Villa. Dead Jammy or What?

[Booker4]

No hate from me, more envy at the quality they are able to buy/loan, & discard if things don't work out!

And................... Grealish is pure class, loves his club. I just wish we could unearth our own version & afford to keep him.

If we did have our own version then its far more likely that whoever that player is would leave us because we're not a big enough club to challenge at the top end of the table over a consistent period of time. That's not to say we can't challenge up there and I think if we keep Wilder we'll be nearer the top than the bottom of the league, we need a few seasons up in the PL to establish ourselves and reap the financial rewards. Leicester are the best comparison for us to emulate but they've spent some serious money along the way although their recruitment has also been excellent. Vardy and Mahrez for £1.4m! Wow!

Dane Whitehouse was the nearest we've had to Grealish as a fan, and he was a cracking player of course in his day. Not at Grealish's level, granted, but a match winner for us and never wanted to leave even when the club did their best to sell him. He's the only one I can think of though that's made it with us. Regan Slater seems a proper Blade, hope he does get a chance one day with us if good enough.

 

[Booker4]

Only just watched the highlights. Yes they were lucky, the first goal is always the most important and Liverpool gifted them that first, although you could say that's not luck. The deflected goals are lucky to an extent but then at least were shooting and that's something we just don't do enough. Didzy did it on Sunday and we scored from it. McBurnie had a crack also that was straight at the keeper but its something we need to do more of.

Our passing and running off the ball isn't sharp enough right now, teams are easily able to get in shape and then we're looking for a perfect cross or to play several sharp crisp passes like Arsenal did to us and that's not easy to do either. So in essence, Villa may have been lucky but one thing we really lack is someone who can take a man on and have a pop. I was hoping Swift would do that, but we know how that ended. Fleck at his best can, Burke probably can, Berge can in the RCM role, but we've had so little of the ball in areas where we can hurt people, unless its with the opposition players all set as I said.

But all of the above re us will change when we get a win on the board, the confidence comes back as it did once we'd scored v Arsenal, we looked a different team.

 

[Champagneblade]

Okay. So now tell me that ghost goal hadn't cost Sheffield United.

The extra two points maybe didn't cost us a place but what about the end of season shake up?

1. Villa go down.

2. Villa then aren't in a position to make the Cash and Watkins signings and we are. Chris ends up with a more proven striker rather than a kid who is a year or two away.

3. There is one less big club ahead of us to compete against.

4. They quite possibly have players who want to leave that we would consider.

Dean Smith now riding high. Alarming talk of Chris Wilder leaving his boyhood club as we continue on a course of to a record low point finish.

Only Sheffield United would have a bright spot extinguished by a 9000/1 one off event that the Premier League and Referees associations sat idly by and allowed happen...

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

The extra two points maybe didn't cost us a place but what about the end of season shake up?

The mythical two points is still pie in the sky just like it always was.

Nobody will ever know what would have happened in that match. All you can say for certain is that we would have gone 0-1 up in the 41st minute.

Could have finished 0-1, 2-1, 4-2 or 5-5.

 

[Champagneblade]

The mythical two points is still pie in the sky just like it always was.

Nobody will ever know what would have happened in that match. All you can say for certain is that we would have gone 0-1 up in the 41st minute.

Could have finished 0-1, 2-1, 4-2 or 5-5.

That much is true but you can't deny there is far greater chance of winning a game when you are 1-0 up at half time and our record at that point of being ahead in games and seeing them out was statistically phenomenal.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

That much is true but you can't deny there is far greater chance of winning a game when you are 1-0 up at half time and our record at that point of being ahead in games and seeing them out was statistically phenomenal.

Maybe, maybe not.

It's all just conjecture.

 

[CentralQuay]

That much is true but you can't deny there is far greater chance of winning a game when you are 1-0 up at half time and our record at that point of being ahead in games and seeing them out was statistically phenomenal.

Watkins/Cash wouldn't make a difference to this side.
Mcburnie's record was just as good in the Championship the year of promotion, Brewster was scoring at a near identical rate last season to Watkins too.

Youth, Mobility and Physicality are 3 things that Villa squad contains more of, and just a lot more quality.

 

[Champagneblade]

Maybe, maybe not.

It's all just conjecture.

It's not really maybe, maybe not though is it? There is more chance of winning a game from a position of 1-0 to a position of 0-0.

 

[Champagneblade]

Watkins/Cash wouldn't make a difference to this side.
Mcburnie's record was just as good in the Championship the year of promotion, Brewster was scoring at a near identical rate last season to Watkins too.

Youth, Mobility and Physicality are 3 things that Villa squad contains more of, and just a lot more quality.

