VillaChris

5 minutes ago, LakotaDakota said:

Spurs only need to beat burnley & sheff utd, Can draw with city & still go above us on goal difference. 9 goals swing doesn't seem far fetched at all against burnley/sheff utd and in your "we can lose both games" we would also be at least 2 goals worse off so they would only need a maximum of 7 goals, probably much less as Liverpool will score more than 1 against us easily the way we are playing

Yes would've been basically over with the GD if Spurs had lost 4 or 5 nil at Anfield but the two goals have still given them a chance there if they get a point v Man. City and win the other two well. We'd certainly have to get a point in that scenario imo.

This is quite good for perspective from last season after we beat Newcastle 3-0:

Aston Villa 3-0 Newcastle: Ollie Watkins scores twice in comfortable win - BBC Sport

We were closer to 3rd then with six point gap and 7 games remaining than Spurs are to us now with just three games remaining for them.

In the end we finished comfortably behind Newcastle and Man. United.

2 hours ago, NoelVilla said:

Running out on games now. Think I would like to change my answer in that overrated manager thread to Ange.

Where should they be finishing?

8 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

It's not really about us anymore is it?

I'd like to think we'll give something decent last game of the season if that is important. 

Hopefully it won't be.

5 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Not targeting you but posts like this really annoy me. You think the players can pick and choose when they win or lose ?

What Ollie was alluding to in his recent interview though?

Not so much today but 2-0 up v Brentford and Chelsea and we let both back into the games far too easily.

Interesting they've started scoring far more since Enzo Fernandez got injured.

He's a good player but I feel he slows them down a bit too much. Better balance with Palmer at number 10 and two quick wide players so wouldn't shock me if they offer him around Europe although no idea who'd even want to pay the fee they'd want.

3 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

Even when we have played different players, the system never changed except for that freakish Tottenham home game that was a disaster. 
 
Out of possession - 442 midblock, diamond midfield in a high press, 532 or 622 when defending leads

In possession - 4222 box midfield in the first phase, 343 or 3box3, when advancing up the pitch or in the final third

The names changed and players shifted around but the core of the system didn’t change. 
 
We saw what a disaster it was when Unai suddenly shifted to a 532 for Tottenham. Players didn’t know where others were, missed obvious runs and passes. The same would happen if suddenly switched to a 433. What’s our first phase build up? What’s our second and third? How do we defend OOP? And do this with everyone dead tired with a Thursday and Monday match. 
 
I don’t see it happening. 

With Palace away it would just be make sure we tightly mark Olise and Eze and make sure they don't have 10-20 yards to run in down the right or central like Adingra and Gross had today.

Nothing too complicated if all we need on final day is a draw. It's effectively a one game season then.

Yeah Spurs game was what I was thinking with the 3-5-2 which totally nullified Bailey and the players looked utterly confused with the approach.

We also started with Duran and Watkins at West Ham and Duran was quickly hooked at half time and we looked much better second half.

I refuse to believe starting a game with a 4-3-3 or changing approach midway through would look worse than what we did in those games.

Need to do something different for Liverpool otherwise our GD will be taking a significant hit in that game.

1 hour ago, Hank Scorpio said:

 

Kamara most of season.

Ramsey most of season. 

Moreno a large amount. 

Torres a large spell.

Same for Digne. 

Konsa also?

On top of Buendia and Mings.

Newcastle trusted Lewis Miley when they had endless injuries in the winter. He played very well for two months at the age of just 17. Man. United also put in Mainoo who's been a revelation and will probably play in the euros.

Probably more comparable example is Chelsea being without Reece James and Gusto so instead of just moving a CB there Poch has put in Gilchrist at RB who'd done fine.

Perhaps Tim just isn't as talented as those players but he's coming off being a regular in the championship and is regular in the England under 20s so he's actually got more experience than when Ramsey first broke into our team in 2021.

I refuse to believe we'd look worse playing 4-3-3 currently than sticking Duran on and going two upfront which certainly doesn't work for us at all.

2 hours ago, avfc1982am said:

It also make the decision to let Dendonker go out on loan very poor considering the lack of faith with Tim getting minutes when we need another body in the centre. Piss poor tbh.

I actually think the stranger decision was not putting Tim out on a six month loan in August. He was just coming off the back of a 40 game season so seems logical to loan him out again with recall in January as the four CMs were all fit then with Donk around and Ramsey was also available for a few games.

Get Tim up to sharpness and then get him back when we sent Donk to Napoli. Instead he's just been warming the bench for months and clearly Unai doesn't think he's up to the intensity of the games we're now playing.

We did it with KHH after all.

23 minutes ago, Paul33 said:

The team changes for the good overnight if Unai stops playing Konsa out of position at full back and stops playing McGinn as a defensive midfielder. Play Konsa at CH because he is a CH and a good one too and play McGinn as an attacking midfielder because he is a total liability anywhere near defence and we need him supporting Watkins too. Hard to believe that Unai doesn't see the problems caused by playing those two out of position ...... oh and Luiz looks spent !

I think Cash was just rested today. Unai knows we will need his energy on Thursday.

I think the left field selection might be Moreno coming in at LW on Thursday. See if he can manage an hour as Digne is another running on fumes currently and I doubt Rogers will be in contention. If Zaniolo is feeling pain he won't be starting either so I'd rather say him for Palace if we need a result there.

Only other option is to go 5-2-3 and just have Pau constantly coming out of the backline with the ball and in effect being the third midfielder.

Olsen was great. Shame he couldn't save the second Olympiakos goal like he did that Gross chance right on half time but his general cameos are a long way from being our big problems currently.

Good attempt on the penalty aswell considering Joao Pedro had never missed one before. Deserved a clean sheet.

