Villa rescued a point at the Emirates Saturday evening in a match that looked beyond redemption after Arsenal went 2-0 to the good. The outrage-despair machine is running at full capacity, and it’s fun to be part of the Gunners’ problems for a second year running. Villa are 2-1-1 against Arteta over the last two seasons, and 2-1-2 under Emery overall.

The recent record is yet more proof of Emery’s tactical acumen and the progress of the team in executing his vision.

While we’ve seen it before at times, one of the little tweaks of late has been getting Youri Tielemans further upfield again. Probably two parts to that, one being the budding (and stop-start) pairing of Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara in midfield for its own reasons, and the other about getting the playmaker closer to the attackers (and also John McGinn’s absence). It worked a treat Saturday, with Youri pulling back the first for Villa, then hitting the post quickly thereafter. His awareness, calm, and quality on the ball allow him to find space and time, and we all know he has the requisite touch to put players in. In previous iterations going back to last season, he’s looked a bit isolated up there. These days, it’s much more fluid and he’s very involved.

On the day, that meant Rogers taking a role ostensibly wider right where he had less impact than in the matches where he plays in the withdrawn striker role. Villa are very different depending on who takes that slot. With Rogers, we see him driving and carrying. With Youri, it’s more about linking, passing, playmaking. It also asks less of each defensively, though Rogers can safely be said to cover more ground more quickly.

When McGinn has been up there, I’d have to say that overall he’s struggled a bit more. Given his dangerous left peg when on form, and his combative, ball-winning/retention qualities, it makes sense to put him there at times. It should still deliver balls into the box while providing a bit more defensive cover down the flank. But as we’ve all noted, he’s not consistently been at top levels. His absence doesn’t seem to have affected things that much, which is probably what we need to know. That said, I’m guessing the enforced rest might see a rejuvenated Super John down the run-in.

The Onana-Kamara partnership would seem to be multipart as well: Shield the back four, create a tougher midfield to work through, and get two of your best players on the pitch at the same time. And then, of course, Youri sort of has to play higher up. They have very different attributes, Onana and Kamara, and if both are healthy and in form, they should complement each other well. Onana’s string of niggles has not helped the idea progress, and is yet another example of a big signing getting off to a rough start. Will be interesting to see whether Emery sticks to this if all the defensive reinforcements we’re hearing about are signed.

When we get to Villa’s performance overall, there was good and bad: enough chances for a different outcome either way. Arsenal definitely showed the greater urgency and it stopped us playing as much as we would’ve liked. Seemed to me like there were notably more long balls to avoid the press and the errors leading to chances. There was also some clever playing out.

As usual, some suspect decisions at crucial moments also played a factor in the final result. I know players like Ramsey who’ve had a string of injuries are probably loathe to throw themselves into challenges, but for both he and Cash, I saw balls they let run by instead of charging to intercept. I’m not on the pitch, but going the other way, those were the kinds of free passes we weren’t being given. I also don’t know what the instructions are (ie, better to face a cross than let them line up for a set piece). With Trossard, he is a very slippery player, so you’re either going to double or triple him up like teams do Bailey, or you’re going to allow crosses. I did see Bouba and Ramsey aiding Cash and trying to cut out the overlap passes even if they weren’t terribly aggressive closing down.

With Kosta a developmental project, I’ve no idea how aggressive Garcia is. Did see a lot of him going forward on video, and maybe Emery ultimately would like to play with WBs on either side.

Anyway, in the end it came down to individual quality. Digne and Youri connecting, then Cash and Ollie.Which isn’t to discount the work done by Kamara, Mings et al. We’ve seen Mings dominate in the air, make blocks, and track wingers wide stride for stride. Bouba has been doing the really hard work of being the six and also tucking into the back line to fill holes left by Cash or reinforce the right. He’s been very good positionally, is winning the ball, and making good decisions.

Observation: I’ve had a sneaking suspicion over these last three first halves that Villa are trying to pace themselves, consciously or not. Circumstances always dictate (early goals, pressure, opponent), but my impression is that we’ve only really seen full-speed intensity throughout the team in the last 30-40 minutes. May not be by design. May reflect Emery’s and the player’s belief they can go get goals without having to play all-out for 90 minutes. That’s obviously a very risky way to approach things, so it might well be down to the players. But these certainly aren’t the kinds of things that escape a manager’s notice.

We know Villa are one of the teams who do the least high pressing, which is down to set up, tactics, and personnel. They aren’t a side that can man-mark up and down the pitch all day, and Emery wants them to keep shape and avoid the holes that lead to quick breaks. They pick their moments. I don’t think they’ve necessarily played poorly without their foot on the gas: it’s more about the quickness of play. When everyone’s really making runs and playing it quickly, we’re so much better. As is probably any team.

I will say Villa seemed much scrappier and combative from the start against Everton than West Ham or Arsenal. Some of that with Arsenal is simply down to their quality and ability to keep possession.

Not sure how this all plays into Monaco. It’s a short turn, and the starters have played a lot of minutes in this stretch through the holidays up til now. I’m sure we could very well see Ollie get a rest for Duran and Malen make his debut. Perhaps Maatsen gets another start. But there’s not a lot of rotation to be done elsewhere if you want a result. Not sure what the calculations are for Emery on this one and Celtic. I’m pretty sure he’d like to win them both.

In the end, what I liked besides throwing a spoke into things for Arsenal was once again seeing resilience and enough quality to go get goals. And the determination, however it came to pass, to stop the bleeding and not buckle at the end. Yes, they squandered chances, but so did we. Who knows how matches change if different chances are taken at different junctures. But the side doesn’t give up.

So in the end, a very solid point that feels like a loss for them. And I’m hoping that by the time the window’s closed, we’ll have added the reinforcements necessary to have a very strong run-in.

Over to you.

Comments 301

  1. Thanks for the script John and some interesting points. It seems to me that Unai is still constructing his squad. Little by little (due to PSR) he is finding another piece of the jigsaw to slot into place and I’m sure the ultimate goal is an eventual tilt at the title.

    Some of the younger signings will come up short but still provide an extremely important revenue stream down the track. I think we’ve collected about £200 million from the sale of our academy players over the past 4 or so years. Where would we be without that financial transfusion. There’s been Grealish, Chuk, Aaron Ramsey, Tim, Kellyman, Archer, Bidace and a few others I’m sure to have missed. Not forgetting loan fees.

    I don’t think Malen will be eligible to play against Monaco or Celtic as he’s already appeared for Dortmund in the UCL this season?

  2. I think you’re right, Plug, did see something about that with Malen.

    You’re also right about the player sales. Just no way we can compete with buying, developing and selling young players that don’t quite make the cut. You get in early enough, almost sure to make some kind of profit.

  3. And yeah, Emery is trying to make it his squad more and more. Whatever we notice is lacking, you know he’s 10x more aware, whether it’s pace, physicality, quality on the ball, decision-making.

    Pau gives me a little pause given that he’s seemed a touch slow and not strong enough for the PL. However, he also has a lot of positives, so I’m sure that’s something Emery will have learned from.

    I do think you’re right that he’d like a run at the title…It’ll take a bit because of PSR, but you never know how far you might progress if you sell Duran or Watkins and get a big chunk to spend all at once. But I still think we’re a little ways away from having the kind of depth in quality that’s required to keep up on two fronts consistently.

