Dan Johnson

I just hope no one else swoops in

Gutted to see him go. At 43 I’m probably too old to have “Favourite” players, but THB has been my favourite over the last few years. His attitude, leadership and ability has been first class. if we’d have gone up, maybe he’d have signed a new deal and be our captain but in reality, even if we had, a move to a Champions league club was inevitable. As others have said, he’s earned his move, we were lucky to have kept him last season. all the best THB.

Was looking him up on transfermarkt, and it lists him as having a "thigh problem" so not sure if he's injuryed, or moving to us and they've just said he's injuryed... https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/henrik-falchener/profil/spieler/743088

That’s the very reason, add to that most moves are a deck of cards held up by other moves for selling teams replacements etc. just look at the players on free transfers at the moment, it’s crazy some of those players haven’t found a club.

Think Dobbin was seen as competition for Azaz.

I’m his biggest fan, he’s our most important player by miles, everything good going forward flows through him. He’s a real difference maker. I also think he covers yards, he works ridiculously hard and isn’t just a luxury player, he can dig in, get scrappy and help out the team. without him we’re average, had he played against Watford we beat them. how he’s not being linked with premier league teams is an absolute mystery. He’s the kind of player that will excel in the premier league. unfashionable because he’s Irish, if he was Spanish, Brazilian, Argentinian or Italian he’d get the press/attention his ability deserves

Assuming Cameron Archer is off after being left out the match day Squad today, with him and Damion Downs leaving, will we get another forward in?

What a win, back to our very best after a poor first 20 mins. Cyle “The Championship Drogba” Larin is a beast of CF. New CB is excellent. Azaz again outstanding. shout out to Bragg, thought he was poor first half but had a very good second half. Matsuki back out wide and very good, his best position. a real statement win

Yeah I agree. He looks every bit the traditional center forward, physically, but isn’t. i think he’s probably best suited to teams who don’t have as much possession, playing for us he’d be required to penetrate a low block fairly often and I haven’t seen 1 minute in 1 game where I thought he’d be able to take on a wing back or make a run in behind, or beat a man and stand up a cross of any quality. I thought he was a good signing after his stint with Sheffield Utd in the prem and looking at his record, but he’s been absolutely abject to the point I feel genuinely sorry for him

The overwhelming negative reaction, like I said, hate is a turn of phrase

Turn of phrase, The hate towards the signing of James Ward Prowse, not hate towards him.

The hate towards the signing of James Ward Prowse is absolutely unfounded and utterly ridiculous. I seriously think some people have short memories or skewed memories!! People saying we need a front footed midfield, to contribute to attack not a “crab footballer” In our relegation season he scored 9 goals from midfield, he was our top scorer. the season before he scored 10, in the premier league the season before that, 8, in the premier league 27 goals from midfield in 3 seasons in the premier league, for us! the season after, at West Ham, another 7. 34 goals in 4 seasons from midfield. he scores goals from midfield, he works his socks off in midfield, he always covers the most distance of any player on the pitch and has more experience and love for this club than we could hope for. The kind of professional Ward Prowse is, I fully expect him to be able to maintain a standard of fitness until he’s well past his mid 30s. he will be one of the best midfielders in the championship this season playing regularly and he will score goals!

