WakefieldVillan

I think trying to pick a MOTM pretty much sums up the whole team performance really. I gave it to Cash for sticking gamely at the task of being left 1 on 1 a criminal number of times throughout the evening. This despite the fact that all their good moments stemmed from Harrison down the left.

Think we need to be magnanimous in defeat. We owe ourselves that after 4 wins on the spin. We also owe Leeds that. I hate them with a passion but they were very good tonight. Particularly once they went in front.

On other nights, one of our chances goes in and it's a different ending to the game but we have to take this one on the chin and it's all about how we recover next time out.

It was a tale of two strikers for me too, ours looked lost. Theirs was on fire. No denying that. Whether you think he's a pr1ck or not. We were over run in midfield. Out muscled in all areas of the pitch. Had no cover to the full backs. At least Jack we know can do things the other way. Trez was the Trez of old, from minute 1 he was very poor. 

Ah well we move on, we don't become a shit team after one game and we don't win the league after 4. Hope our fan base (& Gabby) get some perspective back.

UTV 

Leeds just shading it for me but could still go either way. 

Their work rate and speed has been very impressive to be fair (begrudgingly). 

Trez has been very poor, but I'm not sure Traore is the option to replace him.. yet. Think we might be left even more open down the left hand side. 

I know it won't happen and I know it won't be wanted on here but I would be thinking about Davis up top Watkins from wide and Trez off. I think the extra strength and muscle up top will help us get more of the ball.

Anyway, need a big half or we will lose this COME ON VILLA 

15 hours ago, Dave-R said:

Of course Leeds did something wrong.

Bamford came to a to stop with our players and so everything went relaxed, then he just starts up and goes full throttle, he deceived our players and put himself in a goal scoring opportunity. Because of the confusion he went onto score, that being said we did ourselves no favours, we should of played till we heard a whistle. We thought there was honour in Leeds and we were wrong. We put the ball out for them and expected the same in return, it didnt happen. Most teams would of kicked the ball out and returned the favour, not Leeds though. As for Yanse I do not blame him for trying to argue Bielsa's fairplay goal or wanting to stop it, its natural. 

Bamford was everything wrong with that game, like I said above he didnt only deceive our players but he caused Ghazi to be sent off. I dont know how you can even think Leeds hadn't done anything wrong. Bamford is Leeds (Guilty by his actions), that TIT deceived not once but twice and should of been red carded for going to ground for trying to get a player sent off.

I have this feeling tomorrow that this game and all future games with Leeds will have this Heat about it, where its personal, very personal between us and them. I feel what Leeds did brings a special kind of hate in the match. This has very Physical, lots of Yellow cards written all over it, I'd be very surprised if there wasnt alot of mental games by both sides.

Cant stand Leeds and I've never said that about any football club and Bamford I hope someone makes a Mockery of him tomorrow the rocket polisher.

Though it may have been Bamford that slowed the play down, not actually sure it was - It was Klich that went down the left flank, cut in and scored. 

15 hours ago, Dave-R said:

Sorry I dont agree so much TRO. I feel it was one of those games that was bag n forth alot. I mean we won the game 2-1 didnt we, sure Bielsa had a hand in us having a goal for his fair play but to say they deserved to win when we won is what counts. I couldnt care, Bamford got Ghazi sent off, we nearly had Hourihane slaughter Bamford with a choke and the grass turn red, I wouldnt of been surprised if Ghazi had of killed the Linesmen and Kodjia was just being Kodjia walking around the field during game play. For what it's worth with the team we had I dont think Leeds out played us, they were the better team in the first half but the second I think was ours. Who deserved to win though?? well the score spoke that day and so did justice, which was delivered on the day and on the pitch I think TRO.

I hope Leeds go down this season, they prob wont but there are far more likeable clubs than that club that I'd like to be in there place.

Bring it on tomorrow and hurry because I hope were all talking about 5 wins on the trot and the smashing of Leeds.

We didn't win. It ended 1-1. We were hanging on last 10 minutes but that was mainly because we were wrongly down to 10-men.

In the end it was a nothing game. Bielsa gets credit for giving us the walk-in goal, but I am not sure he would have reacted in the same way should automatic promotion still been on the table.

Really not sure why it caused such a furore to be honest - I would have preferred the 1-0 loss.

Anyway, that's been and gone - If we perform to our very best we win this, so just want a good performance please  

5 hours ago, One For The Road said:

So you hate Leeds more than you love Villa? So much so that you'd prefer us to take 2 less points as long as we don't lose to Leeds?