    Speaking of which, spam with another piss-take, £57m for Jhon. They really are incredibly annoying. Club in crisis just making noises and meddling with players to act like they’re doing something.

  4. Thanks for that analysis JC. . . . you clearly see far more than I do so it’s good to be given things to look out for next time we play!
    A few questions, based on what you’ve said:
    As you’ve said, Garcia’s video clips are heavy on attack and light on defence, but bearing in mind that Emery has always preferred to have one attack minded WB and one concentrating on defence, is he likely to want to change that preference now and start to attack down both sides at the same time? If he does, then we’d best get ready for exciting games with more goals at both ends!
    Where do you think McGinn best fits for us then? For Scotland he’s done really well in pushing forward and scoring goals, but is that because they don’t have an Ollie or Big Jhon? Does he take something more like an Onana role in front of Kamara if Onana is out injured for some time?
    I agree that we do seem to be ‘pacing ourselves’ during games, as evidenced by us covering less ground overall than every other teams last season.
    Given that we haven’t been able to ‘manipulate’ FFP rules in the way the Man City and `Chelsea have got away with in years past, we just can’t quickly develop the quality depth of squads that they have and it seems we have no alternative but to pace ourselves. I know some fans don’t like it, but I certainly wouldn’t be double guessing Emery on that score.

  5. Its clear that JD would like to be playing more, but you’d imagine that his aspirations have raised a little higher than Spam now. There are rumours that the likes of PSG are taking a close look at him, and that seems much more plausible.
    With him just having signed a longer term contract though, is this the time when the club would cash in on him, when we’re still in with a shout of progressing in the Champion’s league AND possible qualifying again for next year’s competition?

  6. JC, In fairness, Spam have done well being able to find their way back to the specific souk stall that had Jhon Duran in the window. . . . . those souks are an absolute maze, and its so hard to find the same place twice! It seems to me though that they are just wanting to give the ‘impression’ that they’re trying to buy him, to please their fans. . . . . surely, even your pride would stop you from paying nearly 50% more than your previous ‘very best price’ from when you were last in the stall haggling?

  7. R0bbO, it’s Sullivan and Brady you are talking about. In said souk, she walked into a shop and told the shop keeper that she loved “that particular kaftan”. Sullivan haggled exactly like you said, got nowhere and bought her a more expensive alternative from the shop next door that unravelled the first time she wore it. Copping one round the ear, he wandered back to said souk to “buy the fucking kaftan I wanted or else”. The shop keeper saw him coming and doubled his asking price due to several punters in the meantime also looking at it.

  8. Haha Plug. . . .
    Surprise surprise, it’s now being reported that West Ham went public, saying that they’d offered £57,000,000 but villa have confirmed that they did no such thing

    Latest update is that they did indeed offer 57 million, but Dirham not pounds.

  9. Carlos looks to be on his way to Turkey, yes headlines will say he made most mistakes leading to chances for opposition but he also played ,a big part to in wins v arsenal twice with clean sheets in both,2 wins v man city which we only conceded 1 goals in both matches, big win over Munich clean sheet again plus a draw with juve another clean sheet
    Yes he annoyed me but I also admired his efforts in most matches he played, awful injury ruined his time here,it was slippy paid transfer fee and wages
    Farewell carlos

  10. Bailey became 3rd player to achieve 100 appearances under emery at villa,unbelievable
    Watkins and konsa other 2,I haven’t checked it just read it elsewhere

  11. Dildos, Dirhams and Duran. You’ve got to laugh at Spam. As James says, straight from Herbert’s autobiography on How to Run a Football Club.

    The man mountain with the £££ mountain salary is banned for tonight’s game due to 3 bookings in the competition already.

    Which brings us to the question, how will Unai set about tonight? Go for the win in Monaco or go for a draw and leave it until the last game against Celtic? Think he might go for the win.

  12. Plug, Monaco haven’t been in the best of form lately so I’d imagine that Emery will see it as an opportunity to get the extra 3 points that would very likely see us qualify in the top 8. How he’ll balance that with half an eye on the game against Spam at the weekend. . . . well. . . that’s why he has the job and I don’t!
    One thing you can be sure of. . . .JD will be on the pitch at some point Sunday!

  13. jbd, Tarkowski on a free would have been good business, but although it’s normal for fans to hate certain players, but wish they were nonetheless playing ‘for’ them rather than ‘against’ them, I really wouldn’t want to have to see that thug’s ugly mug every time we played.

  14. I see that West Ham have their own gutter version of Villa News. Westhamzone had the headline “Jhon Duran ‘to clear medical’ as West Ham transfer news emerges”
    They have some ‘rent a doc’ saying that if he had to take a medical he’d probably pass it. Well no shit Sherlock. . . .if only I’d not fluffed my Physics A level, then I might have been equally qualified to come out with such crap under the pretence of knowing more than everyone else.

  15. Another guilty secret. I liked James Collins, Curtis Davies and even King Carlos (but only at CH). Trevor Hockey and Robbie (spit) Savage could go and reproduce with themselves for eternity in some third world cess pool.

  16. Then he nearly puts one on a plate for Watkins
    Our corners have being awful
    Poor half all over,near massive improvement expect duran on either straight away or soon after halftime

  17. This is a ‘nearly’ game.
    So many ‘nearly’ chances, you feel one of them must surely come off at some point.
    Buendia did Iineed start poorly, but I have ‘never’ seen us make as many mistakes, and not just from Buendia, in that first half.
    Having said that, there were many times when we ‘nearly’ looked great

  18. Is this demonstrating that Watkins and Duran can’t play together?
    Is it since Duran came on that we’ve lost all penetration up front?

  19. Not happy with Duran. That long clearance from Martinez was crying g out for Duran to compete to flick the ball on to Watkins, but instead he dropped in behind the defender, hoping it might fall to him
    Really naughty and disappointing.

  20. Well
    That was poor.
    At one point I thought we HAD to score, but then it just fizzled out.
    Have to give some credit to Monaco. . .they worked hard in defence and left us fighting for scraps

  21. Horrible, miserable, shambling and jaded performance from Villa. Did they leave it all on the pitch at the emirates? Too disinterested to work out my POTM.

    Ollie would have to change his game to accommodate Duran in the same team. I personally wish it could happen. Problem would be that Ollie wouldn’t fit in the England side if he did that.

  22. Very disappointing. Having conceded, they set up to frustrate, and based on what I’d read, that’s what they do best: tackle, intercept, crowd.

    Like you’ve all said, so many nearly passes and chances. A really frustrating watch. And there wasn’t as much to freshen up with on the bench as we’ve gotten used to.

    Malen can’t come in the side fast enough. Anything is better than what we’ve been getting out of Leon. And Cash too often loses his head when in and around the box. The two assists were fabulous exceptions. But again, the right side offers nothing.

  23. Buendia…yeah, tried some one-touches that didn’t come off, but grew into it and was always battling. He’s had so few minutes, it’s hard to imagine he would be at his best.

    Long balls were poor, and playing in with players with their backs to goal wasn’t working. Very very crowded in the middle, which you can get away with a whole lot easier without wide threats.

    I do think there was some legginess…poor corners, the nearly passes, that’s where it shows up for me. Been a lot of matches in a compressed period.

  24. Other big difference is that sometimes we’re too cautious, especially without the ball. You saw them anticipating and flying toward passes to cut them out.

