ozvillafan

4 hours ago, May-Z said:

Am I unreasonable to think that a VAR decision should never be incorrect? Or very, very, very rarely. 

Particularly in the scenario of Dougie's red which was rescinded. That should just NOT happen if video and new angles are being used to help the decision.

I think the issue is VAR has overstepped the bounds of "clear and obvious" and have moved to a "look for anything that could be called into question"

They make decisions by questionable operators on camera angles which are either slowed down ridiculously or only show 1 (favourable) view of the event.

11 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I had a dream that we lost 4 in a row including a defeat to the worst team in the league at home 2-0. We had 3 goals disallowed by VAR. Nobody had turned on Emery yet but everyone was turning on the players. 

It's clear, then, what needs to happen....

... you are no longer allowed to sleep.

I think Emery will be a welcome reset for Ollie.

He was at his best under Smith and clearly struggled a bit under our last manager (which seemed to be a common theme).

He'll improve vastly under the Emery system - but we won't see it immediately. It's going to take a while for him to come good (half a season, I reckon)

Quote

The ex-Arsenal keeper made a number of big saves in the final and stopped Kingsley Coman’s effort in the penalty shootout.

Anyone else get annoyed by that? Who gives a fig who he used to play for?

He's ours!

Big bad Mark Bosnich giving props to Martinez for his save at the end. Big stuff from Emi.

Last time we made it to the last 16 we were beaten by the eventual winners. History repeating itself?

1 hour ago, Hornso said:

Our least talented squad ever and we've somehow managed to score every game, keep back to back clean sheets and progress. I'm a combination of stoked and stunned to be honest. Been a much more enjoyable ride than I expected it to be.

Not just score in every game, but score first and all from open play.

18 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Gosh if its 3am or 4am games ill be recording them no way am waking up those times! 

Wuss!

That's standard fodder watching the Villa from down here.

Justice.

If you are going to slow down play to look for contact you are always going to find it. Player was looking for it an minimal contact sent him down like being shot.

Ridiculous decision

26 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

i dont think that was a pen at all

qatar player takes a step in front of the senegal player, he can't stop his run, and runs into him. what's the defender supposed to do in that situation?

100% looking for it and fair play to the ref for not buying it

I don''t have a problem with that....

... but it's hardly consistent. Ronaldo got breathed on and they gave a penalty.

In the same vein, this one was cast iron.

What a turnaround for Iran!

Thoroughly deserved.

35 minutes ago, Hornso said:

A lot has changed in the last 20-30 years in the global landscape. I'm not sure much has changed in Australian football. It still has a massive fight on its hands for funding & media coverage from the established elite in Australian sport whilst other countries have poured time, effort & $ into developing their programs. Our previous peers have gone well past us.

Aye, we are the lowest ranking team in Asia to qualify for this WC - and we scraped that.

Only 7 years ago we were Asian champions.

Hello all. Australia here.

Just want to say thank you for letting us turn up to the WC.

See you again in 4 years time.... maybe.

2 minutes ago, birdman said:

The quality of the goals were excellent  which is positive. Iran haven't actually been that bad either.

They really have been bad. 16% possession and 54% pass completion rate

5 hours ago, Zatman said:

Fans arent happy they went to play a friendly in Australia vs Celtic and lined up with ten men behind the ball   

Everton won on penalties.

They managed 0 shots on goal over the 90 minutes (no extra time played - straight to penalties)

Celtic missed a hat-full of chances, including an open goal, and generally played them off the park.

1 hour ago, villa4europe said:

Not as much as he loves money

Hmm...

There has been so much talk about human rights with migrant workers and the LGBT community from just about every football association (well.. at least from those in the western world) .....

... and yet not one of them boycotted the event. Can you guess why? Yep - money.

My home nation is a classic example. We put out a social media statement from the players themselves condemning the human rights record in Qatar - but we still went because we want the money. It's not like we need it - the old administration managed to get by while we didn't make a world cup for 40 years.

Qatar should never have won the rights and the Australian bid was one that suffered as a result. Despite being one of the strongest bids, we went out in the first round. Suss, no? Another reason for Football Australia to boycott.

... but that's the thing about principles, innit?. When it hurts... suddenly they are more like guidelines.

1 hour ago, Made In Aston said:

Yet they slate Olsen for doing the same thing. 

No.

As risky as it was, the pass from Emi actually made it to Luiz.

Olsen, on the other hand, passed straight to an unmarked opposition player.

35 minutes ago, Withnail said:

Both Wales and Iran have very similar rankings. I know they almost worthless as an indication but I am not so sure of the winning “easily”.  Let’s face it  Southgate is in charge so anything can happen. 

I think England have bigger problems than Southgate that they just won't be used to, such as the temperature and pre-cup build up.

Iran, on the other hand, are used to adversity on the national stage during a grueling qualification stage that includes heat, humidity, height and poor facilities.

Add to that, they've already been in Qatar acclimatising since their league broke/finished at the end of October.

An upset isn't really that hard to imagine.

1 hour ago, Keener window-cleaner said:

Funny how differently we see it, I think Konsa is one of our better and safer passers, he is probably the defender I feel the most assured about when he has the ball (or perhaps Digne is better). And when it comes to Steve Staunton, I thought he had one of the sweetest left foot we've had at the club! I don't remember him being bad on the ball at all, quite the opposite.

I've always rated Konsa, I think he is our best CB.

I only remember Staunton from the twilight of his career, which probably taints things.

Still... shudder

Every team does this.

I don't know how many times we've been in a losing position (big sample size with Gerrard in command) and when it comes to the 75th minute you know the game is over. The opposition knows how to run the game down, including substitutions, delaying restarts, fake injuries, whatever.

Emi Martinez is a master of the dark arts and I love it how he riles up the opposition fans - because you know it has the same effect on the opposition players too.

What annoys me more is cynicism. Man City get away with this all the time.

Whenever it looks like the opposition might do something they tactically foul. They are so good at it that the person committing the foul is never the same and they are rarely booked for it. And this is despite them already having the majority of the ball.

For mine, that is more anti-football than anything we are doing to run down the clock.

My word that was gritty, turgid, cynical and even a bit agricultural at times......

.... and I loved every minute of it!

Been a long time since I have seen us be ruthless enough to do everything inside the rules (and a fair few outside) to get the win.

Great stuff.

Interesting watching us working the ball in tight spaces in midfield. Some can do it easy... others less.

Would like to see Sanson on for McGinn or JJ

5 hours ago, Tayls said:

Wonder if we could sign Kyogu Furahashi from Celtic. Decent striker and there are commercial benefits as well. 

Interesting that Japan didn't take him, preferring his teammate Daizen Maeda instead. I like them both, but Kyogo is the better of the 2.

That said, I don't think he's what we are looking for - but, then, what do I know?