Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: PeterWithesShin on March 15, 2026, 03:56:21 PM
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Bag of shit thrown into a river of shit.
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What's the point of Roger's?
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99% of us could have written the script for that game and got it exact.
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What's the point of Roger's?
Can't carry the entire attack on his own all season?
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Fuck off football. You ******.
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Predictable. Shit or bust on Thursday now. Watkins done now. Fuck ffp. Fuck manure and the scum 6. Hope spurs fucking drop
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Utter fucking shit as per usual. Not just against this lot but just in general the past month or two. So depressing.
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We’ve been crap since Emery started wearing that rubbish Adidas Terrex jacket. He needs to bring his smart Hugo Boss number back.
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He's worked miracles with this squad. A few of them peaked a while back, some probably never that good, the usual lot.
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Can anybody see any positives from that performance?
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Can anybody see any positives from that performance?
We only conceded 3, no injuries.
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What's the point of Roger's?
Unai knows way more about football than I will ever know, but I wonder how many more times he has to watch Morgan play off the right, to know he can't play off the right?
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Finding a way to lose at Old Trafford has been the story of my life. And I'm starting my seventh decade. I just can't help but feel that once again we've hit a glass ceiling and the next period of decline is starting.
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Amongst other things, I don't think Malen for Tammy + Leon was a good exchange in hindsight. We miss that directness and drive from Malen.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
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Completely timid. Just waited for them to beat us. Not a semblance of bravery from coach to the players. The bit at the end was hilariously bad.
Watkins was terrible again and Abraham being his replacement isn’t exactly exciting nowhere near good enough. Bailey, Buendia and Onana all really poor too.
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I don’t understand what the point of buying Abraham was unless you play to his strengths.
Severe lack of bottle in this team. Something I thought affected Arsenal not us.
I’d love it to turn but I really can’t see it
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We’ve been crap since Emery started wearing that rubbish Adidas Terrex jacket. He needs to bring his smart Hugo Boss number back.
If you gave him a thousand pounds he'd probably but 20 coats from Primark. We spend £50m on two strikers this season, one is on loan at Palace, the other spends most of his time on the bench. Why not just buy one decent one?
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I'd like to say that performance beggared belief but it didn't, that's just our modus operandi now
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Three things are certain in life. Death, taxes and losing up there. By the way three wins in twelve now.
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Completely timid. Just waited for them to beat us. Not a semblance of bravery from coach to the players. The bit at the end was hilariously bad.
Watkins was terrible again and Abraham being his replacement isn’t exactly exciting nowhere near good enough. Bailey, Buendia and Onana all really poor too.
We didn't wait for them to beat us, we actively assisted them, especially goals 2 and 3.
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We don’t look like we believe , i am struggling to see where the next point is coming from
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There is a serious lack of fight and belief in this team. That’s how it looks to me.
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We're going to need a huge rebuild.
Martinez
Bizot
Mings
Digne
Lindelof
Barkley
McGinn
Watkins
All the wrong side of 30.
And add in
Torres 29
Buendia 29
Not forgetting
Cash
Konsa
Tielemans
Bailey
Abraham
All 28
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Looks like Europa or bust to be honest,cant see us getting past 60 points.
Bailey, Watkins and Buendia aren't very good now and hopefully gone in summer, I don't care what they've done previously.
Emery won't be here next season and based on the last two months lack of nous, I can't say I care that much.
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Tammy is no replacement for Olly but sadly he is completely out of form so we have a couple of duds up front. Did their keeper have a save to make? No need to worry about Unai to Utd after that.
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Absolutely useless.
I can’t see anything changing either. Baffling decisions, shit players, shit team performance.
Shit shit shit to a letter.
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I don’t understand what the point of buying Abraham was unless you play to his strengths.
I think Unai was waiting until he'd drained every once of confidence out of Abraham before giving him a chance. Now he looks like Tammy Watkins.
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Clearly we’ll finish below Man Utd now, but both Liverpool and Chelsea aren’t exactly great shakes so its not over. If we can somehow get our shit together we’ve a whole run of lower to mid table teams coming up.
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Bailey stays on the bench we don't lose that match.Convinced of this. Unai has had ages to sort this out. Brain dead tactics.
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Stop picking Watkins. Stop playing Rogers out of position. Stop playing the convalescence home bound Mings. Play your best fcuking side. You might have a chance then.
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For ten minutes we gave them a battle, just before our equaliser and just after it. Tammy misses a sitter, Bailey fucks-up a pass into their box, they break and Konsa ball-watches while Cunah - a player who routinely scores against us and who our coaches would have drilled into our players to monitor; gets free and has a simple chance.
Unlikely to come back again after that, they got a bit of luck for their third.
When things aren't going for you, you have to dig-deep and fight fire with fire. We played with the handbrake on in the first half which is more about structure than confidence. But I really wish we would show more intent in the first half of games, being reactive in this league will only get you so far. That's on Emery. We don't have the class of Tielemans and Kamara so expecting inferior players to thrive in a structure that is heavily dependent on those two players is seriously flawed.
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Every time you expect it, every time you're still fucking appalled at the performance.
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Can anybody see any positives from that performance?
Mings and Barkley were ok I thought. Was fuming they started but did well.
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We looked the we are, a team on the decline through injuries, lack of confidence and of most of all lack of progression. Appalling recruitment, dragging rejected players back and no room for manoeuvre financially.
Emery will leave and we will revert to PL cannon fodder.
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The second goal was so shite after we had responded to going behind well and getting the equaliser. Gave the ball away cheaply and then a pathetic lack of pressure on the ball, so so easy. Shipping goals and blunt up front with terrible decision making. Just massively disappointing.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
So we spent what little we had on Guessand £30m, Elliot and not play him and give Sancho the best part of £180k a week, its not all down to FFP, a lot is down to absolute crap transfer dealings which we then compound by getting shot of Malen and paying £18m for a player we could've got for £11m.... maybe we might be better off if we didnt piss money away on players who arent good enough
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When things aren't going for you, you have to dig-deep and fight fire with fire. We played with the handbrake on in the first half which is more about structure than confidence. But I really wish we would show more intent in the first half of games, being reactive in this league will only get you so far. That's on Emery. We don't have the class of Tielemans and Kamara so expecting inferior players to thrive in a structure that is heavily dependent on those two players is seriously flawed.
Amen.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
So we spent what little we had on Guessand £30m, Elliot and not play him and give Sancho the best part of £180k a week, its not all down to FFP, a lot is down to absolute crap transfer dealings which we then compound by getting shot of Malen and paying £18m for a player we could've got for £11m.... maybe we might be better off if we didnt piss money away on players who arent good enough
Yep.
