beasley14

You have to give them some credit for somehow consistently defying all of the underlying metrics used to measure performance.  I don't know how they do it apart from maybe the quality of a handful of players to produce the sublime.  They definitely only play I'm small bursts though.

I honestly don't know how they manage it when they face so many goals against every game!

1 hour ago, omariqy said:

Only if we beat Bournemouth imo and United lose against Liverpool.

We won't have played bournemouth by then mate.  By I agree we'd need to win that game to seal it.

3 hours ago, S-Platt said:

Our weaker defencive displays all have come since Kamara got injured that is where we need to sign a player and cover for Cash.

As for yesterday I will take the point as a positive as frustrating as losing 2 is that would have been 3 for most of my life so improvement of sorts!

Rogers filling the Ramsey sized hole is a massive plus just needs to work on his fitness.

Watkins immense again hopefully gets the magic 20 league goals in a season for first time since Peter Withe 1981.

Roll on Lille.

I agree with this, defensively the biggest issue we have now is no Kamara.  We miss him greatly in terms of breaking up play and overall defensive play.

15 hours ago, onmeedson said:

Brentford came with a game plan and doubled up on bailey because the whole world knows he will cut inside every time. He has to learn to go past players on his right and cut a ball in to mix his game up, once they had our main attacking threat in hand they grew in confidence. The slow approach by us with the ball  takes away the amount of attacks we launch in a game and then we are up against a full defence who have the advantage of numbers back in a formation. We have to mix our game up now and then or the opposition can plan to nullify it. We do suffer from a rabbits in the headlights when the opposition go all out with guns blazing.  Leadership qualities are lacking in most of our senior players.

Well tbh we did break down the defence so in reality this shouldn't have been a problem.  I agree getting ahead against Brentford is usually the hard part.  The issue yesterday was that we didn't see the game out when we got ahead.

In fairness Bailey created the 3rd goal and at least one other chance from crossing with his right.

35 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

He was v good first half and got serenaded off the pitch. But it went downhill after our second goal.

I'm rewatching it now, he was really good in the 1st half.  Shame we wasted such a good opportunity after doing the hard bit.

It's a fact that our success will be in others hands a little, we are struggling for consistency.   Understandable with the injuries and games!

1 minute ago, Captain_Townsend said:

I sometimes wish we would rally to the cause a bit more. Close ranks and stick together through tough patches.

Second half of the season was always going to be more of a slog as games pile up, Injuries set in and other teams find form/new manager bounces etc.

4th was never going to be easy to secure. But funny, we still are actually 4th in the table right now.

This is the key, we picked up a point and were 4th.  We need to battle hard the next few weeks but we could come out of this weekend 1 point better than Utd.  I also don't think Forest is an easy game for Spurs tomorrow. 

1 minute ago, tinker said:

That's great, we need to improve..... at 0-0 we kept possession and never took chances with through balls because we wanted to maintain possession and work a goal with minimal risk. At 2-0 up we abandoned that and started spraying balls all over the pitch and had runners from almost every position trying to break Brentfords press and score again, we played right into Brentfords hands, it allowed them to hit us on the break once our attack broke down, its was farcical to watch.

Just keep the ball and kill the game with injuries, moans and other game play. It's irritating that we are so close to challenging the very top but are lacking in something so simple, Brentford did it at 2-3 and 3-3.

I'm not disagreeing that today was a shambles, it's frustrating we didn't just resort to boring everyone to death.  It's what was needed and we have been pretty good at it up to now.  We really need to learn from this and pick up the wins we know we can.

Without being too dramatic the reason I've not been too overly positive is that I've seen us struggle to pick up wins recently and I don't think the last 6 games are going to be any easier.  We're starting to conceded too many goals from open play and set pieces.  We need to beat Bournemouth now!

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

Statistically, the worst team in the lead for letting a lead slip is Brentford.

And they've done it again today.

Exactly and we were the best!  Doesn't feel like it with a couple of the games more recently but it was true.  

Players need to have an open clear the air chat about it and sort out the focus.

2 hours ago, tinker said:

We chased the game more at 2- 0 up than we did at 0-0 , poor game management,  we seem to want to try and score 4 goals in every game.

In fairness until today we had the best record in the league for points gained from winning positions. 

Doesn't stop today's game being a mini disaster but it does show we usually see games out when ahead.

5 minutes ago, Mantis said:

They'd have to basically win almost every single remaining game to overtake us, and that's assuming we barely pick up any more points.

Two of these are Utd and Spurs so they'd be doing us a favour at the same time.

2 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

Calling out his team mates in that interview.

Saying the team lacks maturity and game intelligence

I'd day it's something they've spoke about openly if I'm honest, it's something that's happened too many times now.  

We need to be making a conscious effort to be fired up after half time.

10 hours ago, omariqy said:

Now McGinn is back. Expect him and luiz in the middle. Tielemans Diaby on either side. 

Yeh potentially, have we been playing the same system since we lost Kamara? Its been less obvious I think, especially with Konsa at Rb as he's more defensive.  Either way we have enough to win today if we play well.

McGinn     Luiz

    Tielemans 

Baily             Diaby 

This is pretty good too.

18 minutes ago, omariqy said:

A big shame as he was getting back to his best. Rogers is the most natural replacement but I think we will see Tielemans play there till the end of the season 

Not sure we can move Tielemans there as he's been covering in the middle

Probably a bonus to even have him on the bench a week later in fairness.  Hopefully we can get the job done so he can rest.

2 hours ago, TRO said:

I can also see the rationale, by his decision.....fortunately, I didn't travel, but feel sorry for the souls that did.

I am reluctant to get in to making comments on player fitness, because, I have no experience in that area, so feel obliged to swerve it.

However, Lascelles said recently after a game, I could play another 90 minutes, such is my fitness......maybe because, he hasn't played much, I don't know.

Some things are hard to contest.....so I will just accept the situation, with limited knowledge.

 

 

I totally agree with your points around the unknowns, we're not privy to the info the club has.  Interesting comment from Lascelles, he's just done his ACL!

Gutted!  Somethings really wrong with this injury, must have had a setback this week 

4 hours ago, sharkyvilla said:

Yeah if we get wins against Brentford and Lille by being able to put our first choice team out and Utd drop more points against Liverpool then it just further highlights Unai's genius decision making.

There's always a risk involved but they are calculated without the benefit of hindsight.  We've got to do the job now.

9 hours ago, DakotaVilla said:

This is getting silly now. We will finish a minimum of fifth. Hopefully four wins will be enough to get us fourth. 
 

If we get the extra champions league spot then that means we can fully prioritize the conference league semi finals and final which would make us huge favorites to win that trophy. 
 

A trophy and champions league qualification would be our best season since we won the European Cup and the best thing would be that we all know that Emery is just getting started. 

This is what I'm hoping for, 5th confirmed for CL so we can focus on trying to win ECL

3 hours ago, Zatman said:

Spurs fans probably saying same about us and Brentford

Agree both are tough games, as most prem games are.  Forest unbeaten in 3 and coming off a good win.

11 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Fair but this United team is probably the worst I can ever remember and this Villa team one of the best. It would be an extraordinary turnaround.

Oh I agree 100% however Utd do have a knack (with help) of getting results they don't deserve.  I am pretty confident and am really proud of Emery and the team this year but I can't relax until we're over the line.

Watching sport is not good for me, I was terrible when I played and watching is worse! 

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Did any genuinely think United would catch us if they won today? Or is everyone just responding to @CVByrne

Yeh of course it would have been a potential outcome.  Watched us for enough years to not take anything for granted.

12 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

 

Yes Ty!