Aston Villa Banter 2

03 Sep 2026 07:39:03
{Ed's Note - thefutureisoldgold3 has posted a new article entitled, Wolves Ratings at West Ham: Defence Below Standard

03 Sep 2026 00:45:26
Who was it who claimed Moussa Diaby would never return to European soccer … due to tax issues? Would very much have loved for him to return to AV! Good price even. Was he not monitored on the highly advanced Emery radar?

03 Sep 2026 13:24:51
Why do you keep banging on about a player who didn't want to be at Villa? He didn't like Emery's class work, didn't like living in Birmingham, didn't like being on the bench.

He just wasn't happy at Villa. We didn't even make a profit on him; he was sold because he didn't want to be here. We have 11 new players. Concentrate on those instead of moaning about nothing.

03 Sep 2026 17:26:24
I said England, not Europe, which is why I used Henderson going on loan to Ajax as my example. And Diaby *didn't* return to England.... So my "speculation" hasn't even been disproven...

Agree, Whack.

03 Sep 2026 21:03:34
100% neb.., I remember your comment about Henderson and Ajax, and totally agree.

I would of liked to move Tammy on and bring in another striker instead of him. I think, had he left, we would of signed Balogun, but we didn’t. We done serious business. I might not of wanted Jackson, but he’s who we have now.

I’m going to support him, and give him the chance to prove himself instead of moaning about players we didn’t buy. My only real gripe with our business is Garnacho. Maybe he will prove me wrong, he is young after all, and Emery might just get him firing.

04 Sep 2026 08:19:52
Diaby had to be moved on for financial reasons back then.

04 Sep 2026 08:18:19
@whack: what are your sources for claiming "Diaby didn't want to be at Villa? He didn't like Emery's class work, didn't like living in Birmingham, didn't like being on the bench." Do you know Emery or Diaby personally? I did some research and found nothing to support your claim? On the contrary found very positive statements about Diaby's work and Emery being happy with his work, his training, and what he achieved together with Watkins

04 Sep 2026 14:13:26
Not claiming anything, just referring to what he said in interviews after departing. His partner hated every minute she spent in Birmingham, to top it off. Also, what Emery said when questioned after selling him without profit after such a short stint, and your claim about financial reasons makes no sense whatsoever, seeing as we only broke even, actually lost money on him if you take his wages into account.

I don't know why you keep changing your name to come on here moaning. Different name, same negative comments. The answer to your other question is yes, I know them both very well. Emery is a good drinking buddy of mine and I went to school with Diaby.

02 Sep 2026 08:47:43
So we're still lumbered with Baily.

02 Sep 2026 11:38:41
SV, unfortunately, everyone else saw what we had been watching, so if we have a bad run of injuries, we could well see him again. He is on really good money, so apart from pride, why would he want to leave. Perhaps we will have another try in January.

02 Sep 2026 12:09:13
Could still go to Saudi. Is Turkey on the same window as us? I thought it was a little longer over there.

02 Sep 2026 12:34:01
Just seen that Diaby has re-signed for Leverkusen. 28m euros. He definitely would've been worth signing for that!

02 Sep 2026 14:57:36
Just read he's off to Olympiakos.

02 Sep 2026 16:14:25
Who? Diaby? He has signed for Leverkusen.

02 Sep 2026 16:57:44
No Bailey.

03 Sep 2026 00:33:19
You're right, he's gone. Shame his confidence went.

02 Sep 2026 07:39:03
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 2 - Quick Round Up

02 Sep 2026 00:22:11
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 2 - Quick Round Up

01 Sep 2026 14:44:56
Afternoon all.

So the transfer window has closed for Villa, we know who we've lost, gained and are keeping. Assuming we largely stick to playing 4-2-3-1, and we want at least two players for every position, we are shaping up as below.

GKs. Zion and Bizot

Def. Cash / AWB / THB / Vic / Pau / Mings / Maat / Rug

Hold mid. Boub / Gomes / Onana / Leon

Front three. Garn / Aly / Manzam / Ginny / Emi / Mbaye

Striker.

