WakefieldVillan

33 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

That's what he did but he went high rather than low

He should socre but it was still a good save

He doesn't though - his shot is fairly central!

Yes, it's a decent save from a keepers POV but he shouldn't have been given a chance to make the save - and he wouldn't have if Ollie had placed it in the corner.

16 hours ago, IrishVilla10 said:

Has to put it away 

Yep, I agree - this is the most telling angle of why IMO it was a bad miss.  So much room to slot it to the keepers right (left as we look). 

Open your body up, give the keeper the eye that you are going to his left then slot it low into the bottom corner. Easy. .

Only a friendly and the result isn't important but always nice to beat this horrible lot.

Thought they started quicker/sharper than us but after around 15 mins we were the better side and should have gone in at the break 2-1 up after Philippe's poor penalty, Ollie missing the one on one and James really should have scored for them when he screwed his shot wide.

Second half was a bit stop/start and we probably didn't deserve to win that half but I'll take a 1-0 and a clean sheet with no injuries all day long.

Stand-out players first half were Olsen, Chambers, Bailey and Kamara and second half Olsen (again), Carlos and Ings.

Biggest positives for me were Bailey & Kamara - Bailey looked much sharper, fitter, less hamstrung than he was last season and he hopefully will be like a new signing whilst Kamara played like he had 70+ caps for us, looked good on the ball, always available, physical and looks like he will be a great signing for us. There was a moment we lost the ball and Leeds broke with Dan James on the counter (who's pretty rapid to be fair) and Kamara tracked back and got a great tackle in to snuff out the danger - last season that would have resulted in a shot at our goal. 

Looking forward to Wednesday's game. 

Looks a lot worse in slow motion. I don't think he went to "do him" though. Yellow card a right call.

Shame it wasn't on Bamford or James.

Hope the kids ok. 

                         Martinez

      Cash   McGrath   Laursen    Digne

                          Kamara 

                  Ramsey      McGinn 

         Buendia     Yorke        Coutinho

Vs 

                         Martinez 

        Cash    Carlos     Mings    Digne

                          Kamara 

                    Platt           Barry 

        Buendia    Benteke     Coutinho

The fact we have Coutinho, the only reason the none selection of JG. 

Can we have 6?  

1 minute ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said:

To be fair, If I have a few weeks off then I can achieve about 15 metres. 

7 minutes ago, sparrow1988 said:

22 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

I like Phillips. I've been championing us trying to sign him but the prices quoted are ridiculous. There has to be a player in Europe as good for half the price. 

Me too. But he was absolutely dreadful the other night and his form hasn't been good since he returned from injury. 

I still think there's a player in there - but I wouldn't want us paying north of £60 mil.

1 hour ago, tomav84 said:

there's no arguably about it. most of their first 11 would do well to make our bench. on paper we should absolutely murder them and it doesn't look like they're signing anyone anytime soon, plus they had like 6 players on loan

Add to that, after they play us they have Man City (A), Arsenal (H) and Liverpool (A) is it too early to think/say that they will view ours as a must win! Of course not - But they could quite conceivably be - P4 W0 D0 L4 PTS 0 - by the end of August! 

7 minutes ago, BG_Villa_Fan said:

I like the fixtures. Balanced, no horrible run of difficult games, always an appropriate game around the corner to end a bad streak, etc.

I agree, looks pretty decent to me. As long as we are better prepared than last season then there is no reason why we can't go to Bournemouth and win.

I would hope for (expect) around 10 points from the first 5 which would set us on our way nicely. 

Also, playing Liverpool at home on Boxing Day could work in our favour. 

17 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Barring injuries Southgate will bring 9 defenders, 3 goalkeepers and maybe 4 centre midfielders plus Kane and probably a 2nd striker probably Tammy or Ollie. I would say Mount and Sterling are also guaranteed a spot

Thats 20 spots already. Grealish, Foden, Saka, Sancho, Rashford {a Southgate favourite}, Smith Rowe and now Bowen has broke through

A big name or 2 is being left out, I can also see him finding  a way to not include TAA as well

Oh I agree that there will definitely be a couple of players left disappointed - I completely forgot about Sancho when I did mine! Though I personally wouldn't take him.

I like Bowen, he may go and yes Rashford is a GS favourite. Will be interesting to see who does and doesn't makes the squad - But I don't think I am going to be happy with it. 

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

You only chose 7 defenders, Southgate will pick 9 defenders and Rice, Phillips and Saka who can cover if needed

He will reluctantly bring a 2nd centre forward and not play them which could probably mean a big name missing from the squad. 

