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allani

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Everything posted by allani

  1. allani
    I think another Kamara would be fine. He's good enough on the ball to play more of a Luiz role (at least up until he gets close to the opposition box). I think there are games where we could benefit from two Kamara-like CDMs holding in midfield but good enough on the ball to transition play quickly to our more attacking midfielders / attackers. We've got Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia who can play a more advanced version of the Luiz role if / when Dougie is out. The key is to use their attacking prowess rather than having to rely on them in a more defensive role. Some people think Luiz's form has dropped - but I think he's mainly just a bit more exposed as he's not getting the defensive support he needs or he gets when Kamara is playing.
  2. allani
    Agree on the CDM. I'm happy for them to be just below top quality but with a high ceiling. Someone who can deputise for Kamara in the first half of the season and then give us options when Kamara is back. I was going to say a hybrid of Kamara and Luiz but to be fair I think Kamara is a hybrid of a CDM and Luiz. So someone similar to Kamara would be great. I would like us to have the option of playing 2 CDMs in games where we know we might need to sit back, absorb some pressure and then hit hard on the break or when we want / need to close up shop. The advantage of a Kamara style CDM is that they're good enough on the ball to not significantly impact on the progressive / offensive side of our gameplan.
  3. allani
    100%. I can see the favourites for 4th tag changing hands a couple more times yet this season.
  4. allani
    The post implied that we're mentally not as strong as them and that they wouldn't throw away 2 points against a team like Brentford. Which the facts don't support. I think we're pretty equal - we'll look invincible one match, less so the next. They are probably just about favourites for 4th at the moment but that could change next week or the week after.
  5. allani
    We've dropped 5 points having taken the lead in matches this season. Spurs have dropped 20. But yeah apart from that.....
  6. allani
    Yep - wins for Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and us midweek would be delicious. I think 5 points will be enough for a top 5 finish.
  7. allani
    Man Utd are closer to not qualifying at all for Europe than they are of finishing 4th (or 5th if England gets the extra CL spot). It is entirely conceivable that after the next round of fixtures they are 9th. Bournemouth away is not easy. Newcastle have a huge home match against Spurs (the pressure very much on the away team and Newcastle will see a win as a major step towards finishing 6th), West Ham at home to Fulham and Chelsea at home to Everton.
  8. allani
    Back to being the team that has conceded the fewest points having taken the lead in matches this season. But apparently we are mentally weak and are throwing points away like crazy. 11 points clear of Man Utd with a goal difference advantage of 19 goals with 7 matches left for them and yet we'll be lucky to finish 6th. Some of the over-reaction in recent weeks has been insane. As @TRO rightly points out - we are a WIP. The teams around us have been in this position for most of the last 20 years (or longer) whilst we've been down in the dumps. Are there areas for improvement? 100%. Could we do with strengthening certain areas (especially defensively)? Absolutely. Should we be resting on our laurels and ignoring the areas where we can improve? Absolutely not. But is there a major crisis that is threatening to derail our plan and see all our players leave? Not at all. Learn and improve from our mistakes - but let's stop with some of the incessant negativity (for the avoidance of doubt this isn't aimed at the previously referenced poster as I get where he's coming). Should we have seen out the game yesterday at 2-0 up - for sure. But in seasons gone by we'd have gone to 2-3 and lost the match. As it is we dug in, got the equaliser and were the team pushing for a winner at the death.
  9. allani
    Yeah I would agree that we've conceded two goals in a short space of time a bit too often. I do think that's where a player like Mings comes in - a big voice to try and get the focus back quickly.
  10. allani
    But does any of that history really matter. I mean for most of the last 20 years we've been poor. But we're (hopefully) at the start of a different era now. We need to stop projecting past failings onto the current team otherwise we're in danger of them impacting us. We have mainly been superb at seeing out matches since Emery arrived. Let's stop thinking about all the **** that came before. It is (mainly) irrelevant.
  11. allani
    I am going to keep on saying this. Liverpool have dropped 4 points from a winning position this season. We've now dropped 5. Arsenal have dropped 9. Man City 10. Man Utd 13. Spurs 20.
  12. allani
    A lot will depend on the team that Arsenal field and the result of their first match against Bayern. They'll have an extra 48 hours to rest before the match but hopefully they will be more worried about the short turnaround to the second match.
  13. allani
