deeper and use his energy. Then put Ings up top.

  76. James Gill

    Simple thing as no villa management team told Gérard to play with 10 men for last minute of injury time in first half and use half time to warm up sub and still leave us 3 opportunities to use subs in second half
    His non use of archer sanson Freddie even new lad from wolves is all good reasons to sack him
    Never thought I would see a villa team playing a player(mcginn))so out of form every match that I am starting to feel same way I did about Hutton Westwood gabby

  77. John Clark

    r0bb0,

    “I see that the Leeds manager has been studying the Russian PR rulebook of accusing your opponents for things of which you are guilty. He blamed Villa for slowing the game down to a snail’s pace. Well Jesse, it’s hard to build any tempo in a game when your players were more interested in seeing how many Villa players they could leave horizontal, than actually allowing the game to flow.”

    I was literally yelling at the TV.

  78. r0bb0

    I’ve just taken a look at Twitter and Leeds fan’s complaints about the referee demonstrate unusual levels of self delusion.
    I guess they’ve become so used to seeing their players foul that they’ve come to think it’s normal and shouldn’t be punished.
    It doesn’t help that their manager loves a whinge and will be fuelling their unwarranted victim complex.
    They had moments where they played some nice football and he should concentrate on trying to encourage that rather than the destructive negative side of their play.

    Paul Scholes sums it up quite nicely here:
    https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/10/03/you-cant-be-paul-scholes-hits-out-at-leeds-united-mans-comments-about-aston-villa/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=you-cant-be-paul-scholes-hits-out-at-leeds-united-mans-comments-about-aston-villa

    Leeds fans are revelling in complaining about Stuart Atwell’s performance yesterday but one referee’s performance doesn’t explain why Leeds were penalised for more fouls than any other team last season. . . . .and why they’ve committed more fouls than any other team this season too.

    Fouling is in their DNA and their manager is adding complaining to the mix.

    Before we get too ‘holier than thou’ though, this season we’re second in the fouling league, with Kamara being equal third in the players fouling league and McGinn tenth. We’ve felt we’re too soft in the past so it seems the team has responded to those criticisms. It’s one league I really wouldn’t want to see us beating Leeds in though.

  79. r0bb0

    JC. . . . you weren’t the only one shouting at the tv! (my wife asked me to tone it down a bit so she could at least feel ‘quietly’ frustrated)

  80. John Clark

    r0bb0,

    Yeah, McGinn talked about getting a little tougher, which was needed. But we don’t want to be a side that can’t stop a team without fouling them all over the pitch.

  82. r0bb0

    JC, it’s great to see a reel like that showing just what talent Buendia has. With Ramsey and Coutinho in the midfield too (maybe not all at the same time?) we certainly have top 8 creative talent in the side. We have top 8 striking talent too when confidence and service returns. We’re starting to be reminded that we also have top 8 defensive and goalkeeping qualities in the squad.
    Hopefully Gerrard can become a top 8 manager too and then we can start to regain a bit of our confidence and excitement for the future.

  83. James Gill

    Midfield why is ours so crap,any game you watch every team bar us their midfielders cover goal line to goalline, ours Luis covers about 18 yard box to edge centre circle,mcginn I have gave up on,4 years of watching the pair not working
    Gerards plan was attacking fullbacks with big gaps at the back now we have no plan,why no full back on bench Sunday surely the under 21 have someone rather than play a centre half there
    Forest is a must win and with some sort of style,where it be we pass the ball to one another rather than hit and hope
    Another annoying spectacle is our set pieces both ways,was it 4 4 different corner kick takers we had on Sunday,plus this insistence of taking everybody back to defend,let mings dominate our own area

  84. r0bb0

    JG, I’m not sure that Forest is a ‘must’ win as the indications are that the club will be much more tolerant of Gerrard than they were of Dean Smith, but if we fail to win (surely not?) then you can imagine the fibres of the thread he’s hanging by pulling even further apart.

    Having said that, this IS a results game and we’re now unbeaten in 3. If we were to beat Forest we’d have gained 8 points from our last 4 games, including a draw against Man City. We may not like what we’re seeing, but if we continued to pick up points at that rate we’d end the season with 64 points and be knocking on the door of the top 6.

