I'm more with you here. He'd waited all summer for a move he'd obviously been led to expect. Then out of nowhere it re-emerged. When I saw that story I thought, knowing how emotional he is, that if he played his head wouldn't be right. I don't see it as an Isak or Wissa situation.
Has Sancho actually been confirmed?
Have we actually confirmed sancho and Elliott? Wondered if they'd watched the palace game on the way down and changed their mind
What's the most "what the...." transfer fee you've seen paid? I think it was Osula or Broja.
I watched the Brentford game back. I mean not great. But I thought he was unlucky to be hauled off.
Emi martinez I mean..
That all sounds way better than I thought we would do yday Jacob. Still nuts it's come down to final day Do you think Emi stays now? A hard route back for him now Great coverage BTW.
Surely villa out of time now to get a replacement
Problem is we wd need our own keeper in. It's a absolute mess.
It was well advertised they were in for Lemmans. Emi has been really stupid here it seems
Toxicity
No they aren't
I'd laugh if he ends up in Turkey mind
He's not the world's number 1 he's a very naughty boy
Yeah seem to be galatasaray rumours now. And think their window goes beyond ours? But he's not going to Man U
Looks like Emi is stuck with us. I think it could get toxic with him. Does Sancho actually want to be at villa? Would Elliott? Which other players did Mings have in mind?
Yes please
I think it would be a really difficult outcome. Fans too, not just Emery.
I think the right hand side generally is a problem and we lack a number 10. It's probably 3 players imv. Plus we probably still don't know what the right combo is at centre back. Then there's the keeper situation. But emery does have a great record of problem solving
Can't help feel this is going to end badly for villa. Either we end up with an unhappy Dibu who's burned bridges with the club. Or we go for Lammens who would see us as a significant step down from joining Man U (perhaps even not coming)
Some people are just stupid and reveal themselves to be such.
Hope you're right. Think this is his biggest test and the first time I've really felt there to be a negative atmosphere around the club. I remember looking at the Brentford team and thinking they had more goal threat and that didn't feel great. But agree we do have good players
I'm not yet confident we're top half. We were v much mid table until Feb. There are various teams that look more effective and well balanced than us, plus we've been dodgy defensively for most of the last two years and our goal threat is much lower.
I'm getting 8 hour ferry from France. Will switch signal on at the other end and see where we are. Think easy to imagine a dif keeper outcome. An unhappy Emi staying. Or Emi going and no decent replacement. Not sure Sancho is the right character for the season we face. No idea who the no 10 cd be
The problem is we started out being defensively strong. Then in season 2 we had massive attacking threat. Last season we had spells when balance was wrong but then better. But atm it's worst of both worlds
I keep saying it. We had plenty of tedious games with lots of very safe passing under Unai. But scored first. We're now conceding first. Results massively colour perception.
Know you've been quick to play down some of Ty's quotes, eg on Ramsey, but he's an intelligent man and I do think he'd choosing his words deliberately
He's cumulatively fourth since he started. No right for us to achieve that. But I do agree with your concerns. We needed Stellar recruitment after the waste of the Gerrard era but we've not had it
I remember that season. Nobody saw that start coming. But it was obvious from early on that Little was done. Aside from all the tactical issues I worry that some of the heart has just gone out of us. And we've built the whole club around the manager so we can't afford for him to fail
I agree these are all risks. Coupled with him being so structured (and selling off so much attacking threat) meaning we've become v predictable. But it's just a set of questions at this point. He still has huge credit in the bank
I'm obviously being melodramatic. But this feels quite similar to some previous really bad seasons, and I wonder how close it feels to Leicester's relegation season
Well it's not going to be asensio by the looks of things
That defeat at old Trafford felt like a huge sliding doors moment, and that's been exacerbated because I think the whole club from manager to fans has taken that view
Just Grealish and Everton next.
I was led to believe that simply chucking malen and Guessand in would lead to great attacking play...
I said before Jacob. There are a tonne of tactical issues. But the biggest concern is what seems to have happened to our mentality and spirit.
He picked the team the fans wanted but there's not enough control in that side for me
I maybe wrong but I think guessand may play in more like the Ramsey role
It's fine for that role. If we sell Emi and that's it then it's not going to feel very fine..
I've got a bad feeling about the atmosphere, performance, result and aftermath tonight John. Hope I'm wrong. Hope the team and fans can envigorate each other from the off.
Either way chances of us getting a new keeper, number 10 and right winger by tomorrow without a net spend seems unlikely!
I think the atmos could turn today?
Any sense of the fee for Emi, Jacob?
You'd have to take it. He's 33! Ederson is going for about £10m
Surely we can't get £40m?!
Kinell
I can't keep up. Where have you seen that (Costa)?
Agree. It's just buendia or Bogarde for me. And subject to any injuries we're not aware of
Of course they are.
I believe afro Caribbean boys and Romany kids face similar challenges? Looking fwd to Allister Heath's piece on the liberal establishment ignoring those groups too
Think it's been well reported he's up for it
If we can get a replacement (Lemmens?) and the bid is over £25m I think you've got to consider it.
I struggle to see us putting together a deal that West ham will find attractive?
I've got mixed views. Before his betting scandal he was on the verge of moving to city and emery has a history of getting great things out of players at this stage in their career. But it seems incredibly hard to do and I worry about the finances
Because he gives it away too much and our form improved hugely when he was taken out of that position after February
I mean it's good and all that but this is not the transfer news we're looking for Jacob
Maybe yeah. But does he get in our best eleven and if not that seems a luxury given our £ position
Either / or surely? This one feels a long shot
What's happened to Redmond?
Isn't our record v glasner scored 4 conceded 16? Never fewer than two per game?
