Leicester – Villa; Hooray, the proper footy’s back!

I’m writing this early on Friday morning, mostly because I’m itching for the proper games to come back after the utterly pointless England games that I have no interest in whatsoever.
It’s probably a bit unfair of me to say that, as I’m sure many do care about England, but it’s just that I feel we’re wasting our time. I doubt even the most one-eyed England fan feels we have the slightest chance of winning any competition.
To be fair, you could probably say that about the Villa, but well, that’s different isn’t it?

There’s also a second reason I wanted to write this so early, as I want to say how much I think there is no way on earth we will sign any significant player before the transfer window closes at 5pm, as much as the usual clickbait sites are suggesting otherwise.

Which leads me to Birmingham Live, or the good old Birmingham Mail, as most people still know it.
What happened to this paper?
While it was never known for it’s accuracy on all things Aston Villa, it was by far the most respected source for news and certainly my “goto” place if I wanted to hear reliable rumours. To be honest, apart from the national papers, there wasn’t anywhere else to look, possibly the Argus apart, but while the Mail didn’t really have any inside track, it did seem that there was a healthy respect between the paper and the club, where the reporters wouldn’t write anything fabricated or outrageous and the club wouldn’t mislead the reporters.

Whereas all it does now is constantly regurgitate all the rubbish that is posted by the usual clickbaiters.
Which in turn makes it look more and more silly, because it’s now the central point for all the stories that invariably prove miles off the mark.
The Benrahma saga is a point in hand. If we were going to sign him, we’d have done it weeks ago. Yet, I can hardly recall a day for weeks where Birmingham Live hasn’t pushed this story, via one source or another.
And all it does, is make the site look more and more unreliable, to the extent where I don’t bother to look past the headlines half of the time, as I just know it’ll be recycled rubbish.
The paper/site has it’s own reporters and while I use the term loosely and the videos etc are not my sort of thing, I feel they should be left to do what they do without perpetuating the clickbait stuff.

So that’s two of my big moans out of the way, but I still have another one.
What’s this stupid 7.15pm on a Sunday kickoff time about?
There’s something just wrong with that, but to be fair, there’s never anything on telly on a Sunday night anyway,is there?
Then again, I’m probably showing my age there, as with all this streaming, Tv schedules don’t really matter nowadays do they?
Except they do for me. Streaming’s nice, but it doesn’t cut it.
Perhaps it’s the regularity and routine of TV schedules that I like?
And perhaps that’s why I dislike these daft kickoff times so much?

Heh, I guess I’d better get on to the proper stuff, which is the game.

Both teams have got off to a great start, having taken 9 points, with Leicester sitting third after 4 games, whereas we sit second after only 3 games.
Shock, horror, I think it’s fair to say that our league position is probably a bit distorted, but I don’t think this is a game that Leicester will be relishing, as we do beat them occasionally. A certain League cup victory quite recently comes to mind.
Then again, the last time we played this fixture, in March of this year, we were on the receiving end of a 4-0 drubbing, although I don’t think we’ll be anywhere near that scoreline this time.

It’s a bit early for squad news and I think that apart from the usuals, we’re all good.

As for Leicester, Caglar Soyuncu was left out of Turkey’s squad in midweek, with the manager reporting that he had a hamstring problem.
That could lead to them giving Wesley Fofana his debut.
I haven’t heard anything else.

What’s the prediction then?
I haven’t got a clue.
I predict goals, 3 or more, but which way, I don’t know.
It’s too early into the season for me to have seen any patterns and having played two of the weakest sides in the league has probably put us in a false position. That said, there was no fluke in caning the world champions, was there?
I’m sure you get my point though and everything is just a pure guess.
If you’re going to push me, I’m going for a 2-1 defeat, I’m afraid.

But how good would it be if it was the other way round?

The game will be available via Sky’s PPV rip-off, but I won’t be having any of that.
Hopefully there will be other possibilities.

81 Comments

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  1. Bum Bum
    Bum Bum October 18, 2020 at 9:16 pm . Reply

    Leeds on Friday night. What a clash that will be!!!!

