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thunderball

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  1. thunderball

    Unai Emery

    thunderball replied to PeterSw's topic in Villa Talk

    Team gaining in familiarity and confidence every game, I honestly think Emery is as good a manager as anyone in this league. Having watched Man City on Sunday, I think we are quite similar but they have years of doing what they are doing, a bigger squad and better quality players for the most part, but we are up there. When he first arrived I thought we would put paid to his 2 point career average but we are actually ahead of that, he is astonishing, it feels a constant we can rely upon rather than just an anecdote. The run to December will be very telling, MC, MU, Spurs and Arsenal. These will define our season. Improvement still happening and 4 key players to come back, two hopefully soon. We could literally finish anywhere this season.
  2. thunderball
    We have such a good team at the moment, all interchangeable, all know the script. When you watch us play now there seems to be players everywhere available for the ball, and our ability to play through the lines is beginning to define us. Pau is a big part of that. We usually go into January with a wish list of signings, but nothing is really required (maybe another right back and better second keeper), I feel high on Villa at present.
  3. thunderball
    To not win this would be horrible. Should be 3 or 4 up by now, created some very good, clear cut chances early on but strangely stodgy after our goal. Passing a little wayward in the middle isn’t helping. Zaniolo on a yellow surely means Bailey or Tielemans will come on soon, a shame as I thought Zaniolo would get off the mark today and let the cork out the bottle.
  4. thunderball
    Thought Pavlidis looked very sharp and was a danger in fairness, caught my eye.
  5. thunderball
    They have had some very fortunate results so far, but luck is a great attribute!
  6. thunderball
    That’s the sensible view, but it’s possible, and we are still improving with players to come back who improve us. We could be Emerys best team yet so who knows.?
  7. thunderball
    Wow @TRO you nearly had page 9 all to yourself
  8. thunderball
    ……It’s just more of the media bias against us
  9. thunderball
    Really feels like we have emerged as a team, we’ve clicked. On Sunday we will see if we have Hit our stride, but we look really well drilled and dangerous, fringe players now up to speed. Exciting times, anything is possible at this rate.
  10. thunderball
    This is nonsense? Mings is indeed a very decent player who has improved under Emery and is the best stopper, but Torres has more range and given we aim to control games rather having to rely on stoppers, him being here totally makes sense. He has already scored and had assists. His range of passing gives us depth and its like having another midfielder on the pitch. For me Konsa has improved this season, whether that’s due to the new dynamic who knows?
  11. thunderball
    Wow, we are really developing something special. Getting better every game, Watkins looking very dangerous but importantly confident. Only Newcastle has scored more goals than us. Perversely, again, the score didn’t flatter us, quite the opposite, we could have scored a couple more and WHU were fortunate with theirs. Glad to see Tielemans with a smile on his face, if him, Zaniolo and Bailey can starting chipping in, and players coming back, who knows….?
  12. thunderball
    We should win and we really need to win to underline our intention and demonstrate what we are capable of. Win today and we are two points off the top, that’s pretty impressive, especially with the run of games in November. Its not inconceivable that we could win all those games and if we round off with a win against Spurs, who knows where we will be but 3rd is a very reasonable assumption.
  13. thunderball
    It’s not a criticism of Doku, I wanted him here and have followed him with interest at city. The point is for the hype and £55m there’s not much between them. Yes Doku has scored, but at less than £30m (option) Zaniolo looks good value and suited to this league every bit as much as Doku.
  14. thunderball
    [double post]
  15. thunderball
    Has anyone watched Doku at Man City who we all wanted here? I would say that Zaniolo is the better buy. Of course time will tell….
  16. thunderball
    On balance fair. A win, after other results today, would have been outstanding but a draw is fair and keeps us in the pack. A bogey fixture could have been worse, But another away game behind us. Happy enough with the point.
  17. thunderball
    Winning this shows we are definitely a different prospect. We are where we are this season because we are winning the games we should be winning, that hasn’t been the case for a very long time, and Wolves is a bogey team for us. 6 wins from eight, including Wolves away would be very significant.
  18. thunderball
    Few players are more entertaining or have as good a highlights reel as Bertie. Bailey was meant to be an upgrade, but would be interested in their stats, I’ll bet there’s not much in it. Can’t but help think we wanted Nico Williams there ahead of both, and if he arrived both would be sold.
  19. thunderball
    Nope. It’s monstrously embarrassing, how does this relate to the club (and please don’t cite ‘villan’)? Its unnecessarily adding a layer of narrative that doesn’t exist. Why would we want a guy fawkes-a-like representing the club? Heck would absolutely hate this.
  20. thunderball
    Good news, a very good forward and an important component of how we play. It’s good for the club to secure these guys (Mings, McGinn, Konsa, Luiz, Watkins) on long term deals, it shows confidence the players have in the project, trajectory and management, but also shows we are a serious club and the tail isn’t wagging the dog and we have some clout. However, as a VILLA fan not sure I wholly warm to the “that’s why I stayed” and “Emery is the reason I re-signed”, I would have hoped for more Club respect. Maybe being too prickly!
  21. thunderball
    I have no fondness for Gabby so can understand. Thought his relegation season tainted any positives.
  22. thunderball
    Thought we were OK, doing everything more or less right but struggled past their parked bus. In fairness the stats backed up our utter dominance. Dont let the anxiety of the occasion leave you with a false memory of a poor performance. A telling stat is offsides - shows they didnt try and attack us, nor was there any space behind them at any point. Their keeper had a great game too. If half our chances went in we could have finished 4 or 5 ahead and I reckon we wouldn't have questioned the performance. Konsa is a great recovery defender, was quick and alert, however his distribution is ponderous, he seemed to stand with the ball for 5-10 seconds considering his options. Once Luiz cam on that midfield urgency that we have become accustomed to, returned. There is no doubt, our bite centres around the smart interplay of Kamara/Luiz and the energy of Diaby and Watkins. Without them (probably £300m worth of players) we are a little more blunt and laboured. FWIW, there is an unfair weight of expectation in this B side on Duran, he is only 19 and its totally different slotting into our A team than carrying the responsibility while those around him are making heavy work of things. Zaniolo is still bedding in and finding his place in this team, but I am more concerned at Tielemans and Bailey who look very average and a shadow what they are capable of. There is a rumour that we are going to try for Dani Cabellos again in Jan which you have to assume is because Tielemans hasnt met expectations. With Ramsey and Buendia to come back, I would not be upset if Dendonker left in January. I hope we buy Zaniolo.
  23. thunderball
    Luiz (or Looeessssss according to the commentator) is the heart beat of this team: drives our game, clever, great footballing brain evolving, he is key to this side.
  24. thunderball
    Not easy out there, they’ve come to defend. We need a bit more speed and urgency. I’d be tempted to take off Langlet for Pau, Doug or even Watkins
  25. thunderball
    Traore. Wow, how quickly I had forgotten about him! I think we will get Bailey and Zaniolo out wide. Complacency could kill us, we have to win our home games. My priority is the PL first and foremost and seeing as we have an important match on Sunday I wont be too harsh.
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