So Villa have tried to sign some players. Couldn’t get who they wanted. So rather than waste millions on someone who’s no better than what we have, we’ve recalled a player we already own to fill in.
Literally what is the problem?
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That. Was. Incredible.
Better than City? Best performance of my lifetime? Maybe, maybe.
And a clean sheet!
Can’t single anyone out, except the manager. So pleased for him. Every player was sensational.
Unreal what we’ve become. Unreal.
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I’ve seen Eddie Howe mentioned on my timeline. Tell you what, there’s some massive disrespect on Dean Smith amongst Villa fans. It’s a bit weird.
He’s not perfect, far from it. But he’s moved us on a million miles in 2.5 years.
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Less than five years ago, we were still in the Championship. Tonight we’re in the Champions League.
This football club has been on some wild, wild journey.
It’s just unbelievable. What an achievement.
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One last thing. Remember Kourtney Hause debut at Wigan? Can put him very high up the list of players Smith & co have improved. He’ll never be the most eye catching player but an absolute bargain at £3m.
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Seeing some ‘debate’ about Watkins? What debate? Got 6 in 12 in his first year in the Prem, unlucky not to have more, chases everything, stretches the play, good in the air, works tirelessly, always available, clever runner. 25 next week, still maybe 2 years from his peak?
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Look. If Newcastle had rocked up at Villa Park with their Under 18’s, or City at Goodison. Or Fulham anywhere, there would be no conversation to have about this. But they didn’t, did they? So precedent has been set rightly or wrongly. No way it should go ahead.
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That is the single worst decision I have ever seen. Honestly. Blame Mings all you want, but he doesn’t expect to be tackled by a bloke who is 10 yards offside. It’s incredible.
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2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016… all pretty uniformly awful. Ultimately I don’t think people appreciate how much better England are now than they used to be.
No criticism of Smith from me today. Tactics were right, players were up for it. Had the better of the game at 0-0. Can’t fault anyone’s effort. Just have absolutely nothing at all up top. Unless it’s a set piece or a wonder goal, we just don’t have enough.
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Argh, OK, I’ll bite.
Since Dean Smith took over at Aston Villa. Only Crewe have climbed more places. He’s on his third team in that time, with limited stability, and he’s played 4 games this season. Perfect? No. But where realistically do people expect us to be now?
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Seen some stats flying around tonight, so here’s one you can all have.
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have 2 wins in their last 18 games against current Premier League opposition.
Absolutely incredible.
Not going to criticise the team too much. It’s a weird schedule, I suspect you have to make changes.
But I also think if Martinez & Bailey start we could have won tonight.
Olsen is finished here. And I think Chambers, Ings, Augustinsson and McGinn will struggle.
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Villa are a shadow of the team they were pre-Arsenal. Been heading this way for weeks.
Forget finding another gear, we need to find a whole gearbox.
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We’ve scored 18 goals in our last 19 games.
17 points in that time.
6 of those goals, and 7 of those points, were against Burnley & Norwich.
That is about as abysmal as it gets.
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Marty Cash btw. Had a really poor game (most did), but came up massive when we needed something, and then took an unbelievably good penalty. Fair play.
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Every week, I keep thinking this will all end and ‘normal service’ will be resumed.
Maybe this is ‘normal service’ now. Winning every week. Battering really good teams.
That was sensational.
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Yes, that’s a ton of money, and yes it’s a big step up. But to find strikers who can do everything is pretty rare. No pens in that goal haul, good in the air, quick, can play with his back to goal, good with both feet, can play wide, already knows the manager.... I mean.
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Think of all the chancers & the overrated players, those who had all the ability and hardly turned up at
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over the last decade. Well, James Chester was literally the opposite of that. Gave literally everything for the Villa. Best of luck to him in the future.
Should have won. Somehow lost. How they’ve taken 6 points off us this season is bonkers.
So good between the boxes. So poor in them.
Decision to take Bailey off seemed really odd.
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Seriously, Konsa has been great tonight. He still remains a bafflingly underrated footballer.
Feel for Ollie. Not sure what more he could have done. Feels like every touch he gets, he knows he’s expected to impress.
Well, that was…. everything.
Question whatever you want about this team (& there are some legitimate things to ask, if we want to remain at this level), but never, ever question their desire.
To do that. After 50-odd games. Is insane.
