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A few notes from the Midlands.


Midlands Robin

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Just got back.......

For a while my lad has been asking me to take him to a match so an opportunity presented itself last night with a pre-season friendly between Walsall (where we live) and Villa. 

Sadly Albert was out due to a gashed shin and Kodjia is still a long term injury but there was some City interest in the shape of former City defender James Wilson who joined the saddlers on loan from Sheff Utd. 

I've seen a bit of negativity about our pre-season work so far well trust me, Villa were really poor. Walsall pretty much had the run of midfield and though they lacked a real threat going forward were very much up for it and took the game to Villa. 

Villa played one up front and had no real goal threat. They played what looked to be their first choice 11 bar injuries for over 70 minutes and created very little apart from a rightly disallowed Terry goal.

Halfway through the second half the Walsall home end were chanting "premiership, you're having a laugh!!" And they were right.

As we are playing Villa early in the season, if we can hit the ground running we could see a similar result to last year. They certainly don't seem to have much up front and if you think we are in a slightly negative mood at the moment you should cast an eye over their forum. 

Any betting fans among us wouldn't be risking much on Steve Bruce winning the Championship sack race.

As for ex-City man James Wilson, he looked solid all night. Will definitely do a good job for Walsall.

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Interesting to hear and certainly hope they have a slow start whilst trying to fit all their big money players in to the side. Hopefully Kodjia will struggle to catch up for a while, if he's been out long term. 

However, it's only a PSF, so you really can't read too much into the higher ranked club not busting a gut over the result. 

 

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1 minute ago, Bar BS3 said:

However, it's only a PSF, so you really can't read too much into the higher ranked club not busting a gut over the result. 

 

Yeah, that's true but talking to Villa fans up here, this has been the general trend in their pre-season so far. Apparently they couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo when they played Shrewsbury last week.

They're saying Bruce's plan is to wait until Kodjia is fit then keep his fingers crossed.

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2 minutes ago, Midlands Robin said:

Yeah, that's true but talking to Villa fans up here, this has been the general trend in their pre-season so far. Apparently they couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo when they played Shrewsbury last week.

They're saying Bruce's plan is to wait until Kodjia is fit then keep his fingers crossed.

I think most teams would struggle somewhat, without a player of JK's ability. Not only for goals, but his all round game. 

Hopefully it's nothing too minor and he struggles to find form after missing pre-season! 

Villa would be one of my tips for top 6, so the harder they find it, the better. 

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I tend to see PSF as almost a completely different sport - the prep is different and there is a greater attempt at trial and error.

So while I have been pretty negative about what I have seen so far I don't really feel it holds any weight while also understanding that we don't really have anything else to base opinions on.

Its a strange time and I for one cant wait for the season to start and all my concerns be completely unfounded.

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Villa's last 2 friendlies were streamed on Youtube so I watched bits of it and they looked really poor. Samba and Terry at CB were strong but going forward there wasn't much to them at all. They're definitely missing Kodjia up top.

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Pre season friendlies for the fans are pretty dull with neither squad of players wanting to risk injury with the new season so close. Personally I cant remember ever going to a per season friendly.

Results mean nothing. Sure it nice to play well and win but ultimately it's the players and managers who benefit but any fan who worries about them is wasting mental energy,

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2 minutes ago, Kotsy said:

When did 'PSF' become a thing? 

I notice that the one person on this forum who loves an acronym more than most hasn't taken to it yet, maybe he only likes his own acronyms...

PSF became after typing "pre season friendly" became boring. Mainly during PS. 

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11 minutes ago, Midlands Robin said:

Local papers up here suggest he is back in training and has just returned to the main squad with a view to being available for their opener on the 5th of August.

Not a bad recovery time if true. I was sort of hoping he wouldn`t be fit by the end of August for obvious reasons!

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13 hours ago, Garland-sweden said:

 Villa without Kodjia is an average team. Their problem is to find the net. 

Many are starting to realise up there with Kodija that there is no "I" in team

Frequently described as "selfish" "greedy" etc

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