briny_ear

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.

Feels like we’ve got to the point like haggling in the market on holiday abroad where you walk away saying “OK no deal” and they come running after you begging you to buy. 

From what little I have seen of Middlesborough’s financial position they probably need our money. 

Well, we live to fight another day. Let’s get them back to Villa Park and smash them.

Let’s hope no-one from the Villatalk match thread goes to the replay though - there is enough negativity here to put the club into administration.

1 minute ago, Tayls said:

Think my 69 point prediction a couple of weeks back is looking good at this point. Would probably take that if it was offered. Crap form at the moment. 

You do know we don’t get any points from cup matches?

Good to see the match thread is the usual rampant festival of fun and positivity. Disappointed no-one has yet told us how far behind we are on xG.

7 hours ago, est1874 said:

I was sat in the Trinity for that game and will never forgive him. He's been average af in his bit-part appearances since then. Care to elaborate on why you think otherwise?

I bet he has trouble sleeping at night knowing this.

I did like that goal. Showed quite some vision.

1 hour ago, nick76 said:

I think Torres as well with his passing ability and the ability to drive the ball into midfield.  Lenglet has been good but Torres is excellent moving forwards.

There’s a good chance as well that Lenglet will improve further - this is what happens under Emery.

I sometimes wonder about the level of nous at PL clubs when it comes to the transfer market. West Ham surely can’t have seriously believed we would let our only other central striker go out on loan for the rest of the season?

Anyway, best of luck with Broja, guys!

23 minutes ago, jayEm said:

I trust him but it's very interesting that Emery would be focusing our limited resources on this player.

Not sure what to make of this comment. Are you saying in fact you don’t really trust him? Otherwise, what’s the point of the “but…” bit?

I’ve had Palace marked down for a possible slump leading to a relegation struggle and everything in this match seems to confirm it. Big boost for Arsenal and we will want to get those points from Palace on the last day of the season.

5 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Poster 1: It seems FFP is hurting a lot of clubs at the moment, even our manager has mentioned we may need to sell a player or two in the future but still look to improve if we do so. I wonder who that could be. I know Luiz is probably our most saleable asset.

Poster 2: (failing to mention context). OMG, WHY IS EVERYBODY IN HERE TRYING TO SELL OUR BEST PLAYERS. LOLZ

Poster 1: I’d really like to keep Luiz, he’s a cracking player. I just wonder if the club backs itself to improve, similar to how West Ham have with the Rice deal, by selling one player for a lot of money and replacing that player with 2/3 good players which improves the team overall. Not saying we should or they will but clubs have been successful doing so in the past.

Poster 3: I’VE NOT BEEN IN THIS THREAD FOR A WHILE AND NOW WE’RE SELLING LUIZ?!? 

Poster 1: (Understanding it’s a football fan forum). I agree, I don’t think we should sell Luiz if we can help it. It’s just clear the PL is cracking down on teams. The sale of a player may really help with that. Oh, here’s 3 players that we could arguably buy with the money from a player sale that may improve us. This might be cool to discuss.

Poster 2: OMG YOU LOT HAVE SUCH AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX. WE SHOULDNT SELL OUR BEST PLAYERS.

This is how the conversation usually goes when any talk of a player sale is mentioned. Rinse and repeat. Does make me laugh. 

I think you mistakenly edited out the final line in this:

Poster 1: But what you don’t realise is I am operating totally in a virtual reality, disregarding any real world issues about the need to maintain the momentum and vast improvement in our squad to make as much progress as possible this season. I am ignoring the fact that there is no indication whatsoever that the club is thinking of selling Luiz in January. I am posting entirely for effect. It’s an experiment to see how others will react to a bizarre suggestion.

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

and I don't think we are likely to.

But I expect you would have said the same thing for Man City and Arsenal before we beat them both. Will enjoy returning to this post when we beat Liverpool.

Awful game. I am only glad I don’t have to support Everton week in week out playing rubbish, thuggish, football like that.

We got better once the subs came on but we still haven’t cracked how to break down these teams defending in depth.

Very glad Diaby didn’t get a broken - or very badly damaged - leg from that tackle. How the ref ended up booking 4 of our players and only 1 of theirs I have no idea. (Apart from the general fact he was useless.)

Positives were Moreno ruling the left wing and a good performance by Lenglet, who seems to be the current Villatalk whipping boy judging by the pre-match thread (having taken over the role from Torres). Thought we defended well apart from a short period towards the end of the first half when we might have conceded but for Martinez - another star performer today.

Not very happy with 1 point - we really should have been able to get all 3  - but it’s better than nothing.

A game best forgotten.

Posted in wrong thread. Now relocated.

Definitely giving the match thread a miss today. The readiness of you guys to write the team off is shocking. 

8 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Bit of a shame it's us v Spurs for 4th and it looks like they're bringing in Werner, Gallagher and Dragusin.

Three first teamers!

It'll be such an achievement if we hold them off.

Three first teamers is an awful lot to integrate quickly into a team that’s is already quite hit and miss and a bit chaotic. Will be fun to watch but it will be quite an achievement if things settle down before March/April.

58 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

We can all dream about the title but every Newcastle/Spurs/United loss helps us more to secure the a UCL spot. 

I don’t really think Newcastle have a serious hope of getting a CL spot. Would rather they had taken points off City tbf.

1 hour ago, villan-scott said:

Absolutely love his passion. He ignites when talking about the game, what he expects and how to navigate it. He’s a phenomenon!

The really exciting thing is that level of expectation could be very oppressive for the players but in fact they seem to love it and respond well. 

11 hours ago, May-Z said:

We need a RB who can work with intricate one-twos and play a ball through the lines. 

Cash is doing his best Neil Taylor impression of cutting back every single time he gets the ball. 

He did hit a couple of glorious crossfields to Moreno though that were

In terms of beating the low block, again, we created enough chances to get a couple of goals:

Moreno penalty

Diaby's miskick from in front of goal

Konsa's header onto the post

Moreno's volley

McGinn and Zaniolo long range efforts.

It seems we're not converting well enough at the minute. Against teams with a low block, it's easy to say we need a number 10 to 'pick the lock', but in reality you'll never have a tonne of chances against two defensive banks...you just have to take them when they occur. 

 

Same issues as with Burnley really, even though we scored three. We missed a lot of good chances which would have killed the game off and we do need to get our scoring boots on a bit more against these ultra-defensive sides.

4 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Yes, we won, that's great, but very worrying performance. The word is out on how to stop Villa. It won't just be weaker teams to do this. It will be exploited by strong teams against us, too. We need to close down this window lessee opposition are using. 

Wacko, can’t wait to see Man C and Liverpool playing the low block against us. That will be the ultimate compliment.