I'd rather lose 150-0 to them if it meant us picking up more points overall.

I did say "call me mad!"  

Oh no I definitely love Villa more than I hate Leeds - Though I can see why my statement may suggest otherwise.

It wasn't 2 points less though, it was 1 point - though it might not have been clear on my post. 

For clarity I meant I would prefer 2 x wins & 3 x draws (beating Leeds) rather than 3 x wins, 1 x draw & a defeat to Leeds.

For me knocking their lot down a peg or two, whilst remaining unbeaten in 9 games would be fantastic. And the "invincibles" record will still be in sight  

I get that the extra point may be vital come the end of the season - so there's no real logic but I do know A LOT of Leeds fans so this does affect my mindset!

Hopefully we get 15 points anyhow  

I don't think there's any mind games being played by Bielsa for this and I would be shocked to see Cooper passed fit after being withdrawn at kick off Monday night.

I think they will line up as they usually do 4-1-4-1 with a starting eleven of Meslier / Dallas, Ayling, Koch, Allioski / Struijk / Costa, Klich, Rodrigo, Harrison / Bamford.

The only possible change I see from the above team is if Hernandez comes back in but I think we're more likely to see him after 60 minutes (depending on how the game is going). I'd rather him on the bench tbh, he may be 93 but he does still have a touch of class.

Their players individually (on paper) hardly scream out anything for us to fear, in fact I don't think I would swap a single one of our starting eleven for those names above. It's a case of "the whole is definitely greater than the sum of it's parts".

Hoping for a big game from Watkins - That is a makeshift back four and though they will possess a lot of verve and energy, it will be the first time (I would imagine) that they have played a competitive fixture together. Hoping he runs them ragged. And when he has finished. Unleash Davis to cause havoc (but not score )

1 hour ago, bose said:

Trying to look at this objectively we should be confident. There is nothing wrong with that.

Won all our games deservedly, only conceded in on match and 3-4 players that are very much a goalscoring threat. While Leeds are coming of the back of a loss and have lost their main player, the one who makes them tick.

For me the weakest link in the Leeds attack is Harrison, poor end product and I think we need to guide them more down the left rather than their right side. Let them build there attacks up that side and we'll can damage them on the counter. That leaves Trezeguet doing more defensive work and with the work he's put in he'll do that easily. If we manage to do that then we can leave Jack higher up the pitch hopefully and we know he'll do damage there. 

I think you are being harsh on Harrison there to be honest, although his final ball wasn't great against Wolves on Monday night he still can be a danger. He has already produced decent moments this season with the goal at Anfield and the superb delivery for Bamford's winning goal at Sheffield United this season. He will need the equal amount of attention as Costa IMO. 

43 minutes ago, OxfordVillan said:

We took the best that Leicester could throw at us, soaked it up, started pushing them onto the back foot with 20mins to go, then knocked them out at the end. 

I repeat, Bielsa has one way of playing, one way only. There will be no surprises with how Leeds approach the game on Friday evening. Thus far I’d say Liverpool and Fulham have been caught surprised by our goal scoring prowess, and Leicester were surprised by our ability to withstand (with relative ease) their attack. Villa, thus far, seem able to mix up their performances to suit the opposition. Based on the season so far the only way Villa don’t win is if they become complacent and underestimate Leeds. It’ll have to be an off day for 2-3 Villa players. All our wins thus far have been deserved, there’s not been a single half of football where we’ve looked under the cosh and could lose the game. We haven’t fluked any of the games. I’m disappointed Kalvin Phillips is out of the game, I didn’t want Leeds having any excuses come Saturday morning. So the only surprise we might see is whoever replaces Phillips. If we match Leeds work rate we win, if we out work them we smash 3 or 4 past them and win at a canter. 
Why wouldn’t we go into this game confident and ready to win? We can play stress free and with the possibility of an historic 5th straight win in front of us. This group we currently have at the heart of the club seem to quite like being history makers. I back them to make a bit more history in the coming days.

Love the positivity 

Before the season started I would have gone for (realistically) something like 8 points:-

- Leeds (H) 1

- Southampton (H) 3

- Arsenal (A) 0

- Brighton (H) 3

- West Ham (A) 1

We have proved already that every game is winnable, therefore we should (& we will) be aiming for 15 points - But it's impossible really to predict any game at the moment with solid conviction.

I would be extremely delighted though with 9 points, comprising of 2 wins (starting Friday) and 3 draws. 

