I don’t suppose either subjects are massively important, but it’s news anyway, given that we don’t play again until over a week’s time.
Call it me cynically trying to maintain some interest, if you like. Which is basically what it is and I’m not trying to hide it.
So first off John McGinn has spoken to prince William and suggested that he might be ready in six weeks.
Dean Smith seems to confirm that his protective boot is due to come off, so that’s good.
But I personally think six weeks sounds ambitious.
It seems McGinn is a good healer, but even so it sounds a bit of a push.
Six weeks to be running, maybe, but fully up to speed, ready to play? Well, I’m cynical.
And then of course, there’s the mental effect.
Will the injury mean that McGinn won’t go in for tackles the way he used to, as we all know can affect players?
Personally I doubt it.
McGinn reminds me of one of my all time favourite Villa players and another Scot, in Alex Cropley.
He broke his leg twice while at Arsenal and came back just as willing to put the boot in for us. Indeed it was only(!?) his third leg break that finally finished him off.
He was a crafted player, who had an eye for a decent pass, while being tough with it, all while being only slightly built.
I doubt there’s any footage to see, but if there is, you should have a look.
So hurry back John, we massively miss you!
And then there’s a bit of news about Bodymoor Heath, where it seems there’s some good work going on in improving the facilities.
I can’t say I’m a big fan of the place, ever since the club stopped you going and actually watching the players train without an outsized pair of binoculars and I’ve been a constant critic of our academy which never seems to produce much of note (Grealish apart).
But I do appreciate that it’s where the players do most of their work and needs to kept up to date.
I seem to remember that the last time we refurbed it not long ago, it was called state of the art.
But now, it seems that the gym was small and needed extending?
Hmm, it would seem there was some club PR going on at the time and there probably still is.
Whatever, the fact that we’re improving the facility (albeit that the club has had a payout from HS2, which has probably paid for most of it) is to be commended.
Roll on the important stuff, which is the footy eh?
Doesn’t really matter who is the ref! It will be a final with damage limitation in mind.
Lee Mason is a Bolton fan so more likely to favour Villa possibly?
Does anybody really believe that referees are honest about which team they actually support when asked to declare it ? I remember Graham ‘3 yellow cards and you’re off’ Poll refereeing the 2000 FA Cup final against us. Apparently he stated that he was a QPR fan when there was allegedly evidence that he followed Chelsea. I went to Old Trafford a few years ago for the first of two Premier League reserve finals against Manure Utd. I recall that Lee Mason gave that ‘where is he now ?’ bighead Federico Macheda a very dodgy penalty to make it 3-3. They went on to win on penalties. He is a red.No doubt.
Mark, remember him giving 3 yellow cards in that game, ive always advocated some refs are inclined to favour their team. That’s why it fell on deaf ears when I said the FA should look on games of critical importance to thousands of fans. I firmly think it should be part of our game that if you employ a ref from his home town its subject to being unfair to fans.
is anybody around ??
can not seem to get the leeds game working. i had problems other day too watching Bournemouth game. i thought it was the weather but i just have upgraded my hub 2 to hub3 and i suspect my providers have blocked me watching footy 🙁 can somebody try to get a working link for leeds game so i can see if i can stream or not. much appreciated
thanks for your concern guys lol i don’t think the leeds game is not on any working links, i found some footy so i am relieved my systems works still. i can not miss us on the run in
According to Smith – Davis out for two to three weeks – slight hamstring strain but not bad. Seems Delaney pulling him off quickly was a sensible move. Konsa fit and McGinn maybe mid March although it seems he’s pushing to be fit for the Cup Final. It really wouldn’t surprise me to see him on the bench.
Davis stepping onto the pitch for a full game seems like a guaranteed injury.
He really needs to show he can play games and get clattered, without getting injured, by the summer.
Else, he’s gone.
Doesn’t score anywhere near enough for me, anyway and never going to cut it, imo.
I was concerned for you Nath. Hmm 🙂
But I’ve on;y just seen your comment.
Far too late to advise now.
Did you ever check out the Wow sports app?
Maybe now renamed to Vola sports?
i don’t think the leeds game had a working link. i did manage to watch swansea for about 10 mins until it bored me. main thing is my set up did work. i also improved my system by splitting the 2.4 and 5 GHz i think this caused my system to drop out. i will check out the app you mentioned. cheers for your concern too b/s lmao
In other news, we’re going to sign everyone.
Erm, really?
I can’t even be bothered to read it.
Roll on an actual game, as the the rest of it is utter rubbish.
Hogan scores the winner for the blose and they’ve won 3 on the trot since he signed. Makes an absolute mockery of the decisions being made at VP.
Meanwhile, we’re waiting for this guy’s debut:
https://www.google.com/search?q=bastion+booger&tbm=isch&safe=active&chips=q:bastion+booger,g_1:wwf:i73cwX1u1WY%3D&safe=active&hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwjNye7_yMrnAhVP4oUKHevCDKcQ4lYoAHoECAEQFA&biw=1226&bih=597
I guess all you can do is laugh!