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Been asked a few times who I think is good enough overnight, and I’d been thinking about it anyway… so here goes… baring in mind you can’t change the entire squad in 8 months
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So much to say about Villa today, but the thing I took away was the leadership. Watkins, Martinez, McGinn, Tielemans, Torres - nearly all of them tbh - are showing real onfield leadership now. It’s just an incredible group. I’m so desperate for them all to succeed.
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This team….
The character to win a game like that.
To beat City & Arsenal within 4 days is beyond even what I thought was possible. The turnaround in little over a year is staggering.
Oh & FIFTEEN home wins in a row…!
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Respect what Gary O’Neil has done at both Bournemouth and Wolves. But his woe is me act every week is borderline pathetic.
2nd half, Villa without Cash, Mings, Kamara, McGinn, Ramsey, Buendia & Watkins, and Wolves were poor.
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So Amorim says no, we’re announcing who we’re dropping the night before a game and Micky Beale has had a little dig in Purslow’s ribs from the safety of West London.
And we’re one point off the bottom of the league.
Another nice normal evening at
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Corruption.
There are only a handful of clubs in the league that get that decision and Man Utd are one of them. Managing to struggle like they are with all this help they are getting is quite the achievement.
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If this statement isn’t a video of Jack Grealish at Birmingham International pulling on an away shirt, before turning round to reveal the back is his new, signed Villa deal before whipping out his phone & calling James Ward-Prowse, then the clubs gone.
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Oh we need to protect my poor tired exhausted players says Jurgen Klopp every week since September, before fielding half of them against Aston Villa U23’s reserve team. Pathetic.
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Ollie Watkins can’t finish, but we are such a better team with him in it. Kamara is going to be a superb player. Buendia has to start, is just a force of nature. Deserved to win despite the wobbles….
But I still don’t get it. I don’t get what we want to be.
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Villa have had plenty of pre-seasons where they’ve won every game, then preceded to play boring, uninspired football for most of the season.
This manager, this team, they aren’t interested in that. The things they are trying this pre-season have been amazing to watch.
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Disappointed but great character again to rescue a point.
It’ll go unnoticed but Kamara was a huge miss tonight because it meant we lost McGinn - and Luiz - further forward. Would have made a huge difference. That’s really cost us.
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Everyone will be disappointed tonight. I am. But don’t slag this group off.
Imagine if we’d had Mings, Buendia, Tielemans, Kamara, Ramsey and Moreno all available for the back end of the season.
I’d bet we’d look a lot fresher.
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Last winter we signed 4 players and ‘won’ the window. Club would happily get rid of 3 of them now. And already signed another player who plays in the same position as the other one. We were 11th on Jan 1st & finished 14th. It was a disaster. Signings aren’t everything.
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Tremendous character tonight. Nearly every other Villa team in my lifetime fold there. Gonna need a few more of those between now & May.
Next step for this team is to not be in that situation in the first place. Game should have been over at half time.
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Villa, Everton, Chelsea all close to PSR line, just swapping players and cash. Kinda hilarious.
Left winger though. Good potential. Not who I thought we’d sign, but obvs see something in him.
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Thought
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were great today. Controlled the game before riding out some pressure and then getting a second wind off the bench.
Performance beyond my wildest expectations. And a lot more to come.
Loved it.
I don’t care what it costs. I don’t care if it means we can’t sign anyone next summer. Get someone in that midfield who can control the tempo & pass a football. It’s not about tackling. Marv can tackle. It’s about control.
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Been incredibly spoiled by Emery to date. Way beyond anything any of us could reasonably expect, and we shouldn’t forget that.
But Villa were ridiculously poor tonight from 30 mins in. There’s a way to play against United. Don’t be open. Make them leave gaps.
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Always suspected the England thing bothered him. He’s right as well. If he’d been at City / Chelsea his whole career & played half as well, he’d have twice as many caps.
System is broken.
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Grealish was asked if the World Cup was a factor in him joining City. "Yeah it was actually. I could name you 6/7 reasons why. Manager, world class players, challenge for titles, playing in CL, there was a good few and one was the World Cup....
The pissing and whining about Ollie Watkins on here as he scores 14 goals this season is going to be next level nonsense.
Reminder only Benteke & Angel have scored more than 15 PL goals in a single a season for Villa this century.
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Football is generally chaotic around this time of year, but
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have lost a lot of what has made them great in 2023 over the last 8 days. Injuries, fatigue, pressure - prob all 3.