  2. nath
    nath October 18, 2020 at 9:16 pm . Reply

    anybody shout shoot when barkley scored lol i think i woke up the house and street lol we played loads better second half and won fair and square. we tended to over play or hold on the the ball when we got in great positions to shoot or play a man in. that until barkley hence why i shouted shoot and he did nicely placed too in the bottom right.

    now thats first 4 wins to the season. foxes and pool both top sides and we are going toe to toe with them. who is bloody next bring them on. i can not wait to pllay manure of the pitch lmao

    1. nath
      nath October 18, 2020 at 9:20 pm . Reply

      can wait to play manure of the pitch lol giddy typo error scumbags. but its leeds anyways another team i can not stand.

  3. Holte66
    Holte66 October 18, 2020 at 9:24 pm . Reply

    We look really solid. What happened to last seasons defence? Konsa and Mings forming a great partnership and full backs (even Targett) were rarely troubled. Only Watkins had a quiet game but he worked hard throughout. Dare we dream! 🥳

  4. nath
    nath October 18, 2020 at 9:24 pm . Reply

    doesn’t the league table look absolutely brilliant. pinch me or punch me is this a dream or what. we were really professional tonight, it wasnt easy by all means first half we struggled to beat their press and it was a game cancelled out, but second half we got to grips with them and worked them out more but could t break them until barkley took his goal well.

  5. Guest
    Guest October 18, 2020 at 9:26 pm . Reply

    I knew we’d win I just thought it would be more.

    Scrappy game but we won ugly and we are going strong, this is the best side we’ve had for years.

  6. VillaAwayInDiv3
    VillaAwayInDiv3 October 18, 2020 at 9:30 pm . Reply

    Think it changed when Maddison came on….both sides had more space which suited us more…..if this had been a few days after 7-2 we would have been more fluid….thought we went back to the way we started season against Sheff….as if we hadnt played for months.

    Anyone know why I have to enter log in details everytime I comment….the save my name etc is ticked.

    1. Bill Pearson..
      Bill Pearson.. October 18, 2020 at 9:57 pm . Reply

      I’m the same villaaway, as soon as I type the first letter it comes up full address.

  7. Hitchens60
    Hitchens60 October 18, 2020 at 9:34 pm . Reply

    Trezeguet – the new Des Bremner. That guy puts in a hell of a shift.

    Also thought towards the end of the game Luiz was starting to show the form he displayed post lockdown.

    That’s three clean sheets in four games and a +10 GD – how wonderful to be a Villa fan after so many years of hurt.

    UTV

  8. Ardent Villain
    Ardent Villain October 18, 2020 at 9:39 pm . Reply

    How long did it take us to get to 12 points last season?

  9. nath
    nath October 18, 2020 at 9:50 pm . Reply

    first time in 90 years we won all first four games / top flight games.

    1. Bum Bum
      Bum Bum October 18, 2020 at 9:53 pm . Reply

      So what do the stats say should we beat Leeds?

      1. nath
        nath October 18, 2020 at 9:58 pm . Reply

        i think so but another tough game totally different tonight. more like the pool game where they will push very high, so i fancy us to beat them. what say you

      2. Ardent Villain
        Ardent Villain October 18, 2020 at 10:00 pm . Reply

        At the moment I don’t think there’s anyone we couldn’t beat.

        Certainly the days of opposition teams looking at the fixture list and seeing Villa as a near-guranteed 3 points are over; think they’ll all be showing a lot more RESPECT in the next few weeks!!

  10. Ardent Villain
    Ardent Villain October 18, 2020 at 10:20 pm . Reply

    Most interesting stat I’ve seen tonight: in our only 2 away games so far this season we’ve kept a clean sheet; last season we didn’t manage a single one in all 19 away games.

    Look at the table: we’ve only conceded 2 goals in the lrague so far; next best are Arsenal with 6 – many of the others are already into double figures…

  11. Hitchens60
    Hitchens60 October 19, 2020 at 7:20 am . Reply

    Last season we failed to beat any of the top six; that’s two beaten in two games.

    Oh – we are top six!

    🙂

  12. Singapore Villan
    Singapore Villan October 20, 2020 at 4:51 am . Reply

    There were many calling for Dean’s head last season … seems to have gone very quiet ?!? Thank the lord the board held their nerve and continue with a longer term plan of rebuilding even if it’s sometimes 1 step back to take!2 foreword.

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