You know a cup competition has been so devalued, that it’s almost worthless, when there’s practically no mention of tonight’s game in the news.
It’s a massive shame as it’s a competition that brings back some of my best ever memories of being a Villa fan.
Was I the only one who got down on my hands and knees in response to Tony Butler’s request to “get yer prayer mats out” in the run-up to our second replay against Everton, for instance?
I doubt it.
Heh, the things footy does to you, eh?
So over the years I’ve forgot about and had to read up on the format.
It’s seven rounds and we had a bye in the first one.
We’ve won two and if we win tonight, we’ll be in the quarter finals, which to me makes things very interesting.
It’s easy to say the competition is a waste of time, but it’s not like we’ve had to put much effort in to get this far is it?
And I think we’ll definitely win tonight, simply because we’re on a roll and Stoke er, aren’t. Actually that’s not strictly true, as they beat Wolves in the second round of the cup a couple of weeks back and won away at Preston at the weekend.
Not that I’m bothered. It might be a bit tougher than I imagined on the face of it, but I’m supremely confident that we’ll be in the hat for the quarters.
At least I would be if I knew we were going to play our strongest eleven.
Which we won’t.
Ross Barkley is cup tied, so we won’t be seeing him and he’s about the only change I might have expected from the squad that faced Bristol City in the last round anyway.
Whether it’s to give some of the second string minutes to keep them in trim should they be needed in the league or maybe a last once over by the management team before getting moved on, there’s little reason to change things just yet, in my opinion.
I actually found my password for one of the betting sites a couple of days back and was tempted to have a tenner on this one.
They don’t give much away do they?
7/4 on for the win I’m seeing.
It’s hardly worth the hassle, so I don’t think I’ll bother.
Hmm, a second glance shows I can get 15/2 for a 2-1 win and that’s much more like it.
I’m not really a betting man, but that would definitely spice things up a bit and if I do bother that’s what I’ll go for, because that’s my prediction.
You can guarantee that’s wrong then.
I thought this would be on Sky tonight, but it’s not so I don’t know how that will leave the streaming situation.
Whatever, I’d love us to progress and actually win the thing. It’s the closest we’re realistically getting to silverware this season, after all.
El Ghazi and Lansbury seem to have deleted their Twitter accounts;
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-lansbury-ghazi-twitter-19042920
You can bet that means they’ve been told they won’t be considered anymore and hopefully they’ll be off the books soon.
The window shuts on Monday for the Prem, but runs on for a couple of weeks for the EFL, so plenty of time to get them gone.
or they are tired off reading the vile stuff thats been posted about them. hause has also followed suit. i think we fans can say if somebody had a good game or not but fans getting personal is stepping across the line imo
Agreed Nath.
I do, however think they could be gone in this window although we would need another wide player and centre back to come in for Hause and El Ghazi. Problem with Lansbury going appears to be his wages – no wonder Villa are concerned over paying too high, it seems to be a perennial problem.
i can not see lansbury leaving hitch can you ? but just seen that post from badger on Jota he has been paid off, that is only way lansbury would leave
If the contract is terminated ‘by mutual consent’, then I assume there has been an agreed settlement which will save Villa wages over the remaining term.
That suggests, like Lansbury, they can’t off load him – so my longwinded answer is – I agree 🙂
well put it another way hitch, would you leave villa for less than your contract worth ? i certainly wouldn’t. getting a pay off to the value of my contract might persuade me. but then he will have to find another club or sit on a park bench somewhere lol if he remains at villa he has free gym and mates to hang around with a have fun
Mmm – possibly but I actually do believe these guys want to play football. Whose to say Jota didn’t approach the Villa – now he’s free to find a new contract – in Spain possibly?
It is possible to have a Twitter account, not read it and just use it to post Nath.
It’s exactly what I do, re the site.
I don’t even have a personal account.
They just shouldn’t read it if they don’t like criticism.
Sorry, but I don’t have much sympathy.
Tell you what, pay me tens of thousands a week and I’ll let you abuse me via Twitter 🙂
some of the stuff i have seen, which has been re-posted on fb has been upsetting to even me. i wouldnt say anything i can not back up online. i also wouldnt say the stuff i have seen.
i get that some ppl post immediately their reactions. sometimes its best to think about what your posting and not post emotions and personal stuff. its just the way of the world, we all should accept the criticism SHOULDNT WE b/s
Well said Nath. I don’t have any social media accounts. It’s a vile medium. Never post anything you wouldn’t say to someone’s face in the pub. It’s a great rule.