    And yet (as I will keep on saying) we have dropped fewer points from leading positions than any team in the league apart from Liverpool. Yes we've scored a couple of late goals to recover (as have other teams). But we've dropped 25% of the points that Spurs have from a leading position this season. 50% of the points that Man City have. Our "obsession" with us throwing points away is likely to turn this into an issue where the crowd get nervous and transmit that to the players.
  14. allani
    Because realistically it will need an all German CL final for England's coefficient not to be enough. Although there is a risk that Man City, Liverpool and us will play a weakened / tired team in Europe because of the demands of a tight PL race.
  15. allani
    Our goal difference this season is +17. Our goal difference last season was +5. Yes our defending for those 10 minutes this afternoon was poor. But how many times have we played our Best 4 defenders this season? (The answer is 0).
  16. allani
    We have dropped 5 points from a leading position. Arsenal have dropped 9. Man City have dropped 10. Spurs have dropped 20. Man Utd have dropped 13. I am frustrated with today's result. But we're in danger of turning this into an issue that doesn't really exist.
  17. allani
    And yet only Liverpool have conceded fewer points this season having taken the lead in a match (4 points dropped). We are second (5 points dropped). I'd hate to imagine what some people would be saying if we'd dropped 20 points from a leading position (Spurs) or 13 points (Man Utd). Even Man City have dropped 10 points from leading positions so we are literally twice as good as them in this regard. This fixation with us throwing points away when we are leading is complete horse****.
  18. allani
    Although it keeps him fresh for the matches against Lille.
  19. allani
    Great finish! He deserves that today. Been very good so far.
  20. allani
    BBC describing Ollie's goal as "a scruffy, scruffy goal". Looked to me like a great and very accurate cross and a pretty decent header into the corner of the goal.
  21. allani
    Well he should definitely be on a yellow already. I don't get how you can commit three cynical fouls like he has and not get booked and yet a tug on a shirt is an automatic yellow. The impact is the same - so the punishment should be too.
  22. allani
    I love how all the Brentford players are moaning at the ref on the way back to the tunnel. So far he's not given us a stonewall penalty when Carlos was pulled to the ground and stopped us on an overlap. Yet somehow they feel hard done by.....
  23. allani
    Since January we have signed a (reputedly significant) shirt deal with Adidas and have trebled the value of our front of shirt sponsor (both of which I believe come into effect before the end of June - part of the reason for changing our accounting period to tie in better with our contract periods). Not to mention the fact that we're also due to make a significant improvement in earnings from our PL finish, extra matches in Europe, prize money from Europe, etc. Yet he's still banging on about the same value "FFP hole" required to stop us being docked points next season. Like everyone else he's primarily interested in sensationalist claims that will make people read his **** rather than actually any journalistic integrity - it's why his post is full of "might", "if", "other options", etc. Basically if you put enough caveats in the article if / when Villa don't sell Ramsey then his get out of jail free card is that "I never said that they would sell him just that they might have to if they were short of funds". Of course it would be almost impossible to prove that we never even thought about it (even if Emery, Monchi and NSWE all come out and deny it - he'll just mutter about "well they would say that just to make the player feel better") so he's in a no-lose position really.
  24. allani

    Ezri Konsa

    allani replied to MaVilla's topic in Villa Talk

    There's been a lot of (mostly horse ****) written about us having to sell players to avoid breaching FFP in the press and in SM. I think it is pretty clear now that we don't (or at least not any that we want to keep). Whether any players will push for a move (for more money or a better shot at winning major trophies) or whether we sell because we get an exceptional offer is another matter. However, I don't think I have ever been as confident in the following: (1) the owner won't sell a player that the manager wants to keep (2) if a key player wants to move, we'll have done a pretty good job at trying to persuade them to stay (3) if a key player is sold, we'll spend the money wisely and minimise the impact as much as is possible (4) I believe that Monchi / Emery have a list of "replacements" for every single player in the match day squad - so if Player A is sold, we'll have targets already in place and a plan to deal with the situation. So whilst I don't want us to sell any key players (and I don't expect us to either) - if we do I am 95% certain that I won't go into a complete meltdown and will be confident that we might even start next season with a better team / squad. M/E and NSWE will have us covered.
  25. allani

    Ezri Konsa

    allani replied to MaVilla's topic in Villa Talk

    I absolutely love the fact that any first team regular at Villa would think it madness to consider moving to United. Shows how much progress we have made and the vision / plan that we have for the future.
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