WakefieldVillan

Had a bet builder for £25 

+1.5 goals first half ️

Saka assist ️

+5.5 goals FT ️

Arsenal win ️

20 booking points Sheff U ️

One tackle all game!!! For that alone I hope they rot in lower leagues forever..

Oh and Wilder!

I think it will be the same team that started Saturday, with Konsa on the bench.

And depending on how things are going I think we might see him replacing Pau on the hour, with Lenglet switching to the left side. 

Still feel confident about this one, without arrogance, 1-3. 

3 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

The truth is that most of the penalty takers will have not taken a penalty in game.

Ollie has some data, however ugly it may be, and will surely be on the pitch at 120. That he was trusted to take pens in the first place means he's not completely awful at them in training so I would be extremely surprised not to see him in the five.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I think he will take one for sure. I just personally wouldn't include him in my list of 5... though I'd still be very hopeful he would find the net if or when it happens.

Don't often get score predictions correct, but said we'd win 2-1 at Fulham and beat Forest either 4-2 or 4-3. Therefore I'm going 0-5 to Villa .

No, unfortunately it will be closer, but I think we will come out on top, 1-3.

4 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

If Ollie is to take one, he has to go first. I'd also feel sick with nerves.

• Watkins
• McGinn 
• Doug
• Tielemans
• Bailey

----

• Digne
• Torres 
• Konsa

Would be my order. I think Tielemans would do well to make it through 120 mins.

I think a ref would love to send Martinez off in a shootout to get a bit of attention. We'd be so so confident going into one with Emi in net. And the effect on the opponent! They'd feel they were going up against the unbeatable.

Good point re Tielemans. 

A lot would depend whos left on the pitch after 120+ mins.

I love Ollie and he's playing very well, scoring goals, with some clinical finishing too - but I genuinely wouldn't have him taking one of the first five. 

I think he's took 9 in his career and missed FIVE! 

1. Luiz.

2. Tielemans.

3. McGinn.

4. Digne.

5. Torres.

There's not many in our squad I actually wouldn't fancy to score though including Emi

Apart from Zagreb all the teams that played away in the second leg went through which surprises me. I would have thought playing at home in the second leg would be advantageous.

Might need to be wary of that. 

Was always a good striker, but feel like he's reached a whole new level under Emery. 

The two finishes against Fulham were tremendous. 

A must for the Euros, but you never know under Southgate

On 05/02/2024 at 11:45, WakefieldVillan said:

So even the most pessimistic Villa fan would agree that basically it is only Man Utd now that can possibly stop us finishing in the top 5.

I know, I  know, shouldn't do this buuuuut....

Current Standings;

Us 46 points, Them 38.

Their remaining fixtures are;

Us (H), Luton (A), Fulham (H), Man City (A), Everton (H), Sheff Utd (H), Brentford (A), Chelsea (A), Liverpool (h), Bournemouth (A), Newcastle (H), Burnley (H), Palace (A), Arsenal (H) and Brighton (A).

The ones in bold I would say are pretty much dead certs. I wouldn't be shocked with draws or defeats in any of the others, but let's say (pessimistic head) wins in the following;

Us, Luton, Brentford, Bournemouth and Palace - Say defeats against City and Liverpool and draws elswhere - That's a record of P15 W9 D4 L2 PTS 31 - Giving them 69 points! I don't think that's totally unrealistic, albeit a little negative from our POV.

This would mean we would require the magic number of 70, and 24 points from 14 matches, I can see wins for us in Forest (H), Brentford (H), Bournemouth (H) and Chelsea (H) matches.

We would then require a further 12 points from Fulham, Luton, Spurs, West Ham, Wolves, City, Arsenal, Brighton, Liverpool and Palace.

I think we CAN do it - But BEATING them this Sunday would make it a whole lot more likely.

 

 

Two week on and although the gap has got closer between us and Man U, I feel like the performance against them, plus the two victories away, gives me confidence we can still do this.

Us 49 Man U 44 points, effectively an extra point for our GD - So 6 points between us, with 39 points to play for.

I think they will get 9 points from their next 4, but the big ones for them will be the next 5 after that (Brentford (A), Chelsea (A), Liverpool (H), Bournemouth (A), Newcastle (H))

Pick a number between 1 and 15 points out of that lot! I say 15 but I genuinely hope that it's no more than 6!

2 hours ago, VillaChris said:

I think this will be harder than plenty think.

It's Nuno and so he'll low block us to death given our general results v Wolves when he was there. And they have a quick front three of Elanga-Awoniyi-Hudson Odoi.

I think we'll just edge it 3-2.

I agree. We can't afford to be complacent that's for sure. They've beaten us once already, and they went to St James Park not that long ago and turned them over, which is no mean feat. 

They have pace up top which could hurt us, BUT, at home, I'd like to think we will have too much for them. 3-2 or 4-2 wouldn't surprise me. 

Same team. 

Watkins MOTM - 2 clinical finishes and tireless as ever.

Closely followed by Pau, McGinn and Emi who all had great games.

Sloppy goal to concede which made it closer than it ought to be, but this was a fantastic result and decent performance.

Feels like a pivotal victory this one! 

On 12/02/2024 at 19:32, WakefieldVillan said:

 

                         Martinez

Cash.  Carlos.   Torres.  Moreno.

                     Tim.       Luiz.       

   Bailey.      McGinn.         Ramsey.

                      Watkins. 