    Saw us try to keep things in front and pulling out of a lot of tackles. Not sure the tackling bit is by design. But again, can also be evidence of fatigue, not wanting to risk the lunges, etc., that can do your hamstring.

  25. You guys have already covered the points. Such a non-performance. Really poor. Thought Monaco were there for the taking but I just didn’t see us scoring at all. What chances we did created were passed up. As the game wore on we became even more ragged.

  26. I can see the whinging behind fixture congestion, Plug. I mean, it washes less with Pep and others who have bigger squads, Liverpool bit of an exception.

    But FA Cup, league, league, CL, and back to league all in two weeks. There’s bound to be some stinkers in there. We could’ve done with this game coming tomorrow instead of a Tuesday.

    It’s why carrying Bailey, for example, is so damaging. Not sure where exactly Rogers went after Duran came on, but he largely disappeared after that as I recall. It does seem he popped up on the right more than anywhere.

  27. Did Unai get his team selection correct? Defensively, he didn’t have much choice. We looked leggy and lacking in energy. Once more we cough up a goal from the opposition’s first attack given to them by a mistake. FFS. And it cost us big time.

  28. This is why getting over the hump is so hard. While you’re going through stretches like this, Forest et al aren’t. So more competition in the league making re-qualification that much harder, the extra games, and the minutes in the legs that all add up.

    And PSR, of course, holding us back.

  29. I agree John. Monaco seemed sharper in mind and action. Where we dwelled on the ball, they moved it first time. Not always accurate of course but neither were we. Slow, slow, slow.

  30. Dunno that he had much choice, Plug.

    Youri dropped back, but there was no Onana, Barkley or even McGinn to fill in. No choice but to play Bailey. Maybe moving Cash up and giving someone else a go at RB would’ve been better. No Carlos or Pau to really play a back three, unless you count Bogarde. No right wing at all.

    What he could’ve done differently was maybe start Ramsey, put Bogarde alongside Kamara and let Youri be more central instead of Buendia. Put Rogers wide and sit Bailey.

    My guess is that Buendia may have started to put him in the shop window. Bailey? I think we’ll have to pay someone to take him.

    In all honesty, probs came down to the attempt Ollie had saved. Not sure he could’ve done much more, but that was the one that would’ve changed the dynamic and forced Monaco to leave a little more space. Maybe they would’ve always settled for a draw.

  31. I guess Rogers’ chance and Cash’s ‘headless’ shot were the other ‘good’ opportunities.

    The box was so crowded though, they played the CBs deep, and like you say, we just weren’t fast or sharp enough on transition to really trouble them much.

  32. JC. . . A fee weeks ago it looked as if Bailey was regaining confidence and working himself back into form, but it just seems to have evaporated again doesn’t it.

  33. Might have been tempted to put Ned at RB and deploy Cash further forward on the right. Bailey really is suffering. Think I’d have preferred to see Young instead. But hey, Unai sees them in training.

  34. Frustration, at it’s best,Bailey 2 really scoreable chances missed,Watkins couple decent chances ,not including the one cash took of him,Rogers didn’t put his shot on target, cash had one neither crossed or took a proper shot,the one that dropped for beundi, he should just hit it instead of trying to control the ball,really wasteful nice

  35. More frustration our passing
    Mings misspass led to a goal ,lucky on few other occasions, konsa was it the injury before halftime was his problem, saying that he was well off it before that,we need a centre half maybe even for hammers game
    Rogers has nights like tonight he gets away with it because of his exploits all season, beundi probably long lay off bit rusty, but he never gave up,baileyy what has happened scored couple matches ago but look completely broken no confidence at all,
    We need mcginn back for next week and hopefully barclay onana won’t be too long along with new centre half

  36. JG. . . The Celtic game takes on a whole extra layer of significance now, but to be honest, I would have much preferred it to be a more relaxed affair after us having already achieved the 16 point target for a top 8 placing!

  37. Emery full of praise for Buendia, which is nice to hear. You ‘may’ be right JC that its all part of upping his profile, but I’d like to rhino he has a genuine role still to play for us.
    It wasn’t just us bemoaning our ineffectual set plays today. . . . Emery ‘very’ unhappy.

  38. JG, I’m sure that stat will be hurting Ollie more than anyone. You can understand at a human level, why it’s going to be difficult to get Ollie and JD to work together when Ollie must be desperate to score, and we know that’s what drives JD too. They’re both naturally, extremely competitive individuals and both have it in them to be great goalscorers.
    Emery had clearly hoped that it may be possible to find a way of getting both of them on the pitch at the same time, and had a plan that ‘in his mind’ could make that possible. In reality, it just didn’t work, and quite possibly because it was going to require one, or both of them, to be unselfish and help the other.
    Emery named the players who did ok last night and added that Morgan was unwell, and by process of elimination, the two players he was NOT happy with, were our two strikers.
    I suspect that strong words will be said today. Let’s hope that both players are grown up enough to take the words on board, rather than sulk.

  39. Robbo
    Emery interview last night was interesting he got decisions wrong last night,possibly should have went 442 when duran came on,went matasen left midfield and maybe cash right side,take beundi and Rogers off,seen a stat rogers and beundi gave ball away 37 times last night if it’s right that’s criminal
    Another bug bear is why when we leading by a goal we let opposition pens us back last 10/5 from end we never threatened that last night

  40. Hope this centre half is coming in,we could do with him for hammers konsa looked like he was running on empty last night and as much as I love mings,he has too many big errors in his game

  41. Jbd. . . . . actually I do like Cunha but wonder whether he’d fit any better in a front two than JD or Ollie? Now Bowen. . . . that would be a different matter. . . .would love to have him in the squad. I guess the question would be who he’d replace, but he looks like a super team player who’d fit all into a flexible squad.

  42. Last night was awful. Unai was seething mad. It was rubbish. We just never turned up. They had better turn up on Sunday against Spam.

    656, swapping Big Jhon for Bowen is a good wind up. They’d happily take it. One player is at the start of his career with immense potential, the other is 29 and at his peak now. It’s downhill from here for him.

    I’m happy to let Unai and Monchi decide who to target, but I do like Cunha. And we do still require some reinforcements in certain areas for the here and now whilst the younger buys become acclimatised to the pace of the EPL.

  43. Konsa and Tyro as CB’s is another good debate. It’s a crucial part of the team and I believe there are some better pairings in the EPL. Milenkovic and Murillo at Forest is one that comes to mind.

  44. JG. . . .I get what you’re saying about going 442, but my idea of 442 (maybe outdated) harks back to O’Neill times when we had a big guy and a smaller guy working together, with someone like Heskey, unselfishly laying the ball off for his partner up front.
    It seems that our current pairing just might not have the playing styles or temperament for that to work.

  45. You can bet that the centre backs discussion has taken centre stage at Villa park. There’s huge pressure on Mings and Konsa now, with few ‘ready to go’ alternatives available in the squad now Pau is injured and Carlos is off (presumably).

  46. Plug, I hadn’t appreciated that the Bowen discussion involved a ‘swap’.
    I can’t imagine anyone seriously considered that as an option.
    Oh. . . . hang on. . . we’re talking West Ham here aren’t we.

  47. Plug, maybe I was watching through my Villa tinted specs, but for a fair part of the game, I felt it was only a matter of time before we scored, and had we done that then things would have started to look very different.
    We ‘needed’ that one goal to go in though and we just couldn’t make it happen.