I don't see how you can state that in such a factual manner. Watkins is a better player right now than Brewster. Cash is a better player than Bogle. Surely with better players the team would be doing better?

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

It's not really maybe, maybe not though is it? There is more chance of winning a game from a position of 1-0 to a position of 0-0.

There's more chance of winning but anything could still have happened.

We blew a 1-0 lead against Brighton a couple of matches previous to Villa.

 

[Champagneblade]

There's more chance of winning but anything could still have happened.

We blew a 1-0 lead against Brighton a couple of matches previous to Villa.

We'd gone something like 90 matches of being ahead at half time and not lost. We had an excellent 'conversion rate' before we started losing all our matches this season!

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

We'd gone something like 90 matches of being ahead at half time and not lost. We had an excellent 'conversion rate' before we started losing all our matches this season!

Since that Villa match we've still only lost one match when we've been ahead at HT.

 

[CentralQuay]

I don't see how you can state that in such a factual manner. Watkins is a better player right now than Brewster. Cash is a better player than Bogle. Surely with better players the team would be doing better?

This team scored 39 goals in 38 games last season, with 2 strikers in the squad that were scoring at the same rate in the Championship as Watkins. (Sharp + Mcburnie).
This season this team has scored 8 goals in 17 games, with 3 strikers in the squad that were scoring at the same rate as Watkins in the Championship. (Sharp, Mcburnie + Brewster).

The team doesn't create, it was the same last season.
Watkins/Cash don't change that.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

This team scored 39 goals in 38 games last season, with 2 strikers in the squad that were scoring at the same rate in the Championship as Watkins. (Sharp + Mcburnie).
This season this team has scored 8 goals in 17 games, with 3 strikers in the squad that were scoring at the same rate as Watkins in the Championship. (Sharp, Mcburnie + Brewster).

The team doesn't create, it was the same last season.
Watkins/Cash don't change that.

Buendia was the one to go for. Going into the season relying on a wantaway John Lundstram was poor.

 

[CentralQuay]

Buendia was the one to go for. Going into the season relying on a wantaway John Lundstram was poor.

He was my suggestion on the transfer thread last summer.
Don't think there was any chance after they had already sold Godfrey and Lewis though

 

[Champagneblade]

This team scored 39 goals in 38 games last season, with 2 strikers in the squad that were scoring at the same rate in the Championship as Watkins. (Sharp + Mcburnie).
This season this team has scored 8 goals in 17 games, with 3 strikers in the squad that were scoring at the same rate as Watkins in the Championship. (Sharp, Mcburnie + Brewster).

The team doesn't create, it was the same last season.
Watkins/Cash don't change that.

Most of our creation comes from our wide. Cash as a wing back I'd say would create more than Baldock, who is sound defensively but has always lacked a little in the final third. He has 2 assists already from fullback, twice as many as George. He'd be afforded more opportunity to create in a wing back role.

The rest all depends on your views of the strikers. Watkins is more mobile and more of a goal threat. Most on here would have seen him as na upgrade on McBurnie.

You may disagree which is your prerogative though I'm sure Chris would rather be sat here with his first picks than those further down the list.

 

[CentralQuay]

Most of our creation comes from our wide. Cash as a wing back I'd say would create more than Baldock, who is sound defensively but has always lacked a little in the final third. He has 2 assists already from fullback, twice as many as George. He'd be afforded more opportunity to create in a wing back role.

The rest all depends on your views of the strikers. Watkins is more mobile and more of a goal threat. Most on here would have seen him as na upgrade on McBurnie.

You may disagree which is your prerogative though I'm sure Chris would rather be sat here with his first picks than those further down the list.

Watkins and Cash don't solve any of the problems.
Villa have creativity and mobility - Grealish/Mcginn/Traore/El Ghazi to actually threaten teams.
They also have mobile centre halves too - Mings/Hause/Konsa.

Of course the defenders in the side look better than the forwards, there's barely more than 5 yards between them and their own goal to stop them being exposed for their lack of pace.....Whilst the forwards are always 50 yards from the opposition net.


JOC/Bash/Egan get a lot of credit in this side, when really, they have the easiest job on the pitch with the way the team plays so deep.

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

Last season we'd see forums of other clubs posting bitter, envious shite like this about us and laugh our heads off.

 

[Champagneblade]

Watkins and Cash don't solve any of the problems.
Villa have creativity and mobility - Grealish/Mcginn/Traore/El Ghazi to actually threaten teams.
They also have mobile centre halves too - Mings/Hause/Konsa.

Of course the defenders in the side look better than the forwards, there's barely more than 5 yards between them and their own goal to stop them being exposed for their lack of pace.....Whilst the forwards are always 50 yards from the opposition net.


JOC/Bash/Egan get a lot of credit in this side, when really, they have the easiest job on the pitch with the way the team plays so deep.