I wrote a piece a while ago about the treatment Paul Lambert got as our manager at the time and how it nearly broke him as a human being.
Badger thought I’d lifted it off another site and took it down! Lol!!!
Jota’s gone;
https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2020/october/Villa-announce-Jota-departure/
And so it begins.
Hopefully.
There’s a good chance we’ll have to pay a few of them off.
i liked Jota but its a case of wrong fit for villa today. still good player has great vision, but he is a player of luxury and needs free role released for defending, he lacks the pace and stamina to match the wing back of today so you have to play him in a free role behind the striker
Agreed.
That and he’s frankly a fanny, just like a few of them who need to go, imo.
It seems a pay off might be the only way to offload a few more players unfortunately. The likes of Lansbury on premier wages but only likely to attract championship clubs is a problem we have created. I would imagine another 3 or 4 need to go and I expect one more arrival if that happens.
Yes the termination of Twitter was because abuse to them, why do fans do that personally? We have our say on the site about performance but not directly to them . As you said Badger Jota gone , he only did 16 games but not aggressive enough or should I say lightweight on the pitch.
scouting leeds for us lol
they are high energy team, which play man for man. they press very high and play out from the back all the time. you can see why they are doing well like sheff utd done last season they play a usual style.
how to beat them ? well winning your dwell is a start. if they play man for man you can create panic if you can beat you man this will mean another leeds man will have to leave his man to stop the break. also they are attacking with 7 or 8 leaving two back on the halfway so balls and pace in behind will be a must / counter attacking with pace.
tough game for sure but thats after we beat pool and foxes lmao
was a very entertaining game leeds /city they went toe to toe for most the game, except or the opening 20 minutes that is where city should have won the game with their dominance, leeds will be a tough game for sure for anybody this season. they play a man for man system which and press high which is a winning combination not many teams can play against, they turn over possession lots doing this and very high field position too.
only thing that combats that is players like grealish mcgin and our new guy in midfield love driving runs. also pace on the counter and pace up front will unsettle them. still i enjoyed that game was a blast from the past when games where all like this
westwood slotted a nice volley to equalise. turned into a nice premiership player.
It’s now being reported that Chelsea would probably be willing to pay £100k a week out of Loftus-Cheek’s £173k a week wages if he goes out on loan.
This is utter, utter madness.
Samatta scored both goals in Fererbatche game , they won 2-1 . Nice start.
Hmmm… I see a pattern emerging. Average player leaves Villa. Does really well at next team.
Samatta seemed like a good January signing before the lockdown. Post lockdown however he didn’t seem up to speed. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does well now he has left. Whether he would eventually have scored goals in the premier league is debatable.
Watching West Ham take Leicester apart and Jarrod Bowen looks the real deal. I’ve been impressed with his displays since he signed. We were supposedly linked with him. Rumours are that he is a Villa fan so obvious talk that he would join us. Unfortunately we wasted a lot of money last season on foreign players recommended by Suso. I think Benrahma would be equally as good as Bowen so let’s hope we can get him in before he joins Palace and we regret it.
I said we should have gone for Bowen at the time and everyone on here moaned that he was unproven at PL level.
Not me; pretty much always played really well and scored against us in a very average side.
See Liverpool have six players out tonight through injury or Covid including Mane, Thiago, Henderson and Allison.
Still think a draw would be a decent result.
Not me Hitch. I want 3 points!!!
And yet those same fans who were against signing championship players like Bowen were all for signing players like Nakamba and Wesley! My personal opinion is that it’s less of a risk signing a top championship player than a player from a top foreign league outside Spanish and German leagues.
Unfortunately Liverpool will have Trent-Arnold and Salah bombing down the same flank that Targett ‘defends,’ so I don’t hold out much hope despite their injury / Covid situation. A draw would be a fantastic result although I’m predicting 0-2.
Come on you Spuds!!! Lol!!!!
Tasty line up!!!!!!!
Bloody hell, Souness is a top draw w@nk3r. A prize prick.