roonst83

I do find myself questioning if Bailey can take a player on. That’s what I was most excited about when he joined. But he really seems to struggle to get past a man and also seems too weak for this division. 

He’s best used for us in games where the play is stretched and open as he has space. Otherwise, like the us as a team in general, he struggles to break a team/opponent down. 

1 minute ago, Laughable Chimp said:

He's completely allergic to passing forward. How can you can honestly say he has everything in his locker to be our best centre back

In his partnership with Mings it was the latter who was tasked with driving out from the back. Konsa was part of one of the league's best defences in the lockdown season behind closed doors. People are quick to forget everything that happened that season. He's very assured and comfortable on the ball, and not in a slow swagger way that Mings has, Konsa is more of a footballing defender. Passing the ball around the back is a tactical approach from the management and coaching staff and plenty of our players do the same. I'm not saying he's perfect, he had a poor season last season. But he's got a lot of positive attributes that seem to be overlooked because you don't hear much from him in the public/social domain in the same way you will with Tyrone. I guess I'm saying I think he's better than others seem to be labelling him as. Just an opinion.

Don't get the hate. Konsa has everything in his locker to be our best centre back. He had a below par season last year but he's shown in the past how he's our most assured defender. Him and Mings work very well together. He's good on the ball and is more of a threat from set pieces than anyone else we have. Seems he's been written off which seems unfair. I'm personally a big fan of his and love the passion he displays on the pitch. 

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

Arsenal are coming out the other side now. Expectations adjusted. United have several more years of misery ahead of them

That’s what I mean. They’ve taken the place of Arsenal in this regard. 

The new Arsenal. A banter club who are victims to the internet memes. 

We always look better and more of a threat when he plays. 
 

Ergo: play him. Always. 

Ty’s reputation has actually vastly improved since being dropped. 

Luxury player. Until we can dominate and control the middle of the park to free up Phillipe, then he’s utterly redundant. 

He was better with Smith’s team. He’s got worse as he’s gone on. 

2 hours ago, TomC said:

The goals were pretty bad. On the first, there were four players in the vicinity of the ball, but nobody saw Lerma sneak away into a large pocket of space. It kind of reminded me of Trezeguet’s goal against Arsenal that helped keep us up three seasons ago. On the second, Cash just backed off his man. Inexcusable.

Attack was toothless. We had lots of possession…lots of sterile possession. Bournemouth did what newly promoted sides do…stay organized and dig in. We should have expected that. But our passing was ponderous and often inaccurate, and the off the ball movement was atrocious…nobody was making runs to try to pull the defenders out of position; they just stood around and waited for the ball.

Unlike us, Bournemouth certainly knew what to expect. SG seems obsessed with attacking down the wings, and they happily clogged the wings and kept us pinned against the sideline. Why not use the centre? If they clog the centre in response, one of the wings will be open and you play a diagonal ball into space.

Part of the probem is that the McGinn-Ramsey-Booboo midfield does not offer any creativity. Ramsey is a runner/carrier, not a passer. McGinn fancies himself a passer but isn’t. Booboo passes well, but he’s supposed to be the deep man. I think you need Dougie instead of JJ or McGinn.

I thought that the halftime sub was potentially smart…move Coutinho or Bueni into midfield to give us some creativity in the centre. But then we still attacked down the wings. Why?

This was a tactical failure, plus the players weren’t mentally ready and had another slow start. That’s on the manager. I have not been part of the anti-SG crowd, but it’s hard to blame anyone else for this one.

MOTM for me was Kamara. Good first PL game. Broke up plays, stronger in the air than I expected, can pass the ball. My only criticism was that he gave away a lot of fouls.

 

Spot on. Agree with all of this. 

Excited to see Boo Boo in the Prem. Am confident in what I’ve seen already that he’ll grow and develop as the season progresses. 

5 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

Was it the second ?

His better finish was the second, yeah. But I'm only jokingly being pedantic. I like Ollie. He has had moments where he's scored a few nice goal, but I just feel he lacks pure natural finesse and ability with his finishing. But all credit for him working on his finishing away from Pre-season. Can't knock that.

On 02/07/2022 at 09:43, sheepyvillian said:

His first goal for Villa in the Premier league was certainly elegant. 

The tap-in for our first against Liverpool? 

58 minutes ago, duke313 said:

I seem to remember him curling one in against Brighton last season, and one of his goals in the 7-2 was defo in top corner from cutting in on his right.

Fair enough.

13 hours ago, Exeter Fan Too said:

the finishing that I'd like to see Ollie work and be coached on is not featured in this video.

Its the dink over the oncoming keeper when through on goal with just the keeper to beat.

I think I've seen virtually all of Ollie's 94 league goals and I can't recall one scored with a dink (unless one counts the hat-trick completing goal against Newport from outside the area). Nor many (any?) attempts at using that technique. 

Any body seen him score  with a dink? If he added that option to his armoury he could improve his scoring record from that position

 

Coincidentally I've been chatting to a Brentford fan at work today about Ollie and he said how there's no finesse or elegance to Watkins's finishes, it's either 6 yard box finishes (nothing wrong with that, Ruud Van Nistlerooy made a living from it) or occasionally he can smash them in. But her remarked you won't see him dink it over the keeper or curl one beautifully, and you don't really fancy him on one-on-ones. 

I love seeing a player want to improve themselves. These training videos seem to demonstrate this and other playing and management staff have said similar, but I'm concerned there's parts of being a finisher that can't be taught. Ultimately I see us struggling to break away from the likes of Saints, Palace and Brighton if Watkins is our lead striker due to his limitations. Would love to be proved wrong though, of course. And I really like him and has shown great workmate at times, which isn't to be dismissed. 

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

This real? Sorry if already been posted.

 

Hardly a "close up" 

1 minute ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said:

You do realise Gerrard didn't actually say that? That's the writer's opinion.. 

I actually did realise that but I can see how it looks like I thought it was a direct quote from Gerrard. My point being, I'm sure Gerrard will be keen for Ings to score more, but that won't happen unless he plays him more.

Love the quote "Gerrard will be eager for that tally (8 goals) to be improved upon next time out"

Try playing him more then!!

10 hours ago, Villastine said:

We're in the 5 sub era now. Hard to underestimate the impact of this change. Like other sports it will become a central part of teams tactics. 

Whatever way we line up at the start, the game is now a squad game. 

Players and fans will need to used to seeing some of the more creative players held back until the opposition is tired. 

Good point. Had forgot about that. 

My biggest fear with Emi is that Gerrard would always rather start Coutinho over him and that he can’t find a place for both. 

Loan couldn't have gone better for us really. We have an in-form and well loved player in Kienan who Forest fans seem keen to keep. His stock and value has risen considerably higher than it ever would (realistically) at Villa and Gerrard won't give him any more minutes than any other manager has. Makes sense to sell him to Forest and  wish him all the best and watch as he inevitably scores past us next season. 

I just love this guy. Super talented, hard working and loves to get stuck in. He offers us so much. Need to find a way to ensure we can utilise both him and Coutinho. City have a team of ballers so let's just copy them. Easy.

I'm expecting Grealish to flourish next season. Think he'll get more game time and will relish playing with a proper striker.

If we can make a profit on him then I'm fine with him leaving. Like the guy a lot but he doesn't have great technique in all honesty. Much prefer Ings (appreciate they play differently) as he's a far better finisher in my opinion.