  48. Jarrod Bowen 29? That’s me told. It was only yesterday that he was a starlet at Hull with a tenuous family connection to Villa. Still worth a spam wind up.

    I believe Duran has stratospheric potential but will always be a Balotelli type disruptive problem. Can see his agent always agitating to get him moved every few years for a cut of the transfer action. Can’t see them feeling any connection to Villa or our part of the world. Anyone remember the joke about Benteke thinking he was signing for Arsenal and then the annual agonisation about weither or not he would start the season with us?

    Emery is trying to build a school of football science. Don’t think Duran has got a football brain, he is solely erratic instinctive reflex action. It’s always going to be boom or bust with Duran. Cunha seems to have a football brain more suited to Emery’s style. I thought about Cunha because he has fallen out with his manager at Wolves who doesn’t like his body language. Is Cunha a diva or is it because it’s just Wolves? Is he yet another who just want’s London or does he want to play real football (at Villa???).

  49. Just found out that villa news (spit) have been running a Duran/Bowen clickbait since very early morning. I obviously have a gutter brain.

  50. Lots of good thoughts and comments.

    From Emery, when he was name-checking the players he thought played well, notably absent was the ‘horseshoe’ of players wide and up front. Said they weren’t following the plan.

    That’s not a good thing for Emery to be saying (or to have directed at you as a player).

  51. jbd,

    Bowen plus £70m and maybe we can start raising the fee from there.

    I agree with your assessment of Duran…basically an instinctual goal-scorer who’s a man-child in terms of his temperament and football brain. Surrounded by greedy advisors.

  52. r0bb0,

    Yeah, all confidence just seems to have evaporated, exactly that.

    What’s a shame is that so many of these buys have just hung around…done enough at times, then lots of nothing and even being actively detrimental. But we’re still on the hook for the fees and wages and they’re all players that no one else seems to want.

    What also bothers me is the scouting that went into some of these purchases. Lightweight, one-trick ponies who, if they could simply sprint by any defender in the PL, then fine. But they can’t, don’t seem to be mentally tough and consistent, don’t offer much of anything off the ball. Lots of dead weight to carry and work around.

  53. re CBs….yeah, they’re obviously talking a lot. Mings is good, not ideal, and his age and injury history are going to be top of mind.

    But given how we just can’t keep clean sheets, aren’t holding our line (and teams are getting better at exploiting that) and whatever else…It has to be an area of focus.

  54. So the dust has settled after match day 7 of the UCL. That lost point at Monaco has really cost us. Had we got it, we would just need to beat Celtic for a top 8 place. We are currently 9th. Of the teams ahead of us that can be caught, AC Milan, Atalanta, Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid all have highly winnable games except Atalanta who are away to Barca. A win for us and a draw for Atalanta will put us above them. Leverkusen have the same points as us with a better goal difference of +1. Below us, the chasing pack with the same points as us all have difficult fixtures but we need to keep an eye on Lille v Feyenoord who are both also in with a shout. But we simply MUST WIN. Inter Milan could also be caught if they lose at home to Monaco but that is unlikely.

  55. According to Deloitte, Villa’s turnover for 23/24 was 310.2 million Euros. At varying exchange rates during that period it amounted to about £266 million. We’re up to 18th in the European turnover league. We can expect another jump in the current year perhaps up to £320 million.

    Wages remain a problem as a percentage of turnover. The other blog is saying 96% of turnover went on all staff wages. Playing staff wages must be within 70% of turnover to be compliant with PSR in Europe.

  56. The Carlos deal does illustrate some of the problems we’ve had with recruitment and salaries: Bought for £26m at 28-29, £5.2m a year, now sold on for £8.5m. We get rid of his salary, which is good, but at a reported £15.5m loss.

    Bailey cost around €32m, about £27m in today’s money. Would we get anywhere near that for him now?

    Point isn’t that the players are bad or to slag them off, it’s that these were supposed to be impact/statement buys, and we invested as much as we could at the time. Given they haven’t panned out, we’ve been carrying a lot of dead salary and transfer payments.

    This is a big part of what’s hobbling us with PSR…You’d have hoped Bailey would be worth £40m-£50m (or more) by now if you were needing to sell, or that he wouldn’t be a player you were hoping to replace while taking a loss. It’s a shame the Saudis didn’t think as much of him as they did Diaby. Regardless, we were lucky to make our money back there.

  57. Plug, I saw a couple of articles about our steps up the European income ladder and it all looks like good news to me. There are some churlish comments on other sites from people with axes to grind against Heck and of course there is a lot of truth to the fact that much of the improvement in our income has arisen from the success of Emery and the team, but that’s clearly not the whole story. It seems that we are generating more match day income and are also doing better with our sponsorship deals, and whilst much of this will also be as a result of the team’s success, the fact remains that the backroom commercial team need to take advantage of the position, and it seems that they have done that well.
    Running a business is rarely easy, and having turned round some failing businesses, it needs focus on recognising and taking advantage of opportunities where they arise. Heck seems to be doing that.
    The club’s overall progression needs both on pitch and off pitch teams to be working well, and right now, I for one am grateful that we’re seeing both.

  58. Well carlos is gone,I think he will be looked back favourably in future,he didn’t play many games bu did play in maybe my favourite 7/8games of last few years
    We definitely need a new centre half, the stories on seville lad are confusing to say least
    Hammers up on Sunday not much emery can do with midfield but at least options up front duran malen ramsay could all get a start,think it to early for new Spanish rb
    Even young bogarde in midfield

  59. JG,

    No idea whether Garcia is more of an investment/emergency backup, or someone they think can break through. But if Emery does the usual, can see him being given minutes toward the ends of matches after sitting and watching 2-3 games.

  60. Bemused by this Loic Bade nonsense. Presumably there was encorouging communication with the player at the very start of negotiations. Was Bade put off by the Monaco no show? Is he waiting to see where we are after the Celtic game? Have red scouse been whispering in his ear to sit out his contract and take advantage of Seville’s money problems then they will soon be in for him to replace Virgil van Dijk?

    What’s Clément Lenglet doing these days………………………………………

  61. jbd, or is it all a rather public pissing contest with Monchi’s successor at Seville trying to save face/get one over on his predecessor, and Bade was never an option anyway?

  62. jbd,

    I’d read that “a teammate” was saying that “he wanted to stay” and that was before Monaco. Then today, “he wants to see out the project,” or some such.

    Like you, I thought Bade himself was good with the move and it was just the usual hair-splitting on the fee.

  63. You never know, r0bb0. I’ve wondered about poaching from the same 2-3 wells, whether they were glad of the money, or resentful of Monchi using his up-close knowledge to get players he knows as well as anyone.

    I will say, I much prefer transfers like Malen’s. I get so very tired when they turn into sagas.

    I find myself getting invested in a player I know little about and it just drags on and on.

  64. Ive been seeing much outrage about the Lewis-Skelly sending off for Arsenal so thought Id take a look. I must admit Ive seen many worse fouls that haven’t had a red card, so I can see why Arsenal fans are upset, but when you watch it slowly, he brings his boot, studs up, straight onto the wolves player’s shin and then rakes it down onto his foot. It was deliberate, it was dangerous, and it was a much more dangerous one than the one that Duran was sent off for. . . . . and, unlike Duran’s, there’s are no questions about the intent of the player.
    Having said I think it was harsh in the context of many other tackles we’ve seen, it would still be a travesty if it was not upheld when Arsenal appeal, because of the studs showing, and the intent behind the tackle.