    Yes, it’s a bit silly to extrapolate from just 4 games** but an unbeaten 4 game run just ‘might’ indicate that a corner is being turned.

    Let’s not also forget that on Sunday we had an Xg of 2.6 against Leeds 0.23 so we really should have won and 2 further points would have made things look even rosier.

    **if we lose against Forest then we’d only gain 5 points from the last 4 games and continuing at that rate would leave us on just 43 points

  85. r0bb0

    I see that Chukwuemeka won player of the tournament with the England under 20 team in Spain last week. I don’t think he’s even made it onto the pitch with Chelsea so far though and wasn’t in the match day squad this weekend. With Connor Gallagher seeming to be impressing Graham Potter then you’d imagine that Chukwuemeka may have dropped even further down the pecking order.
    If his objective was indeed more money rather than more playing time then good luck to him but he’d surely have seen much more playing time had he stuck with Villa.

  86. James Gill

    Robbo
    Of Our 8 fixtures,we only have played 2 against top half sides at the minute
    I don’t see that Gérard has learned anything but to batten down hatches Bruce style,which includes not playing players that the public want to see,Freddie at fullback rather than a centre back,sanson a run can he really be worse,archer up front

  87. James Gill

    We have been on TV for West ham,soton,and leeds, 3 of worst matches you will likely to see this season and even tho we picked up 4 points they were awful
    Gerard is slowly destroying our players confidence take his handling of mings drops him from captaincy, from team,spouts load of rubbish yet 6 games since mings has been outstanding, mcginn the opposite get worse by the game,cup match he took Watkins off when we were on top instead of trying to get him a goal,stopped archer going on loan yet never plays him

  88. John Clark

    Results will likely keep buying Gerrard more time. The counterpoint is that we’ve had a relatively easy run of fixtures to start with disappointing returns.

    Forest, Fulham, Brentford…With the normal caveats, they’re all games we should be expecting to win.

  89. Mark King

    Hello folks, I’ve been working and been on a cruise lately, both things preferable to watching Villa at present. Watched the Leeds game and had to keep sticking a pin in my arm we were that boring. Stevo proclaimed that we are not creative enough in the box, funny enough he said the same weeks ago so apparently it must take
    years to become proficient, even lil’ Phil has forgotten he’s supposed to be good.

    We have become so boring even the weeding looks preferable. I’m even tempted to watch Norwich with Deano steaming away in the Champs. QPR in the top 5 now so didn’t take Stevo’s mate long to get them going they must of already known about the chance creation thingy. If we don’t put 6 past Forest I’d hand Stevo a cheque and wave him goodbye, Leicester who can’t buy a win beat them comfortably.

    Normally I’d have three Villa players in my FPL team, I have one, Bailly. Now having three is a handicap for sure most seasons but this season it would be suicide. I’d like Beundia instead of Bailly but he doesn’t start.

    Maybe because its never been this boring it means we are about to spring forth like a butterfly and become Stevo’s legendary passing team, hmmm Nah.

  90. r0bb0

    JG and JC, yes we have had a comparatively easy start to the season in total contrast to last season when we played a disproportionate number of our first ten games against teams in the top half of the table.
    Dean Smith was sacked just before an easier run of games so if we’re waiting to see how Gerrard does over the next few games then any successor would be likely to be taken on before a tougher run of fixtures which wouldn’t be ideal.
    Never mind what we think, it ‘feels’ as if the club is going to give Gerrard time and normally my instinct would be to agree with them.
    There have been ‘some’ signs of change and an improvement in results. If that continues then he’ll deserve to stay.
    It’s worked for Arsenal

  92. James Gill

    Seeing that gerards is at pool game and that klopp has went 4231 will we change to it on Monday night a front 4 of ahead of
    Luis dendonker
    ramsay coutinho beundi
    Ings
    Watkins needs a spell on bench

  95. r0bb0

    PP, the Government/Gerrard analogy is an interesting one.

