Danny

No idea why Casemiro put that out of play, Diaz clearly feigning the level of pain he was in. Just get on with it, if the opposition want to play a man down then let them do that.

I haven't been overly impressed with Villa when I've seen them this season but I also suppose this is the nature of chasing top 4 to finish in a Champions League spot rather than chasing a title and finishing in a Champions League spot, there is going to be more inconsistency. There's a lot of quality in this Villa team and I think you could argue they have a more balanced line up than Spurs do, but Spurs as a collective just seem a lot more dangerous, their style isn't as a mature as Villa but I think it is more aggressive in both the way they attack and defend.

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/14/brentford-announce-30m-signing-of-club-brugge-striker-igor-thiago

I don’t think a topic was ever made for this, but this is our Ivan Toney replacement that we ended up signing from Brugge as the Nusa deal went sour.

I’ve only seen highlights and physically he looks like a Toney replacement, but the thing that strikes me is that he has more pace to run in behind than Toney does which makes me think he will suit our 4-3-3 more so than our 3-5-2, though imagine he could do both.

8 minutes ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

So now that 'pushing for Europe' has become 'Thank god for points deductions or we'd be fucking relegated' You finally happy to say you'll take 40-50 mil tops? 

I mean our injury crisis has very little to do with Toney’s value but I’ll take £60m yeah

3 minutes ago, Stan said:

Toney and Collins big argument at the end @Danny? 

Didn't see it but assume it's nothing

A well deserved point. Villa went 2-0 up in a game where it barely looked like they'd score 1 goal, we managed to come back and put ourselves into the lead. Poor defending from crossing again saw Villa back into it at 3-3. The remainder of the game was up and down but very few chances were actually created.

As poor as the defending was today, to go away to Villa Park, without our entire back 4, without our defensive midfielder and club captain, with Toney on the bench for most of it due to injury, with no Schade....and to grab a point is exceptional. 3 points from 3 games in 8 days that being honest very few people would have predicted anything other than 3 losses, great stuff.

Now we have a week off, Toney and Mbeumo can push back to full fitness, hopefully Schade will be available again against Sheffield United and who knows, we might even get a first choice defender return. But two massive games to come against Sheffield United at home and Luton away, a must win and a do not lose.

Haha Reguillon, always said he was world class

Hahaha what a come back. Villa didn’t really deserve to be 2-0 up based on gameplay but we defended poorly for both goals, glad we’re back in it.

And great another penalty we’ve not been given, didnt see that

1-0 Villa in what has been a dull game with nothing in it. Shame we didn’t take advantage of the two counter attacks we had earlier in the game but the final ball was missing both times

If Mainoo is getting game time in the middle then Lewis has to, just so so good.

4 minutes ago, Rick said:

Same with the Chelsea pens. Sick to death of the inconsistency. I bet you anything that it’s a penalty if Ward does that on Grealish. 

Probably a pen if Ward does it to Salah lol

6 minutes ago, Rick said:

Not a dive at all. If we are giving the soft pens that Chelsea got against Utd, then we should be giving that. 
 

 

Mate the Palace player dropped to the floor the moment he felt contact, there was nothing in it.

1 minute ago, Rick said:

That’s a pen. The speed that it was cleared is a joke. 

Na it was a dive

22 minutes ago, Danny said:

Rico Lewis has to go to the Euros

He can quite naturally play as a left back, right back and invert to play in central areas. Crazy not to bring him in a team that wants to use possession better to attack

4 minutes ago, Stan said:

Brentford players shouldn't be anywhere near the England squad. 

Hahahaha shut your mouth sunshiiiiiiiine

Rico Lewis has to go to the Euros

On 03/04/2024 at 22:31, Devil-Dick Willie said:

Great books, mid movies, it actually makes me a bit sad that this is this generations star wars/lord of the rings. 
The movies look great, casts are mostly good, no 'outstanding' performances, but mostly because there isn't room for any in the rushed first movie. Everything is just kind of... competent and the film is good looking, both as a visual spectacle and the cast involved. I gave the first one a promising 7.5/10

And then the second. Lord. 6/10.