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When things aren't going for you, you have to dig-deep and fight fire with fire. We played with the handbrake on in the first half which is more about structure than confidence. But I really wish we would show more intent in the first half of games, being reactive in this league will only get you so far. That's on Emery. We don't have the class of Tielemans and Kamara so expecting inferior players to thrive in a structure that is heavily dependent on those two players is seriously flawed.
Amen.
Eamonn
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Just don't get it, what is wrong with Unai? the one team you would never contemplate bringing Bailey on against it has to be Manchester you freaking nighted, we went in at half time 0-0, fine, we went one goal down, live with that, you can always come back and we did with a wonderful goal from Barclay, what the hell has been going on with Elliot, how would you prefer Bailey to Elliot against this lot, even under the restrictions he has another game in him, ffs Unai use him when it would best count, have to say it we could easily taken a point from that, Manchester Utd are no great shake, and it not written in the stars that we have to lose to them.
I do hope Unai that their is some magic formula and reasoning to all this like we are going for the Europa tourney to get into the top level of Europe, some kind of thinking none of us are privvy to because otherwise this all going to look pretty sick.
Lets hope Spurs can dig something up at Anfield.
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We looked all nicey nicey with the ball up until half time but were hugely passive. Came out for the second half in sleep mode duly conceded and then fought our way back to equalise. We then decided to give Fernandez the freedom of OT for the rest of the match and that was that.
Special mention today for Watkins, Rogers and Buendia. Absolutely fucking useless from all three of them which will hopefully be reflected in brontebillys scores shortly. Abraham and Bailey offered not much more when they came on. Luiz on far too late as Barkley was running in treacle from after his goal.
In addition I get the need to manage minutes but are we really saying our first choices in Maatsen, Torres can’t manage three big games in a week?
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
So we spent what little we had on Guessand £30m, Elliot and not play him and give Sancho the best part of £180k a week, its not all down to FFP, a lot is down to absolute crap transfer dealings which we then compound by getting shot of Malen and paying £18m for a player we could've got for £11m.... maybe we might be better off if we didnt piss money away on players who arent good enough
Exactly this. We can moan all we like about the financial restrictions but no one forced us to buy a turd in Guessand and give an oxygen thief like Sancho that sort of wage.
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When things aren't going for you, you have to dig-deep and fight fire with fire. We played with the handbrake on in the first half which is more about structure than confidence. But I really wish we would show more intent in the first half of games, being reactive in this league will only get you so far. That's on Emery. We don't have the class of Tielemans and Kamara so expecting inferior players to thrive in a structure that is heavily dependent on those two players is seriously flawed.
Amen.
It's Eamonn but thanks :)
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Last 12 league games - 3 wins 3 draws 6 defeats.
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Add in the waste of money on Elliott.
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Onana has been a massive let down, just when we needed him. Bailey and Buendia just aren’t at the level we want to be but it’s all we have.
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Can anybody see any positives from that performance?
Mings and Barkley were ok I thought. Was fuming they started but did well.
We were comfortable until we contrived to let that Funko Pop score from a corner. Then we equalised and were on top, but Konsa inexplicably lost Cunha for their second (irrespective of Bailey giving the ball away, the two CBs had it covered; i think they got distracted by Mbeumo who was offside), and their third we gave them on a plate - that was our ball and should have been cleared.
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When things aren't going for you, you have to dig-deep and fight fire with fire. We played with the handbrake on in the first half which is more about structure than confidence. But I really wish we would show more intent in the first half of games, being reactive in this league will only get you so far. That's on Emery. We don't have the class of Tielemans and Kamara so expecting inferior players to thrive in a structure that is heavily dependent on those two players is seriously flawed.
Amen.
It's Eamonn but thanks :)
Too bad a mood to play that card.
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It was a telling statistic that this was our oldest starting XI since McLeish. But where will we get the funds to bring in younger talent?...
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This team is weak and soft over a full campaign—just look at Bailey for their second goal. These players don’t give a fuck.
Brentford are now the team we need to watch out for because there’s zero chance we’re finishing in the top five.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
So we spent what little we had on Guessand £30m, Elliot and not play him and give Sancho the best part of £180k a week, its not all down to FFP, a lot is down to absolute crap transfer dealings which we then compound by getting shot of Malen and paying £18m for a player we could've got for £11m.... maybe we might be better off if we didnt piss money away on players who arent good enough
Exactly this. We can moan all we like about the financial restrictions but no one forced us to buy a turd in Guessand and give an oxygen thief like Sancho that sort of wage.
True, but the restrictions meant we were shopping in that market when we really needed to be buying a much better calibre of player.
I genuinely can't believe how bad some of those players have been over the past few weeks. Some of them have got bad attitudes as well to boot.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
And that sums up our place in the food chain
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We looked the we are, a team on the decline through injuries, lack of confidence and of most of all lack of progression. Appalling recruitment, dragging rejected players back and no room for manoeuvre financially.
Emery will leave and we will revert to PL cannon fodder.
Sadly I agree, that is the likely outcome. It is Champions League or bust for the manager.
If somehow we can scramble a win against West Ham and get Youri back after the break, we might still have a have a chance of 5th, (largely due to Chelsea's ineptitude) or to win the Europa League.
However, things have to change. Big players have to step up and show a bit of character and a lot more confidence and quailty. Everyone needs to improve and I include the manager in that.
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Big surprise that. Wrong team, bad display - again.
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We seem a team in decline sadly. Emery is in a real funk too. Man United there for taking today and we didn't have the courage to have a go until 1-0 down.
Martinez 5 - poor for first I thought, if he's getting a touch to it it should be going over
Bogarde 6 - caught horribly by cross field ball for their goal but should have been bailed out, ok for backup right back
Konsa 3 - soft as shite for two goals
Mings 7 - surprise return but did well defensively. Not much to defend against, mind
Digne 3 - completely finished at this level
Barkley 7 - no pace in game so did well on ball and finished well for goal
Onana 6 - did well for a 15 min spell after we went behind but poor for two goals
Rogers 3 - awful yet again, touch and head gone
Buendia 5 - tried hard with little coming off
McGinn 5 - bit off pace as expected and hooked early
Watkins 2 - tragic
Bailey was awful as per usual, Tammy very poor, missed two glorious chances but hold up play was shite. The other three weren't given enough time but two of them conspired to cost us a consolation at end.
Emery - shit scared team selection and leaving likes of Luiz and Maatsen on bench until 82nd minute was insane
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Harsh..
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A predictable and disapointing scoreline but I didnt think we were as bad as some are making out.