Nico / Tammy

And we also have - Ross / Madjo / Hemmings / Cisse / Bogarde. Who will all play a part (I'm not counting Bailey).

So, up to 29 players who could play a role for Villa this season. Fitness and squad rules allowing.

Let's keep up the great support (good atmosphere last night despite the absent North Stand). And let's keep a sense of reality on our expectations.

Very excited to see how we go in the weeks ahead.

01 Sep 2026 19:03:17
We need one more experienced and effective striker before the deadline. Definitely. Forget about rebreeding Tammy! We need Mateta or similar quality level.

01 Sep 2026 11:45:25
Looks like when they are all fit, we will have the best manager, top class players and with a short time integrating the players, after which there should be no reason why we can't compete with the big boys again, we nearly managed it last night.

So good times could be back around the corner, fingers crossed. Just a bit more patience a little longer and we will be rocking, just remember we have managed it comfortably for the last few seasons, so no reason at all why it shouldn't continue.

01 Sep 2026 17:43:22
Hear, hear, Scott.

01 Sep 2026 11:28:58
Read and listened to the pundits' views on last night's game, you would have thought Arsenal played like PSG at their best, this couldn't be the furthest from the truth, one goal from a decent move and how on earth the popular press are waxing lyrical. In context, a makeshift team against probably the most complete squad in the Premier League and for most of the game there was very little difference, this adulation has spilt over to the officials who totally protected them.

We need to quickly get our best eleven on the pitch and hopefully shut down this negative view on our team.

01 Sep 2026 10:54:37
Game last night felt strange, in our new seats in the Doug Ellis, great view but, God twice as many stairs as the North Stand, my knees are still aching HaHa. With Suzuki kicks and throws, can’t see us playing out from the back so much, heard someone say, he could put the ball through a Hula Hoop at 25 yards HaHa. He will certainly make us more direct, with the young speedsters coming in, this could make us very dangerous. Dave (Cafu) mentioned Lindeloff, I honestly believe he’s one of our best signing for ages, play him anywhere and you get 100%.

Nice to see the new players in the stand, they looked like they were enjoying it.
On now to Hull Saturday, could be a hard game, they are still running on adrenaline. Hopefully some of our new players and injured coming back, looking at the upcoming fixtures, it seems as if we’re playing every three days, so we will need them all. UTV.

01 Sep 2026 19:05:55
Hopefully their adrenaline won't lead to any new injuries for us.

01 Sep 2026 10:42:41
Not a bad performance last night, all things considered, although it is slightly worrying that in the 2 games we played we haven’t had a shot on target, but we are where we are.

I thought Suzuki looked good with the ball at his feet; not so sure that he commands the area like Martinez does, but it’s early days. Alysson and Wan Bissaka had decent cameo performances. However, similar to how we started last season, we didn’t move the ball quickly enough, particularly in the final third.



Assuming Mbaye signs, it will be interesting to see what our strongest XI is, particularly the middle of the park. I assume the holding midfielders will be Kamara and Goretzka. In front of them, I would imagine it would be Mbaye, Manzambi and either Buendia or Garnacho, which would mean McGinn doesn’t start!!

01 Sep 2026 13:03:27
McGinn is the 1st name on the team sheet. Goretzka and Joe Gomes will rotate. Manzambi won't play until after the International break. Garnacho looks a bit lost at the minute. We need to get Jackson in the box more.

01 Sep 2026 19:08:36
We definitely need one additional high quality striker who actually scores goals... and we need him before the deadline. Also, for injury reasons, we need backup. Can't reebreed Tammy, and he looked completely lost against Arsenal.

01 Sep 2026 07:39:03
{Ed's Note - OptimumShots has posted a new article entitled, Where Everton Stand Under Squad Cost Ratio

01 Sep 2026 00:15:05
Signing Mateta at that cost will be a steal. Get him on board. Don’t want another season with lack of effective strikers and we will be playing so many matches and suffer injuries and exhaustion.

01 Sep 2026 00:09:48
Substituting Jackson for Abraham tonight was like substituting Jackson for no one. We definitively need an additional highly functional striker, such as Mateta or we’ll lack goals all season. Jackson can’t play all the time in multiple tournaments.