In fact, call me mad, but I would prefer the above outcome than gaining 10 points and losing Friday. Yes, I detest Leeds.

19 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I thought they were shit last night. 

They were good for the first 20 minutes, but that's clearly how Wolves play. They're a second half team. 

Second half Leeds looked awful and never really looked like scoring.

 

I still think they'll beat us on Friday though  

I agree, second half they were very poor - I don't think Wolves were particularly great either, albeit defensively solid.

Why do you think they will beat us? We have won 4 from 4. Thrashed the Champions, won away at a top four chasing side, kept 3 clean sheets, playing well, so much positivity within the camp...

Style of play? Law of averages?

I mean, I am normally quite pessimistic but I think they should be worrying more about us than we should be them.

We have shown this season that we are capable of playing in different ways to counteract our opponents style and it will be interesting to see how we approach this one and to be honest I am not sure which style I would like us to adopt.

Do we go more conservative, sit back and let them come on to us, then look to exploit the spaces that they leave between the midfield and defence - like Wolves did to them last night to great success.

Or do we press from the front, put them under pressure right from the off and try to dominate possession, trusting that we have more quality to hurt them than they do us - bit like their game with Liverpool. This could play more into their hands but likewise I also could see another Liverpool type performance from us.  So an interesting predicament for the coaching staff IMO.

From what I have seen of Leeds, which is all their games bar the first half of Manchester City, they obviously work extremely hard, and for each other, everything 100mph, and they possess some good players - I think they will finish around mid-table but not sure why they are getting all this media attention. Well I am. Bielsa. Rather nauseating and like a fair few Villa fans, it would be great to knock them down a peg or two with a nice solid victory on Friday night. 

They looked quite jaded in the second half last night, Phillips (arguably their best player) took a heavy fall and might be a doubt for Friday, and if he does play might not be at 100%, and they have issues in central defence, so hopefully with an extra days rest and buoyed by our stunning start to the season, we can get another 3 points. Match them for work-rate and effort and our extra quality should be enough  UTV

12 minutes ago, babyblue said:

If we don't get a few of these back injury free we're in trouble. 

Ricardo
Ndidi
Maddison
Praet
Evans
Soyuncu
Fofana
Amartey

(Getting excuses in early)

Quite an injury list that and gives me more confidence we can get something from this, whether that be a point or even 3.

You still have extremely dangerous players going forward but if you're defensively depleted as you look like you may be then we definitely also have the tools to capitalise.

So...

0-0 then  

Better for Villa that he's not starting but with each non-selection Southgate makes me dislike him a tad bit more. I'm also trying hard not to dislike Mount and to be fair it's not really his fault and for me he his a good player in his own right. But we all know he's no Jack.

Best case scenario now is England struggle, Jack comes on last 30 and changes game but probably wishful thinking. 

Roll on Sunday. 

Unfortunately I think we will get beat here and I think Vardy will be the main difference - They battered us twice in the league last season and he scored half of their eight goals in those matches - I'm just not convinced we will be able to stop him (again).

I would definitely take a point if offered now, in some ways that result would make the Leeds love-in not quite as bad should we then lose to them the week after (You can imagine the media frenzy should they beat us after we'd won 4 out of 4!) - Mind you it will still be bad.

4 points from the next two would be fantastic.

Didn't even get out of second gear, still best player on pitch by far.

Put first one on a plate. Won free kick for second. Played a part in third.

It will be a travesty (if fit) if he doesn't go to the Euros.

6 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Would anyone take Brooks from Bournemouth? 

Without doubt. I think he's the player I most want from the Championship. I just think he would fit in superbly with the rest of the lads and would be a quality addition. Pace, trickery, skill, can finish, youth on his side and I think would have a great attitude and improve as a player with us, not to mention would link up superbly with the Jack, Ross, Ollie n John.

I like Benrahma for the obvious stand out skill he has, I just feel Brooks would work out better long term. 

Oh I agree they were all on target and not taking anything from our performance, just on another day 1 or 2 (or 3) may have deflected wide of the target. Fair play to the players for having a pop and they got their just deserts. 

Watched it in full again last night and it was just as enjoyable 

No doubt lots went in our favour, with the 3 deflected goals, some decent saves from Martinez and a possible penalty against McGinn that went in our favour, but I think we earned our luck with the effort and application (& quality) that we put into the match.

You could even argue the two goals that they scored were both extremely fortunate, both coming from little mix-ups / ricochets that fell kindly for them and ones they quickly punished us on when it meant we had lost our shape somewhat.

