thunderball

2 hours ago, delboy54 said:

So what are are priorities this season for our football club?

Stay in the premier league ?

Stay in the premier league ?

Stay in the premier league ?

Stay in the premier league ?

Qualify for European place ?

Get out of League cup at earliest opportunity ?

Get out of European football at earliest opportunity ?

Get out of the FA cup at the earliest opportunity ?

 

I do agree with some of what you say though...

 

Finishing higher than we did last season is #1, ultimately getting into the top 5 (Champions League qualification).

That is the marker of progress; that demonstrates positive and continuous momentum; it is the route to higher income; it offers better players a more attractive destination. Champions League is our medium term objective at the expense of all others.

I would suggest Europe is #2, but not at the expense of the league. FA Cup is #3. League cup a distant #4.

we cannot compete seriously for cups until we sort out our league form and build a quality squad which will take time and success in the league. Once we have a strong squad we can compete in multiple fronts over 60ish games a season. We are a long , long way from that, let’s be serious?

3 hours ago, striker said:

Will he?

I’ve had my doubts about his appointment. His selection tonight didn’t help but I think if you go back to the transfer window many on here including myself were concerned that Villa hadn’t signed enough quality to add more depth to the squad. Moreover, selling younger players who were better than those selected tonight didn’t help either.

Really flies in the face against Emery’s statement that he wanted Villa to do better in cup games.

Everton deserved to win tonight as they played like the competition meant something to them.

This is a crazy take.

He has to rotate the squad, we can’t play the same team every minute of every game. We (he) has suffered key injuries. 

We did add quality in the summer, perhaps more so than any other window? 

Are you suggesting that Archer is better than Watkins or Duran? Philogene and Ramsey wanted to leave, we had to sell or they would walk for free at the seasons end. And who are they better than?

We didn’t play well, but for the third game already this season we lose a key senior player in the first 20 minutes. Statistically we were better and we gifted them the second goal through an error, so at 1-1 this same performance takes on a different look, still out of sorts but given context, not as bad. 

TBH on balance I am glad we are out of this cup, we have bigger priorities.

2 minutes ago, Zero7 said:

Play McGinn at LB and we deserve to lose, again, this is on Unai 

We didn’t lose because of that! 

FFS, that the Quadruple dream over then.

1 minute ago, alreadyexists said:

That’s odd, is that because we gave them a bigger ticket allowance? I’ve always liked it since we moved the away fans to the side of the DE Stand,

Exactly

Just now, alreadyexists said:

Are the Everton fans in the north stand? 

Yes

In fairness, Everton are up for it, are quicker to everything, and seem very well set up.

No one takes this cup seriously, it’s a waste.

That being said, it doesn’t account for the basic individual errors everywhere.

9 minutes ago, rjw63 said:

This is Everton. They are gash.

I’m afraid it’s us who is gash

1 minute ago, andym said:

Tielemans is only 26! Playing like he's 10 years older

It’s the movement though, it’s been poor, no options, everyone is too static

1 minute ago, Lerner's Driver said:

Utter wank.

I know we have to make changes, but the fact is we are a lot weaker when we do.

We just don't have enough good players, at the moment, simple as that.

Problem is, that could mean we end up not doing particularly well in anything. Last year was all about unity, a small number of players and a single focus.

This year, we have lost several key first teamers and a fair few (probably most), of the back up players clearly aren't adequate replacements.

Sure, we might still turn this game around, but there's plenty to worry about. We are being outplayed by Everton on our own ground.

This seems an over reaction. We’ve won 6 games so far this season. Lost 3. 

We can’t expect to win every game or play really well all the time. 

We have had a disjointed start to the season: key injuries, players coming back and new players. It’s going to take 15-20 games or more until we settle I reckon.

Everyone out of sorts, losing every 50/50, again midfield not quite working for either assisting defence or linking attack. Last three minutes was an improvement. 

It can only get better, can’t it?

2 hours ago, briny_ear said:

OK , now you’ve said that, I feel emboldened to ask - thought it was just me who didn’t know - who the hell is Luke Robinson? @thunderball

A super upbeat Villa vlogger. You’ve got to love him!

10 minutes ago, Dodgyknees said:

Absolutely - and with losing Mings.

…..and Buendia, Ramsey, Moreno, Carlos, selling Coutinho

8 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Dominant in all phases, the better team throughout and yet if you watched it on TV you'd think we were plucky League 1'ers in a flukey cup giant killing.

If anything, we could and maybe should have won by more.

You can tell when you're beating one of the TV teams by the length of the added time - I was hoping for 4 minutes, expecting 5 and kinda bracing for him adding a couple of Sky minutes and giving them 7 - finding 11 is a f***ing shambles - in a more honest league it'd be looked into.

Martinez looked like a wall - Konsa was fantastic again, he should be starting for England, Torres was good, Cash lively and Digne I thought was really excellent - it's so good to have those five back in place.

in front of them Luiz was good and Kamara more than made up for the performance in the week - he was brilliant I thought.

Diaby was a livewire, Watkins got his goal, Ramsey came on and got straight at it, McGinn was relatively quiet and Zaniolo looked electric - when he scores, there's going to be an earthquake.

Every player contributed and we were just a little bit better than Chelsea at everything they did.

Referee was horrible - finding eleven minutes and then allowing Chelsea to pull on our shirts all the way through it - the league will thank him I'm sure, but I prefer a good old fashioned honest official frankly. 

Villa 1 Sky football 0

Great performance, great result. 

lol, are you Luke Robinson?

In fairness I thought it was pretty even despite the player advantage, and don’t quite share your glowing view, but delighted all same. Think we will have a strong second half to the season after we grow as a team, develop familiarity and the new players to the division settle.

6th and still in touch at this stage after the two heavy away defeats is encouraging.

I’ll take that, but we aren’t playing very well at the moment. Quite a few a players out of sorts.

Relieved Watkins got his goal. 

Just now, thunderball said:

She’s making these transfer figures up as she goes along

My feeds about 3 minutes behind

She’s making these transfer figures up as she goes along

Martinez ”tricked” the referee??

Just now, StefanAVFC said:

What a bizarre half of officiating. There weren’t even late flags at times, just no flags. Bizarre inconsistency on fouls and then a situation where a foul is given to Chelsea, yellow to Digne and a VAR check for a red on the player Digne apparently fouled

Reffing is honestly becoming embarrassing in this division, we used to have some of the highest standards in the world, it is shocking these days. VAR has made it worse too.

1 minute ago, Rugeley Villa said:

Really look out of sorts at the back . Chelsea making it hard for us. Ideal kind of game for Duran .

It feels to me like the midfield/forward set up isn’t working and putting pressure on the back line. We aren’t creating much or putting any sequences together, there seems no out all or options at any time?

1 minute ago, ender4 said:

Yep, this defence just isn’t working this season.  Torres for Mings has been a big downgrade (so far) this season. 

Is that the (only) difference?

1 hour ago, duke313 said:

He can show Emery he deserves to be on £160k a week by scoring a brace today.

I would happily pay him that if he scored 20 PL goals a season.

4 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Are we believing some bollocks on Twitter all of a sudden ?

Yes