    My brother used to work closely as a civil service advisor to our new esteemed leader and it will come as little surprise to hear that she had an unwarranted self confidence in her own abilities and wasn’t keen on taking advice. Even she has been forced to recognise how much of a cock up they have made of their first few weeks in power and has had to backtrack (although I wouldn’t mind betting that she still believes she was right and we’re all stupid for not recognising it!)
    I’d much rather they U-turned towards better decisions than carried on in the wrong direction though.

    Gerrard is showing signs of having gone through a similar period of reflection and is changing course. Early indications are that we’ll end up with more points as a result. I’m not going too blame either of them for changing course, provided it leads to a better outcome.

    It’s been ‘suggested’ to me that Truss has not been averse to blaming others for her own shortcomings in the past, and when she put the blame for the 45% tax rate removal firmly at Kwarteng’s door it did make me think of Gerrard’s tendency to blame failures on his players and take credit for successes.

    Both have been thrust into jobs for which they either weren’t ready, or weren’t capable, even though I’m quite sure that both of them believed that they were. Let’s hope that Gerrard has a sufficiently open mind to learn from his mistakes and apply the huge footballing knowledge that he surely has to steadily progress with Villa in the future.

  96. Plug

    I’m with MK on the Forest game. We should be scoring shedloads against them. But I just know it’ll be like the Leeds match, same setup, same selections. Perhaps Cash in for Young if he’s fit and Young at LB for Augustinnson’s hamstring injury.

    If we get any kind of win, I’ll take it. But there has to be some doubt we’ll get one.

  97. r0bb0

    Plug, we all know that we ‘should’ win on Monday and if we don’t, you’ll hear the twang of a few more fibres from the thread that Gerrard is hanging by. Not enough for the thread to break though is my guess.

  98. Mark King

    Robbo I don’t think it mattered who took the PM job and taking the top level of tax back to where it was under labour was hardly a terrible thing other than a bad optic. Indeed one very famous commentator on economics said that what happened was coming because of the strength of the Dollar and it was bugger all to do with the new Governments announcements. Seems to me nobody is given a moments piece to do the job its ridiculous whether you like them or not. I guarantee you that if Starmer was handed the job next week he’d be getting the same treatment, something very wrong in politics and expectations. I do agree that there appear to be few with real ability, that’s in all party’s.

    If like Gerrard there is nothing to show over a year on then fair enough but her speech wasn’t to bad today that’s a start unlike Stevo’s rinse and repeat pressers.

    I think the reality is the season after losing Jack was always going to be one of adjustment, instead it threw the baby out with the bathwater. Purslow told the fans we are in a period of development forget Europe more or less recently. Said Phil was player magnet buy, Puzzles me that we got rid of a man that got several of our players into the England squad and have cleared out staff that have produced some very good young players that didn’t cost the money that many have done since.

    The net result is we have gone nowhere.

  99. Mark King

    Was Chuk right to move? absolutely, Archer hasn’t featured, Beundia hasn’t either much and we are crap so other than the odd cameo there is no way he’d get time so might as well try Chelsea and fill his bank account.

  100. Paul Pears

    Excellently put r0bb0, echoing my thoughts entirely. I cannot agree with your thoughts MK, as the MP’s choice to be the new leader was Sunak, who also had the country’s backing.
    Truss is purely there because Rees-Mogg and his cronies were using her to cause chaos, failing to get the proper backing, and don’t be surprised to see a new leadership contest which Boris will now win !!!
    No matter the result on Monday night, Gerrard will still be safe until Christmas now., but it could be a real problem. Forest have suffered a few bad defeats, but gradually they will be coming together, and Steve Cooper will be pushing for a result, and surely, Lingard has to improve on his poor performances to date. IT would the usual for him to have an outstanding performance against Villa.
    I do expect us to grind out a win though this time, and I am sure Gerrard will demand it.

  101. r0bb0

    MK, I don’t think it’s reasonable to put Archer and Chukwuemeka in the same pot. Chuk was already seeing a fair amount of playing time last season and as there’s been little recruitment to the attacking midfield there’s little reason to suspect that would have changed. Gerrard seemed to rate him and that seems to count for everything.