Bit of a longer post after reflection. Thought we started slow, Stoke had allot of the ball and I thought our 1st goal came against the run of play, it was an incredibly good goal, Larin will score 20 goals this season, a proper finisher and we’ve found a real bargain. Looks allot fitter than last season already, great build up play by Azaz and Downs, and some through ball! we then seemed to lack intensity for the rest of the first half, Stoke had allot more possession than i anticipated, their goal was very soft. Second half first 15 were poor but then momentum seemed to build and while the game looked fairly even, Stoke, who huffed and puffed, rarely threatened and I can’t remember them having any shots second half, either the exception of an excellent save from peretz which was offside anyway. Our wide players struggled to get in the game, both wingers and full backs, Fellows frustrated as he dribbles inside rather than trying to hit the by line and get a cross in. Leo was non existent first half. No overlapping from Manning or Bree either, which worked so well last season. Matsuki, whose industriousness I love, is positionally questionable when playing through the middle. Ultimately I know he’s probably 4th choice CM behind Downs/Jander and a new bloke when he signs, but he was out of position a few times and allowed Stoke to play through us, he works hard though and gets involved, a player I’d like to see used more out wide than centrally in future. Shout out to Stephens who I didn’t think put much wrong today. Woods looks awkward on the ball, looks down when passing, made 3 or 4 terrible passes into no one, but defensively he’s front footed, a real old fashioned defender. If he played in the 90s he’d be idolised. i thought Azaz was excellent today, I maintained all last season and I’ll say it again today, he’s vastly underrated, the way he picks up pockets of space, his vision, he plays the game faster than everyone else, if we had more willing runners he’d be popping through balls all over the show. My MOTM today, without him we’re an average side. Downs was fantastic today, back to his best. the result is the most important thing, we have a win, monkeys off our back, and we have the chance next week to start climbing the table. up the saints

First and second goals are quality, thought Edozie was offside for the pen. Scenzia miles off it today, offered nothing. Need to strengthen in the midfield and at CB.

how can you tell this early?

THB to villa is a good move for him, it’s a bigger club/higher level than I expected him to get. Could see a Palace/Everton/Brentford move, but to get a champions league club, fair play. I was only saying today though, that I think villa will be 9th-13th next season, so many changes, lost their spine, Watkins could still leave and I’m not convinced the players their signing are adequate replacements, as much as I think THB is our best player, there’s still question marks over his Premiership potential especially at a level of club who will be aiming for Europe, only goes to solidify my expectations for villa this season, still it’s a good move for him. £25m + achievable add ons most likely, totalling £30m.

Could THB be on the list to replace Konsa at Villa, or are we expecting them to sign someone more established at European level.

I’d say the Portuguese league is probably not far off championship level, Sporting paid £20m for Gyökeres and he scored 68 goals in 66 games without playing a premiership game. Granted he’s a striker, but they’ve seen transfer success from this league

Gave myself a few days to reflect before assessing the game. Its a bad result, but I think the result was worse than the performance. 3-4 Mistakes have cost us, Stephens for their first goal, Manning\Stephens for their 2nd goal, Stephens should come across much much earlier but seems to give him the space he runs into, Stephens and Harwood-Bellis both fluff guilt edge opportunities to score. We were well in control until their first goal, and second half we dominated but failed to push home the advantage. I think the heat plays into our lack of intensity at times, it felt very similar to some of the games during the world cup in that respect. I'm not panicking, it's a frustrating result, but we win that game 8 out of 10 times normally. There's positives, we have Azaz and Jander to come back in, with a few players needing to get another 10% or so of fitness, 3 home games in a row now, a chance to build momentum.

Bench is ridiculous for a championship game. COYR!

yeah it's a weird sentiment, if anything the last 3 transfer windows have been extremely productive in my eyes and I'm confident we can identify good players, at the same time I really dont want to lose THB, I'd rather we lost any other player than him, I think he's the most important player in the squad.

You’re thinking of Divin Mu-Bum-a?

It’s a mental fee for a player, who when everyone is fit, isn’t in our first choice 11. undoubted potential but at £30m, it’s great business.

Lavia played 90 mins in a friendly yesterday and was being raved about on social media, expect to see him play a big part under Alonso.

Routine professional performance that felt very much like a preseason game played in 25c+ heat. we didn’t create as much as I’d like but I think the heat plays its part, maybe a few players hold their runs or don’t make a run they would do when it’s 10-15c and they’re not tempering their performance to the conditions. controlled the tempo and possession for extremely long periods, of the 20-25% possession they must have had in the second half only a fraction of that was in our half. We had extra gears, you could tell, there’s half a yard or a yard still to come in some players fitness levels. Bragg a massive positive, class, energy, really excited about him. Larin will get 20 goals this season, the majority of them being in the right place at the right time. all in all a professional win and performance with not a great deal to be excited or disappointed about