With Kienan Davis as fragile as a straw house in a hurricane, I don’t understand why we have let Hogan go out on loan to Small Heath (on probably part paid wages) and brought in a failed premier / championship player in Baston (on probably full wage payment) The longer the season goes on, the more I question the likes of Suso & co. Doesn’t feel any different to the Faulkner days! Do we sign players purely on stats? Such as playing Football Manager on PC!
players like hogan and the kids that are out on loan all need games. when villa had no strikers and played el ghazi up front. that felt like the perfect time to recall hogan. but for reasons we don’t know off, the club decided not too. it will only make sense when the club do explain this decision.
hogan scoring three in three is great, except its for the blues. but at least if the guy can recapture his form and continue to score goals, we still might be able to demand more of a transfer in the summer for him. green and ohare need games and so does davis. until these players play regularly for a first team at the professional leagues they will never progress.
ohare has proved himself to be able to look after himself. which was a concern, being he is very slight guy to start off with. look at grealish now against when he first appeared. he has made great steps on his physical side. thou he goes down easily the opposition fans say. if he wanted he could eaily stay up, grealish is really hard to muscle off the ball or rough up. ohare only needs to look at grealish and follow his lead. they both have natural ability to see the game and ability to open up defenses, both can walk through tackles. only question mark for ohare/ and of grealish when he broke through was would they be able to survive the rough and tumble, grealish has worked so hard on that side.
A super article that goes into the finer details of what the ‘F’ happened to football. Worth a read.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/champions-league-superclubs-liverpool-man-utd-barcelona-real-madrid-a9330431.html
its been as long as summer break since we last played, minus the good weather. i just hope this mini break has energised the group for the final push. maybe they worked on some weaknesses like pressing as one. spuds have been dire most of the season and were lucky to beat us earlier on in the reversed fixture. if we do survive this season,it will boil down to beating premiership clubs like spuds at home. i believe they are beatable thou they have picked up lately, they are not the same team as seasons gone by, but we have to stop giving away silly goals and giving the opposition a lift when they need one. ruthless for 90 minutes and we have enough to beat spuds. home games are where i reckon we will collect the points we need they are all difficult games. but we have run out of excuses, to making every game count esically the home ones
We’re up against a good manager Nath, I’m banking on with all this talk we’re going down and the fact Grealish is on the move the team fights, up till now I’ve seen nothing to say we’ll be ok. Big mystery about Hogan as you say it will stay that way till someone says something. I live in hope about Sunday’s game , up till now bad luck seems to follow us.
yeah bill exactly that is all i hope for we fight until the end. we have a fighters chance and that is all you need. its down to us to take what belongs to us and ensure we stay up.
spuds are a decent team and have better players and manager is not half bad too, but we have enough in our lockers to beat these southern shady drinkers,mourhinho has not brought in his own players yet. so they will not be at his defensively best.
if i had to wage big money on beating spuds i wouldn’t but if i could wager somebodies money i would slap it down on villa. 2 1 win
Citeh out of Europe for 2 years due to FFP ‘fiddling.’ Massive. Could this be the moment that the playing field is levelled? Or am I kidding myself? I’ve asked many times on here what’s the point in having wealthy owners if you can’t use their cash and wondered how clubs like City seem to have surplus cash to spend. Now it’s clear. The big clubs bend the rules to snapping point. Looks like City took it too far. Let’s hope the ruling is upheld and an appeal in the Court of Arbitration doesn’t succeed!
BaR beat me to it,
Aston Villa’s Carabao Cup opponents Manchester City have been banned from European competitions for the next two seasons.
That would mean that any victory in the cup final over Villa at Wembley would not allow City to qualify for the Europa League if the ruling stands.
The winners of the competition will enter the Europa League next season, while next season’s cup winners will enter the new Europa Conference League. Well that’s opened a can of worms.
TBH many on here have used City as an example of twisting FFP and wanted proper investigation and sanctions. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander so we are probably treading on thin ice. I would accept a ban from the Champions League for 2 years right now to draw a line under this 😉
All we need now is for Pep to throw his rattle out the pram and walk! Maybe then it might give us hope in a couple of weeks. How many Citeh players will be happy about no European football for a couple of seasons? Add a points deduction for next season and hopefully the wheels will come off their financial charged juggernaut. Well here’s hoping anyway.
We might have a helping hand with champions league. Spurs playing Leipzig midweek after our game. Citeh away to Real Madrid midweek before final against us. Also they have FA Cup game away to Sheffield Wednesday midweek after our game. Little things that might take their eye off the ball! Also looking for any advantages to even things out a little.
watching football focus even that Alex scott has villa measured up correctly. we basically are awful without the ball. i have moaned endless about this backing off even inside the box.. she mentioned how many shots/chances we concede each games,
like i said in a earlier post just hope we worked on this in this long break we just had. we are not a bad side on the ball, we just have bad habits without the ball and are to passive and easy to play against. we need to get mean and press even if its not a high press. we need to put some pressure on the ball especially in our half, not allowing the opposition to work in and around our box