That will be between Foden, Grealish and Sterling, I can see Grealish being that fall guy

Yes I agree he will definitely pick more defenders than I have selected. Especially to play with a back 5 and 2 holding midfielders 

I only chose 7 because I think we should play with a back 4 (Walker Stones McGuire Shaw) with (James, Tomori, Mings and Saka as back up) Ideally Saka would only be used further forward, but his versality would get the nod in the squad for me over Chilwell. 

At a push if there were lots of defensive injuries you could always play Rice / Phillips / Walker at CB - Not ideal but I wanted to get as many attacking players in that I could.

I'm pretty certain all of Foden, Sterling and Grealish will go, now if it was Villa's Grealish well that's a different matter...

57 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Not sure Mings will be in now, seemingly out of fashion. Ward-Prowse must be borderline, unless he moves to a scum 6 club in the summer like Spurs.

I don't think he will take Mings either, but as a natural left footed CB he would get on the plane for me, plus he's actually done ok when he's played for the national side.

58 minutes ago, chappy said:

Coady will be in the squad I reckon

Oh yes, without a doubt. 

23 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

based on everyone fit and firing

who he should take - 

pope, pickford, ramsdale, TAA, James, Walker, Maguire, Stones, Mings, Chilwell, Shaw, Rice, Phillips, Henderson, Bellingham, JWP, Mount, Saka, Grealish, Sterling, Foden, Kane, Abraham

who he will take - 

pope, pickford, ramsdale, TAA, James, Trippier, Walker, Maguire, Stones, Coady, White, Shaw, Rice, Phillips, Henderson, Bellingham, Mount, Saka, Grealish, Sterling, Foden, Kane, Abraham

he will have at least 1 too many defenders if not 2, he will have an imbalance between RBs and LBs, Abraham and Coady will be cheerleaders and wont see the pitch,  he hasnt got a clue how to use TAA but will call him up because of liverpool, he will underuse bellingham and shift mount out to a wide attacking position ahead of better players (not dissing mount, just he should be in a midfield 3 not a wide man)

the biggest no no he can do for me right now is call up rashford but i don't think he will

first 11 should be - 

pickford

James Stone Maguire Shaw

Rice Bellingham Mount

Sterling Kane Grealish

and we win it...there's some ropey players in there who dont actually do much wrong for england despite shit club form (maguire, pickford) or are in general in good england form and suit how southgate plays (shaw, sterling)

 

Great post.

Yours is not too dissimilar to my preferred squad and that in bold - haha 100%, agree with you on that - That is what I am fearful of, and one of the reasons I dislike him being in charge of this talented squad.

Would be interested to see some of your squad selections for Qatar 2022. Going to be a few disappointed players when the squad is announced on 20th October. 

Obviously injuries/form nearer the time will play a part but here's mine FWIW:

1. Pope 2. Pickford. 3. Ramsdale.

4. Walker. 5. James 6. Stones. 7. McGuire. 8. Tomori. 9. Mings. 10. Shaw. 

11. Rice. 12. Phillips. 13. Mount. 14. Bellingham. 15. Ward-Prowse. 16. Henderson. 17. Maddison.

18. Foden. 19. Grealish. 20. Saka. 21. Sterling. 22. Kane. 23. Abraham.

I think Southgate's will be much different, for a start I am at least 3 RB's short, and I can't see him picking any of Mings, Maddison or Ward-Prowse.

58 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

That reminds me of David Brent entering that club as a 'special guest' on the Office Xmas specials.

He also seems to have altered his accent in some of the videos.

I'm not bitter, just genuinely find it extremely cringe.

That's exactly where I'm at. My wife's the same, she was cringing watching his "celebrations" last night.

Hope we don't embarrass ourselves, don't want City to win the league, but equally would hate Liverpool to win the quad - I think it will all play out pretty straightforward on Sunday with both teams scoring early and winning at a canter (especially City).

Be nice if we could make it a game for them but not sure we have it in our locker.

I would go 4-4-2 (diamond) - I don't think we have the team/players to soak the pressure up for 90 minutes and we need to stop the ball from inevitably coming back so I'd play 2 up top.

                                           Martinez

      Cash              Chambers             Mings               Digne

                                          Nakamba

                          Ramsey                      McGinn

                                           Coutinho

                              Ings                         Watkins 

Or 4-2-3-1 

                                        Same GK/Defence

                                   Nakamba           Luiz

                            Ramsey      Coutinho       McGinn

                                            Watkins/Ings

Realistically though, we could name 50 starting elevens and only our keeper would possibly feature in a joint Villa/City side.       