Hearing the commentary again and in particular Carragher, it was so noticeably one-sided, but nice to hear the pain in his voice was definitely a nice sweetener. (Likewise with Souness). 

Loved the second Watkins goal and it really brought home just how good the lad is, the nod down to McGinn, the move off the ball to receive it back, running the flank, holding it up for support, laying it off to Jack then making another run, that's before he's even beaten Gomez for pace, turned inside and stroke it in the top corner. Some strike that. Noticeably nothing in commentary about the ball through from Jack either, but this sums up the commentary on the night (& the punditry - though to be fair at least Evra said a few nice things).

Anyway, just about sinking in fully. What a result. A great performance. Hopefully we use it as confidence throughout the season that we can compete with the very best, but not let it go to our heads - I'm sure Dean and the staff won't let that happen. UTV.

Only just starting to sink in. Reading all the comments and I could get emotional. So proud of every one of our players and management team. Hardly slept last night and can't wait to re-watch it again tonight with no pressure.

I lost £130 in the end backing against us. If we had blown it I was set to win £1600. It was supposed to make me less nervous during the game. It didn't work. Only at 7 that's (seven ) did I start to relax. The players looked relaxed all the way through though. Incredible performance. Impossible to single anyone out. Barkley gives us that extra dimension I knew he would. 

My boss is a Liverpool season ticket holder currently abroad, he usually checks in with me - Not a word all morning. Shock. But I'm not going anywhere. 

Our club 

Although slightly irritating, I am viewing it as a positive now for us (& Smith) that Bielsa and Leeds are getting all the plaudits - F*** em.

Let's just keep going about our business as we are, with no pressure or expectation and keep proving the clueless media wrong.

Come on you f***** villa boys

14 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

 

Not going to post anymore on that matter as it just seems to be pissing the forum off and causing unrest to many of the delicate posters on here so it's easier not to with the hassle it's causing.

So instead I've PM'd the latest and last update on this to 5 random posters.

Let's wait and see. Overall, a good transfer window from the Club.

 

 

May I please also have the PM? I understand if you're inundated with requests though 

When your MOTM plays less than 20 minutes it pretty much sums up the teams performance. It really was that dire. Credit to Stoke, I said pre-match 1 goal would probably win it, they've kept 6 clean sheets now, their obviously a tough nut to crack. I think they shaded it, but on chances maybe we deserved to take it to a Jed Steer stare-shoot out! But it was not to be.

Steer, Konsa, Watkins, along with Jota, are the only ones to come out of that from a non-negative point of view. Most were below average with Hause, Taylor, Lansbury and Davis particularly bad. And I'm a fan of Keinan. In fact the latter two were terrible let's not dress it up. 

The thing is, you put Keinan into our first eleven with John, Jack, Ross, & he will look alright, IE one bad game doesn't make him a bad player,  but you have a team like tonight with several poor players under performing and this can always happen. This is why they are our second team. 

I voted Smith poor but I think the players let him down (& themselves) tonight.

With regards the Traore / El Ghazi debate - neither played well but AEG had more of an impact, you can tell Traore has something about him but he looked languid tonight and seemed disinterested in tracking back. I think it's plain to see Trezeguet will start against the reds. AEG was hit and miss, more miss - but at least he did 'try to make things happen. Unlucky with the one mazy run that showed his class but is inconsistency is infuriating. He also looks devoid of confidence. 

Overall a bad night. But hopefully it spurs us into one last purchase in the window. I think we need one. Or two. Or three if we're being greedy. 

Anyway, 3 points on Sunday night. You heard it here first. UTV.

Second string letting the gaffer down tonight so far.. 

Hopefully second half can't be as bad that, not sure it would be possible. We are very slow at back and playing too deep (probably because of this). We need to step up a bit and condense the play in their half. We will need our subs to get back into this I wouldve thought.

10 hours ago, Phil Silvers said:

I'd rather we put a stronger side out, I wanna win this cup.

Me too, but it won't be easy with some good sides left in the competition.

Tottenham, Newcastle, Manchester City, Manchester Utd, Everton already through with either Liverpool/Arsenal, Brentford/Fulham and us or Stoke to make up the last 8.

Easiest route would be Brentford/Fulham in quarters, Newcastle in semi's and either Spurs/Everton in final?? Having said that we might be good enough to beat "the top 6 weakened sides" so what will be will be.

Anyway sorry, going slightly off topic. 

Hope we can get the job done tonight, even with a second string team - Would be great to maintain the momentum and feel good factor that is around the club going into Sunday's game.