briny_ear

1 hour ago, The_Steve said:

Every contentious VAR call for goals should come with a clear explaination at full time - I’m still confused about the offside. 

I think all VAR decisions should be explained as they are made, over the PA system, like in Rugby Union and Cricket.

Great to get back to winning ways. This continues our season record that on the occasions we have lost a premier league game we have always come straight back and won the next one. Let’s hope we don’t put that record too much to the test over the rest of the season.

Good (for very different reasons in each case) to see Torres and Tielemans getting starts and Tielemans’s assist for the second was superb - Emery ball at its best. Also of course great to see Ollie back in scoring form.

There was a helpful (for us) set of results for the teams scrambling up the ladder behind us.

All in all lots to be happy about, might even overlook the shite refereeing.

19 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

 

Absolutely love this. 

1 minute ago, Farlz said:

Emi saving us christ 

Isn’t that his job?

15 minutes ago, stewiek2 said:

No high line please Don. That back line lacks serious recovery pace.

Has it not been shown a few times that Villa haven’t played a particularly high line under Emery? jMaybe just an urban myth that commentators like to gab on about….?

Very frustrating. We should really have been good for 3 or 4 goals but we have lost the incisiveness in front of goal that we had earlier in the season and we gave away two soft goals through being outmuscled and poor organisation at the centre of our defence. Disappointed in Ollie Watkins today, if ever there was a time to step up…

Fair play to United, they counterattacked successfully and made the most of the few chances they earned. 

Bit worried about Kamara. Looked like he twisted his leg very awkwardly.

At least there were some positives to take from this, not like the capitulations to Newcastle and Chelsea. 

But we have to find a way to improve conversion of chances created or we are going to have a comparatively disappointing end to the season.

On 03/02/2024 at 22:01, Spoony said:

I slagged him off when he was poor and all that stuff came out of him wanting more time (because I’m a fickle, naive, impatient Villa fan).

Ive learnt my lesson these days. I think he’s superb. Say it quietly but he’s better than Buendia…

To be fair, didn’t some journalist just ask him if he would like more playing time and understandably he said “yes”.

How would we have felt if he had said “no”?

1 hour ago, TheMelvillan said:

Main article on the BBC website:

"Arsenal place themselves at heart of three way title race" by Phil McNulty

 

I mean I get it - Villa probably aren't gonna win the league. I'm realistic enough to know this. But the utter disrespect shown by that sentence is unreal. Villa have the same number of points as one of those teams, within 3 of second place and 5 of first! Form over the last 12 months as good as anyone

It's stuff like this that means we simply have to keep winning games cos it so clearly messes with the media agenda and they hate it.

I am very happy with the media thinking it’s a three horse race. Means we are back under the radar and Emery and the players can just concentrate on improving our football and trying to get a good run of results.

I don’t think Emery has ambitions to be a media celebrity/darling and we Villa fans should certainly pay no regard to what sports journalists and pundits say. They rarely have anything of value to add. 

I still think we could get our “horse” up there making things a bit uncomfortable for the other three so let’s just keep our heads down and see where our football gets us.

Marked the referee as poor, unlike most people voting, because he allowed Sheffield to establish a pattern of petty fouling of Watkins early on with no attempt to control them, issue warnings etc.

14 minutes ago, El Segundo said:

Great result but we won't have an easier game all season.  Unlike recent opponents, especially Newcastle and Man Utd, they didn't seem to have a game plan to stop us,  gave us all the space we needed to allow us to play our game, and they got punished. We were playing through their midfield easily from the start.  We could and probably should have had another 3, but I guess there was one eye on not over-exerting ourselves with a heavy fixture list coming up.  Which is fair enough.  First time I gave a ref very good because I barely noticed him.  Archer looked the biggest threat for them, maybe they need to start him.  Enjoying the thrashing but won't get carried away as they were very poor.

This the team that had a game plan just forty something days ago that enabled them to take a point away from Villa Park

Is it just possible we learnt from that and adjusted personnel, tactics and game plan accordingly?