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Bloody hell brontebilly I’d say theres some generous scores on there.
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A predictable and disapointing scoreline but I didnt think we were as bad as some are making out.
We weren't but we looked like a team that didn't hadn't had the investment our opponents had. Very simple stuff.
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I was out of coverage, glad I was from the comments on here. All too predictable.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
So we spent what little we had on Guessand £30m, Elliot and not play him and give Sancho the best part of £180k a week, its not all down to FFP, a lot is down to absolute crap transfer dealings which we then compound by getting shot of Malen and paying £18m for a player we could've got for £11m.... maybe we might be better off if we didnt piss money away on players who arent good enough
Exactly this. We can moan all we like about the financial restrictions but no one forced us to buy a turd in Guessand and give an oxygen thief like Sancho that sort of wage.
True, but the restrictions meant we shopping in that market when we really needed to be buying a much better calibre of player.
I genuinely can't believe how bad some of those players have been over the past few weeks. Some of them have got bad attitudes as well to boot.
Asensio£7.5m instead of Guessand , Ben chillwell (free) Grealish on loan instead of Sancho ,James McAteer £21m ..
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Were things really that good before this recent run ? I don't know.
Are things really that bad now and is it all falling apart ? I don't know.
It's all about opinions and there will be 101 different reasons given here about the present state of affairs.
Next season Unai could be taking us on an exciting CL run again, he may have left, we may be in a Gerrardesque relegation struggle. None of us really know.
Let's just agree on the one thing we do know... Man U are c*nts.
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Genuinely didn't think there was that much in it overall outside of a few lucky deflections and a touch more individual quality. Room for improvement of course, as there was in the Lille game. Meh.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
So we spent what little we had on Guessand £30m, Elliot and not play him and give Sancho the best part of £180k a week, its not all down to FFP, a lot is down to absolute crap transfer dealings which we then compound by getting shot of Malen and paying £18m for a player we could've got for £11m.... maybe we might be better off if we didnt piss money away on players who arent good enough
Exactly this. We can moan all we like about the financial restrictions but no one forced us to buy a turd in Guessand and give an oxygen thief like Sancho that sort of wage.
True, but the restrictions meant we shopping in that market when we really needed to be buying a much better calibre of player.
I genuinely can't believe how bad some of those players have been over the past few weeks. Some of them have got bad attitudes as well to boot.
Asensio£7.5m instead of Guessand , Ben chillwell (free) Grealish on loan instead of Sancho ,James McAteer £21m ..
Erm, that is literally the definition of scraping the barrel, however you cut it. They spent 60-70m three times. We didn't spend anywhere near one of those on all three. Has recruitment been shit? Generally speaking, yes. Is that partially due to having to shop in a lower tier than we want to/our position these days should allow? Fucking damn right.
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Only saw up to the equaliser and thought a draw would of been fair at that stage.
West Ham is now massive and their recent form is better than ours!
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
So we spent what little we had on Guessand £30m, Elliot and not play him and give Sancho the best part of £180k a week, its not all down to FFP, a lot is down to absolute crap transfer dealings which we then compound by getting shot of Malen and paying £18m for a player we could've got for £11m.... maybe we might be better off if we didnt piss money away on players who arent good enough
Exactly this. We can moan all we like about the financial restrictions but no one forced us to buy a turd in Guessand and give an oxygen thief like Sancho that sort of wage.
True, but the restrictions meant we shopping in that market when we really needed to be buying a much better calibre of player.
I genuinely can't believe how bad some of those players have been over the past few weeks. Some of them have got bad attitudes as well to boot.
Asensio£7.5m instead of Guessand , Ben chillwell (free) Grealish on loan instead of Sancho ,James McAteer £21m ..
Erm, that is literally the definition of scraping the barrel, however you cut it. They spent 60-70m three times. We didn't spend anywhere near one of those on all three. Has recruitment been shit? Generally speaking, yes. Is that partially due to having to shop in a lower tier than we want to/our position these days should allow? Fucking damn right.
How has £50m record signing Onana done since joining?
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Add in the waste of money on Elliott.
weird decision this one. I kinda think If he had a run and got a few assists and a goal and got us a few more points when needed , and made the chumps league , the money we would earn from it (75/80 mill) then the 35 million would be worth it and I still believe we would get the money back selling him to someone else or If he had doe really well we might have kept him .
I mean I cant see him giving the ball away and doing fuck all like leon bailey who at this rate will cost us 80 million etc not making it.
Anyway its all bloody odd.
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Thought we lacked threat for most of the game, but not helped by Watkina being really poor and not holding the ball up or seemingly able to commit a defender with pace.
Bailey gives the ball away needlessly in the build up and they score a second, after we needlessly give away a corner too for the first. Poor decision making.
Same old story really that hasn't gone away. We have too many of our best players that really make us tick out injured. It was great to have McGinn back and hopefully he'll be fit enough to keep going deeper in the games to come. We may well be two away (Lille and West Ham for Tielemans).
But we cannot expect miracles when you have players like Buendia or Bailey as attacking options. They were not good enough and we are having to rely on them, when they're probably past and sort of use in this league. The quicker we can rely upon McGinn and Tielemans the better.
That is also 7 goals conceded in two league games where Mings was brought in to deal with a high ball. Another one not good enough.
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i was making the point that just because we couldn't eat at top table didn't mean we had to go to the food bank.. Asensio better than Guessand ,Grealish better than Sancho thats the squad/ team improved with still over 20m in kitty
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No PL side with serious CL ambitions is starting any of Mings, Digne, Barkley, Buendia or bringing Bailey on as first sub. We started them all and did bring on Leon.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
So we spent what little we had on Guessand £30m, Elliot and not play him and give Sancho the best part of £180k a week, its not all down to FFP, a lot is down to absolute crap transfer dealings which we then compound by getting shot of Malen and paying £18m for a player we could've got for £11m.... maybe we might be better off if we didnt piss money away on players who arent good enough
Exactly this. We can moan all we like about the financial restrictions but no one forced us to buy a turd in Guessand and give an oxygen thief like Sancho that sort of wage.
True, but the restrictions meant we shopping in that market when we really needed to be buying a much better calibre of player.
I genuinely can't believe how bad some of those players have been over the past few weeks. Some of them have got bad attitudes as well to boot.
Asensio£7.5m instead of Guessand , Ben chillwell (free) Grealish on loan instead of Sancho ,James McAteer £21m ..
Erm, that is literally the definition of scraping the barrel, however you cut it. They spent 60-70m three times. We didn't spend anywhere near one of those on all three. Has recruitment been shit? Generally speaking, yes. Is that partially due to having to shop in a lower tier than we want to/our position these days should allow? Fucking damn right.