  65. JC, I am actually managing ‘not’ to click on many of the transfer headlines these days because the odds of learning anything useful are just so very small these days. The latest clickbait trick is to say something along the lines of “Martinez gives his reasons behind confirmed move to Italy”.

    It will almost invariably mean that Martinez has made a tiny comment, or put an emoji on an instagram posting, about someone else moving to a club, and it doesn’t even need to be a Villa player, they’re so desperate for the clicks.

  66. Having said that I’m trying hard to avoid the clickbait transfer rumours, it’d be nice to at least see some slightly plausible rumours about a new centre back.
    We’re looking rather exposed there just now, with only two experienced centre backs, one, just returning from very long term injury and the other, hardly having had a break for too long now.

  67. So hard to resist, but it’s the right move, r0bb0. I’ve been viewing a subset via Apple News, nowhere near the usual firehose like “Martinez gives his reasons behind confirmed move to Italy”.

    Whether true or not, the most intriguing one is that Al Nassr and Real Madrid are after Duran, with Real offering Endrick, 18yo Brazilian wunderkind worth €40m. We’ve heard about PSG, of course. At Al Nassr, I guess he’d team up with Ronaldo, and that is “said to be his preference”.

    Go figure.

    But, Buendia has extended his contract to 2027 (probs to give Villa a bit more leverage on a fee), and Bade isn’t coming because he’s concerned about minutes with Konsa an ever-present. Apparently we’ve moved on to Juan Foyth, Villareal, who played with Pau. He can also play right back.

    Oh, and we might be in the race for Semih Kılıçsoy at Besiktas (which might be real since he plays wide left) and of course we’re now in line with half the league for Cunha.

    All of this to say we’ll probably end up with Foyth and that’s it.

    But I do find the Duran business rather interesting. Don’t think any of us thought he was really going to stay long, he’s just too… As always, anyone who takes the Saudi route goes way down in my estimation in terms of actual ambition. I’d much rather be in Madrid with a legendary club than some outfit missing vowels in the desert, but that’s me.

    While I doubt we’d like to see him leave just yet, if we do get some fabulous offer and have a real two-way player to spend some of the money on, I wouldn’t be against the move.

  68. I don’t ‘feel for the officials’ because this ref has lost control already.

    And I really don’t like spam at all. Turning it into a hackfest since they’ll get skinned in open play.

  69. Digne was quite right to point out to the ref that Paqueta should have been booked. The ref had a chance to regain control of the game by doing that, be he bottled it.

  70. The players will need to be very careful at the start of the next half because the ref will have had a chance to reflect on his own performance, and will be wanting to lay the law down early in the second half to Tey and regain some sort of authority.

  71. Wotta narcy niggling game plus we get kicked in the nuts when we lose Mings after that ridiculous two week Bade fiasco.
    GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    It’s going to be that kind of day. Wonder if Rogers could play CH>

  72. Not sure I’m confident, r0bb0…I don’t often berate officials, but the Kudus challenge was all about going through the man, then it all went south.

    How refs can review matches and not know Paqueta’s intent and history, it’s criminal. That bit with Digne was pathetic.

  73. Yes JC, the referee MUST know what Paqueta is like, AND he has the chance to ask his assistants to give him feedback, so why doesn’t he try to rein Paqueta in and stop his cheating.

  74. There was an interesting cameo at the last West ham corner.
    Martinez told Duran very clearly where to stand.
    Duran waved his arms and moved away towards the centre of the goal. The ball finally fell to a west ham player where Duran ‘should’ have been standing .
    He must learn to be a team player

  75. The only thing that went our way was Ramsey’s goal. Everything else went to shit. Maatsen was a mess. Martinez was surprisingly shaky. Shout out for Digne for filling in at LCH (but he was crap). TFF for Kamara, my POTM. He was filling in everywhere, firefighting and creating.

  76. r0bb0,

    If we get the right deal, I’d get rid of Duran. Cash in now before teams see what a problem he might turn out to be and how little he offers to the team as a whole.

  77. This time last year, we had Lenglet on loan and filling in across central defense. Maybe that got us across the line even though nobody rated him. We seem to be weaker this year even though we were supposed to have such a good summer transfer window.
    I say break the bank for the players that we want and take the points deduction this season.

  78. Today’s game has brought even more into focus for me, the differences between Duran and Watkins.
    They are both very good players. Watkins has already shown his ability to be one of the best forwards in the premier league and Duran looks to have the potential to be a top notch Haaland type striker.
    Watkins is an all round team player with many assists as well as goals. When he’s in the groove, he’s a great finisher, but Duran is a more natural striker, with the ability to see the opportunity to score where others wouldn’t.
    Right now, we need Watkin’s skills more than Duran’s. If you’re Man City and can recruit half a billion pounds worth of midfielders, you can afford to have a pure
    goalscorer, but I’m not
    convinced that’s where
    we are just now.
    Duran ‘could’ be a wonderful all round player if he wants to be,
    but right now, he sees ‘scoring goals’ as being
    the thing that gives him
    what he wants, whether
    it’s exposure, or simply the adrenalin kick of scoring a goal, only he
    can know which.
    Right now, we’re lucky to have both in our squad, but if you had to choose just one. . . ?

  79. Going to fume here for a little bit more.

    What really bothers me about a weak ref is players getting hurt. Mings working so hard to get back, very thin at the back, and Kudus goes right into him. It doesn’t look violent, but he was going into and through Ty all the way at his most vulnerable point.

    From there it went downhill. Alvarez should’ve been off and he knew it. Paqueta trying to get Digne booked, Coufal diving over McGinn. Paqueta trying to get a penalty call. Soucek actually pushing Cash down with two arms after Paqueta went down like he was shot.

    I’m Emery, I’m not pleased the league is allowing that degree of disruption, possible injury, and I’m not happy that Potter is apparently giving rein to the dark side of his players out of desperation. I wouldn’t have shaken his hand after, and the league needs to look into Paqueta. Like I said further up, it’s one thing to be a hard player. But he’s a cheat, he’s mean-spirited, and he ends up being dangerous. It’s on film week in, week out.

    I still think about how Wesley’s injury didn’t even draw yellow.

  80. JC, I hadn’t seen your comment when I was typing about the differences between Watkins and Duran and if we could only have one, which one would you choose?
    I now see that you’ve already made your choice 🙂

  81. JC. . .I’ll fume a bit more too.
    I know I sometimes see things through Villa tinted specs, so I do question whether I’m being balanced about referees, but today was winding me up more than usual. I commented about Alvarez getting away with too much quite early in the game but that second yellow just couldn’t have been clearer. You didn’t need to be a half decent referee to give it. . .it was just so so basic.
    Why wasn’t it given? I won’t get drawn into saying the referee was bribed, even though it was so basic you’d be excused for questioning it.
    I just think he’s a weak man who isn’t up to the job.

  82. Weak man, r0bb0, even more so given it was at Villa.

    At the same time, some of the decisions were so poor (as well as the overall spirit of the officiating) you can’t be blamed for questioning motive.

  83. To your points, jbd:

    Yeah, Maatsen was a bit of a mess. Digne stepping in doesn’t say much for Bogarde, and that was pretty much a recipe for disaster. McGinn didn’t help anything…

    It was like each player was dedicated to making their trademark errors down the stretch.

