Man Utd were almost as poor tbh ... they've just been fortunate with the early fixtures (I wonder why?), Newcastle at home next.
True - they certainly seem to be playing on the negative side but then they only have one striker it seems and Rooney is playing poorly. I just didn't really expect much from Villa - Sherwood isn't a great tactical manager and just done a bit of a Redknapp in buying loads of players hoping they fit in.
Didn't think either Man U or Villa looked up to much, but Amavi looked pretty decent. Considering snapping him up for my fantasy team as a cheap option, since I think he might score well in the coming weeks.
I think Sherwood thought he was signing the good Ayew (Andre, the Swansea one). Jordan Ayew is utter pony, have no idea what possessed him to part with £8m for a striker with such a terrible goalscoring record. His detailed stats from last season didn't show him in a good light either. Baffling.
Rooney was utter rubbish last night, constant offside, poor touches, bad passes, and lost out in tackles.
I think the whole United side has had 3 shots on target in their opening two matches, 1 v Spurs and 2 last night. Yet they've won both and sit top of the table! It's not exciting to watch but it's effective. I'm just praying we don't get stats like that AGAINST us in any home matches, such as today's.
Could have been a good option off the bench to get on the end of one of Anya or Nyom's endless floated crosses
If he could win a header then yes. He couldn't against Chris ****ing Smalling so I doubt he'd have had any joy against McAuley and Olsson.
Chris Smalling is a fantastic centre back - he has probably been the best English centre-half in 2015 and the fact that you don't rate him speaks to how little you know.
Agreed, he is really developing into a fantastic defender. He used to lack concentration but he is getting better all of the time. Understandable for a man who only entered professional football around the age of 20. His main problem is that he is made of glass and is therefore hard to rely on.
Smalling undoubtedly the most improved player of last season and is now top class, I'd say. He and John Stones are both excellent young English defenders.
You know that Chris Smalling wouldn't get anywhere near the starting line ups of any other top footballing nation. I doubt he'd even get into Chelsea's, Man City's or even Arsenal's best elevens. Woeful technical ability and suspect positioning are things he needs to improve on. I bet you'd find defenders of better quality than him playing for mid-table La Liga or Bundesliga teams. Just because he's a decent English player you've fallen into the media trap of overrating him. Which is sad to see from a guy who clearly thinks he knows a lot.
Excluding Terry. But I'd certainly say he is a better player today than Cahill and Stones, and improving at just as fast a rate. In your post above, I suspect that you are falling into the trap of judging him on his performances from a few years ago. He has been very impressive over the last year, considering the dross he has had next to him. I'd pick him in the Chelsea team ahead of Cahill. I'd pick him in the City team ahead of Mangala (and his form in 2015 is better than Kompany's, but clearly he does not have as much ability). I'd pick him in the Arsenal team ahead of Mertesacker.
No I'm basing it on what I've seen of him recently and what a few United supporting mates (yes they do go) have told me.
Basically people remember the red card at Man City last year and various mistakes in a poor season under Moyes. Been faultless in 2015.
My United season ticket holding mates have agreed with me, and I've seen both of their games this season. But clearly one of our United supporting friends is wrong, and doesn't reflect the overall view of United fans. Their version of the wobby, compiling fan player ratings for this season: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...-news/fan-ratings-manchester-united-1-9825841 http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.../manchester-united-fan-ratings-rooney-9866443 And here is their version of these forums, arguing whether he is he best in the league on recent form http://www.redcafe.net/threads/is-smalling-the-best-defender-in-the-league.408089/ The concensus is that he has been amazing for the first two games of this season and showed great form in the second half of last season, but at best they wouldn't swap him for anybody and at worst he is in the top 5 defenders in the Premiership. Terry and Koscielny are the only names consistently named as better. Your turn.
No thanks I've had my fill of Chris Smalling talk today, what are you trying to beat me at? I'm going on what my mates have told me, if you don't like it then tough titties. The guy has the touch of an elephant and consistently gets caught out of position when I see him in big games, and that's my opinion. I do apologise though, I didn't realise so many Watford fans had a soft spot for Mr Smalling...
The point is that when you make such flippant and confident comments about a player that goes against the majority of the clubs fans, sites like Squawka and Opta, and most that have replied to this thread, you can be expected to asked to justify your view. You of course do not need to prove anything. But then you run the risk of being seen as misinformed and people will take future public comments with a pinch of salt, irrespective of how confidently you say them and how many mates you have that back up your view in private. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Apparently an individual worker ant weighs on average between 1 to 5 mg, according to the species. When combined, all ants in the world taken together weigh about as much as all human beings
They must have weighed them rather than asked them. Which self respecting overweight ant is going to Fess up when questioned ? Would skew the result.
That's an impressive piece of information! I will be sure to trot that out as much as I can! How many ants,standing on top of each other would it take to reach Gestede's height do you suppose?
Sorry to live up to my (unfair?) reputation but... Villa fans already unhappy with Gestede, glad we didn't succumb to Blackburn's demands in the end. Benteke's goal was world-class by the way, jesus christ
The Benteke money has bought them Amavi, Gestede, Sinclair, Traore, Veretout and Lescott. I may have been incorrect about Gestede being almost as good for them as Benteke was (or I may not - we are only five games into the season, remember...), but I stand by my point that selling Benteke and reinvesting in the whole team made it good business.
I agree that it is not always the wrong thing to sell your best player provided that the transfer fee exceeds his real market value AND the proceeds are wisely reinvested in buying quality players to strengthen other parts of the team. This is after all the Pozzo's modus operandi. Time will tell if Villa's purchases actually enhance the squad. Tottenham are however an example of this system being badly operated. The huge transfer fee received for Bale was largely wasted in a scattergun fashion getting in generally crap players, many of whom have been subsequently sold at a large loss.