How has £50m record signing Onana done since joining?
I'd sell him.
I think people are being hysterical. The goalkeeper, defence and midfield are a match for anything in the country. The problem is attack. It was clear in the summer and I remember saying as much. Rashford, Asensio and Ramsey all left, leaving us to get a load of cheap last minute shit in due to financial constraints. Now we can't score goals.
Considering we needed a full Premier League attack, what we got was 30m and a couple of loans. Meanwhile United signed Wolves' best player, Brentford's best player and Leipzig's best player. If people think that's a fair competition, then crack on with that.
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i was making the point that just because we couldn't eat at top table didn't mean we had to go to the food bank.. Asensio better than Guessand ,Grealish better than Sancho thats the squad/ team improved with still over 20m in kitty
I agree with this. I don’t know for certain who has the final say on transfers but, whoever it is, needs sacking. Even if it’s Unai. And I say that because we are in a deep hole with this squad. Real trouble.
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They have Cunha and Fernandez in form, we have Watkins and Rogers who are both bang out of form. Similar to how both teams are right now. Add in Bailey and Buendia and it’s no surprise we didn’t win.
Was never expecting anything from this and the Chelsea game, the next few games are more important.
Amazing we have stayed in the CL places for so long during this run.
Still time to turn it around.
UTV
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No PL side with serious CL ambitions is starting any of Mings, Digne, Barkley, Buendia or bringing Bailey on as first sub. We started them all and did bring on Leon.
No but we didn’t have to start them - Pau, Maatsen are definitely better choices. Doug is better than Barkley, but he’s played a lot of late.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
So we spent what little we had on Guessand £30m, Elliot and not play him and give Sancho the best part of £180k a week, its not all down to FFP, a lot is down to absolute crap transfer dealings which we then compound by getting shot of Malen and paying £18m for a player we could've got for £11m.... maybe we might be better off if we didnt piss money away on players who arent good enough
Exactly this. We can moan all we like about the financial restrictions but no one forced us to buy a turd in Guessand and give an oxygen thief like Sancho that sort of wage.
True, but the restrictions meant we shopping in that market when we really needed to be buying a much better calibre of player.
I genuinely can't believe how bad some of those players have been over the past few weeks. Some of them have got bad attitudes as well to boot.
Asensio£7.5m instead of Guessand , Ben chillwell (free) Grealish on loan instead of Sancho ,James McAteer £21m ..
Erm, that is literally the definition of scraping the barrel, however you cut it. They spent 60-70m three times. We didn't spend anywhere near one of those on all three. Has recruitment been shit? Generally speaking, yes. Is that partially due to having to shop in a lower tier than we want to/our position these days should allow? Fucking damn right.
How has £50m record signing Onana done since joining?
I'd sell him.
I think people are being hysterical. The goalkeeper, defence and midfield are a match for anything in the country. The problem is attack. It was clear in the summer and I remember saying as much. Rashford, Asensio and Ramsey all left, leaving us to get a load of cheap last minute shit in due to financial constraints. Now we can't score goals.
Considering we needed a full Premier League attack, what we got was 30m and a couple of loans. Meanwhile United signed Wolves' best player, Brentford's best player and Leipzig's best player. If people think that's a fair competition, then crack on with that.
I agree with Mellin - issue is attack the rest is compariable with anyone. Our attack is woeful. And we cant spend the money we need to make a difference.
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Bailey is fucking shite.
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No PL side with serious CL ambitions is starting any of Mings, Digne, Barkley, Buendia or bringing Bailey on as first sub. We started them all and did bring on Leon.
No but we didn’t have to start them - Pau, Maatsen are definitely better choices. Doug is better than Barkley, but he’s played a lot of late.
But we did start them. Whether we had to or not isn't the point. We're dropping out of CL contention because we're too reliant on too many players that aren't consistently top 5 quality. Of our starting 11 today i'd say 4 are of that standard, even with the Unai factor it's not going to get you there over a season.
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Monchi messed up in summer 2025. Hence he was moved on fairly quickly
But there will be a rebuilding job in summer 2026 and with Olabe in as a new sporting director it is fairly important that we know that the Unai set up is 'all in' for another go.
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For the avoidance of quoteathon - if they'd bought Guessand in the summer they could have bought another two for the same amount each in January. We had to bring back Leon Bailey. Our transfer dealings have been poor in the last two years but us and them are operating under different rules.
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Where was Alysson? Surely he'd have been better than Bailey and he was never going to bring Eliot on. Is he injured again? He's only played about 45 mins in total. He's looked very promising when he has come on.⁷
.
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For the avoidance of quoteathon - if they'd bought Guessand in the summer they could have bought another two for the same amount each in January. We had to bring back Leon Bailey. Our transfer dealings have been poor in the last two years but us and them are operating under different rules.
Well said.
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For the avoidance of quoteathon - if they'd bought Guessand in the summer they could have bought another two for the same amount each in January. We had to bring back Leon Bailey. Our transfer dealings have been poor in the last two years but us and them are operating under different rules.
5 year net spend. Them £0.7bn, us negative.
That’s not the whole story but it’s a main chapter.
We have been playing without a functioning centre forward and right winger all season too.
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Unai interview
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1647842853021283
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For the avoidance of quoteathon - if they'd bought Guessand in the summer they could have bought another two for the same amount each in January. We had to bring back Leon Bailey. Our transfer dealings have been poor in the last two years but us and them are operating under different rules.
There is no excuse to play him though. Our hands are absolutely tied, but they're not forced with selection.
Bailey, Mings, Buendia- I wouldn't have them anywhere near the side.
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Only Barkley and Mings can feel hippyish with their performance today. That chance we had near the end summed us up pretty well. Reminiscent of the chuckle Brothers. Thursday is now very important.
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Just utterly predictable why did we bother tuning in. We knew they would let us down again at OT
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Farting around at the rear.
Too spread in the middle.
Thin on top.
Bit like myself.
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For the avoidance of quoteathon - if they'd bought Guessand in the summer they could have bought another two for the same amount each in January. We had to bring back Leon Bailey. Our transfer dealings have been poor in the last two years but us and them are operating under different rules.
We had little choice regarding Bailey, Roma are paying the full season loan fee to have him away from their team. I suppose we could have said, he's your problem, don't play him if you don't want, send him back in the summer but that wouldn't have helped with his resale value. I do wonder if Bailey and Watkins are being played in an attempt to increase their transfer value in the summer? Right now it's the only logical reason I can think of for their selection.
