Aston Villa Banter Mobile

08 Nov 2025 11:41:23
I do worry about the Bournemouth game based on what I saw defensively against Maccabi I know Cash and Digne will come back in but the way we were exposed on the transition by let's face it a bang average side was poor if that happens against Bournemouth we will be punished. We need to move the ball much quicker if we want to hurt Bournemouth's back line.


It will be interesting to see the starting XI. Does Tielemans come straight back in? personally I hope so. Does Guessand start? not sure I know he isn't great going forward but he does offer Cash additional protection and as Bournemouth are a threat out wide that's an option. Does Watkins start not sure. However in Unai we trust.

08 Nov 2025 02:13:45
Chatting with my 9 yr old son tonight about a tougher than usual week personally, and he said "well at least we got the win Thursday night, I said yeh we didn't play well but we got the 3 points, he asked would you rather play well or get the points, slight pause from me but my answer was "the points I suppose".
I've asked myself the same question a few times since, part of me is disappointed with the game Thursday, I mean we hope and cheer our team on all season to finish in European places for those big nights but then we watch games like that, not entertaining, not enjoyable (reminds me of spurs and uniteds journeys to the final last year if I'm honest) and I ask myself how is Emery happy with that.

We have to remember that Emery has a job to do with the squad and he has to think about more than just winning each match as it comes, he's managing mins into fringe players, managing players back to fitness, he's got to manage legs to make sure we are good to go at the weekend, the list goes on.
So we look at it as a whole from his perspective, we looked good when we really tried, our players didn't over exert themselves and should be quiet fresh for the weekend, we had no injuries, Buendia and YT are back from injury, Bogard seems reliable no matter where he plays, Malen scored a penalty and Maatsen got a nice goal, there was no trouble at the game that had potential to be a disaster, we won without pushing ourselves, in a good position in both leagues, so all in all it was a good night for Emery and the team, we have to accept that this was never going to be one of the big glamour European nights, it was a must win game and we did just that, it won't live long in the memory and I'm sure lots of people who were disappointed last night are a little bit happier today looking at the table and the frustration has worn off and looking more towards Bournemouth, it's also important to have somewhere to vent and at times that's what this page is, I hope it stays that way, has to be balanced, from what I read here most comments have structure and valid points whether they are positive or negative, there was only one guy who was talking total contradictive nonsense and he's gone quiet, everyone loves a good debate and it would be pretty boring if we all thought the same, we would all comment positive things the day of the game and then have nothing to talk about till next game day, I read a lot of different club pages on this site and most are every bit as fickle as we are despite what some people say, you also have totally deluded sets of fans on some clubs pages and reading it is stomach turning, you also have pages that haven't seen a new comment in a year and we don't want that either, so let's keep the balance and respect anyone's views when they make valid points even if we don't agree with them. not sure what this post is but hopefully a bit in there that everyone can relate to whether it's positive or negative.
Finishing off with a positive, I've always said the best teams find a way to win even when the are not playing well, UTV 💪

08 Nov 2025 08:50:59
Definitely in your camp Whack, if we all agreed it would be boring, some don't understand that's its because we care so much we say the things we do and that's how it should be, patience and tolerance are commendable traits and should always be remembered. Generally I think this is one of the better forums with a good balance of views long may it continue.

08 Nov 2025 08:50:59
Definitely in your camp Whack, if we all agreed it would be boring, some don't understand that's its because we care so much we say the things we do and that's how it should be, patience and tolerance are commendable traits and should always be remembered. Generally I think this is one of the better forums with a good balance of views long may it continue.

07 Nov 2025 11:37:16
Watkins left out of latest England squad then.
Correct decision for me.
Ollie looks to be struggling and carrying the weight of the world and expectation on his shoulders.
Had a good pre-season, possibly his best at Villa but something is clearly amiss.

07 Nov 2025 12:36:29
It’ll either be a wake-up call or dent his confidence even more. Either way, something needs to change 🤔

07 Nov 2025 07:31:41
Morning.

Really odd evening. As many have said, focus ended up being far more on politics than on 90 minutes of action on the pitch. Never seen so many police at a football game, but they were very friendly and chatty. Protesting I saw was peaceful and engaging. But a really quiet and flat atmosphere both outside and inside the ground.

As for the game. Largely flat tempo and slow play. You could see, especially in the last 10 mins of the first half, that when we put our foot down, we could cut through them at ease. Shame we only did that in fits and starts. But, that said, in what was an incredibly awkward fixture for all sorts of reasons, we still won.

Shout out to the Dutch lads - Malen, Maatsen and Bogarde were the best players on the pitch for me. And we got to see a rare thing - a Villa penalty scored!

There is a player somewhere within Guessand. I can understand the critique he gets, but I feel that he will come good. This is based more on hope than evidence admittedly, but fingers crossed.

Lindelhof is not a RB. Far too exposed with him playing there against pace.

Poor Harvey Elliott. If he can't get a kick in that game then we've clearly given up on him. I wonder if there is something in the 'once he's played 10 games we have to buy him' rumour? Clearly Emery does not fancy him.

On to Sunday. Flat tempo and slow play will get picked off for fun by Bournemouth with their energy and non stop press. I'd expect to see a starting line up something like this.

Martinez
Cash / Konsa / Torres (fit?) / Digne
Onana / Kamara
Buendia / Rogers / McGinn
Watkins

Also Malen might start?

Great to see Youri back.

07 Nov 2025 07:57:36
Great post.
Highlighting the positives and also identifying some of the issues, eg. slow play.
Guessand is surely a better player than we've seen so far and for £23m we should expect a lot more from him. Sometimes players struggle to settle at a club and this might be one of those.
The 'Elliott' question is an interesting one. Only Emery knows the truth, at the moment.
Sancho looked a bit better last night.

Bournemouth will provide an altogether different proposition.
UTV

07 Nov 2025 00:06:09
We won, up to Sixth, what a beautiful goal by Maatsen, how did he get that in, from that angle. At last we've found a penalty taker, if he's playing . Great to see Tielemans back, and what a great couple of passes he played . The commentary on Amazon was quite good, they raved about, Mr versatility Bogard, also they said, as we have continually, Villa look at their best, when playing the ball faster .

When we have another game on Sunday, you can understand the squad split . Hope Toms lovechild Torres, was only taken off as a precaution. Sancho still got things to prove, but at least he looks interested, still can't understand the Elliot saga, feel so sorry for the kid .
On now to Sunday and Bournemouth, will be hard game but winnable.UTV

07 Nov 2025 05:43:30
Uncle not love child