This is down to a lack of confidence this season though. We didn't used to end up so deep. The team that finished last season was miles ahead of Villa despite a the players you mentioned above.

I don't see how JoC and Bash have easy jobs either. They are auxiliary attackers as well as defenders. The issue this season is that one of them has been injured as has the rest of one side of the team for a large portion of the season. Had Villa been missing Grealish and 3 or 4 other top picked they'd also be struggling.

I still disagree your point on Cash and Watkins.

Cash as a more creative player than Baldock. Watkins as a more potent striker of late than McBurnie.

 

[CentralQuay]

This is down to a lack of confidence this season though. We didn't used to end up so deep. The team that finished last season was miles ahead of Villa despite a the players you mentioned above.

I don't see how JoC and Bash have easy jobs either. They are auxiliary attackers as well as defenders. The issue this season is that one of them has been injured as has the rest of one side of the team for a large portion of the season. Had Villa been missing Grealish and 3 or 4 other top picked they'd also be struggling.

I still disagree your point on Cash and Watkins.

Cash as a more creative player than Baldock. Watkins as a more potent striker of late than McBurnie.

This is the myth that I exposed the other day.

Fleck, Basham, Egan, Baldock, Sharp, Mcgoldrick, Stevens etc are all the wrong side of 25.
They're career Championship/League 1 players that have had 1 good season in the PL, not the other way around.

Grealish, El Ghazi, Traore, Mcginn, douglas luiz, Mings, Konsa, Hause are younger, and haven't all spent 5/6/7 years playing in the lower leagues.
The team that finished last season was far ahead of Villa experience wise, not quality/potential.


There's a reason that there will not be many of this squad playing in the PL again next season.

 

[Ralph Blade]

Rather than the ghost goal, I wonder where the season might have gone had Lundstram scored the penalty against Villa this season?

The return of John McGinn has made a big difference, but the presence of Martinez in goal is huge.

I‘m still reserving complete judgement until fans return to the stadiums, the upturn in Villas fortunes with no fans compared to our demise in empty stadiums is bewildering.

 

[Champagneblade]

This is the myth that I exposed the other day.

Fleck, Basham, Egan, Baldock, Sharp, Mcgoldrick, Stevens etc are all the wrong side of 25.
They're career Championship/League 1 players that have had 1 good season in the PL, not the other way around.

Grealish, El Ghazi, Traore, Mcginn, douglas luiz, Mings, Konsa, Hause are younger, and haven't all spent 5/6/7 years playing in the lower leagues.
The team that finished last season was far ahead of Villa experience wise, not quality/potential.


There's a reason that there will not be many of this squad playing in the PL again next season.

What myth exposed? I slightly overinflated way of expressing your view.

How can you possibly say it wasn't on quality but just experience?

Sheffield United finished miles ahead of Villa. And since when is 25 the peak age for a player?

Villa have since spent a fortune once more despite the fact they shouldn't even have been in this division. Meanwhile Sheffield United have had horrendous injuries on the back of poor refereeing decisions. No better example than the unjust red card for Egan vs Villa in a much we had every chance to win, given we were only a poorly taken penalty away from a draw despite Villa having 80 minutes gifted to them with a man advantage.

 

[SouthportBlade]

Whilst its all theoretical and quite simplistic, think the general point is we had Lower league players over performing and importantly gelling together as a team. Whereas Villa have Premier league players underperforming and not gelling as a team.

Barring a few (Egan, JOC, Berge & maybe some of the youngster in a few years), if we get relegated I'd wager majority will not play Premier League football again. No chance the likes of Osborn, Robinson, Bryan, Sharp, Stevens, Jags etc end up in the top flight again.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

Whilst its all theoretical and quite simplistic, think the general point is we had Lower league players over performing and importantly gelling together as a team. Whereas Villa have Premier league players underperforming and not gelling as a team.

Barring a few (Egan, JOC, Berge & maybe some of the youngster in a few years), if we get relegated I'd wager majority will not play Premier League football again. No chance the likes of Osborn, Robinson, Bryan, Sharp, Stevens, Jags etc end up in the top flight again.

I was thinking this when I watched us last weekend. Some of these players are so lucky to be playing premiership football because under normal circumstances without a ridiculously quick journey from L1 to Prem they’d be nowhere near.

Then there’s players like Osborn/ Robinson/ Lowe that in 2 years time will be playing for a team in either in league one of lower championship. They’re so lucky to get this opportunity that some really good championship players don’t get.

 

[Champagneblade]

Whilst its all theoretical and quite simplistic, think the general point is we had Lower league players over performing and importantly gelling together as a team. Whereas Villa have Premier league players underperforming and not gelling as a team.