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For the avoidance of quoteathon - if they'd bought Guessand in the summer they could have bought another two for the same amount each in January. We had to bring back Leon Bailey. Our transfer dealings have been poor in the last two years but us and them are operating under different rules.
There is no excuse to play him though. Our hands are absolutely tied, but they're not forced with selection.
Bailey, Mings, Buendia- I wouldn't have them anywhere near the side.
No and that’s the issue. Poor recruitment has narrowed our options (and as Dave says we are more exposed to errors) but we’re not making best use of what we do have.
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Watkins is playing because he’s our best option. I love Tammy but he hasn’t done enough when he’s been given a chance. He wasn’t very good today when he came on.
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https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DtMfM6Wtx/?mibextid=wwXIfr
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Can anybody see any positives from that performance?
The Razzies were already announced last night.
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Watkins is playing because he’s our best option. I love Tammy but he hasn’t done enough when he’s been given a chance. He wasn’t very good today when he came on.
The statistics say Abraham did more in 30 mins than Watkins and Rogers put together .
You know all that xg and shit.
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There's no fluidity when we move forward. It's very, very slow. Very formulaic and very easy to follow.
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Can anybody see any positives from that performance?
The Razzies were already announced last night.
And we are not Tottenham Hotspurs.
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Clearly we’ll finish below Man Utd now, but both Liverpool and Chelsea aren’t exactly great shakes so its not over. If we can somehow get our shit together we’ve a whole run of lower to mid table teams coming up.
The positive part of me , ever shrinking of course, thinks that Unai just wants to get through this period to the international break and still be in contention for top 5 then hope that a functioning version of McGinn and Tielemans can restore some verve for the run in.
The majority of me is just a Brummie version of Frazier from Dad's Army. "We're doomed"
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Abraham needs to start a couple of games to get himself up to speed. UE isn't giving him that chance. Failing that, why not try starting them together. Just try something different ffs! That result was entirely predictable! A terrible 2026 so far.
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Amongst other things, I don't think Malen for Tammy + Leon was a good exchange in hindsight. We miss that directness and drive from Malen.
Look, we have to play fair. This means selling our talented academy players and also selling players we have bought to replace them with lads who we got shot of to try and improve the team. This is fair, right, and appropriate.
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These fuckers are billions in debt and we aren't. We have billionaire owners who aren't allowed to spend. In order to buy players we have to sell. Emery has done an amazing job here and yes we've been utter Blues since losing the midfield, but this is the Premier League laid bare...only certain clubs can win things and you have a league with rules completely set up to ensure this every season.
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Can anybody see any positives from that performance?
The Razzies were already announced last night.
And we are not Tottenham Hotspurs.
Or Burnley. The only two teams below us in the last 10 games form table.
https://www.flashscore.co.uk/standings/KKay4EE8/OEEq9Yvp/#/OEEq9Yvp/form/overall/10/
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It's all a bit disheartening. Full faith in Emery, but bloody hell this is an absolutely terrible run.
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Same old same OT performance. Can’t think why anyone thought it would be any different
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This team would be closer to the bottom without Emery.
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I would like to be positive that we are in 4th place, but we can all see the problem
Dreadful summer recruiting
Some really strange purchases
Players out injured no depth to call on
Normal Mould trafford performance
Rogers gives the ball away in their half, they romp down and they score
Digine for reasons only known to him gives away a corner instead of a throw, they score
Bailey gives away the ball in their half , they romp down the pitch and score
Need a clear out and new faces this summer, but will it happen ?
Rogers was probably the last player we signed that has been a success
Digine
Bailey
Watkins
Buendia
Do we have the money to replace them ?
Only if we qualify for Champs league
If we don't qualify Uni will probably bugger off
real cheerful tonight, sighs
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Fully expected to be 6th after this weekend, so feeling quite chipper all told*
*I did not watch, or listen to, our match today
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Bloody lucky.
For some reason, I’m having a tough day today. I’m not sure why entirely, just a blue day. I’m changing companies after next weekend and I think the stress is probably the trigger. Plus I’ve had some nasty Covid thing this week too.
Not sure how we’re still 4th at all.
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Hope you're feeling better soon CJ, and the company change goes well.
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Hope you're feeling better soon CJ, and the company change goes well.
Thank you very much on all accounts, it’s just a vertical learning curve really. Same role, just a totally different aircraft type - which means relearning a lot.
Could have done with a Villa win though!! Or at least a gutsy performance as opposed to our present “lie down and let them tickle our belly” approach.
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Feel better soon CJ.
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Didn’t expect to win but I thought we actually did ok. Game plan worked in the first half and I wondered if we were going to see another Emery masterclass. Did well to come back level but the key moment of the match was Abraham not controlling and finishing that chance at 1-1 when we were on top. Barkley MOTM for us.
Our main problem at the minute is that almost all of our main attacking players are misfiring: Watkins, Buendia and Rodgers. And they have been for a long time.
I think Barkley playing were he is could really help until Tielemans is back.
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Didn’t expect to win but I thought we actually did ok. Game plan worked in the first half and I wondered if we were going to see another Emery masterclass. Did well to come back level but the key moment of the match was Abraham not controlling and finishing that chance at 1-1 when we were on top. Barkley MOTM for us.
Our main problem at the minute is that almost all of our main attacking players are misfiring: Watkins, Buendia and Rodgers. And they have been for a long time.
I think Barkley playing were he is could really help until Tielemans is back.
Agree 100% with everything. Is Barkley in Euro squad?
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Spurs did what I thought there was no chance of throwing us another lifeline, so in spite of losing to both Chelsea and Man Utd absolute damage limitation, it really is up to us now, go forward on this, next we go up against a team we should expect to beat, then the break, players coming back, who knows, we may just do it.
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We did OK first half, Utd offered very little.
Concede a soft set piece goal, get back into the game & then another soft goal in the turnover a few minutes after scoring.
Utd didn't create anything more than we did, they just had the quality where it mattered.
We can't have a forward line that includes Buendia or Bailey as everything stops when they get the ball
And Rogers doesn't want to play on the right.
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That pass from Bruno Fernandes was fucking unbelievable good. He’s bang on form anyway, then his favourite team rocks up.
That third goal was absolute shocking from us at such a critical time. Twats!
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Hope you're feeling better soon CJ, and the company change goes well.
Thank you very much on all accounts, it’s just a vertical learning curve really. Same role, just a totally different aircraft type - which means relearning a lot.
Could have done with a Villa win though!! Or at least a gutsy performance as opposed to our present “lie down and let them tickle our belly” approach.
Are all learning curves in the aircraft industry, vertical?
Seriously though, good luck!
