Seven days of things happening, as they usually do.
As transfer deadline day creaks to a halt there’s not much happening at Villa Park except for the usual Academy players going to no-hope lower divisions minnows. Jamal Jimoh-Aloba, for example, has jumped on the number eleven to oblivion until the end of the season. Higher up the food chain Rory Wilson has joined Sturm Graz on loan, Kadan Young’s moved to Reading and Louie Barry’s gone back to Stockport.
The latest bit of marketing genius has got Newcastle in the cup designated as a nineties night. Apart from making you feel old because the nineties can now count as nostalgia and wondering why Villa Park is being pushed like a bar on Broad Street, there’ll be cheap(er) drinks and retro shirts on sale. Savo won’t be there.
Just the two matches moved for TV in the latest announcement and they’d have been changed because of the Europa League anyway. To celebrate, tickets for the first Saturday match at the proper time, Leeds on 21st November, have gone up. A ‘club source’ says it’s because of the premium kick-off time (that’s a first) and early demand. Dynamic pricing comes to Villa Park.
In other news Jhon Duran is going to Zenit St Petersburg for the rest of the season. He’s 22 and this will be his sixth club. We did well, there.
A planning application’s gone in for the Holte End corners. It should be the first of many but what it really needs is chimneys. You can’t have a world-class football ground without chimneys.
One club gets deducted six points for a couple of charges against them. Another club is still getting away with 115 charges but everyone’s treated equally.
We’re still trying to alter Harvey Elliott’s loan terms. Liverpool are still refusing. You could feel sorry for him until you realise how much he’s earning.
Bournemouth away can be a tricky encounter, especially if you’re out of sorts. Ollie Watkins and Amadou Omana are starting because for the first time in recorded history a minor Villa injury is just that. We have a goal disallowed then Jordan Sancho does well to lay on the opener for Morgan Rogers, who did even better. The best keeper in the world was on top form again and we went in at half-time a goal up.
Then in the second half we were severely second-best and Lucas Digne inexplicably allowed an attacker to get past him unchallenged for the equaliser. Bournemouth attacked for most of the match after that and we defended, with Martinez on top form throughout. In the end we got a point, which was the best we could have hoped for in the circumstances. At least we didn’t get any more injuries, although there was always the trip back to get through unscathed.
There’s another Sunday VAR controversy, this time affecting Liverpool so expect a bit more of a fuss than last week. At the end of the weekend’s matches we’re still third but there’s been a bit of catching up. It’s all getting interesting.