  84. Also, good shout out on Lenglet, He did do what was asked.

    Not sure why we seem ‘weaker’ than before, but I’m still going with fatigue. We’re not the first side to maybe punch above our weight and pay for it. The frequency of games has been tough, three midfielders out, now two CBs, and PSR holding us back.

    I’m about ready to say yes to the points deduction myself.

  85. Much as I hate it, we are in the early stages of the Chelsky/Shitty club for trying to spend our way to success.

    Shitty under sparky and manchini initially had problems recruiting premium talent because they were world no names. They struck lucky because they had a good nursery club that provided them with good solid players like Barry and Milner to get them off the ground. This same good natured club also provided them with a mediocre delph just to backfill the team and cover their arses in case things got sticky.

    Where is our nursery club?

  86. Well guys, the view from the terraces was one of disappointment. We played for the first 15 minutes and then dropped back into our (very) passive phase for the rest of the match. The departure of Tyro was not the reason, it started beforehand.

    As the comments above state, the ref was truly well below standard. Paqueta is a thug. A very skilful one but still a thug. Alvarez was also given free rein to hack anything that moved. Likewise Coufal.

  87. Hope nothing happens to Kamara, he held team together. Thought Emi was glued to his goal line and not commanding his area as much as usual. But my main gripe was the time each player takes to release the ball. We wait much too long and invite the challenge. At best the passing gets disrupted, at worst we collect injuries like Tyro’s. It’s an area holding us back. We need to ship the ball quicker.

  88. I’m a fan of Maatsen, but he was below par today. And when SJM came on, he wasn’t busting a gut which suggested he was not fit. And when Spam scored I was already resigned to the fact we’d ship one. Could see it coming. We need 2 or 3 goals to win games these days.

  89. The standard of referees in the EPL is a debate all by itself. Each game, we see appalling decisions given or not given. With VAR, it’s supposed to help the on field officials. I understand that present day players roll over and scream to exaggerate a tackle and attempt to gain an advantage. Consequently there is a push from the officials to let the game flow more which is admirable but if everything is left to the players, then we end up with the type of crap dished out today.

  90. So I’m gutted we dropped 2 points and the Celtic game now looms huge on Weds. Oh fuck, I hope we turn up. We’ll be fine with Carlos in the back 4. Ah wait a minute…

  91. Injuries don’t help but I’m always happy with the XI at the start of the game. Then 10 minutes later…
    Perhaps emery needs to show more faith in what’s on the bench and give them more minutes. The speed of games showing up week after week is too much to not give more minutes to the bench players.
    The ref was bad and West Ham are a chippy bunch. They were last time too. It’s a trait of a lesser team to hack away. The ref lost it the minute he gave/missed a bad penalty. Then spent the rest of the game trying not to fuck up again and honestly fucked that up too.
    I’m tired of the rolling around and players working to draw a penalty instead of playing football. I mean really, when I hit my thumb with a hammer I don’t roll around and then lo and behold I’m better. I just get on with it and deal with the throbbing. I’d go to the ground with a kick in the nuts but I wouldn’t roll, not one bit.
    Maybe a bariactic chamber would help then recover quicker.

  92. Ian,
    you’re so right about the rolling around. One thing you can almost guarantee, is that if a player rolls, he’s not really injured. If you’re injured, your mind is focused on the pain rather than how many rolls you can put in.
    Waving your hand in the air and then lifting your head to see if the referee is looking is another one.

  93. Less than a week to go for this transfer window and the bullshit reports are in full meltdown. Latest click bait is Joao Felix to Villa. It ain’t going to happen and I don’t want him. That ship sailed a long time ago. We do need a CB to replace Carlos. And if Emi Buendia is departing, we need a replacement for him. Malen was a replacement for Bidace. Big Jhon will stay because he’s needed, at least until the summer. Beyond those, PSR will restrict us.

  94. Strange season bar start of it ,it has been stop start good performances followed by bad ,results hit and miss
    Players bar kamara have been good bad and ugly
    Management and staff all follow same traits,selling carlos without a replacement seem really poor,so many transfer deal done to suit psr rules
    And if we passed books before Xmas are we still under pressure to sell before june

  95. Celtic tomorrow night who plays centre half despite emery talk don’t see mings been fit,I would go for swinkles he seems most natural defender,other choices watkins or duran, does Bailey start is mcginn ready ,and then beundi got a start which he deserved but didn’t perform seems to be another out the door,we can’t fill the bench for european matches ,so what wrong with our youth,w
    The 2 Scottish lads Wilson and kerry have either not signed a new contract or made headway to 1st team

  96. Lewis-Skelly of the Arse, deliberately kicks the legs from under his opponent whose already breezed past him and gets his red card removed after appeal. Big Jhon collapses in a heap after being tackled by Schar and gets a 3 game ban with appeal rejected. Two tier officiating clear and obvious. Scuse me for thinking the EPL is bent.

  97. James, it has been a stop, start season so far. But if Bournemouth hadn’t scored their 6th minute of extra time leveller at VP and Ollie had taken his chance against Spam, we’d be on the same points as 4th place. Fine margins at play.

  98. Plug, you’ve beaten me to it.
    It seems that threats against the referee and his family have paid off, the FA have buckled under the pressure and Arsenal have got their way. What a bad signal to
    send.
    Like you, I couldn’t help making the comparison with Duran’s sending off.
    Lewis-Skelly made a deliberate challenge, his studs were up, and they were deliberately raked down the players leg.
    Clear double standards.

  99. JG, that team you’ve suggested isn’t the one we’d ideally put out there, but there’s enough quality there to take the game to Celtic tomorrow.
    Can’t deny that I’m nervous thoigh as the Scots do love to come South of the border and fight for a win.

  100. It’s always nice to see that my thinking is aligned to the posts on the blog. Sometimes I think I’m out to lunch and then Plug, RObbO, James et al put me at ease.

  101. Likewise curious about tonight’s back line…

    Wonder if Emery will stick with Digne, Swinkles a possibility. He said he ruled out Bogarde given he’s right footed. We’ll see if that sticks.

  102. This is quite a nice summary by Thomas Hitzleberger of where we are now: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cp8q94yd64mo.amp
    I’d like to think he’s right about most real Villa fans with this following comment, but inevitably there’ll be some unrealistic souls out there.
    “Overall, I think most fans are patient enough to realise that and say, look, this is still good – although I can understand why they might have been disappointed by Sunday’s display against the Hammers.”

  103. Thanks JG. . Family all gathering now and hopefully setting off for the ground soon. M6 already showing a long red line on my traffic app, so hoping we don’t have to wait too long before our daughter gets here.
    Tonight isn’t quite on the level of a trip to Wembley, but it does feel like an important game, that will affect my mood, one way or the other for the next few days!

  104. Other transfer front, I had three Duran related articles in my news feed:
    The first had Duran going to Saudi for £57m
    The second had him as an £80m player linked to Arsenal, and the third had him down as a £100m player being looked at by Chelsea. They actually came on to my newsfeed in that order so presumably it signifies that his value is rising fast!

  105. Robbo
    Arsenal have supposedly bid 60m for Watkins, cue meltdown on social media
    You might get a game if stories that durans head is gone,
    Beundi has left,Barry has also left on loan with new extended contract signed

  106. Cash, Konsa, Bogarde and Digne…fingers crossed.

    Interestingly, no Malen on the bench. I’ve not been paying close attention, so not sure what’s happening there.