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I know it's all doom and gloom at the moment but today our first half was just fine defensively. All our problems stems from a lack of any rea goal threat, Rogers gets critisised but he is our only real threat, Obviously Unai doesn't rate Tammy because he would have taken Watkins spot weeks ago if he did. Watkins is a liability, you can't have a striker who is frightened to shoot. The bright spot is that our main rivals exept United are all dropping points, Chelsea have a really tough run coming up, it's crucial that we beat West Ham.
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I would like to be positive that we are in 4th place, but we can all see the problem
Dreadful summer recruiting
Some really strange purchases
Players out injured no depth to call on
Normal Mould trafford performance
Rogers gives the ball away in their half, they romp down and they score
Digine for reasons only known to him gives away a corner instead of a throw, they score
Bailey gives away the ball in their half , they romp down the pitch and score
Need a clear out and new faces this summer, but will it happen ?
Rogers was probably the last player we signed that has been a success
Digine
Bailey
Watkins
Buendia
Do we have the money to replace them ?
Only if we qualify for Champs league
If we don't qualify Uni will probably bugger off
real cheerful tonight, sighs
Ah, lyrics from Morrissey's new album 'I Was Not Born Under The Holte End Stand'. Very good.
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Just got back after two train cancellations not good.
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Just got back after two train cancellations not good.
That’s bad, but you have to spare a thought for the United fans who have quite a lot further to travel.
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A massive positive that only Liverpool gained a single point on us this weekend really. Is the structure hindering us?
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Hope you're feeling better soon CJ, and the company change goes well.
Thank you very much on all accounts, it’s just a vertical learning curve really. Same role, just a totally different aircraft type - which means relearning a lot.
Could have done with a Villa win though!! Or at least a gutsy performance as opposed to our present “lie down and let them tickle our belly” approach.
What are you going to be flying, Chris?
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A massive positive that only Liverpool gained a single point on us this weekend really. Is the structure hindering us?
Playing really badly for weeks on end is hindering us far more than anything else.
Nobody is forcing Unai to continue with Ollie when he looks utterly bereft of confidence or ability.
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For me, the most stupid decision was to let Malen go on loan to Roma. The guy is scoring for fun there! He was a great option in attack.
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Only silver lining was that we got a decision at Old Trafford (though fwiw, it was never a goal, Onana clearly interfering with play in my view).
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For me, the most stupid decision was to let Malen go on loan to Roma. The guy is scoring for fun there! He was a great option in attack.
I have seen the argument that he wanted to go because he wasn’t playing enough, looking at Watkins from all season there was a pretty obvious answer to this problem.
Ridiculous decision.
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Who cares whether he wanted to go. He was playing fine. We could have told him to wait until the end of the season.
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Who cares whether he wanted to go. He was playing fine. We could have told him to wait until the end of the season.
Yep.
It really looks like an act of self sabotage at this point, especially given we barely see the guy that replaced him.
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Nearly all of our transfer activity this year has been utterly shite for various reasons. Bailey is a complete disaster. Sancho is being paid way too much for the end product. Moving Malen looks weirder the more time passes, and we don't really play Abraham. Then there's Elliot, which is the most ludicrous transfer situation I can remember. Guessand... pffft.
The only ones in who look fit to add something are Lindeloff who never plays and Luiz who is OK.
I suppose we are shopping in the bargain basement relative to the teams around us in the league, but still, it's been an awful run transfer wise.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Both Villa and Man United needed to buy about three attackers this summer. They went and spent, what, 200m+? We were left scraping the barrel. One club is in chronic debt, the other isn't. One has 50p negative net spend over the last five years. The other doesn't.
Alrighty then.
Was talking about this yesterday with some villa fans and a united fan we met. Even the United fan admitted it's a ludicrous situation designed to keep the same clubs happy that were threatening to join a European super league. It's massively unfair on ambitious owners like ours and I wouldn't be surprised if some wealthy owners were to walk away from the PL because of it. We need to get way smarter in the transfer market. Yes the likes of Yanited can hoover up the best players like Cunha and Mbueno but Wolves and Brentford recruited them in the first place and that's what we must do.
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Who cares whether he wanted to go. He was playing fine. We could have told him to wait until the end of the season.
Yep.
It really looks like an act of self sabotage at this point, especially given we barely see the guy that replaced him.
It looked stupid at the time and it looks even more stupid now. Tammy is well liked and not getting much game time so isn't in the firing line at the moment but really not sure he's a good enough replacement.
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Tammy is entirely the wrong type of player to replace Malen anyway - he’s a poacher brought into a team that is really poor at creating chances.
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Tammy is entirely the wrong type of player to replace Malen anyway - he’s a poacher brought into a team that is really poor at creating chances.
Ironically enough we created plenty yesterday, two of which Tammy flunked. Mings missed header was a sitter and Onana maybe could have done better.
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The most annoying thing about this latest defeat there is that they are still a bit shit. Each of their 3 goals came from our players making mistakes. The first, Rogers losing the ball in midfield and then a brainless clearance out for a corner from Digne. The second, Bailey not doing what he's been told to do. The third Bogarde passing the ball back into our 6 year area. I can't remember them creating any other significant chances and 3-1 flattered them.
I thought the game would be settled on which team made mistakes, and so it turned out. It wasn't about structure.
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Can't, at the moment, think of a league season quite like this, started crap, then went on a brilliant run, then went back to crap, let's hope it can finish on, well a another brilliant run is perhaps asking for too much, but a better run than Liverpool and Chelsea.
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Can't, at the moment, think of a league season quite like this, started crap, then went on a brilliant run, then went back to crap, let's hope it can finish on, well a another brilliant run is perhaps asking for too much, but a better run than Liverpool and Chelsea.
If we count the 5-1 against Newcastle as "started crap", then 23-24 broadly followed the same path. That finished on an improved, if still inconsistent run.
Which would probably be enough this year if we can drag our form up to the dizzying heights of "inconsistent".
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Abraham needs to start a couple of games to get himself up to speed. UE isn't giving him that chance. Failing that, why not try starting them together. Just try something different ffs! That result was entirely predictable! A terrible 2026 so far.
He’s going to be another who takes half a season to be coached and learn how to play under Unai. Hopefully he will come good next season
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Only silver lining was that we got a decision at Old Trafford (though fwiw, it was never a goal, Onana clearly interfering with play in my view).1
He didn't touch the ball nor block thr goalies view.
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Can't, at the moment, think of a league season quite like this, started crap, then went on a brilliant run, then went back to crap, let's hope it can finish on, well a another brilliant run is perhaps asking for too much, but a better run than Liverpool and Chelsea.
