Jhon Durán

[Richard E]

And still lose easily, because they’re crap.

[ADVILLAFAN]

The worry is that they punt Dyche and get new manager bounce.

[Chip Butty 111]

I can see Watkins scoring against Everton, if they concede early they'll be arguing amongst themselves in no time. They've been a rabble for a while now and won't be looking forward to coming to us live on the TV. If Duran comes on he'll be bang up for it.

[Demitri_C]

If you want to break your duck the one fixture you want is everton at home...

[taylorsworkrate]

The worry is that they punt Dyche and get new manager bounce.

The bigger worry is that people still fall for the "new manager bounce" myth

[Demitri_C]

The villa goal zone  (no
Idea if legit or social media crap) claim chelsea and west ham both made approaches for duran on deadline day and we rejected it.

You would imagine next summer durans going to be worth about 50m mark if not more pending on what kind of season he has

[Olneythelonely]

Duran has to start. Ollies been pants these last 3 games. Really rubbish. Durans been brilliant

Absolute knee-jerk rubbish.

Starting a player in form for one who isn’t doesn’t strike me as especially ‘knee jerk’.

Nor me.

Saying Duran has to start, that Watkins has been really rubbish and that Duran has been brilliant are 3 statements that are hyperbolic at best and completely untrue at worst. Leaving our best striker out 3 games into the season strikes me as knee jerk.

[Olneythelonely]

Not that I don’t think Duran deserves more game time. Just don’t understand why we have to shit on players whenever they are going through a poor bit of form. Especially when they’ve already proven how brilliant they are.

[Dave]

Duran has to start. Ollies been pants these last 3 games. Really rubbish. Durans been brilliant

Absolute knee-jerk rubbish.

Starting a player in form for one who isn’t doesn’t strike me as especially ‘knee jerk’.

Nor me.

Saying Duran has to start, that Watkins has been really rubbish and that Duran has been brilliant are 3 statements that are hyperbolic at best and completely untrue at worst. Leaving our best striker out 3 games into the season strikes me as knee jerk.

There also seem to be some people who simultaneously think:

(a) Watkins is one of the best strikers in Europe and it's unbelievable that he wasn't picked to start an international final four matches ago

(b) Duran is an embarrassing liability who we should have got rid of for whatever anyone was willing to pay as recently as four weeks ago

(c) it's time to drop the former for the latter.

[Risso]

None of that is much of a 'gotcha' really is it? Harry Kane was in abysmal form for England, and Watkins had scored the goal to get them through so most people thought he deserved to play a part. Duran had embarrassed himself as Unai Emery acknowledged, and the club clearly would have sold him had they been offered enough money by either Chelsea or West Ham. Since the start of the season, Watkins has been playing miles below what he's capable of, and Duran has looked very good every time he's come on.

[Risso]

SJM has his say, from the Brum Mail:

"Aston Villa captain John McGinn admits he has been "pleasantly surprised" by Jhon Duran's attitude since returning to Bodymoor Heath last month.

The Colombia international missed most of pre-season under Unai Emery after representing his nation at the Copa America and was the subject of intense transfer interest from a number of clubs. He wanted a move to West Ham after they lodged a bid for him, but Villa stood firm to their valuation, knowing what a prospect they have on their hands.

Duran hit the headlines for the wrong reasons over the summer when he made the Irons gesture on an Instagram live stream, but he has done his talking on the pitch at the start of this season. He bagged the winning goal against West Ham on the opening weekend of the season, before doubling Villa's lead against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium last time out.

"He’s certainly got his focus back," McGinn said of Duran after the win over Leicester. "For a young player to have so much attention and speculation surrounding him … he’s a character, you can see that at the training ground.

"I was quite hard on him last season after one of the games in an interview. Just about his attitude and how he can improve that, but in all fairness I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

"I think the coaching staff and players have been pleasantly surprised too about how he has handled it all. He’s an Aston Villa player. He’s trained really well. He has all the attributes to be a world-class striker and we’re seeing glimpses of it now.

"It’s credit to him for being focused. If you come and watch training now, he’s focused and he’s sharp and ready to go. Hopefully, we can see more of that and it’s up to us, as players, to make sure he keeps going in the same vein."

McGinn added: "He doesn’t seem to have let anything in the summer affect him. Maybe the penny has dropped for him. He’ll get his opportunities, chances and his goals and even his attitude off the pitch.

"The way he is around people, around the staff - it has improved a lot - and it’s great to see. We don’t want to see him lose his character, his sense of fun - we don’t want him to lose that - but it’s about doing it at the right times and hopefully he’s found that."

Duran has replaced Ollie Watkins on the hour mark in each of Villa's first three league games this season. Watkins has now gone eight Premier League appearances without a goal for Villa, which is his longest barren run since August 2022 to October 2022 just prior to Emery’s arrival, but skipper McGinn is backing him to get back among the goals after firing the team into the Champions League with 19 of them last term.

“Of course he will be scoring soon," McGinn said. "We had a lot of people involved in competitions in the summer, and with some of us it takes different times to get going and get into a rhythm.

“I’m probably guilty of that as well. But there will be a time at a certain point of the season when Ollie hits top form. We just have to wait for when that comes.

“The manager wants two people to be able to play in every position and Jhon came on and it was an amazing header. We won’t be thinking about Ollie too much, we won’t be worrying about it. I am sure he will go away with England, get fresher and ready to go."

Villa have taken six points from a possible nine so far this term and will face Everton and Wolves at Villa Park either side of their first Champions League league phase fixture against Young Boys in Switzerland.

Asked to sum up the start to the season, McGinn said: "Really good. If we compare it last season, it wasn’t great - and look where we ended up so it was a tough away game. I don’t think we have hit top form yet but we’re playing well, being brave.

"We’re letting teams come onto us at times which we won’t want, going forward. It was a strong performance and Leicester’s fans were desperate for the referee to make a decision but he got the big decisions right and thankfully we were on the right side of some calm decisions because he was under some pressure there."

[Clampy]

Not that I don’t think Duran deserves more game time. Just don’t understand why we have to shit on players whenever they are going through a poor bit of form. Especially when they’ve already proven how brilliant they are.

Couldn't agree more.

[frank black]

Couple of moves may have collapsed due to his “reputation”? Chelsea in particular seemed to go that way.

No doubt he’s realised and those he trusts have had a word, for sure.

[Risso]

Not that I don’t think Duran deserves more game time. Just don’t understand why we have to shit on players whenever they are going through a poor bit of form. Especially when they’ve already proven how brilliant they are.

Well in Emery's current system they can't both play. And saying Watkins isn't playing well isn't 'shitting on him', whatever that means. It's just stating fact, I'm sure Ollie himself knows he's well below par having not scored in 8 games now.

[Demitri_C]

Duran has to start. Ollies been pants these last 3 games. Really rubbish. Durans been brilliant

Absolute knee-jerk rubbish.

Starting a player in form for one who isn’t doesn’t strike me as especially ‘knee jerk’.

Nor me.

Saying Duran has to start, that Watkins has been really rubbish and that Duran has been brilliant are 3 statements that are hyperbolic at best and completely untrue at worst. Leaving our best striker out 3 games into the season strikes me as knee jerk.

Dont think anyone is shtting on ollie - merely pointing out ollies had a poor start to the season and durans had a excellent start so duran is pushing for a deserved start. If ollie wants to stay as starter he needs to improve.

Everton at home is a perfect opportunity