  102. r0bb0

    Mark, from an environmental perspective you’re right that Sunak and Truss are as bad as each other but I’m going to assume that your suggestion that their economic approach would have been the same is purely for controversy value as the difference between them is plain for anyone to see. . . . . including you I suspect 🙂

  103. r0bb0

    Mark, the pound has been steadily falling against the dollar for around 18 months now so it may be true to say that in time it is destined to fall to parity or below but it’s as plain as the mask on my face when using public transport that removing the 45% rate is precisely what triggered the sudden 7% drop in the pound. . . . even Truss tried to avoid responsibility for that one!

  104. r0bb0

    Mark, where I agree with you fully is the corrosive nature of current media. Yes, if Starmer was in then the braying wolves would be snappi g at him from all sides and it’s really unhealthy

  105. r0bb0

    I’m too, still smarting that we swapped Smith for Gerrard and switched from focusing on youth to experience without any explanation of why, or what we hoped to achieve.

  106. r0bb0

    I’ve just seen on the news that part of the Worcester Warriors rugby club has been wound up. It must have been totally gutting for everyone involved but at a quick glance, the finances of premiership rugby seem totally unsustainable. From what I can see, Worcester’s wage bill alone was higher than its turnover. It had loans that were two and a half times its turnover.

    Other clubs don’t seem to be quite as bad but on the face of it, if I was in any way involved, the numbers for many of the clubs would prevent me from ever sleeping at night. I don’t understand how they pass accountancy going concern tests so presumably there’s more to the numbers than immediately meets the eye.
    Was it all underpinned by unrealistic asset values?
    Can anyone explain what’s going on?

  107. Mark King

    PP- She won and that’s what counts so should be allowed to do the job unhindered to some extent, can’t see how you can disagree with that. Politics being political and ever back stabbing these days there is no surprise as both sides did it. You can’t continually have the tail wagging the dog though and that’s what we see in parliament every week. Even Boris a bit of a knob head with a massive majority could not make it work.

  108. Plug

    RObBO, I suspect much of the financial problem at Worcester Warriors was down to covid which disrupted their income stream. But if they couldn’t pay their HMRC taxes (same as Dr Skint) then finances must have been a mess. Creative accountancy is nothing new, been going on for years.

    As for the Pound Sterling, it’s at the mercy of capitalism. It gets played by huge investment organisations, shorted when they pick on it, driven up when it suits them and in an open marketplace, there is nothing any Gov’t can do about it. Under Thatcher in 1985 it dropped to £1.07 against the US Dollar. In 2008 it reached £2.03 against the US Dollar under Brown (yep, him who sold half of our gold reserves when the price was rock bottom and he was Chancellor).

    Currency traders play with billions and the Pound Sterling will rise whenever their intentions change course. In the meantime, it’s your average Joe who has to suffer the consequences of sharp swings in value.

  109. Mark King

    Robbo- An overreaction to something that was the least damaging to the tax income. Plenty of money was made hedging against the pound though now its bounced back and we actually made some money last quarter which kind of scuppers the whole shenanigans. There are so many players hoping for Britain’s fall its untrue I hope she rocks the cosy boat and succeeds. One glance at other countries banks having to do the same as ours tells you its not about 4 billion pound difference in tax. I visited Italy recently and its shocking how bad the place is stuck in the EU and Euro, Its not just the media but people particularly on the left that seem to ooze hatred. Me I want to see the whole lot changed but fat chance of that.

  110. Mark King

    Nobody seems to have picked up on Stevo’s comments about Beale leaving unsettling the start to Villa’s season. Can’t help but look at Smiths last season where he lost his two main coaches and the best player we have had in forever and think so what Steve.

    Canadian Pete on youtube has noted that Purslow seems to be involved in every aspect of Villa’s operation even talking to players we want and very likely steered us to SG. What we don’t have is someone with an eye for a player to complement the stats side it seems although you’d think there would be a few at the club. A fair few of Villa’s players seem to be struggling under SG’s leadership and maybe they need the personal touch of a Smith to get the best from them? He mentioned Poch is the middle ground of those two approaches.