If we count the 5-1 against Newcastle as "started crap", then 23-24 broadly followed the same path. That finished on an improved, if still inconsistent run.
Which would probably be enough this year if we can drag our form up to the dizzying heights of "inconsistent".
We got nine points from our last eight in 23/24. I don't think that will be good enough this year.
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Only silver lining was that we got a decision at Old Trafford (though fwiw, it was never a goal, Onana clearly interfering with play in my view).1
He didn't touch the ball nor block thr goalies view.
Yes, am sure you're right that it conforms to the current laws.
However, in my view: since (i) Onana is the last player the ball must pass before the keeper, and (ii) the keeper has to factor in the possibility that Onana may divert the ball, he was most certainly interfering with the keeper's perception of the situation, and therefore with play.
In any event, I felt sure they would find some reason to disallow it, so was pretty surprised it was given!
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Can't, at the moment, think of a league season quite like this, started crap, then went on a brilliant run, then went back to crap, let's hope it can finish on, well a another brilliant run is perhaps asking for too much, but a better run than Liverpool and Chelsea.
If we count the 5-1 against Newcastle as "started crap", then 23-24 broadly followed the same path. That finished on an improved, if still inconsistent run.
Which would probably be enough this year if we can drag our form up to the dizzying heights of "inconsistent".
Think we were showing signs of rebirth about now - around the Arsenal away game? Or was this weekend of the pummelling by Spuds at VP?
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I'd also like to add that's it's the first time I've ever had to mute the comms whilst watching a match. Neville was beyond embarrassing, practically creaming into his boots the whole second half.
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Digne, Mings, Watkins, and Buendia - shouldnt be anywhere near starting players for us
Add Bailey into it as well and frankly its zero wonder
Squad players, come in for occasional impact fine, but starting - no chance
All need to be shipped out in the summer and we bring in some YOUNG fresh players who have upside. We now have a team where 75% are on a downwood trend of performance capacity - its now showing
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During the Chelsea game versus Newcastle, Reece James was given the man marking role of Woltemade. For the best part he nullified Woltemade who was eventually substituted. Man marking seems a dying act.
Against Man Utd, I was disappointed Unai didn't take steps to nullify Rat Face. He has been a curse on us for years and his return to the number 10 spot has catapulted United up the league.
Lindelof could have done that role. He has been one of our best performers but under utilised.
For the United game, I would have dropped Buendia and replaced him with Lindelof to man mark Rat Face. Moved Rogers into a central role and given our holding midfielders more licence to attack.
We all could see what was likely to happen and it did.
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Watching the goals and main incidents back, lovely run and pass from Maatsen into Tammy for chance at end. He should finish it, Luiz probably finishes it if Garcia pulls out, Garcia definitely finishes it if Luiz pulls out. Comedy show. Tammy's touch to put us 1-2 up was Ollie esque, horrendous really. Should be hitting it first time in any case. Bailey did pretty well then. Didn't see Mings missed header in extended highlights.
First goal, Barkley doesn't track Casemiro it looks like but Watkins is beaten at front post anyway. Martinez should tip it over. Second, Bogarde is out of position should force Fernandes to go down line and cut out pass option inside. Konsa flat footed, maybe Martinez should be out quicker to narrow angle. Third a complete mess, Bogarde caught on cross field ball. Konsa a bit unfortunate and I'm expecting Onana to block the shot. Unfortunate with deflection. Sesko made a complete mess of another break down the Bogarde/Konsa channel late on.
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I still think overall we where pretty good, relatively speaking. Players of that quality will exploit any mistake at the back and with our high line it only takes a small break down in play to turn the ball over fast and get in behind.
Next two games will be the true litmus test.
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Only silver lining was that we got a decision at Old Trafford (though fwiw, it was never a goal, Onana clearly interfering with play in my view).1
He didn't touch the ball nor block thr goalies view.
Yes, am sure you're right that it conforms to the current laws.
However, in my view: since (i) Onana is the last player the ball must pass before the keeper, and (ii) the keeper has to factor in the possibility that Onana may divert the ball, he was most certainly interfering with the keeper's perception of the situation, and therefore with play.
In any event, I felt sure they would find some reason to disallow it, so was pretty surprised it was given!
It didn’t interfere with the keeper, the way it was hit he was never stoping that.
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I still think overall we where pretty good, relatively speaking. Players of that quality will exploit any mistake at the back and with our high line it only takes a small break down in play to turn the ball over fast and get in behind.
Next two games will be the true litmus test.
I didnt think we were that bad either. We just lacked that confidence and quality up front..
Oh and Cunha standing in front of the Stretford End grabbing the badge like a lunatic after he scored, even though he's only been there since August. He'd be off like a shot if a bigger club came in for him. Twat
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During the Chelsea game versus Newcastle, Reece James was given the man marking role of Woltemade. For the best part he nullified Woltemade who was eventually substituted. Man marking seems a dying act.
Not the most difficult task considering Woltemade is so crap.
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From the main stand angle it was quite clear that the goalie view wasn’t obscured the only reason for the VAR check was did Onana touch the ball. As it was inconclusive no reason to over turn the onfield decision of goal.
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Only silver lining was that we got a decision at Old Trafford (though fwiw, it was never a goal, Onana clearly interfering with play in my view).1
He didn't touch the ball nor block thr goalies view.
Yes, am sure you're right that it conforms to the current laws.
However, in my view: since (i) Onana is the last player the ball must pass before the keeper, and (ii) the keeper has to factor in the possibility that Onana may divert the ball, he was most certainly interfering with the keeper's perception of the situation, and therefore with play.
In any event, I felt sure they would find some reason to disallow it, so was pretty surprised it was given!
The possible no goal decision was nothing to do with Onana’s position blocking the keeper’s vision but whether the ball brushed his shorts or some part of his body which from all camera angles was inconclusive. In hindsight, had it being disallowed we could have added another decision to our portfolio of shit decisions against us in this fixture. Maybe that influenced the Var decision bearing in mind the history of ManU favourable decisions that have happened. It could be that officials are feeling our heat as I was convinced the goal would be var-ed off.
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Didn’t expect to win but I thought we actually did ok. Game plan worked in the first half and I wondered if we were going to see another Emery masterclass. Did well to come back level but the key moment of the match was Abraham not controlling and finishing that chance at 1-1 when we were on top. Barkley MOTM for us.
Our main problem at the minute is that almost all of our main attacking players are misfiring: Watkins, Buendia and Rodgers. And they have been for a long time.
I think Barkley playing were he is could really help until Tielemans is back.
Agree with most of this. However, individuals making silly mistakes have cost us - Bailey's misplaced pass for their second drove me mad, for example; turning a potential goalscoring break into a bloody farce.