Big 3 points. Draw a line under it now and calm down & reset going into the rest of the season.
That’s a huge win, and goes under the radar that winning games like that is normal when - in the 2nd half Villa have no….
Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Mings, Kamara, Buendia.
Crazy that we’re still picking up points.
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I mean, this is it. I felt it was coming, but some or the idiots on here this week… don’t get me started. Incredible job, top bloke, underrated manager. Very, very sad.
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Dean Smith took charge of Aston Villa with the club 14th in the Championship. Promotion, a League Cup Final and Premier League stability represents an excellent, perhaps under-rated, job despite the obvious financial backing. Will be no shortage of interest
Watching
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back - the amount our set piece delivery has improved in such a short space of time is mind melting. Not just the goal, but Mings header, Ings volley. Every other set piece is a chance now, humongous improvement.
I think everyone is missing the point about Newcastle. ‘Shouldn’t be scared of them’ etc. They are 3rd in the league. This isn’t a one off. They hadn’t won a game a year ago.
Good coaching, good recruitment, solid management. Exactly what
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didn’t do.
Did anyone see Haaland yesterday?
Missed at least three really straightforward chances.
Think the context around conversations about strikers is quite lacking. Not having the best run in front of goal. But won the pen, hit the post. Always contributing.
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Anyone who has seen Villa play football in the last five years will understand what a significant blow this is for us.
Absolute devastated for Ty too, who’s one of football’s good guys.
Get well soon.
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If you can’t win, don’t lose. Absolutely horrid game. Take the point and move on.
Need to find another gear after the break though, which comes at a good time.
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The most striking thing to me about what Emery has done is how inclusive
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feels now.
Under the previous manager, the narrative was no-one was good enough, everyone needed replacing and investment was the only way to improve.
OK, we’re all frustrated - and since the COVID break we’ve been a pale imitation of our pre-New Years selves. But we need to calm down a bit here. Let’s skip the promotion at the first attempt. It’s well documented what we came up with. But suffice to say it wasn’t a lot.
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MINGS: If you think he’s the weak link in this team, I can’t help you. Has an error in him of course, but the fact is we are much, much better when he plays. About 8 other priorities before we get to him. One of the first names on the teamsheet until the summer at least.
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Gutted to see Conor go. The rarest of players, one who has constantly looked to improve himself and pushed to get every ounce out of his ability. Wants to play. Made so many massive contributions to
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that it’s impossible to imagine us getting here without him.
So
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could now play Boxing Day evening with a skeleton squad, then play Leeds who have had 10 days off less than 48 hours later. I know Leeds have massive issues, so understand their postponement, but the whole thing is a bit stupid isn’t it now?
Villa can’t carry Dendoncker & Barrenechea.
No one wants Dendoncker.
Barrenechea needs to play football.
If they can get a loan for him it’s good for everyone.
Neither of them will get more than a few mins here or there at Villa.
No surprise.
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In both spectacular collapses this season Nakamba been bought on when winning. Nothing personal against him, but his limitations & taking off an attacker invite pressure. Something that needs to change next season.
Draw a line under all of it. Start again now.
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Finally, you can be disappointed with how the season is ending and still see the progress. Properly kneejerk to say that this team isn’t an improvement on last season, but equally we’re probably currently playing below the level we are capable of. Not mutually exclusive.
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People can explain the rules to me til they’re blue in the face. If that’s at the United end it’s a goal. Understand the decision, but I’ve a) never seen it given before, or b) the process of how it was checked was mad. If it’s so clear cut should have happened in seconds.
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I’m sorry, did he just say ‘because of our technical level we kept giving the ball away’?!?
And ‘look, it’s on individuals’.
Don’t think the bus is big enough to chuck them under anymore.
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Thought I’d check to see if what I felt had happened actually happened, but from 30th min
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had 55% possession, 5 more successful dribbles, 5 more corners, more touches, more passes…
By half time it had already turned.
Can trace Villa’s problems back to Kamara’s original suspension. Although we’ve been good in patches, we’ve not consistently been the same side since.
That box midfield, with three CB’s and with Bailey free off the wing allowing McGinn & Youri to play higher was the one.
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Gonna miss Luiz, and think Villa will miss him hugely. Arrived raw but talented, leaves as pretty much an all round top level midfielder. Always seemed proud to represent Villa, and never once hid when under the criticism he faced it would have been easy to.
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