Waste of time getting on the plane if we're going to have a similar mindset to today. Slow slow slow from first minute and Konsa at RB just sends out the wrong signals to me.

Olympiakos will be under no obligation to attack and will wisely choose their moments as they showed in the first leg so would be a pretty dumb tactic as we'd just be wasting our own time given we need to probably score three goals to have any chance.

I do wonder if the curveball selection might be Moreno played infront of Digne now he's back? Think we finished with that at Arsenal for the last 10 minutes and Moreno played as a LW on occasions in La Liga so it's not some alien position to him.

Wasn't someone on here saying on Friday it was near impossible for Spurs to lose four games in a row. They've just done that so losing a football match to Man. City is more likely than not in their present form.

2 hours ago, The_Steve said:

Too close to the line for the offside again. However, when he does get forward he's giving us effort and making stuff happen. A consequence of that however is that Ezri is doubling up as a RB and greatly exposed to anyone with pace.

It was offside. So he's now getting blamed for offsides which are offside. You know in the first half there were times when Brighton played a quick diagonal to Adingra and Konsa and Carlos didn't step up and played him on so no one player in a unit will always get it right every time.

Our only decent spell in the game came with him linking up with Diaby o.k and sending a few crosses in and winning corners.

He needs to be starting at RB on Thursday as Konsa there just sends all the wrong signals for what we need to do in the second leg.

Going two upfront doesn't work either. Did Duran even touch the ball once? That wasn't a great decision by Unai at all with still a decent chunk of the game left.

The most obvious call and he just didn't want to do it.

1 minute ago, M_Afro said:

If Spurs get 7 points, they will probably finish fourth. We are unlikely to get anything from our last 2 based upon our last three performances and could easily get minus four or five goal difference. Spurs will batter Burnley and Sheffield so it all comes down to City. If Spurs get at least a point then fourth is likely their’s. That’s why I am so annoyed about today. It was our easiest game and a point would probably have been enough and we just didn’t turn up! Infuriating.

More lost it v Chelsea if it comes to that. We had 2-0 and reasonable control.

I don't think so. Spurs simply aren't defending well enough currently to put they'll nullify all Man. City's big threats otherwise why are they conceding 3s and 4s pretty much every game currently?

1 minute ago, one_ian_taylor said:

We don't even need that unless there's an enormous GD swing 

If we lose our last two we're down to -18 at least, probably more likely -17. So Spurs would then have to make up six goals so that's probably quite likely given they've got Burnley and Sheffield.

The way I see it is I fully expect Man. City to beat Spurs. No chance they'd switch off when leading like Liverpool have done today. They'll go 2-0 up and then Rodri/Kovacic will make endless tactical fouls to break up play.

If Spurs do get a point v Man. City then we just have to match them with a point v Palace. We do that by low blocking and actually playing more than two central midfielders in a game for first time in about two months.

Just now, jayEm said:

Theoretically they can creep above us on GD, unlikely but if we lose 3-0 to Liverpool and 2-0 to Palace, and they win 1-0 at City, they’d need to win 4-0 against Sheffield United on the final day. It’s improbable but none of those results would be astonishing.

They'll just finish above us on points if that happens.

If Spurs win their last three then we would very likely have to win one of our last two, basically Palace away.

8 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

That Tim and a formation change will change our fortunes is not really what Unai is going to hinge the last 2 (or 4) matches on. We’ll continue playing the same way and hope we have enough bodies to win 1 league game and 2 more cup games. 
 
We’ve gotten 4th and a SF in this system. Keep playing the same way so everyone knows where everyone should be according to the system instead of changing it for the last few matches. 
 
It would be a bigger mistake to play 433, that we haven’t played all season, for just 2 or 4 matches. 

I'd have liked to have seen the change on the hour mark today. We showed a bit more intensity when Cash came on and actually had decent possession for a five minute spell so think that would've been a good time to put him on and release McGinn a bit more.

Not really sure what the allergic reaction to going 4-3-3 is when early part of the season we were constantly starting Cash as a right winger and that didn't really work. And three CBs has been up and down with results aswell.

So basically the season rests on Man. City beating Spurs.

That's really not a bad place to be in at all.

Even if Spurs play out of their skins and get a draw (and pretty much hand Arsenal the title) we'd then just need a point on the final day.

Nunez must be one of the thickest players to ever play at the top level. He simply can't do the basics at any speed.

1 minute ago, picicata said:

True. Though it would mean beating Man City by a number of goals in order to catch up on goal difference 

Realistically they'd then need to beat Sheffield United by 6 or 7 on the final day.

Just now, DJBOB said:

There’s not many other formations we can play. Everyone says Tim but he has lacked confidence, to say the least, when he has played. Chambers is awful. Until Tielemans comes back, the lineup picks itself. 
 
Unai is not going to switch to a 433 as it ruins the rest of out of possession and in possession ideas. 

4-2-3-1 is really hurting us though. We were basically sleep walking to a 1-0 defeat today with Brighton getting a lot of players in the central position and overloading. Chelsea also wised up to it second half.

Not a good idea to just play it v Liverpool and Palace will also cause us major issues with Olise and Eze coming inside once in possession. 

Tim might not be good enough currently but he's still an extra body and that will give McGinn and Luiz less ground to cover and ability to get more on the ball past the halfway line.

Bailey is half fit and Diaby is floating around the pitch doing very little so we're effectively three players down in the final third currently and that's why Ollie is feeding on scraps.

1 minute ago, Pongo Waring said:

Its a dead cat bounce from spurs. Won't last long

Man. City will put 4-5 past them.

This is why Liverpool fall short in the league. Compared to the other two they waste so many chances in the final third and don't have the depth in central midfield Arsenal and Man. City have either.