I said to my son during the game: for a team which is set up to control possession we are really profligate and turn the ball over all the damn time!
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... The third Bogarde passing the ball back into our 6 year area.
A bit harsh on Bogarde, since the ball cannoned off him from a Konsa attempted clearance.
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Watching the goals and main incidents back, lovely run and pass from Maatsen into Tammy for chance at end. He should finish it, Luiz probably finishes it if Garcia pulls out, Garcia definitely finishes it if Luiz pulls out. Comedy show. Tammy's touch to put us 1-2 up was Ollie esque, horrendous really. Should be hitting it first time in any case. Bailey did pretty well then. Didn't see Mings missed header in extended highlights.
First goal, Barkley doesn't track Casemiro it looks like but Watkins is beaten at front post anyway. Martinez should tip it over. Second, Bogarde is out of position should force Fernandes to go down line and cut out pass option inside. Konsa flat footed, maybe Martinez should be out quicker to narrow angle. Third a complete mess, Bogarde caught on cross field ball. Konsa a bit unfortunate and I'm expecting Onana to block the shot. Unfortunate with deflection. Sesko made a complete mess of another break down the Bogarde/Konsa channel late on.
The second goal is entirely down to losing possession weakly up the pitch and our players not having the time to transition back into defence; exacerbated by a really clever pass to Cunha.
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The possible no goal decision was nothing to do with Onana’s position blocking the keeper’s vision but whether the ball brushed his shorts or some part of his body which from all camera angles was inconclusive. In hindsight, had it being disallowed we could have added another decision to our portfolio of shit decisions against us in this fixture. Maybe that influenced the Var decision bearing in mind the history of ManU favourable decisions that have happened. It could be that officials are feeling our heat as I was convinced the goal would be var-ed off.
Our history in the fixture is completely irrelevant to refs (and everyone else not associated with Villa).
The shot was hit so hard that the keeper would not have saved it, with or without Onana being anywhere near it.
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Doesn't matter whether the keeper would have saved it. If the officials judged that it made any contact with Onana it would have been offside.
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Doesn't matter whether the keeper would have saved it. If the officials judged that it made any contact with Onana it would have been offside.
I get that, but it didn't.
I've had Redmankers trying the argument on me that he impeded the keeper's view of the shot whilst in an offside position ... clearly irrelevant.
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Only silver lining was that we got a decision at Old Trafford (though fwiw, it was never a goal, Onana clearly interfering with play in my view).1
He didn't touch the ball nor block thr goalies view.
Yes, am sure you're right that it conforms to the current laws.
However, in my view: since (i) Onana is the last player the ball must pass before the keeper, and (ii) the keeper has to factor in the possibility that Onana may divert the ball, he was most certainly interfering with the keeper's perception of the situation, and therefore with play.
In any event, I felt sure they would find some reason to disallow it, so was pretty surprised it was given!
It didn’t interfere with the keeper, the way it was hit he was never stoping that.
Even if we agreed on that assertion, do we really want VAR making subjective judgements on whether the keeper may or may not have saved it?
But for the record, I don't agree it wasn't interfering with play. Onana was an important geometric parameter. His position determined the angle for the strike. By moving one way or the other, he opened or closed that angle. By moving at all, he changed the calculus for the keeper.
I really struggle to see how this kind of situation does not interfere with play.
Fully appreciate it's not what the laws of the game say, and that the notion of "interfering with play" should perhaps not be taken quite so literally!
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Doesn't matter whether the keeper would have saved it. If the officials judged that it made any contact with Onana it would have been offside.
I get that, but it didn't.
I've had Redmankers trying the argument on me that he impeded the keeper's view of the shot whilst in an offside position ... clearly irrelevant.
Did they have a Labrador dog with them
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During the Chelsea game versus Newcastle, Reece James was given the man marking role of Woltemade. For the best part he nullified Woltemade who was eventually substituted. Man marking seems a dying act.
Not the most difficult task considering Woltemade is so crap.
True but Lindelof isn't. Rat Face wouldn't fancy him breathing down his neck for ninety minutes.
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Onana was an important geometric parameter. His position determined the angle for the strike. By moving one way or the other, he opened or closed that angle. By moving at all, he changed the calculus for the keeper.
Do you think Barkley had the time to even consider that Onana might be a useful 'shield'?!! It all happened very quickly. And, there was also a defender next to Onana acting as a shield.
The key point is that the ball did not brush him ...
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Doesn't matter whether the keeper would have saved it. If the officials judged that it made any contact with Onana it would have been offside.
I get that, but it didn't.
I've had Redmankers trying the argument on me that he impeded the keeper's view of the shot whilst in an offside position ... clearly irrelevant.
Tell tour redmanky associates to move on. They won 3-1 so why are they dissecting our goal?
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Tammy is entirely the wrong type of player to replace Malen anyway - he’s a poacher brought into a team that is really poor at creating chances.
I think Tammy and Malen might have worked , but our transfers recently have been awful , however much money we had to spend.
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Bailey's misplaced pass for their second drove me mad, for example; turning a potential goalscoring break into a bloody farce.
I said to my son during the game: for a team which is set up to control possession we are really profligate and turn the ball over all the damn time!
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When Bailey gets the ball you just know he is going to give the ball away most the time . He aint no Tony Daley.
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There's a video on social media of Unai's full reaction to Bailey giving the ball away. Might have been better taking it easy in Roma.
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Onana was an important geometric parameter. His position determined the angle for the strike. By moving one way or the other, he opened or closed that angle. By moving at all, he changed the calculus for the keeper.
Do you think Barkley had the time to even consider that Onana might be a useful 'shield'?!! It all happened very quickly. And, there was also a defender next to Onana acting as a shield.
The key point is that the ball did not brush him ...
No, but that's not hugely relevant, I don't think.
And yes, apparently, as the laws of the game would have it, the only important thing is whether Onana got a nick.
But I would have been seriously gutted to see one like that given against us. Wouldn't you?
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OMG I can’t believe that some are debating getting a debatable decision go in favour AT OLD TRAFFORD! We should just be rejoicing to the gods that this could even happen.
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Even if we agreed on that assertion, do we really want VAR making subjective judgements on whether the keeper may or may not have saved it?
They would have sent it to the ref for his decision on the impact on the keeper if they felt there was a mistake. Ref had already determined he wasn't so didn't need to be sent. If it had curled around the other way, or the keeper had hestitated in diving due to thinking it was hitting Onana then that might have been a sending to the monitor. However Lemons didn't even glance at Amadou or react to the ball before it was passed them both.