OTF

Cheers mate, scraping the bottom of the barrel to be blaming the head Dr for how poor the Tigers are though! Hope he turns out to be all good, as Isegrim and others have said ACL replacements are common with extremely high success rates. Didn’t take out the meniscus at the same time which is good.

Perfect run and finish from wor Miggy to equalise against Chelsea. All the purple patch haters can pipe down 😉

Strong team to start, quite a few names missing from the bench though! No Bruno, Wilson, Barnes, Targett, Lascelles....

Booked in to see Dr Peter Lorentzos who is the head Dr for the Tigers. Don't know if that is a good or bad thing. He was recommended by my physio.

He played well against Man City when called on. For defenders confidence is very important, I feel like our squad and Lascelles, as our internally heralded captain, have it despite him not playing often. Credit to Eddie for this. Even if we bring in a better (AKA more technical defender) will we want to upset the partnership that Schar and Botman have built by routinely playing the new defender? It's a tough balancing act for Howe either way, and it will also hinges on how we line up - whether we play the adjustable 4-3-3 that facilitates Trippier overlapping routinely and Burn tucking in to an almost back 3, or whether we go to a more traditional back 4 and Burn becomes an option for CB rather than first choice in that hybrid 4. Personally I can see Howe retaining the hybrid structure for many of our premier league games but as required using our bench to change up our shape as games require. I agree though thay we're short on cover at the back, a couple of injuries would leave us really exposed. Regarding Gordon and his pressing, I didn't see a lot of him at Everton outside of when we played them. I'm basing my comments about his pressing on what I've seen of him here. He has put thr effort in but hasn't been as effective as I would like given his speed and age. The point I eas trying to press (ha ha) about Miggy is that he has a crazy amount of energy/stamina and even when he's been pressing all game he still has the energy late on to be making runs and to continue with the press. I don't know whether that will be the case for Gordon or Barnes, I hope so, but it would be unrealistic to expect it. We see with other players putting that sort of effort in they hit the wall and need to be subbed (e.g. Willock) or start giving away unnecessary free kicks (Joelinton).

To update, yes it's a torn ACL 😫 Will have to have an operation to graft in a new ACL.

That last bit is key, he is tireless and still has legs late in the game, one of the best engines I've seen on a player, perhaps because he has no fat on him at all. Now that the rest of the team also press Almiron's individual pressing is much more effective. Gordon doesn't press as much or as effectively as Almiron which is why I think Eddie will stick with Miggy until Gordon improves in that aspect. It will be the same for Barnes also who is not noted for his pressing or defensive ability. Both will already know how key that aspect is and we've seen them try to execute the press when they have played (even in Barnes brief cameo he was pressing with Gordon and forced a turnover).

He had some game where he was truly world class. The 3-3 game against Man City comes to mind, but there were others too where he terrorised defenders.

10. Moussa Sissoko 9. Charles N'Zogbia 8. Olivier Bernard 7. Allan Saint-Maximin 6. Yohan Cabaye 5. Hatem Ben Arfa 4. Demba Ba 3. David Ginola 2. Laurent Robert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Fabrice Pancrate Honourable mentions: Debuchy, Gouffran, Lejeune, Sikierski Hanging around: Henri Saivet

That's a pretty barebones highlights mate.

Joe's look says: "Get me away from this bloke who thinks he's funny". Also known as the "I've just met the Fish look"

Down to the human ears?

Badly fucked my knee playing football just over a week ago. Twisted and felt a pop on my planted leg whilst kicking. Partial tear of MCL and highly likely that I've snapped my ACL. Waiting on results from my MRI.

Good entertaining pre-season. It does highlight one area we need to work on - our transition from attack to defense. Dubravka probavly should have done better with the second goal.

What Villa have done is very impressive. They did something similar under Martin O'Neill and that petered out after 3 good seasons. I'd be very excited about this full season under Emery if I was a Villa supporter. More excited about us though obviously!

Well said. He was definitely something to look forward to through a dark period. A serious talent but unfortunately not a great fit in our current team and the funds can be better used improving the team. Have to say I did appreciate that he tried hard to adapt his game under Howe and did become a better distributor as a result.

That was a good pass though, pulled the keeper away from the centre of goal passed it well weighted to the unmarked Anderson right in front.... and what came next was embarrassing... thankfully Anderson played well after, scored and setup our second.

Good half, we created plenty. Anderson made up for missing a gilt edged chance early, scoring a goal and going on a good run and forcing a save to create the opportunity for Isak to smash in our second. Our shape has looked a bit ordinary when Villa counter, in particular with our fullbacks as they are pushing very high. All in all a very good run out, on the balance of chances created we should be ahead, but after being down 0-2 going into the break tied up is good enough. Nice to see Unai Emery honouring his mentor Eddie Howe by wearing Eddie's black and white shirt, the respect is admirable.

I've reviewed the add-ons and can't see anything out of the ordinary. Complete a stepover - £15m Fall down and roll dramatically - £15m Stay down after playing for a FK and not getting one - £15m Shoot - £15m Fail to track back and/or to make a tackle - £15m Complete another stepover - £15m Wear unnecessary bandages/strapping - £15m Tweet a picture of yourself training - £15m Score (or witness a goal) - £15m Assist (or witness an assist) - £15m

Sounds positively serene.

I'd imagine if that's the case we'll let it sit like that for a while rather than up our offer.

Why not both? Planes, Trains and Automobiles style.

Don't worry, they've got their firearms to protect themselves against dangerous foreign criminals.