 

 

 

 

Still stick with this, but Lenglet for Carlos 

Without stating the usual cliché, which I'm about to do..

We just have to take it game by game and not look any further than the next game, which is Fulham. 

If we win that, it sets us up brilliantly for Forest at VP then going to Kenilworth Rd after 2 straight wins and confidence will be high... 

But we lose against Fulham and it puts added pressure on Forest, and imagine we go 1-0 down in that to a quick counter... well.. that scenario doesn't bear thinking about... 

I still believe we finish between 4th - 6th, I think you have to be extremely optimistic or pessimistic to think higher or lower than those positions.

After the performance against United, (not the result), I was feeling optimistic about this one, but the news of Kamara's injury and no return date set for Konsa it's left me feeling pretty deflated. 

I think I'd try to keep it as similar as last time out, Pau for Lenglet IF fit & Tim for Kamara. I think he is a more like for like replacement and hopefully we can keep the fluency from yesterday, but with a killer instinct.

                         Martinez

Cash.      Carlos.      Torres.       Moreno.

                     Tim.       Luiz.       

   Bailey.           McGinn.         Ramsey.

                         Watkins. 

Bench;

Olsen, Digne, Lenglet, Diaby, Tielemans, Zaniolo, Rogers, KKH, Chambers.

Hard one to predict, they're much better at home than away, won two back to back home games 5-0 in December, beat Arsenal and lost to Burnley, so quite inconsistent. 

They have good players, dangerous players, but without being disrespectful I'd only have Palhinha from the two starting elevens.

F.. it... 1-2 Bailey, Watkins. 

Gutted by the result (though it's not a surprise against this lot), encouraged by the performance.

If, IF, we can can beat Fulham, I could see 3 wins on the spin. 

Play like we did today (but bring more clinical) & we'll be just fine.

38 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

Quite like that midfield/attack with Bailey and Diaby both playing and Ramsey playing box to box but you cannot drop Douglas Luiz, that's madness, even if he has had some below par games recently. Just like you can't really drop Kamara. If we're dropping anyone from that midfield it would have to be McGinn but I don't think that's happening because he's captain. 

Oh I don't for one minute think Luiz will be dropped, and I really hope he puts in a stellar performance, I just think he was so passive on Wednesday (along with others) and perhaps still recovering from illness. We looked short on legs too Wednesday night, hence my inclusion of Ramsey. 

It wouldn't surprise me to see the same starting eleven (believe it or not) Pau the only possible change (fitness aside). 

Could name various team line ups for this but at the end of day whoever starts needs to be 100% up for it and show a lot more desire than they did on Wednesday night or it will be another loss!

I think I'd like to see Bailey, Watkins and Diaby in a front 3 and basically just go for it. You'll score but we will score more than you kinda attitude.

Maybe this behind them with the back four being more conservative;

                          Emi.

   Cash.     Carlos.    Pau.    Moreno.

    McGinn.   Kamara.   Ramsey.

  Bailey.         Watkins.           Diaby. 

Hope Pau can start and is up to speed, Carlos only gets in in front of Lenglet cos he's a right footer! 

Hoping Diabys decent cameo finally brings about an upturn in his form  

I'd take 1-1 now all day long. I haven't said 0-0 because we definitely won't keep a clean sheet. 

UTV 

51 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Another 6/10 performance which is becoming all too frequent. Need him to raise it again, but we'll eventually need someone who can move the ball quicker and play in tight spaces better than him.

I think you're being kind with a 6!

To be fair, I always feel when McGinn plays well, we do, and vice versa.

Need an absolute monster performance from him on Sunday!

1 minute ago, sheepyvillian said:

Maybe there were players who were worse, but he wasn't much better. The way he let Jackson get past him on the touchline in the first - half. That was embarrassing. 

Correct.

And his half hearted tackle on Gallagher for their first goal.

He was better than one player tonight - Kamara!

But to be fair no one played well.

Had a bad feeling pre match, all the talk about us being clear favourites, they've still an abundance of good players who are under performing - till tonight.

The midfield was sooo poor though, so many sloppy passes (Kamara), half hearted challenges (Luiz), running in treacle (McGinn) - they cut through us with ease. 

Couple of decisions went against us but overall best side won by far.

Need a massive reaction on Sunday, and Pau/Digne back ideally.

1 minute ago, gwi1890 said:

Would you rather give it to Matty Cash or Boubacar Kamara?

I'd personally give it to Watkins, he looked like the only one that give a sh*t.

Pleased Diaby got a goal though, hopefully gives him a much needed lift.

9 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

I can tell you now, we are going to lose to Manchester United. Mark. My. Words.

I agree. If we play like this.

Like Chelsea they have dangerous players going forward and we can't defend.

Wow. Where to start with that.

0/10 Kamara, Carlos, Luiz, Moreno and McGinn

The rest not much better.

Not sure if we're struggling with the tactics Emery has set, but we look all over the place.

Has the saying "the next goal is crucial" ever been more apt now. 

Feeling less confident now with the Konsa news, just hope Torres is fit to start against Man Utd on Sunday.

Not a great deal of options at the back, assuming it will be Martinez, Cash, Carlos, Lenglet and Moreno.

I think we will see McGinn, Luiz, Kamara and Bailey, with Diaby or Tielemans supporting Watkins.

That is still a strong side on paper, but which way it will go is anyone's guess, they have players that can hurt us on their day but obviously are nothing like the Chelsea of old.

I think both sides will need at least two to win.