ozvillafan

Just now, Delphinho123 said:

Fair enough, you could be right. I just assumed he was coming in to play alongside Kamara. 

If he is going to play wide, there’ll be a few on here who are going to be disappointed when their hero Buendia can’t get a game..

.. just as there will be a few on here who are disappointed when he does.

Not mentioning any names, mind

2 things in his interview":

• He's quick
• He likes to get to the byline.

So if you are wondering how to play against a low block, you have 3 choices: Try to play through, try to play over or try to play around.

You simply cannot do the last unless you get to the byline. By doing that, all the low block participants are no longer facing the ball in front of them. They are either facing their own goal or facing sideways.

Now you can run into the spaces, since you are less likely to be tracked - ready to get onto a cross/cutback.

Really looking forward to watching him play.

Aleksander Tonev

His debut was against Norwich on 21 September 2013 - a game which we won 1-0 away....

... but no thanks to Tonev. In fact, his debut was utterly shocking. Any and every time he received the ball he shot - no matter the angle or the distance or players in a better position - and each ended with the same result: The ball in orbit.

So why was this the best debut? Because we weren't sure if he was any good or not as he'd only made a couple of sub appearances before this match but all doubt was removed after his debut. What a stinker.

Some of the responses are funny, read on for a couple of pages from about halfway down here:

If we sign Guendouzi, then we need Jack back.

If we did, we'd have a GK (Martinez), Defender (Mings), Midfielder (Guendouzi) and Forward (Grealish) that every other team supporter absolutely hates.

2 minutes ago, joshharris12 said:

Cash wide

With less defensive responsibilities and the coaching of Emery, he could fill the role and drive more to the byline. Deffo needs to work on his crossing, mind.

3 minutes ago, TheMightyVillans said:

A midfield 4 of

Ramsey, Kamara, Luiz, Guendouzi

It's always nice to dream.

Or a midfield of 5: Kamara, Luiz and Guendouzi in the middle, Moreno and Cash wide, with Konsa, Carlos and Mings in a back 3

5 hours ago, gwi1890 said:

 

he was only 19 in this match. 

That assist near the end was John McGinn-like

When we lost against Arsenal 3-2 despite being in front and Arsenal having a man short, it was Guendouzi that made the difference.

Clearly a talented player and - if he has matured from his former petulant attitude - would be an excellent signing

Going to list those I enjoyed watching more than the others:

Yorke

Hendrie

Carew

Benteke

Jack

There was talk in the Unai thread about him keeping everyone humble. The way we played that first half we were anything but.

There was little effort, no attempt to close down, no movement off the ball. Nobody wanted to step up and ask for the ball and nobody put in the shift to get to the 2nd ball. We seemed to take the game as a given, expecting Wolves to roll over.

We got better in the second half, which is a positive sign - but we needed to start that way for many reasons:

• It's a derby
• The last game against Wolves at home
• We simply aren't a team that is feared (yet)

Would have loved us to nick it at the death and we got close - but it wasn't to be.

Lessons learned, hopefully. Onwards and upwards

First rule of any match - especially a derby - is you must at least match the intensity of the opposition.

We are passive, static and ball watching. If that doesn't change after half time we'll end up more than 1 goal behind.

10 hours ago, VillaJ100 said:

It requires sitting back and letting them attack you to try and open it up, but if they don't, and they probably won't, it makes for an absolutely turgid terrible game

Agreed. It can become a bore-fest when 1 team only ever parks the bus

But I think we have a pattern to overcome judging by our 2nd against spurs - and that is have players push/run in from deeper that you may not be expecting. It only works if you have the tactical nous to not get caught in transition - and, at last, I believe we have that nous.

22 minutes ago, sne said:

Would be peak Villa to get a WC winning player brimming with confidence and then try to keep him "grounded" and bring him down from that high. Making him unhappy and ultimately forcing a move.

Surely that's not who we are.

Alpay says hi

... granted, not a WC winner.

A confidence player, and the only real disappointment in the last 2 matches. Still, wonderful when on his game.

He'll come good as he receives proper coaching and we can "carry" him for a game or so to get his confidence back.

8 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

He was atrocious in the first half. There’s no getting away from that.

Improved in the second half and took his goal well. I still think he’s the weak link in our team. 

Judging on the last 2 games, it's Bailey who's been the weak link

2 minutes ago, Rightdm00 said:

Is this proper finisher also running the channels like Ollie, chasing lost causes, holding up the ball effectively and unselfishly sharing the ball for better scoring chances for his teammates. Don't think it's that simple of replacing Ollie with a proper finisher. Same reason why Ings is the far better finisher but is starting most games on the bench in our current setup. 

Spot on.

In the 96th minute Watkins was closing down spurs left back in their half to stop them launching a last attack.

You can't ask for a "clinical finisher" and simply dismiss all that Watkins brings to the team.

Luiz and Kamara will get the plaudits, but:

- Olsen was superb. Coming off his line and snatching crosses before they became a problem. Excellent

- Mings and Konsa kept Kane, Son very quiet. Solid

- Young was just superb.

- Watkins was outstanding. Winning plenty, working all game - including closing down defenders in the 96th minute. Brilliant for our first.

- Coutinho looked good in his cameo, in both attack and defense.

The only sour note was Bailey, who produced very little.

I'd be surprised if we play such a high line as we did against Liverpool when playing away at spurs.

We won't be keeping a clean sheet, even if Emi is back between the sticks.

I'd like us to dump bodies in midfield - even a 4-5-1 with Kamara, Dendonker and Luiz in that 3, with perhaps Emi B and Ramsey giving some width and getting forward.

Still - can't see anything but a valiant defeat. I'm going for a repeat 3-1 loss, with our goal being a consolation only.

On 28/12/2022 at 11:35, Anything11 said:

Neither McGinn or Buendia do that hence they are inverted in the set up. Also neither are wingers.

Nor are they ever likely too if they are inverted. Crossing with your non-natural foot doesn't usually go well....

... and neither does shooting.

Buendia's big chance went the wrong side of the post - but it was his less-dominant foot.

McGinn's chance left him in 2 minds: Head the ball or attempt a volley/shot with his right foot. In the end, he did neither.

Even Bailey's 2nd chance was on his weaker foot coming in from the right.

Now you could argue we wouldn't have those chances if they weren't inverted and that may be true.

Still, food for thought.

Interesting the way we played yesterday.

We persisted with a high line - something we don't normally do, especially against the pace of Salah and Nunez. But it's something the better teams do: Keep the ball in their half, pressure and create chances.

Compare that to the more negative tactics of our former coach, who was happy to let them have the ball "in the right areas".

It also means against the better sides like Liverpool, it's more likely going to be an open, end-to-end type of game. Many chances and pleasing to the eye (though a bit nerve wracking).

It's going to take some time for Mings and Konsa to adapt as they need to change their style of play a bit, but they will. I suspect Carlos is used to this, so he should start as soon as fit.

Is there a reason he was on the left?

McGinn is left footed, Buendia is right footed - yet they played on the opposite sides. Considering we don't play with out-and-out wingers, that baffled me.

I know cutting inside and unleashing a shot is a thing but so is wrapping around, getting to the byline and crossing/squaring/backpassing with your dominant foot

Hit and miss for me today. Some lovely stuff - including the assist - mixed in with some really poor awareness.

When Liverpool made their changes in midfield in the 2nd half, I would have responded with hooking him for Dendonker to give us some energy.

I think Olsen is a poor backup keeper - but I see no fault of his in any of the goals v Liverpool