He's going to Villa... Real 😂
Where'd you see that ps?
Mings and Mcginn I reckon are the doubts
I assume kamara, mings (uh oh) and one more? Maybe one of those who came off, such as mcginn?
Plus theyre really going to have to look at ticket prices even beyond the discounts already announced
Fenerbahce and Duran were inevitable
True. I don't think we can list Duran AND rashford tho as they were an exchange already Do think we're a bit weaker but it shouldn't be all doom and gloom
Think their defence / keeper plus fatigue and inexperience will prevent this. Fancy arsenal
I'm undecided. The squad compared to that which went on a great run is basically guessand for Ramsey, and no rashford but + game time for Malen. I agree we're placing a lot of emphasis on unknowns like guessand + malen, Rogers and Watkins and I have long suspected Rogers may drop off this yr
Agree it's still the right hand side that doesn't feel right. Though guessand or malen would provide more direct /wide threat than mcginn you'd think. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that this is basically the squad that beat PSG and Newcastle scoring 7 goals in the process.
My spurs supporting mates are worried Chelsea gazump them just like they did with Willian.
If we want a version of PSR to promote competition you could either limit spending to similar levels per club, or make it linked to performance (perhaps w a bonus for promoted sides to boost competition). But the way it works is almost designed to protect the established top six
My thought process in the summer was: kamara, onana / mcginn and Tielemans is a good and balanced midfield three (you could see it working in a 433). But it needs a proper front three. You could see Rogers, Watkins and Guessand / malen there. If the out of possession set up is 442 that's OK.
Yeah agree tho think that was after the first summer. In his first half season we had a lot of v boring away performances: Brighton, spurs, soton, Everton, Leicester (Traore last min goal). Dif was we won / scorer first. When we lost w a similar perf at wolves there was outcry similar to Brentford
We often hear Emery hates being done on transition. I wonder if his reaction to football becoming more chaotic / transitional and looking at the fwd players we have, is to double down on being solid / maximising control?
I've just got the audio book. It's really disappointing narrating tbh. Taking some of the interest out of it
Call me cynical but strikes me they're not confident of selling all the tix without an offer?
Yes and in some of those games Onana in particular really did seem a logical pick.
Is Pau's progressive passing THAT good over the last year or so? The trade off doesn't feel worth it to me atm
I'm with you Dan. There's no such thing as a jinx. I'd have to believe a) that it's possible to influence a football result by wearing lucky pants and b) that of all the villa fans in the world I'm the one who gets to determine results by wearing them. There's more chance of us beating Palace
I'm dreading it
Last few years feels like racism is being legitimised and it's genuinely scary. Never thought things would get like this.
Must... Sign... More.... Defenders
If he's off form there's a potential advantage to him playing there. It's simpler to play that role, using his strength to power down the outside and cross, than it is to power through a congested middle. Of course when he's on form you want him doing the latter. But needs must sometimes.
When his ban was revoked I thought he could be a massive emery project player. Not sure how credible this is?
If he really won't start Malen there then I'd reluctantly put Rogers back there. And have Maatsen overlapping mcginn. Because cash and Mcginn is like having no threat at all on that side. But hopefully we might get a new signing....
That's interesting. I did think people were focusing on the finishing but that his all round play was a bit scrappy. Mind you that applies to Rogers too
I thought the logical choice yday was kamara at CB, Tielemans at DM and then malen / guessand plus Maatsen
I think alot of ppl look at some sharp finishes from Malen and infer he can play the wide right role we think we need.
.. Was rewarded. But Old Trafford really felt like a sliding doors moment then and it sure does now. I draw hope because progression under NSWE has been rapid but not at all linear, so we may regress and go again (and some worry that it's relied on those knife edge moments tipping our way).
... Loads of extenuating circs of course. But that pts to quite how risky our model has been. If we hadn't got CL under Emery a worse crunch wd have arrived earlier. We've had several sliding doors moments go our way (promotion, staying up, getting Emery, getting CL) and our high risk ££ strategy..
... But we've made c 20 signings. Only 3 have become regular starters, 2 of whom were clearly Emery picks (Rogers and Pau). We've spent over £150m since last summer without any of those signings yet establishing themselves in the team. And we're really lacking balance....
It's really unclear what role malen will play for emery. He played most of pre season upfront but that could simply be the lack of an alternative to Watkins. More broadly my questions re recruitment under Monchi are mounting. It's hard because circs have been so tough...
There are various comments which make me think that there might be at least one high profile exit. But if not the uncertainty about who would remain (and perhaps how little agency they had over it) has probably been an issue. Some of the comments re Ramsey speak to more than 'shame to see him go'
I think it's two things. Teams have worked our highly structured (and thus predictable) tactics out and we've lost a lot of quality attacking personnel. Any system that relies on both digne and cash / mcginn for attacking wide threat is doomed in my view.
I think unai has looked at the available players and reverted back to the tactics of his first half season. The attacking quality / depth of our squad is probably mid table or even bottom half now tbh.
I think a problem is we value some of our players far more highly than the market does. Ederson is younger than Emi and likely to go to Turkey for £10m ish. Nobody is paying us c £40m for him.
I was a sceptic originally but was wrong in that first season. But teams seem to have worked him out defensively and offensively and the negatives outweigh the positives now. Problem is I assume there's zero market for him. The clubs who could afford him won't want him and vice versa
Didn't malen play mostly up top? I agree there are LOADS of tactical issues. But my biggest worry is the mentality: the passive performances and the worry that the sense we've peaked and are declining will impact throughout the club and fanbase
Some of his comments could be read to mean that outgoings might be more than just your Iling Junior and Dobbin types? Maybe buendia I guess. But maybe a risk of a bigger hitter?