    Hope it’s a great evening, r0bb0!

  107. W/O checking, I seem to remember that my little Melon isn’t elligible for this round of the chumpions league for whatever reason. Be nice to do well but I still prefer 3 EPL points. Sorry to be repetetively boring. Anyone like to reinvent the EPL to include Rangers and Celtic. Then the EFL could have them the year after?

  108. Great to see us convert the early chances. Two beautiful goals.

    Now we need to hold and build.

    Interesting that Bouba is playing LCB, Bogarde in midfield.

  109. Will it be written that the Durango Kid scored the winning goal for us before moseying off into the sunset to play in the sand and make sand castles?

  110. JG,

    I wouldn’t think Emery’s feeling particular pressure. Still in touch in the league, playing for top 8 still. Only thing bothering him I’d think are the injuries.

    Course, mental failures don’t help anyone’s mood. There, I’m guessing he’s frustrated. He wasn’t keen on the two very loose passes that Celtic could’ve done better with.

  111. I really wish anyone but Bailey could be out there, jbd. Just nothing coming off, silly one-touches giving it back, can’t defend. The goals and assists made up for it last year, but without that, almost like playing with 10.

    Guessing Bogarde will stay at RB, but you lose a lot going forward there, as well.

  112. Yeah, JG…as much as one might want to quibble, it is amazing.

    If royalty are struggling to balance competitions and meet expectations, you have to give Emery and Villa a lot of credit.

  113. Kamara needs a new contract another super performance, his passing from defence was brilliant
    Rogers has to get man of match,followed closely by kamara and watkins ,his workrate unreal

  114. Oh, and yeah, Duran to Saudi would pretty much sum up what most of us think. Course Villa’s valuation has something to do with that, but to leave the PL at his age to go off into obscurity for a bigger paycheck?

  115. Ramsay getting his form back ,very good first 30 mins,especially when we pinging ball about
    Bogarde looks excellent squad player be good for last 20 mins to close out a game
    Wonder how far onana and barclay are from fitness
    Malen will be fit play in next round

  116. Well, if Duran is on the way out and he’s picked Saudi Arabia, then that’s good as I would hate him to haunt us in the prem.
    It appears the only way to success with all the different financial rules is to buy potential and develop it.

  117. To be honest. . . . it wasn’t a bad night to be back at Villa park. 🙂

    A surreal range of emotions throughout the night, starting with the poor guy 4 rows back suffering a heart attack right at the start of the game, but being treated by the first aiders and finally being carried from his seat whilst forcing a smile, to the applause of the fans.
    It was during this, that we scored 2 goals so the euphoria of the goals was tempered by a genuine life and death struggle!

  118. When Cash went off, I said to my wife “this feels like the West Ham game, where we start brilliantly, the back line is disrupted. . . ”
    . . . and that’s how it felt for the rest of the half.
    Half time was a relief

  119. When they scored, a Celtic fan near us couldn’t help celebrating and had to be manhandled out.
    Quite a few had to be ejected, and their fans were singing pro IRA songs. . . .not a great thing to do in
    Birmingham.
    I hope their fans are banned from attending their play off game

  120. Then the finale. . . . Oh boy!
    It had been so tense, so when that final goal went it, there was a hifmge feeling of excitement and relief.
    Then at the end, everyone was looking at their phones to see if we’d done enough.
    The players all came to the touchline and were huddled round the monitors, and then leaped into the air and hugged each other when the final whistle went in the Atalanta game.
    Euphoria all over again.
    A great night!

  121. Kamara was already my favourite player, but what a star he is.
    He’s a large part of the reason we managed to pull it together again in the second half, despite the makeshift back line.
    I don’t want to jinx it, but he’s just such a calm, but determined player. . . what a find he has been

  122. OK, Ollie should have had more goals, but what a selfless, and hard working, and skillful, and determined player he is.
    He won so many of the duels with their centre back from balls punted upfield and its so good that he now has his first achampion’s league goal. . . Hopefully just the first, with more to come!

  123. A shout out also to Bogarde.
    OK, Celtic’s forward line was not the most penetrative that you’ll ever see, but you can only deal with what’s in front of you, and at no point did he give cause to think that we were unduly exposed on his side. Hopefully he can kick on even further from here

  124. CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LAST 16 VILLA. A night for the ages. VP rammed and heaving. Full of atmosphere. An opening 5 minutes that created scenes of joy and delirium. Not 1 but 2 Rogers goals. Limbs everywhere, pandemonium, wild excitement.

  125. Then Ollie missed a great chance to put us 3-0 ahead and in a heartbeat it was 2-2. Our makeshift defence was only held together by Kamara (what a player). Bogarde went with his man, Bailey stood and watched his man fill the acres of space left and they had a goal back, quickly followed by what we all feared was coming. Even then, another chance went begging on half time.

  126. Around the hour mark, SJM released Ramsey down the right and he fed Ollie who buried it. The static energy in the atmosphere fused and cracked. VP detonated. It might only have been worth about 10 million quid but nobody was bothered about that. There was a Battle of Britain to be won. More chances went begging, Ollie was felled in the box, took the penalty and skied it. Think he slipped. Nervousness gripped everyone until Ollie chased down their defender in overtime and set up Rogers for his 3rd. In truth, it could have been 7-2. Should have been.

  127. Disturbing news though. Looks like Big Jhon is off to Saudi. I’m gutted. But I must trust Unai on this one. As for the Arse, the timing of their bid for Ollie has put them in my Hall of Hate forever.

  128. Plug, the Arsenal announcement of their failed bid for Ollie just before our game was such a classless move, from a classless club with a classless manager.
    I used to quite like them but these days, they lack any integrity and are a thoroughly unpleasant bunch

  129. Plug, I also trust Unai with regard to Big Jhon. I know that JG in particular has always been a big fan of JD, and we have all now seen what a player he ‘could’ turn out to be, but I think the club and his team mates have done remarkably well in trying to integrate such a maverick character. My gut feeling is that we’ll be better off without him, particularly as it seems likely that it will solve our PSR issues for this season.

  130. Hey R0Bbo, I trust you enjoyed the atmosphere last night eh? I certainly did. We’ve come a long way in just over 2 years from relegation fodder to Champions League last 16. I’m still digesting it.

    It’s all about the money for us now in this competition. I’m a fan of the new structure, it has worked well. Some big names left fighting for survival. Nights like last night are jewels. Give me more, give me more.

  131. Well that was quite an eventful evening, r0bb0!

    Very glad you and Plug were there. Crowd looked bonkers after Rogers’ second.

    Said upthread it was enough drama for three matches. Truly memorable night.

  132. In all honesty, I think Villa got a little cocky. It was clear they were the better team, chances were always going to be there, and 7-2 wouldn’t have been unfair.

    When Ollie was smiling after his little dink for the third failed to go in you had the feeling it was like a training session, and that’s when the concentration dropped.

    I hated to see it go 2-2, obvs, but it felt inevitable we’d score more. When Ollie slipped, I did start wondering if it was maybe going to go sideways.

  133. From the post-match comments, etc., it’s clear this is what Emery revels in and loves to deliver to the supporters, the game. The drama, atmosphere, and sense of occasion.

