Beren

Overpowered now. Chelsea legions of mercs filtering in from the bench too.

Given there's no qualifying, is there any decent reason why the draw is so late in the summer? Not massively convenient if you're looking to travel.

FFS.

Great interview

Well said. Look forward to him and Hall reviving their chemistry next year.

Very on brand for the PL club that whinges the most.

My optimistic take is it might be for the best. Lose a few million on not finishing fourth, but an Emperor's New Clothes moment for the club about where we are.

Quite pleased contract situation might save Eddie from himself a bit on a few of these. Osula and Miley didn't get nearly enough minutes this year. Really hope we sell Murphy off the back of his statline.

Brighton miss out on Europe too. Smashing.

Utter shite that was. Shambolic from Howe tbh. Thanks @Froggy. Always believed in Amorim. Results catching up with performances. Concerning back end of the season. Grateful for the CL money, but our style of play needs to fucking adapt over the summer. Anyway, enjoy the Villa forums everyone

Osula on 87 mins late.

Burn at left back is suicidal

Would like to see Murphy hug the touchline a bit more second half. And not try to come inside so much.

Pretty pedestrian. Isak clearly not fit. Tino and Bruno have been good. Pope too. Murphy has been terrible.

Silver lining: Brereton Diaz loses again.

Sheff Utd man. That's got to sting, by so far the better team. Damn.

Awful since Hamer went off

There it is.

Sheffield Utd are too open. Why play basketball here...

Squandered chance that. Other guy was wide open.

Can't get over the quality of that first goal tbh Half the sides in the PL don't have a striker who'd finish that

If I was one of the Sky 6, I'd be trying to unsettle our players like this/push up our wage bill, even if I had no intention of matching NUFC's/market valuation of the players.

I'm not going to cape for the guy but I can only assume he is/was taking the long-view, even if the current crop can't deliver it. He poured everything into the Europa, knowing he couldn't compete domestically. And in parts, they played okay (relative to their capability) through the competition from what I saw. Even yesterday, as poor as they were, a draw wouldn't have been an unfair result I thought. If the spine of his long-term vision was intended to change this summer, I think maybe he thought there was limited value to gutting it out in the PL week-in week-out - while safe from relegation. What's the difference between 11th and 17th for them, really? Now I don't agree with that view, and I think culture change is important and needs to start somewhere. He's definitely not above criticism, and he seems to be getting a fair bit. Some he deserves IMO. I felt like he began to "get it" towards the end of the season, but maybe too late. Anyway, he doesn't seem unlikable to me (yet!) and they hired him for a reason. Reckon they will give him at least a window or two to put his stamp on the club.