Reluctant Striker

A bit delayed, but RIP Gary Shaw. One of the European Cup legends. A different team, of a different era, and before my time. But, still a name I knew well. 63 sounds so young these days.

Interesting draw. About as bad as it could get for Man City ? Can't help but feel Villa are in that Catch 22 position, where they may well do respectably well in the Premier League & maybe Champions League too.. but the 2 more obvious trophy chances will find another year of falling short somewhere at some point.

I'm another here thinking that Haaland should have got a ban. He is a magnificent talent. But even if not picked up by the ref at the time, there was something very bad mood Roy Keane about it all. And it should have been punished.

The Batman. I liked it, despite Robert Pattinson. He does seem a totally vacant screen presence to me. Not just in this movie. Perhaps Batman is one character where distant & vacant can kind of work. To me, this seemed very similar to the Arkham games. The Arkham Knight was the middle of a trilogy. The one I played. And only none sports game I've ever completed. Pretty much all the bad guys are in that. But with the main plot focused on Scarecrow, Poison Ivy & memories/hauntings of Joker. With all kinds of mayhem going on within an intertwined story. I can't say I'm a huge fan of rapid remakes. Or the lead actor. But I did really enjoy it despite that. Which says plenty about the writing & production.

I think the biggest gamble with Cooper for Leicester, disregarding any Leicester - Forest fan issue, which I seem to remember Martin O'Neill being unaffected by, it's Cooper's lack of proven experience. Yes, he got Forest promoted, after however many years. And given the circumstances he was perhaps unlucky to be got rid of by Forest. Dean Smith arguably had a similar CV when he left Villa. Going the Brighton or Bouremouth direction would be very bold. I would put money on David Moyes being a lead candidate for whichever club pulls the trigger first this season. Except Man United. For the experience. And that with the exception of Man United, most neutrals think he did very, very well wherever else he has been.

Still nothing but positives to take from Unai's Villa team. On a highly critical viewpoint, it is an unavoidable fact that there has not been 1 clean sheet as yet, in the Premier League. But, the flip side to that is how doubtful it would have been, under previous managers, that Villa would have picked up the 4 wins from 5 they have. The fine margins between looking every bit a part of a strong top 6 & being much more nervous, much lower down.

It is definitely part greed. Same as the extended 2026 World Cup will be. And also Club World Cup when that happens soon. In a way though, I'm not sure the jeopardy has changed drastically. Last season only 1 team per 4 team group was actually eliminated from European competition completely. So, if I'm looking back at accurate info, only 8 from 32 were properly eliminated. With 8 going to Europa League. Now, 12 from the 36 have no European football. While 16 have an additional play off round to reach the Last 16. So, yes, it's money grabbing. As the original expansion in the 90's always was. And yes, it probably favours the stronger regions. But also, don't forget Copenhagen were a side that helped eliminate Man United last season. And the Conference League winner was Greek. It does play its part to add into the concern over increasing fixtures from the players themselves. But, I do think it will catch on. And can easily imagine Euro's & World Cup's taking a close look at the format idea itself.

Yes, very happy. Seemed a bit surreal to hear the theme music. I do think we've perhaps had one of the easier games first up. I'm sure we played a few better sides in last season's Conference League. Bayern Munich at Villa Park next will likely be a different game. But, every reason to think we'll give them a better contest than 9-2..

Very bad start to the season from Wolves. They have had to sell, but certainly seem a distance off Brighton, who their fans would surely expect to be realistically competing with. Postecoglu had an amazing start. But, it was bordering on comically bad when they lost all games possible Vs top half sides in last season's run in. And that same form is continuing. If it doesn't turn around soon, I imagine he'll be under real pressure.

The Villa - Everton match is an odd one to make sense of. Villa were up to their standard Unai era start of attacking the opening 15 minutes like many sides do in the final 15. But, Everton got through it & got themselves 0-2 up. Against the run of play. But in the classic style of a side feeling their best chance is to absorb & counter. And then they hit the snag many sides do in that situation. Villa did make the comeback, against a side who, in my opinion, can only really be criticised for not being in any position to sit on the lead higher up the pitch. How much of that is on Everton's transfer activities, Dyche's tactics, or what was opposing them, I'm not really sure. But even during Villa's comeback, Everton were creating chances. On another day it's 4-4 or something just as crazy. Overall it's probably just a good advert for the league. Everton do have plenty about them for a side pointless after 4 games. While Villa are a level or 2 better than many will give them credit for. One thing I am sure of is that Duran has the potential to be remembered as one of the big names of his generation.

A bit concerning how many injuries & knocks are mounting up. Villa simply can not cope with a long injury list. But Konsa at least is in the squad. Cash out for a while. Uncertainty over Bailey. Still no Buendia, Mings or Kamara as yet. But it was actually Lamare Bogarde who covered Cash being out last game. Not Nedeljkovic, who has had a mixed start to his full Serbia international career. Also, can not take anything for granted with Everton. Yes, the odds are in favour of Villa piling even more pressure on them. But.. if they turn up for a full match, they are capable of doing things.