    Best Villa experience of my life was the 2-2 draw when Barca came visiting in the UEFA Cup with Cruyff, and we were well mixed in with their supporters (who were very pleasant, overall). The pandemonium when we equalized…priceless.

    Really glad he was able to deliver Round of 16 first time out. Should be a good marker for the club, NSWE, everyone. Promises made, promises kept kind of thing.

    I hope the boys can shake the hangover thing now they’ve gotten through. All gravy from here.

  134. JC, talking of best Villa experiences, I was struggling to think of one at Villa park that matched (or beat last night) and the one that springs to mind is that ridiculous 6-4 against Blackburn, to reach the Carling Cup final in 2010.
    By way of contrast that one started badly and steadily improved, ending in a pitch invasion.

  135. My best Villa Park experience was December 1976. Villa 5 Liverpool 1. It was the only time that I stood in the Witton Lane End behind the goal and I swallowed all 5 goals in the 1st half. Nothing happened in the 2nd half. We all had an out of body experience, Villa were so good. They were like a highly tuned V8 muscle car. Liverpool were their usual football machine and Villa just obliterated them. Never seen a better Villa performance. Better than that 7-2 game a few years ago.

  136. Jc, I think anyone else becoming just a teeny bit concerned that we may release players but be unable to replace them in time?
    Unlike Marton O’Neil, who was happy to bring in any number of players and never use them, Emery strikes me as someone who will not compromise by ‘filling a gap’ with someone he doesn’t believe will fit with his way of training and playing.
    Could be a tense 12 hours or so coming up for the club management

  137. JC. .
    You said “promises made, promises met” . . . I reckon its actually “promises made, promises exceeded” . . .up to this point anyway.

  138. Rumours has it that Felix is the player Emery really wants, but his wages are just too high.
    Bearing in mind d European PSR wage bill requirements (or whatever initials they use), it could be an important sticking point. May we have to compromise, by having one less expensive, first team player on the books?

  139. Rather a bittersweet week for me,unreal we finished top 8 champions league table but to lose big john duran is hard to take,I’ve gone past stage of hero worshipping players but for me duran could and still can be best number 9 in world and we had him
    But in honesty have to trust unai emery in his decision, as his interview said 3 things,price club team where all important and this transfer clicked all box’s so be it,even better that duran hasn’t went to a rival to come back and haunt us this season or next
    Who do we get in to replace duran ,emery hasn’t been found wanting in his incoming players
    Duran moreno tielmens torres diaby rogers onana matasen barclay ,the 2 lads on loan last season
    We definitely need 1 centre backend an attacking option preferable someone that can play centre forward

  140. One big thing g about european match the ref v celtic was excellent, yes could been few bookings but play was let go
    Think that’s a first for me praising a ref,will have to see a doc to see that I am ok

  141. Guess who said this: “the ref v celtic was excellent”

    Yes, I had to go back and check too! 🙂

    I’ve been known to have my say about referees too, but the fact is, that I hardly even noticed him on Wednesday, with the exception of a couple of times when I felt he ‘could’ have given a yellow card, and that says it all! Is it possible that our PL referees just aren’t up to it much of the time?

    I have seen Carragher and Neville, inferring that the Miles Skelly sending off should have been upheld, and I do agree with that. They also say that Arteta and Arsenal are protesting too much and I totally agree with that too. The FA decision to rescind the red card does look odd, because not only does it seem to go against the letter of the law, but they also, whilst not condoning the death threats, they do seem to be bowing to them. It seems all round to be a very bad signal to send.

  142. JG, following on from your shout out for Bogarde, I’ll add that he did seem pretty nippy, and that could help if we start playing a slightly higher line again

  143. Sorry about that JG. . . . 3 days mourning begins now.

    Whilst I’ve been very critical of his attitude, we’ve certainly seen glimpses of potential greatness, and it will hurt a bit if we see him progress to be the player we think he ‘could’ be.

    Having said that, there are plenty of examples of players who’ve failed to fulfil the potential that everyone thought they saw in them. Not quite at the same level, but it was always clear that Chukwuemeka saw greatness in himself and was impatient to move to a bigger club, rather than [prove himself at Villa first. Two years down the line and he’s not getting on the pitch, and is back on
    the market now. That’s the difficulty with unproven players, you’re paying for potential. . . . and it isn’t always realised. It’s easy to see why the club went for ‘the bird in the hand’ and accepted £65m now, particularly as it should be more than enough to plug the likely PSR hole at the end of this year.

    There has been plenty of criticism of Duran’s decision to chase the money and sell out to the Saudi league, rather than prove himself against higher quality opposition, but I can see a couple of reasons why his decision could be a good one. Firstly, he’s reportedly being paid a huge amount of money at a young age, and if he ends up ‘not’ fulfilling the potential we think we see, then he’ll never get another chance at gaining such riches. . . . you only live once!

    Secondly, he gets to play with Ronaldo, and if Ronaldo takes to him, then you’d struggle to find a better mentor to learn from. In 4 years time, he’ll still be plenty young enough to take the skills he already has, plus the skills he’s learned, back to Europe, to compete at the highest level. Hopefully even ‘his’ ego, recognises that Ronaldo is ahead of him in the pecking order, so he’ll have the patience, to sit back and learn.

    . . . .watch that space!

  144. Attitude think that was main reason that emery agreed to the sale,maybe with knowledge we won’t have to make anymore big sales before June
    We do need a big signing just to lift us fans,I mean no midweek game for few weeks now either

  145. The FA appeal panel for the Lewis-Skelly sending off said “stepped across his opponent and tripped him up, possibly deliberately, but in doing so he had obviously not endangered the safety of his opponent”

    Now remember that they had as much time as they needed to watch the slow motion replays from as many angles as they wanted.
    Here are some replays that Sky have available:
    https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12040/13300327/myles-lewis-skelly-red-card-fa-reveals-why-arsenal-defenders-sending-off-was-overturned-after-appeal
    If you get to the slow motion bits it’s 100% clear that he didn’t ‘step across’ his opponent, he raked his studs down the players leg. They also said that he’d done it “possibly deliberately” and I doubt you could find a single fan in the country, even an Arsenal one, who would suggest that it was an accident.

    This is really worrying. It’s easy to speculate about why the FA chose to release that particular statement, but it’s so clearly inaccurate it opens the way for all sorts of speculation.

  146. I’m totally gutted with the loss of Big Jhon. Villa fans have always loved an effective CF and he was certainly that. I was fortunate enough in the North Stand to be right behind a couple of his great goals that will live in Villa folklore. I understand the reasons but it doesn’t ease the pain.

    Best wishes big man, you lit the blue touch paper a few times. We will miss you.

  147. Seems like we are spitefully preventing arse from signing Ollie whilst also cruelly denying him is dream move.

    Seems like rashford thinks Villa are below him and they aren’t in barcelona.

    Seems like chelsky are keeping us dangling with Disasi. We dont have duran to px.

    Seems like felix just isn’t interested in Villa because they aren’t in london or barcelona. Alan Sugar would probably describe him as just another felix kickaball.

    Seems to be down to Cunha, Danso and maybe Tels.

  148. So…as per, all good and interesting thoughts. Though praising officials is a bit over the top.

    Given all the questions and a nervy couple of days, a new post is up addressing Duran and the rest of the window.

    Not a lot about Wolves, but what is there to say other than we need three points.

    COYVB

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