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

Some of our play was excellent, and I thought Douglas Luis was outstanding, particularly in the first half. We dominated possession throughout and we constantly and consistently got the ball into dangerous areas - into the corners, around the box and across it. The first half of this game was a talented ten year old fighting a three hundred pound asthmatic man in a mobility scooter - we threw a million harmless punches and then got caught by a lazy but potent slap.

Our problem is particularly pronounced - we're very often the better of the two sides and very rarely the winner.

I think they see that, I think they'll fix that and I think there are signs n our patterns of play that we're improving, even though results haven't caught up with us yet.

A frustrating season, particularly at home, that I think we can in part put down to growing pains.

And while Leeds would be funnier, I won't be sorry to see the back of these if they go - Barnes's elbow on Mings could have left him in the hospital and it wasn't the only one he threw - nor was it out of character for this side over the last couple of years - they're an unpleasant experience and surprisingly poorly supported, they wouldn't be missed. 

 

 

I know it's a game of opinions but I didn't think Luiz did anything of note all game. He was better than Chuk but that isn't really much of a barometer. McGinn was our best midfielder by a distance and Mings and Buendia (stupid challenge aside) were our best performers IMO. 

Think it was a 6/10 performance, had a lot of the ball but huffed and puffed without creating a lot of real clear cut chances and of course Pope played very well.

I wanted us to win (impossible not to in any game), but now the dust has settled it is nice to see Leeds back in the bottom three - Though after watching thuggish Burnley close up again I won't be overly disappointed if it was them that were to be relegated!

I saw the 3 key decisions in the game (maybe with Villa specs on, maybe not) like this - Barnes elbow should have been a red. He knew exactly what he was doing and where Mings was. How a free kick wasn't given beggars belief. I thought that Lowton's was also a red. I think he has purposely left something on Chambers ( but if that had been given as a yellow, I wouldn't have been outraged - IE I have seen worse) and I don't think it was hand ball by Digne - and if it did touch his hand it would have been harsh when Barnes had his feet chest high!

If you don't hit it right in the corner then there is always a good chance the keeper will save it if they guess the right way so I think it's a poor pen  though the keeper does take a bit of credit too for staying big. 

He scored the one that mattered though

15 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

I don’t want to see any of Luiz, Nakamba or McGinn start. 

Watkins
Coutinho Buendia
Ramsey Irroegbunam Chukwuemeka
Digne Mings Chambers Cash
Martinez

Same as mine, but my formation went a bit skewiff! 

1 hour ago, Nigel said:

Nobody would be expecting that system tbf!

Oops

I hope we make some changes for this as realistically top 10 is out of reach and I know we can finish a couple of places higher up (and some extra £ for that) but I think even if we make changes we still have plenty to give Burnley a game. 

Would like to see something like

                                                         Martinez

                        Cash           Chambers          Mings          Digne

                                 Chuk          Iroegbunam       Ramsey 

                           Buendia                Watkins             Coutinho      

So... basically a youthful midfield! No pressure, get the ball down and play some decent football - 4-1 Villa (easy)  

3 hours ago, Dodgyknees said:

Leeds will beat Brighton 

Of course you may be right.. but past history between the two sides will tell you otherwise.

In PL - Brighton have won 2 and drawn the other - Leeds failing to score in the 3 matches.

In Championship - Brighton have won 8 drawn 2 and lost 2. 

 Add to that Brighton have lost 1 in 7 (to Man City), beating Arsenal & Spurs away and their last 2 results 7-0 in their favour and Leeds with 1 point in 4 and 1 goal (from a corner) with lots of injuries / suspensions, then I think I know which result I'd be going for !!

2-0 Leeds

2 hours ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

To be fair he's looked leggy for about two years!

You've picked a good team there, I'd like to see Iroegbunam start again though in place of Nakamba.

Ha yes he has

I'd be ok with Tim starting, but I think it would be a brave call to start both him and Chuck.

Presuming Watkins and Ramsey are out, I'd go for this: 

                        Martinez 

Cash    Chambers     Mings     Digne 

                       Nakamba 

                   Luiz        Chuck 

   Buendia           Ings          Coutinho 

Thought McGinn looked leggy on Tuesday night so I'd give Chuck a start. Luiz played very well (further forward) and Nakamba gives us the licence to do this.  Maybe Tim to replace Marvellous after an hour.  Chambers for Konsa. 

These are a decent outfit, with some quick/strong players but hopefully we can do the double over them. 

Head 2-2. Heart (realistically) 2-1.