Apparently Lee Carsley, born in England, but capped as a player by Ireland, will not be singing the national anthem. Quoted as saying he respects both, but does not sing either. And sounds like that is his general stance, not a political or personal statement especially for this match. Feels like people who know him from the U21's are getting that out early for him. Not sure if there will be quite the same reaction as there used to be. But I have a feeling it will still get more press & gossip coverage than the match itself. Thankfully not as many newspapers get sold these days, so will mostly be hidden away somewhere around the internet, like that bloke trying to rubbish Blair backing Oasis, their fans & culture in the last few weeks.

Brilliant result !

I do actually think a fairer & more competitive encouraging way to govern things, would in some way allow perhaps new owners to set out some funding guarantee for X number of years. They guarantee costs will be covered. No risk to the clubs existence. So no Portsmouth, Leeds, etc. And everyone in & around the club know the ticking clock to when they need to have raised their standard income levels. It feels like it would give more chance to a Villa or a Newcastle or whoever, to take a better attempt at being the next Chelsea or Man City. But, then it loops back to the fact the rules were designed to prevent that scenario. And it still kind of exempts profitable pre-rulings clubs, as very high spending is covered, almost regardless. It certainly seems more difficult to lose current income than generate new.

He has won more trophies, but the concerning part, if you are rooting for Wembley of the North -Man United.. is that he does not even seem like an equal of Unai Emery or Eddie Howe.

I still keep thinking how positive it is that clubs spending big money can totally mess it up.

6 away points from 6 is a good start. Sounds like the ref was possibly contentious. A couple more injury worries for Villa, with their limited squad. Duran continues to produce whenever used.

Biggest point of interest in the Villa line up will be RB. Matty Cash is out for a month with a hamstring. Against Arsenal the teenage January signing Nedeljkovic replaced him. Last season it was usually Konsa. Some fan concern no RB-CB was obtained. In an ideal scenario there probably would have been. But I think Unai rates Nedeljkovic in a similar way to what he was seeing in Rogers.

Some interesting late transfers. Chelsea did have a very good away day at Wolves, but letting Sterling go, the way they have, to Arsenal. And using the squad space that was not really there, for Sancho. It seems like Boelhy still doesn't quite get it. And not quite how things were in the days of Ashley Cole. McTominay & Gilmour both going to Napoli is probably good for both the players. Not so much Ivan Toney going to Saudi. Nketiah & Ramsdale both deciding squad filler roles are not for them. I like to see that attitude. And I feel sure Chiesa will knock in a few stunners. With how many players Liverpool have that will also do so, I'm not sure he will have a significant impact. And if anyone missed them & is interested, both Iling Junior (Bologna) & Barrenechea (Valencia) are out on loan. The 2 players Villa took from Juve as part of the Douglas Luiz cash in a paper bag deal. I guess with Iling Junior, because Rogers is doing well, Jacob Ramsey is on the bench & Buendia is due to return. Similarly for Barrenechea that Onana has started well, Barkley is on the bench & Kamara is due back.

Difficult to judge exactly, but surely the draw gives Villa the best chance they could have hoped for to make it to the knockout stage. 24 of the 36 have a play off or straight to last 16 round. Feels like the new format has on one hand robbed us of visiting a Bayern or a Juve. But also perhaps saved us from having to go to both. And giving a better chance to reach a big 2 leg tie.

RIP. Obviously knew of him mostly as England manager. The famous 1-5 in Germany. Three consecutive quarter finals. Which was unheard of prior to that & for a while afterwards.

It's not nice being in & around a club where much better has been known. I think perhaps how Everton did reasonably well last season many would have been expecting better to start this season. Yet the bottom 6 or 7 already forming it seems. But going out of the way to give personal abuse to players is out of order. I've heard lots of Micah Richards stories of his time at Villa. I heard Stan Collymore's TalkSport rant at the time to a few named players & in general. (And Lescott did deserve a bit to be fair) Yet, I do not remember anyone in any media mentioning the owner (Randy Lerner) The only person I have heard talk about the owner since has been Tim Sherwood, who told a story of telling the owner it was a relegation battle squad. And he was right. And there are just a few clubs where that's just more difficult to accept, comprehend & deal with.

I imagine the manager change has had an impact. Only Chelsea seem totally ok with spaffing money around on players the current or next manager may or may not want. And it is hard to argue Liverpool did not perform well for large parts of last season. But nearly every Liverpool fan playing whatever football games is signing a number 6 & either a CB or another forward.

Disappointing, as Villa could easily have been 2-0 up. But Arsenal took their chances. Could grumble about Watkins not really being at it yet. Or the no replacement of Diaby. But Villa have a run of games ahead, through to end of October, which in many ways carry more significance than one against a likely title contender. Leicester (a) Everton (h) Wolves (h) Ipswich (a) Man United (h) Fulham (a) Bournemouth (h) I think it's fair to say Villa will be judged on how they go over games like those.

Apparently, if you believe all the rumour-stories, he chose Chelsea Crazy how Chelsea gave Villa almost the same money for Chukwuemeka & Kellyman combined. They probably should stop the indiscriminate spending. For Villa, I think they may just be better off trying to keep Jhon Duran on the right path.