  111. Mark King

    Robbo- on Chuk, where are the players that have made breakthroughs this season? most of the pre-season successes like Kessler and Tim have gone out on loan with many others and last season Chuk hardly saw a start, if he was wanted by sg that much then why buy players in his position? Archer did no wrong in pre-season yet is behind two players just like chuk would have been. Its clear by SG’s business this summer that youth was off the table to any great extent, could of built the team around Chuk but plumbed for Phil. As it looks like we are in for a tough ride this season and I can’t see much of that changing unless SG goes.

  112. r0bb0

    Mark, you’re right that Gerrard has targeted older (experienced) players and there’s little or no indication that he wants to take advantage of the investment in our academy.
    The one exception though has been Chuk who made 12 appearances for us last season. We all had the strong impression that he would have seen even more game time if he’d only shown a little more commitment to the club.
    We’ve seen how Gerrard seems to have his favourites (nearly every manager does to some extent) so it seems fair to assume that Chuk would have been the one player who would indeed have seen game time again this season.

  113. r0bb0

    Mark, you’re right that the 45% rate was one of the less financially significant points in the budget, but economic decisions aren’t made in a political vacuum. There’s little evidence that the removal of the top tax rate or the removal of the cap on bankers bonuses would generate the growth, growth growth that Truss is touting around but it would make their backers happy whilst alienating huge swathes of the rest of the population.
    It’s an ideological decision rather than an economic one and at the same time, a totally cloth eared political one.

  114. r0bb0

    Mark, a good observation re Gerrard’s comments on the loss of Beale. . . . .you’re right in pointing out that if it didn’t wash for DS it shouldn’t wash for SG either.

  115. r0bb0

    Plug, I’m sure you’re right that covid will have played a part in the Warrior’s demise but it seems that it runs much deeper than that. There seemed to be an assumption that success on the pitch would automatically lead to growing capital value and whilst that was the case then auditors seemed to be prepared to turn a blind eye to the lack of operating income. it seems that bubble has now burst.
    They were clearly aware of the impending problem as they’d asked players to take a cut in salary last year. With ‘average’ salaries for premiership players approaching £150k p.a. it seems there was a lack of realism at all levels throughout the game and it could only be sustained through injections of cash from ‘rich uncles’.

  117. r0bb0

    JC, what is surprising is that there’s still any debate about whether trickle down economics works. You’d have to travel through life with ears and eyes closed to believe otherwise.
    That’s not to say that capitalism mightn’t be the best of a bad bunch of economic models, but it has to be tempered with a social conscience.

  118. r0bb0

    Having joined twitter in 2016 and tended to use it as my main source of news, today I’ve deactivated my account.
    It has become increasingly intrusive and controlling and I’m surprised that its use of cookies and YOUR data is legal under our GDPR rules . . . .unless those have already been changed since we left the EU?

  119. John Clark

    r0bb0,

    It’s perhaps the most mind-boggling bit of contemporary ‘politics’ (because it’s not actual economics). As you well know, a business invests and hires based on demand…either actual or perceived.

    Simplified, let’s say there’s a £100m market opportunity. Let’s say the profits are taxed at 50%. No one is going to turn down £50m because it could’ve been £75m. £50m is still £50m more than the business would have brought in otherwise.

    Then, of course, there’s the fallacy of heroic capitalists ‘creating’ all these jobs. The more accurate way to look at it is “your big idea and financing are worth absolutely nothing if there aren’t people to make, market, support, and distribute the product/service.” It takes both capital and labor to bring anything to market.

    So yeah, the person with the idea (and risk) naturally gets a lot more return than the labor. But. That return would never exist without the labor. It’s that second part that modern capitalism wants to ignore.

    I’ve no problem with capitalism if we look at it honestly and admit that in a cold world of winners and losers, an affluent society should provide a safety net and mitigate huge disparities in what all the contributors receive for participating.

    Which, as you say, is social conscience.

  120. John Clark

    r0bb0,

    Twitter (and all social media) are rather interesting. I quit Facebook because I can’t stand Zuckerberg and what the company does. Also realized I no longer had anything in common with many of the ‘friends’ from earlier in life, and in fact, am ‘violently’ opposed to their retrograde politics and worldviews. My timeline was an unwelcome assault.

