Mazzy

ASM has barely been involved unfortunately. Need to get him in the game more. Perhaps once Villa start to push a but more he may find more space.

Excellent half! Shame about Manq but it's just one of those things. Going to be a nervous 2nd half and Villa can't be as poor as they were in the 1st. Need that second goal ASAP to calm us down.

Fuck sake Wood, too many options and he blasts it over.

Big shame if Manq goes off! He'll be out for fair few weeks I think looking at how he landed

YES!!

Norwich is now the team that looks most likely to give it a proper go at staying up! They were pretty decent against Man City for the first 20 minutes. Burnley and Watford are both worse than we are but arguably better than Norwich. It just feels like Norwich have some fight in them since Dean Smith took over.

This is winnable for sure. A draw wouldn't be terrible but would feel like a missed opportunity at home after 2 huge wins with such a good feeling around the place.

So pointless having the Norwich v Man City game on TV.

I'm sure it's been mentioned on here before but the Football Clichés podcast is always a good listen. It's not focused on any one team or league more on the language and culture around football.

Tarkowski on a free is a pre takeover signing for sure. It's not that I wouldn't take him as a back up but at his age I don't see him wanting that. I imagine he still has dreams of playing for England and maybe even the World Cup squad. He won't do that if he's not playing and starting consistently next season.

The tackling stat that's been going around since the Everton game proves how valuable Joelinton is to us right now. I do think though that as with 90% of players here he is living on borrowed time. He'll outstay most because he has the ability to play in different positions and clearly has the passion for it but I don't see him being a guaranteed starter next season.

Obviously not worth risking him. Especially with Manquillo available, it would be a massive loss as I do think if we had a fully fit squad this game would be there for the taking. Even with the changes I think we can definitely win but wouldn't be as confident. Trippier offers so much that Manq doesn't, but perhaps having Burn at LB might help compensate for that.

I wasn't suggesting we bring in Mitro, he was just an example of Championship players excelling at their correct level. I do agree that we should almost certainly take a punt on a few lower league players from any country. Its less of a risk for us in reality as if we spend 30m on Diaz for example and he ends of being a bag of shit then he'll just hang around on the bench for a season or so and then someone like Everton or Cyrstal Palace will take him off our hands and we'll buy someone else.

I've watched alot of Brennan Johnson due in part to living so close to Lincoln (where he was on loan for a season). There is no doubt he is talented, has pace and an eye for goal but I don't see us going for untested top level players. Brereton Diaz is more of an option because of how well he has done but on that same level surely Mitro would be a good buy as well. We know being decent or even outstanding in the Championship doesn't mean jack shit in the Premier League.

At this moment right now I would take him back because I think he's got something about him that would help us stay up. However its not January anymore and I wouldn't bother bring him back in the summer so that chapter has ended. He was decent and at times was a joy to watch but we are past that.

What a ridiculous thing to post. Just turn up and do your job. Purely attention seeking with shitty tweets like that.

Everything that's been said about him points at him being a defensive minded/transitional midfielder. He's the one that breaks up play and links defense to attack. That doesn't mean he can't break forward at times and link up with the forwards but we've desperately needed someone to play infront of the back 4 who isn't Shelvey. That's his job, his goalscoring and assist record is enough to prove that. He's scored 8 league goals in his career and contributed 6 assists in just over 110apps. He's the one that starts the movement forwards and pushes us up the pitch with his balls through the lines.

I don't see Targett being here next season. We'll get a new LB in for certain and perhaps Lewis will stay but I can see him leaving for more game time. Targett is a solid player but I hope we're aiming to get someone better than him in.

Not sure who you'd play there instead though? Can't see Murphy or Almiron doing any better there. Don't see any logic in dropping him after arguably his best game since he's been here.

Had we drawn or lost against Everton the decision to bring Bruno into the team would be easy. With us winning and the performance being how it was has made it much harder. I'm not sure Howe will change the team aside from Targett.

Can see this having a few goals in it. Don't imagine we'll keep a clean sheet and I don't think Villa will either. 2-2 is my guess. Could go either way really.

Lose, lose situation for wingers and wide midfielders. They get far more stick than most for just doing what they are meant to be doing ie. Get past their man and provide assists. But if they don't do those things and just play it safe and pass sideways or backwards they then get labelled as boring or too defensively minded. I do think it just comes with the territory for these kinds of players and ofcourse any player will get more abuse when we aren't winning and the team isn't doing well. One thing is for certain, ASM is arguably the one player we have (Bruno aside) that ANY team in the Prem would take. He is as exciting as any player in the league and provides more entertainment for the supporters than most other players in our team combined. If he isn't still here in 3/4 seasons then I will be very disappointed.

I do agree that Shelvey is the obvious one to lose his place for Bruno to come in and the fact that Villa have a much more mobile and energetic midfield than Everton should suggest that we need Bruno in there. It all depends on Howe and if he feels Bruno is capable of fitting straight into the team and way he wants to play. Ideally you would have Bruno as a straight swap for Shelvey and have him playing as the deepest lying midfielder with Joelinton and Willock ahead.

I'm glad you're so certain. Let's see.

We need to average 1.5 points per game. That would end out season on 40 points basically. That requires us to be beating teams around us also. But as we've already mostly screwed that part up we need to be beating Everton and getting no less than a point against Villa.