Preseason Fixtures | Page 25 | Vital Football

Preseason Fixtures

I think strikers (or any player really) who are getting sent off like that just aren’t there in the head. Instead of being focussed on fitness and competitive minutes, he’s lost his head. I just don’t get it, he can’t be all there mentally right now for himself or the campaign. He needs to get there quickly though.
Not only that but this guy has been basically entirely out of the game for 18 months. He wasted a valuable opportunity to get 45 minutes under his belt and build up his match fitness up
 
The Stoke player knew what he was doing and Wesley fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

He was a liability before that incident so can you seriously imagine teams not setting out to wind him up and gain an advantage by having the Villa team down to 10 men.

The guy is a fake earning loads of money under false pretenses.

They need to check his passport again and verify if he indeed came from Brazil !
 
How many times do excuses have to be made for him.
“was coming good before his injury”
“there’s a good player in there”
“needs time to return back from his injury”

If he comes great, then yes. Look forward to it.
But for £20million + I don’t want to keep hearing excuses about how good he might be.
 
How many times do excuses have to be made for him.
“was coming good before his injury”
“there’s a good player in there”
“needs time to return back from his injury”

If he comes great, then yes. Look forward to it.
But for £20million + I don’t want to keep hearing excuses about how good he might be.
He's crap, even when he was allegedly getting better.
His touch is like a pub player, I've thought that from that friendly game against Shrewsbury was it , he plays like Jordan Bowery and I quite liked him compared to Wesley
 
I'm not pretending it's a good thing but it's not like he has a history of it is it? Agree he needs to get his head in the game quickly to take his second chance this season.

I’m the last person who can call out players for a bit of violent conduct 😬 but I remember him squaring up to players every other week. He either went down like he was shot or wanted a scrap.

I just don’t think he’s as focussed as he should be, perhaps there’s something we’re missing with him. Who knows, but he needs to screw his head on.
 
As someone said earlier the best to come out of it was the shattering of the illusion that we only have to turn up to win. The first half team were 2-0 down before the subs were made so to focus on Davis seems futile. Having said that be nice if we saw Alvarez and Bailey arrive as we still look a bit impotent up front. Good to see the youngsters given a run out.

It shouldn’t be a secret to anyone we are still in dire need of attacking options. AEG we don’t know if he’ll turn up on any given day, Same for Bert, Grealish and Buendia are great but we still need another 1 at a minimum.

Not to mention up front, even if we assume Watkins never gets injured he will be fatigued. Whether it be mentally or physically it will happen.
 
Don't go with the idea that we need a back up for Ollie "to keep him on his toes". There's every sign that he has all the motivation he needs and more. He has an engine which keeps him going for 90 minutes. And he's ambitious; he knows he's still learning. We do need to improve the service he gets however, and hopefully Jack back and Buendia will do just that.

So the only question is what happens should he be injured or otherwise not available (e.g. if DS wants to rest him for cup matches). The options seem to be:
  1. Keep Davis and/or Wesley hanging around to act as substitutes. Not for me. You don't improve by keeping players who are nowhere near the level we're aiming for.
  2. Get in somebody better than those 2. Can only see it working if the player is as good as Ollie and DS is happy swapping them around or playing them together.
  3. Find a way of playing without a dedicated 9. Possible but needs some work.
  4. Be prepared to use U23s if necessary e.g. Brad Young.
If we don't go for 2 then I reckon it's 3 or 4.
 
Nice highlights shown from Stokes official, both goals would of been saved by Emi, El Ghazi should of curled that open goal top corner, Davis had a free header, Buendia linking up well and was unlucky with his effort, could of squared it back in the middle, but good to see him being selfish a bit and wanting a goal at the same time.

Jed Steer probably third choice behind that youngster on that showing.

https://www.stokecityfc.com/news/2021/july/Mini-Highlights-Aston-Villa/
 
I don't actually blame Jed for either of those in fairness. But yes, Sinisalo looked very composed for his age. I can see why the Ayr fans loved him.
 
I don't actually blame Jed for either of those in fairness. But yes, Sinisalo looked very composed for his age. I can see why the Ayr fans loved him.


I like his attitude as much as anything. He chose going on loan to the Scottish lower leagues over under 23s football. That he preferred getting big lump Scottish targetmen crashing into him every week over the sterile and safe under 23s Says to me he has something about him.