    However, I stuck with Instagram, and although it’s languished in the TikTok era (which I refuse to participate in), you can curate your feed. I only see art, music, architecture, and the occasional political statements from certain artists/musicians. The ads I see are so easily manipulable. Click on one for a new pressing of a particular album, and presto, you get a bunch more of those. Check out a hair loss miracle, guess what…

    Twitter I’ve found pretty similar. Have three accounts (one mainly politics/current events and now Ukraine, one for AVL, one for just writers, artists, etc). The politically oriented accounts can get my blood pressure going, but, by and large, it seems I can control most of the experience by who I follow.

    And it’s also fun to lay into trolls/idiots/fascists after a few drinks. The trick is to maintain amused detachment and employ dry, scathing wit. 🙂

    I’ve never seen anything like the first war to play out on social media. From military analysis (ex-generals and other soldiers) to footage filmed by the combatants on their phones, it’s insane. I’m so much more aware of what’s happening in minute detail and real time than I’d ever be otherwise through more traditional channels.

    But it does occupy a lot of headspace.

  121. r0bb0

    JC. You say that modern capitalism wants to ignore the people who provide the labour that makes businesses successful.
    I’ve seen many corporate executives who do try to act in a social responsible manner. It is hard to tell (even for the executive) whether it’s driven by their personal moral compass; or a desire to attract and retain the best staff; a belief that it will make the company or its products more marketable; or just a desire to ‘look good’ or ‘be liked’ (are those last two still altruistic reasons?)
    I’ve recently seen a business bought where the key reason for wanting to buy it was because it was a leading exponent of acting sustainably in its sector. The new parent company is hoping that the acquisition will help them to advance their own sustainability credentials more quickly than would otherwise be the case. This is by no means a ‘one off’.

  122. r0bb0

    Switching to football for the moment, how does everyone think that Gerrard will approach Monday’s game? We all believe that we ought to be winning it but then there’s that old adage. . .’there’s no such thing as an easy game’.
    As its away from home again, might he be tempted to play cautiously again, particularly as this has been bringing some success? It’d be nice to go 4 unbeaten. . . . have we achieved that under Gerrard?

  123. r0bb0

    JC, I opened a Facebook account years ago. . . . and stopped using it years ago too. I’d stuck with Twitter since 2016 (and even started following one of your accounts) recently but the latest demands to sign up to new terms and conditions without an easy opt out of non essential cookies was the final straw. If it changes hands as is rumoured, then along with the potential new owner’s other high tech interests, it feels as if too much data is being concentrated in one place. I know that wherever and however I drive is already being retained in one of his databases somewhere and if we start adding what I read and who I talk to and what my interests are. . . . is that healthy?

  125. r0bb0

    PP. Potter said yesterday “It’s difficult to keep the same XI with the schedule but there is an element of consistency to how we play. Really happy with the boys and how we’ve recovered. We go again on Tuesday.”
    Against that background you’d imagine he may be adding to his 7 minutes on the pitch quite soon

  126. Plug

    I see Spud is defending the indefensible again. Getting barracked all round the ground by the Yam Yam fans but definitely not moving. His compo this time around will be less than a year’s salary and there must be a chance it’ll be his last. He’s made a fortune in compo from failure.

  127. Plug

    Regarding Chuk, Chelsea were 3-0 up which made his debut appearance an easy one for Potter especially with 5 subs allowed. Let’s see when his next appearance comes.

    More interesting for me is Tim. Beale has got QPR moving into contention in the Championship and he’s got Tim playing full games for them. Promising.

  128. James Gill

    16th this evening, win tomorrow purslow will be breathing easier be up to 11th,papering over the cracks
    Gerards record is terrible 43 points from 35 games after spending close to 100m,along with that no idea of what is best team

  129. r0bb0

    JG, I agree wholly with your last comment, however, if we win tomorrow we’ll go 9th and be only one point off top 8, which has two be the minimum target for this squad.
    Never mind how we’re playing, if we go 9th and unbeaten in 4, gaining 8 points on the way then that has to be seen as a step in the right direction. The improvement in results will of course need to be sustained, but maybe, just maybe, Gerrard is starting to learn what it takes to win games in the Premier league.
    I’m not ready to believe it yet either. . . . .but he’d have earned some more time at least.

Leave a Reply