Pelle

I think the most things about the game have been said already, but I still want to come here and give my rare and never asked for tuppence on it.

I think we looked really passive last night. Through the whole game with both Tielemans and Dibu on the pitch. My guess is that the game plan was to save energy, sit back a little and control the game and hit them on the counter. We didn't exactly master that. We got too passive and didn't really press them enough. If at all. Too many players were below par.

I can understand that some fans get really nervous when they see Olsen enter the 2nd half and no Dibu. We are obviously better with Emi in goal. But to blame Olsen for the goals is a bit strong, IMO. Having said that I think their players may feel a little boost from, seeing Olsen between the sticks instead of Martinez. I think they may feel a little extra confidence in finishing when they play against him. Still not his fault, and even though he was partly to blame for Palmer's chance DC does the absolutely worst choice he can make in that situation. 

Anyway, a point is a point and 7 out of 9 from a pretty tough 3 games where I guess most would've thought we'd get about 4 or at best 6 points from is pretty good. Poch claiming that the goal should've stand is just farcical. I screamed for a freekick before the goal came as it was so obvious. That tackla just ain't allowed.

Now I'm off to feel dirty. I will hope for an arsenal win.

UTV!

Not much to add. God first half, poor second when they stepped up. We were poor but we can't overlook that they are quite tough to play at their place. It was always going to be a tough game to play and I'm just glad we won.

Oliver was poor and gave them all he didn't give us.  But that's something we have to deal with. 

I hope it's not too bad with JJ. He looked ok just before he was taken off, so I hope it was just for precaution. I think Rogers were quite decent when he came on. I think he will come good for us. Promising start. Iroegbunam had a harder game today than the last time, but I think  he was decent and it was good to see that he was trusted upon kn that situation. Hope for more from him.

Next game, and then... 

I was so happy when we signed him this summer. Little did I know that I should've been happier. I hope he and Konsa can play together for us for many years. I think they're a match made in heaven. 

8 minutes ago, Follyfoot said:

Really?

Really really.

1 hour ago, Lichfield Dean said:

Looked to me like Ollie's leg was kicked rather than it just being a shoulder to shoulder.

The tackla came first and then when Ollie's off balance the defender gets his leg, but IMO that's nothing to go for. And look, it's not that I mean that a penalty would've been totally wrong, it's not a clear cut situation, but I think the ref got it right in the end. I think it would've been a harsh penalty. 

1 hour ago, tonyh29 said:

It seems they gave Bailey as Offside , … interestingly the complete opposite of Newcastles goal against us at St James park where the offside player was deemed not to be impacting the game 

Yeah, it seems that way and that is just ridiculous. And if so also wrong. He's got nothing to do with anything in that situation. 

I think we had a good game and made it harder for ourselves by letting that goal in. Lenglet, who had a good game apart from that, must get the ball instead of trying to cover it. But in the end I don't think they threatened us that much. 

Torres my motm. How good it felt to have him back.

Interesting thing is that on swedish forums we're quite agreeing on that it wasn't a penalty. No more than 2 or 3 of their situations in our pen area. It was shoulder to shoulder and that's allowed. Practically pretty much the same way as when JJ won the ball for our 1st goal, although their player got in harder in his tackle. 

Anyhow, a good and important win. Now we need to beat nottingham next week to really re-establish ourselves in the 4th place.

Oh, and that VAR check of Moreno's goal was more than dodgy.

7 hours ago, Davkaus said:

I watched it a few times and it looks like the ball might just be about to get away from him. I'm not certain, and he probably wasn't either, I think he took a second, wasn't certain he was getting to it, so decided to play it safe and buy the penalty.

Either that, or he's got Salah in his FPL team.

Or he tried to get Dubravka sent off to cripple newcastle even more.  But my guess is the same as yours.

This is a really tough one. I mean Tony Moon started off really well but now I think Joe Bennett is pushing him really hard for that spot. Okore has been immense and Bacuna is flying down that wing like he's in the CL. But in the end I give my vote to KEA, the playmaker and CDM in one that we've missed since forever. 

And that was a PFE to show how our team looked like only 10 years ago. Just a little reminder that no one needed and even less asked for.

My serious vote goes to Douglas Luiz, the player that IMO really makes us ticking. The icing on the cake, or whatever term you use. He's so essential to our game. Having said that I can see why other goes for SJM, Watkins, Tores, Dibu, Konsa, you name it. They have all been superb and I love to watch them play. But for me it's Dougie.

One of my very few good calls was when I 4 years ago said that this player will be something extra, even oushing Grealish for being the best Villa player. Ok, he was poor against manure and not at hus best against sheffield united and burnley, but still got 1+1 in those 3 games. He's so good at keeping the ball and spot a good pass and not too bad at breaking up play. He's not perfect at taking direct freekicks but his delivery is really good. He's a great player, that's it. We can't sign an equally good player just like that. It took him about 2-3 years to become the player he is now. Maybe longer. It's likely that it would take the same for his replacement. So let's find and sign that player now and wait before we sell Dougie. We need him. Probably more than we need £100m.

2 hours ago, villan95 said:

I expect Liverpool's 2nd penalty to be called out for a dive and the softest penalty of the season. It makes the Duran one look stonewall.

Kind of what I was thinking when I watched the game. I thought our penalty was very soft and probably not a penalty. Then they got this pen and the swedish commentators argumented for it to be a correct call, so I guess I was wrong about our penalty. 

The thread about the boy who paid for our midfield and then some.

I think he was ill adviced. As things are now I hope he can get a move to a decent club where he can develop into the player he can be. Stamford Bridge will never be that place. 