Nah.

. 

Hopefully this will quieten the moaners for a while 

Fact: every game we have lost this season we have come back and won the next one.

3 minutes ago, R.Bear said:

I obviously wasnt referring to the fans. "Our job as a team" means the players and coaching staff. You know, the team.

It's a head coaches job to get results. But he cant control what a player does when he goes onto the pitch. Sooner or later, a player has to start playing well and he can only do that himself.

Think you will find that is not the approach Emery takes. Sounds more like Gerrard.

29 minutes ago, R.Bear said:

He's had about 10 games to get firing. Our job as a team isnt to placate players to get them back into form, they need to do it themselves. We have to pick players who are going to make a difference. Atm, he is not that.

Ha ha, it’s obviously not our (I.e. fans’)“job” to get him back into form. Don’t even know what that means.

But it is the head coach’s job and when I read posts like this I thank the Lord it is Unai Emery in charge and not people on VillaTalk.

1 hour ago, rodders0223 said:

Looks like he wishes he was in Leverkusen tbh.

Shows no emotion whether he's subbed in or subbed off

That is just so wrong.

32 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

We are disjointed. And have been for a long time now. We are playing slowly and with little dynamism   and have been for a long time now. ( Bailey aside) 

For me its the worst run of form since he came in . Defence very wobbly. Oppo beating the high line and scoring less and less. 

I am challenging Emery to put it right while also supporting him fully as our manager. 

By a “long time“ I assume you mean the 8 games that have followed us beating Man C, Arsenal, and qualifying for the next round of the conference. 
 

And in that spell we have won 3, drawn 3 and lost 2 - which is form our recent managers would mostly have dreamed of.

Anyway, good to hear of your challenge to Emery. How has it been communicated to him?

4 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Can you stop posting links please.

I like them. Don’t get to see them otherwise.

Keep on. @Jas10

Welcome Morgan.

Please help get our top 4 ambitions back on track, no pressure…

53 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

 

I get the impression he gets downhearted when things din’t go so well, so Unai’s words are helpful and wise. he needs building up and encouraging, and a bit of patience. 

Let’s hope he doesn’t read Villatalk.

15 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

What sort of comment is that, "deal with it"? 

Do you have that attitude whenever we lose?? Okay it's not the end of the world, but some take there football a little more serious. We made it to top 4 through playing great football, hard graft, a winning against the best. Why would we not be bothered we are now dropping out of it, an all that great entertaining football has gone missing.

Sorry, but if you don’t know that almost all football teams go through spells of less good form from time to time, you are going to have a bad time supporting any club.

The key point for me is if you support a club you go on supporting them even if they are not doing well. Not turn on them after a few matches and start calling them “shit”.

14 hours ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

He’s becoming the new Mings. 

A few pages ago many people wanted him sold off.

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

It's not entitlement at all!

It'll just be seen as a huge disappointment and a missed chance, especially because we were flying, beating man City and Arsenal and then couldn't even see off Sheffield, struggled with a 10 man Burnley and lost our home record to a poor Newcastle who hadn't won away from home for nearly a year.

These things happen in football. Deal with it.

Was at the theatre this evening so only periodically able to check progress on phone. At one early point in the first half I noticed we had about 30% possession and only 1 shot on goal, while Newcastle had about 10.

Just watched the briefest of highlights, not a pretty sight. Looks like the 2nd half was a bit better but we have (I hope temporarily) lost that ability to slice through defences and create scary shooting angles around the box.

So the slump we all hoped wouldn’t happen has now well and truly set in. We will soon be looking over our shoulders at West Ham and maybe even Newcastle challenging us for 5th place. It’s going to be a slog to get back to  better form after these recent setbacks. Hope we can manage it.

I wonder what would have happened if he had started Bailey this evening?

This has probably been said before but this is the team with the best home record in the premier league vs the one with the 2nd worst away record. 

Let’s hope things go to form.