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A very different film with a looooooooooooooong first 2 acts, mostly to give room for Pauls character development. But it never really sets in. He takes a stance with Channi against his messianic path, is set a series of challenges, overcomes them without struggle or issue, with no tension ever built. He suddenly and almost arbitrarily discards his stance that he has had for the entire movie, and then the final act is BEYOND disappointing. It's like if the battle for minas tirith and the final stand against mordor both happened in the final 10 minutes of the movie. It's an actionless utter anticlimax, that goes for about 5 minutes. Then the final duel against a character who was only established halfway through this movie, instead of during the first film as he should have been. Just a poorly paced, tensionless film with an utterly damp payoff. Again, film looks great tho.


I think the first movie should have ended with Kynes death and the crashing of the ornithopter. Cut the last 25 minutes of desert wandering and the duel with Jamis off, and use that extra 25 minutes to flesh out the film. Then take 25 minutes of fat off the second movie (and god there is plenty to cut) and add those scenes to the beginning of this film. Then the attack on Arrakeen and the final act in general should get an extra 10-15 min.

 

I enjoyed the film, definitely the size of it. But came away feeling like it was a bit dry, like I was never truly encapsulated by what was on screen. And I think what you've said here pretty much covers why, I couldn't work it out when watching and haven't read the books. But specifically agree with Kyne/Austin Butler, was held up as a massive part of the film but actually when watching it....not so much.

Personally I would say there is better television out there than this, especially as it's held up as a Star Wars moment. If we're talking Star Wars specifically then Foundation on Apple does a much better job at conveying a gripping storyline.

49 minutes ago, Stan said:

The 3 sitting just above the drop zone all picked up valuable points against higher opposition, with Forest the only team out of the bottom 6 to win.

Sheff Utd have to find a way of gaining 10 points in the final 8 games, very unlikely when you consider 3 of their last 5 are against opposition vying for a European place. 

Forest arguably have the most difficult fixture, perhaps along with Brentford. But it looks like the bottom 3 may find themselves cut adrift within the next 2 weeks...

If we can beat Sheffield United and Luton then that would put us 12 points above Luton assuming they don't close the gap in the meantime, which would pretty much leave us safe with the last 4 games to go.

Tbh I expect us to get away comfortably now, but you never what will happen. Good news is that Wissa has played so well that Mbeumo started as a sub against Brighton, but I think Mbeumo will return against Villa. Schade should be on the bench too so we have options now.

I don't think we'll get a result but I'd really love a win at Villa, the game at the Gtech left a sour taste. Got a feeling they'll be too strong for us, expecting Watkins to score as the away end boos him lol.

This is a bit utopian but I want a sort of system where the finances are capped globally and in terms of transfers, every club has the same access to the same set of analytics. At that point it becomes less about what you can spend and more about what your club can achieve in a level playing field. Would also open up greater possibilities of inter-continental competition and allow clubs in countries that have historically been seen as under developed or developing to compete with the dominance of Europe.

I dont think the tax will work at all. If people think that clubs like United, Chelsea and whoever arent thick enough to break it purposely knowing they will have to pay, just to carry on trying to win then they’ve another thing coming. It wont affect the bigger teams really

In what world was that Garnacho goal one of the best of the season?  Commentators do waffle sometimes

2 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

I watched that and thought it was hilarious. No shots on target if memory serves right. Then they slagged off Cooper, who then got Forest promoted.

They were such a negative team and if you got into a dogfight with them they'd win. But if you could just outplay them, different story...

8 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

As I said in the Everton thread. If they change the rules and City end up managing to pay a luxury tax after Forest and Everton (twice in one season) have been given actual punishments then nobody can argue that the league isn't corrupt anymore.

I imagine it will begin from a specific period of time rather than just heres a new punishment

13 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Swansea won't go down, but it'd be funny as fuck if they did.

It’s funny what happens. When we lost to Fulham we were being called bottle jobs by Swansea, even the season we went up their fans still expected us to bottle promotion, especially as we were both in a fight for automatics for a while.

Then we beat them comfortably in the play-off final and since then they’ve been in disarray whilst we’ve enjoyed 3 great seasons in the Premier League.

Same team as against United. Flekken; Roerslev, Ajer, Zanka, Collins, KLP; Jensen, Janelt, Yarmoliuk; Wissa, Toney. 352.

Expect a much tougher test against Brighton tonight, I just hope we can hit them with the same intensity as we did United because if we do I don't think this Brighton team can defend against that.