On 01/12/2023 at 16:42, rodders0223 said:

It's a free shot from what 15 yards? And it's the absolute perfect position to bend and dip it around the keeper with pace.

He's not saving it, he's not getting anywhere near it, it's dipped and bent , he's not 9 foot tall. 

...but it's like Ben Foster says. Even if you know you're not getting there do a token dive for the fans

 

Not when it looks ridiculous to do it. And it would've looked ridiculous. He wouldn't get close to it. I'd say keepers rarely react in those situations. 

On 01/12/2023 at 12:38, BOF said:

Of those who have appeared in a competitive game this season and are still with the club* there are
Konsa, Zaniolo, Lenglet, Kellyman, Traore, Mings (harsh), Chambers, Revan & Dendoncker.

* Philogene-Bidace, Coutinho, Archer

Isn't Revan out on loan? Anyway, thanks for that. Of course I forgot a fair few, that's always the case.

1 hour ago, BOF said:

Moreno became the 7th new scorer for Villa this season. That puts this season 12th all-time for new scorers. It seems reasonable that at some point Zaniolo will get off the mark and maybe Kellyman too.

I was thinking yesterday if Konsa and Zaniolo are the only outfield players yet to score in a competitive game this season. And Lenglet. Forgot Kellyman. 

Good win yesterday. Happy to be through but also ridiculously disappointed that we couldn't score another goal so the last game wouldn't mean anything. 

Most things have already been said, but I like to highlight one moment that made me smile. It was the face of Lucas Digne when Alex Moreno were subbed. He looked genuinely happy for him. That's his toughest competition for a starting place and he was only happy that he'd played well and scored a goal and got standing ovations from the fans. I think that says a lot about the atmosphere in the squad and it's a good thing.

6 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

Based on absolutely nothing. As @VillaChris has said, the last time we lost a game we shouldn't have done at home in the league was against Leicester back in February. And that Leicester team, despite going down, was far better than this Luton team on paper, they had Barnes and Maddison playing that day. 

 

Of course upsets can happen but I'm just stunned how many negative posts there are given how on fire we are and how good we are at the moment. We've probably been given the best fixture this weekend after Arsenal who have just put 5 past their opposition. If we take this game seriously which I'm sure we will, then we will win this game. The only question is if it will be a comfortable win or whether we will have to be patient and wear them down, but Luton just shouldn't be good enough stopping us winning a 12th home game in a row. 

Of course you're right, but I've seen us f**k up too many times before to really believe in what I see these days. It will take some time before I get used to this. If ever.

I have a bad feeling about this game. But it wouldn't surprise me if we beat them with 5 or 6 either. In the end the most Villany would be to lose today. Or a draw. 

Well, that'll do, Villa, that'll do. 

Great game from the boys in the claret & blue. 

Ollie obviously motm 3+1 and directly involved in the other two goals too. 

I don't like that Digne thought it was a good thing to make me a little nervous. But how much he's improved this season. 

The swedish studio argued that the 2nd goal should've been called off for offside. I agree that it was but it's doing my head in that they have never even thought of the possibility that the same happened against liverpool. 

Nevermind, 6-1 is frigging wonderfull and it's a great Saturday. 

UTV!

On 18/09/2023 at 09:33, Tom13 said:

Not celebrating Luiz scoring what we thought was the winner was a little odd though.

True. I don't think we should read too much into that, but I agree. That was odd. I only saw it yesterday. 

Just a few words about penalties and who takes them:

Holland international team in the late 80's/early 90's. Strikers: Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit. Penalty taker was central defender Ronald Koeman.

Denmark in the mid 80's. Strikers were Preben Elkjaer and Michael Laudrup. Penalty taker was Jesper Olsen. 

I think Ollie will be fine without taking them, especially as he's missed 2 or 3. But right now he lacks confidence, I'd guess. The finish on his first chance yesterday hints at that. A striker full of confidence will take at least one more step to get closer to the keeper and then put it past him. Ollie yesterday took the first best chance to score, probably afraid of losing the ball or miss an even better chance. 

On the cross from Cash I guess he didn't see it in time. It all went fast and there were one or two defenders between them. But that's just me guessing. 

I have no doubt Ollie will score double figurer again. I think he'll score 17. And so far he's assisted 3 goals and got us a penalty in 5 games. That's a really good contribution.

It was quite obvious that palace feared his passes. Every time he got the ball they put pressure on him so he couldn't set up the passes. Konsa was allowed to carry the ball more. Having said that I think Konsa's passing is quite underrated. He's not poor with the ball at his feet.

Anyway, yes, he got turned a bit too easy yesterday and the same against burnley and he needs to learn how to handle that. I think/hope he will. He seems to be a fairly intelligent young man and has a good teacher in UE. I think he will be good for us, but it will take some time before he's at his best.

14 hours ago, Zero7 said:

I’m all for players coming off being unhappy, shows they want to be on the pitch. 

Especially when we're 1-0 down and he hasn't had the best of games like most of the team. I'd be more worried if he looked happy clappy.

Such a good player. I thought he got the armband when SJM walked off, but obviously he didn't. Anyway, it's around players like him, Diaby and Dibu that we should build the team. So much class.

10 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

I'm not certain but think that was being trialed in a different competition by fifa initially. Pretty sure the rule in the PL is unchanged. They did increase the width of the line they draw for the comparison to increase the margin of error in favour of the striker, but that might have been last year anyway.

Cheers for that explanation. I was wondering a little why noone mentioned it. And the reason is that I as usual missed a crucial part there. Oh well, we won anyway.