Barring a few (Egan, JOC, Berge & maybe some of the youngster in a few years), if we get relegated I'd wager majority will not play Premier League football again. No chance the likes of Osborn, Robinson, Bryan, Sharp, Stevens, Jags etc end up in the top flight again.

Villa played relegation football last season and were saved by a 9000/1 anomaly.

I just don't see how Villa have PL players in the main all of a sudden any more than we did last season.

Mings is a far inferior player to O'Connell. We've all seen that when they've lined up against each other. Villa haven't beaten us 11 v 11 in 3 seasons.

They are carried by Grealish. And now Watkins, the guy who is their top scorer but apparently would make no difference to our set up despite us having the highest xG differential of the PL clubs. We appear not to be creating much the last couple of games though that wasn't the case earlier in the season which is why I think he would make some difference.

Our problems are well documented. Mass injuries have ravaged every department, O'Connell, Stevens, Fleck, Berge, Mousset etc, poor decisions, prospects being forced into action before time due to said injuries all compounding a lack of self belief now throughout the team.

I doubt Villa would have coped much better.

If McGinn or ElGhazi were in a team bereft of several first teamers, including Grealish, their best player, as O'Connel is ours, I doubt they'd be pulling up trees either.

 

[Greg.]

Better recruitment plays a part, though this is part explained by our lower ability to offer high wages.

Martinez has statistically conceded about 4.4 goals for his team than expected, while Ramsdale has conceded about 2.4 more. Hendo was in a similar position to Martinez last year (top of the league) and the importance of this can't be understated given nearly all our defeats have been by a 1 goal magnitude.



The Barkley loan was a good piece of business, but probably impossible for us to have been involved when he is reported to be on 96k per week. Nonetheless, we never addressed the creative midfield problem and still have relied on Lundstram as a largest contributor of chances created this season (~13). I'm really surprised we weren't able to do a loan on this front, even if it was Lingard or a pay as you play deal for Wilshere.

Meanwhile Villa are fortunate to genuinely have a world class player in Grealish (who also loves the club so has stuck with them) - Grealish has created the most chances in the league (55), the 2nd most big chances (behind De Bruyne) and has the highest xA in the league. He looks to have pushed on and developed as a player this season. Unfortunately we have no-one even close to his standard and that's just a matter of life. The same is true for several other teams around us (FUL, WBA, BUR, BHA).

Having watched Watkins play, I'm not convinced we missed out or would have made any difference to us in terms of goal output. He's also 5 years older than Brewster. Remember Villa bought Wesley for 23m in the previous season too, so have spend >50m on two strikers in two seasons. I suspect Brewster, McBurnie, Sharp etc. in that Villa team would still score multiple goals given the number of opportunities created for them.

Konsa was a good signing for them. In short Villa effectively addressed their weaknesses last season through sensible recruitment and have avoided any major injuries to key players. We weren't smart about recruitment (though are more constrained by wages) in terms of addressing our shortcomings last season and have been hurt by injuries to key players.

 

[Gimli]

Unpopular opinion; I’m really enjoying watching Aston Villa this year.

They and Southampton are really enjoyable sides to watch - id nearly throw Leeds in there too, but I really don’t like Leeds.

When we are as bad as we are, I can’t take any solace from watching us lose all the time, but do take solace in watching villa, Southampton, wolves and to a certain extent Leicester, giving the ‘big 6’ a bloody nose.

 

[CentralQuay]

What myth exposed? I slightly overinflated way of expressing your view.

How can you possibly say it wasn't on quality but just experience?

Sheffield United finished miles ahead of Villa. And since when is 25 the peak age for a player?

Villa have since spent a fortune once more despite the fact they shouldn't even have been in this division. Meanwhile Sheffield United have had horrendous injuries on the back of poor refereeing decisions. No better example than the unjust red card for Egan vs Villa in a much we had every chance to win, given we were only a poorly taken penalty away from a draw despite Villa having 80 minutes gifted to them with a man advantage.

I'm basing it off of the last 'x' seasons, not just last season.
You're claiming this squad is very capable of playing at this level based off of just 1 season, i'm claiming they're not, based off of the past 5/6/7/8 seasons.

If Fleck/Norwood/Egan/Basham/Mcgoldrick/Sharp etc were capable of playing at this level, why have they spent their whole careers, as decent lower league players?

How someone can seriously argue this side is bottom with 2 points because of a game against Aston Villa last season is beyond me.

 

[VictoryBlade]

Mings if fucking shite...……….absolute shite! He's like a younger version of David Luize or what ever the cunts name is!

 

[VictoryBlade]

And the other thing is we can't attend games, so we cant kick the fuck out of the Villa fans after the match (lol)…………..joke!!!