KMitch

Their gameplan is obvious...  Digne can't get forward because Liverpool are overloading our left side of the pitch with an extra man, forcing Digne to stay back and man mark so we don't get completely ripped apart with a long ball into the channel.  It's no coincidence 2 of our 3 chances came from the rare times he's actually been able to venture forward.  I'm sure Emery will have a solution for this at halftime, but it's a shame that we're 2-0 down already to some BS goals.  Some of the overreactions here are unneeded, but it wouldn't be a VT match thread without them.  With that injury to Carlos, we now have 5 players out who could arguably be starting today if they were fit.  Relax, it's going to be a long season.  Plenty of time to iron issues out and get better once people get healthy again. 

2 minutes ago, Herman22 said:

Amazing from this shit ref! Cash’s shirt is pulled over his head and he gives Liverpool advantage! 

I mean, that fat fook Simon Hooper was huffing and puffing so far back in Liverpool's half he couldn't even see it.  No idea how some of these walking pastries are able to pass the fitness tests to be a Premier League referee, let alone the vision screening.

18 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

And Lenglet

I don’t get the obsession some have with Iroegbunam. He’d most likely be out on loan or sold if he wasn’t injured. No where near ready for the first team squad based on his time at QPR last season. 

Solid draw - We've avoided Frankfurt & Nordsjaelland and don't have to visit Borat in Kazakhstan.  The Villa boys traveling to AZ should definitely prepare for a fight, though.

What a player Kellyman is… Only 17… Could be another England star in the future. 

These Zaniolo jokes are already getting old… 

Playing like this is a friendly and still dominating them. That said, their No 7 has been a threat all game down the right. Superb pass from Torres to Duran for the first goal, and Duran’s finish was classy. I really like the look of Kellyman so far. He reminds me of JJ when he broke into the team. Excellent at the basics, but is extremely intelligent on and off the ball. 

46 minutes ago, Monkeypuzzle said:

We are not short of players anywhere. Even with Mings and Buendia removed and Coutinho sold we have two players in every position.

                                    Watkins/Duran

McGinn/Ramsey       Diaby/Zaniolo         Bailey/Traore

                Luiz/Tielemans      Kamara/Dendoncker

Moreno/Digne                                           Cash/Chambers

                  Torres/Lenglet          Carlos/Konsa

                                    Martinez/Olsen

 

Are there players there that can be upgraded? Certainly, especially by returning Tyrone and Emi. But one window at a time.

This...  We also have the January window to do business in as well.  Even without Mings, Buendia, and Coutinho this is a stronger squad than last year on paper.  

15 hours ago, lexicon said:

I don't know which is more tiresome, the Elphick height gag or Digne's wages one. 

Does anyone know if we can still loan Januzaj?????

41 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

 

Yeah but it’s only a 69 hour drive. 

 

3 minutes ago, macandally said:

You are looking at the individuals stats, look at the impact the individual has on those around him?

No defence likes people running at them at pace, so they sit deeper which brings others into play.  
 

Look at the overall effect

You could say the same thing about Bailey and Traore.  Johnson's decision making is horrific and has been downright awful for Forest so far this season.  He wouldn't improve us, IMO. 

3 minutes ago, villan95 said:

Possibly bad news for us next week

Honestly, Plop winning this one is the best case scenario for us next weekend. If they lost today, you’d have to expect them proving a point against us next Sunday, but now it might spark some complacency among them. 

3 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

100% this

PGMOL biggest problem is they think they're part of the entertainment, they're part of the show

Said before when the PL on TV kicks off who comes out first, who's the first person you see front and centre?

My biggest issue is the inconsistency between all the different refs.  We lose games when the refs allow our opponents to rack up 40+ fouls without issuing a yellow card, but tend to dominate those where even soft fouls are called consistently.  Don't even get me started on the VAR decisions...

1 minute ago, Herman22 said:

Newcastle are getting every decision! Makes me wonder about the amount of influence Saudi money is having on the league! 

Are you watching the game?  Liverpool are horrific and should be 2 men down right now...

9 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Bro has been taking the piss out of us for 2 seasons.

Has now seen the opportunity to triple his wages to 25 mill per week and turned into prime Everton Digne for Saudi Arabia.

...or maybe he finally has a solid run in the team under Emery for the first time ever?

1 minute ago, GeordieVillan said:

Bullied a bit for the goal, and that might happen a few more times this season, but he brings a lot to the team and he looks like he will be able to fill the Mings role, even if it’s a very different style. And what about those eyes. 

Yeah, that was a "Welcome to England" moment.  Hopefully he'll learn from that and adapt.  Other than that, he was great today.  You could really see how much his and Carlos's passing ability open up our attacking play. 

Great performance from him again.  He's turning out to be everything we hoped Bailey would be and more. 

I genuinely got goosebumps watching him play today.  He is going to be a special player for us, I can feel it.  Has everything in his locker to be a monster Premier League player. 

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

Hm, that's a twatty thing to say about someone "missing the right mentality". Odd dig - perhaps an old quote.

He can still be incredibly unbelievably good for us without being as good as Totti.

Excited to see what Nico can do.

lol...  It's exactly what Keane, Scholes, & Neville say on Sky every time Man United lose a game.  

30 minutes ago, david-avfc said:

He’s just a very average player who happens to be world class at set pieces 

No, that's Connor Hourihane...  Everyone here acts like JWP is Hourihane 2.0.  He's a much better player than anyone wants to admit.  

Have a bad feeling about this one.  Could be an early season banana peel to slip on for us.  Everyone is underestimating Burnley, but they absolutely walked the Championship last season while playing freeflowing footy.  

28 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

WTF?!  

 

Shocked.  One of the top young talents in Europe and probably could have gone to Madrid if he wanted to.  Liverpool had apparently been trying to sign him for most of the summer as well (which is another signing they missed out on purely because of money).  

3 hours ago, VillaJay said:

I really don't think Wan Bissaka is any better than Konsa at right back who himself is very good one v one.

I watched Wan Bissaka live a few weeks ago in a friendly and he was really poor technically and his passing was terrible.

Really don't rate him.

4 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

I just meant that they're more like backup players rather than players to really drive us forward. Awoniyi is decent but would be backup to Watkins, as would Iheanacho. They wouldn't ever be properly challenging him.

Wan Bissaka would be an instant starter and the perfect RB in Emery's system.  He's the best defensive right back in the Prem and an elite 1v1 defender.  I honestly thought he would be one of our targets this summer back in ~February/March, but he's played his way into ten Hag's future plans at ManUre during the second half of last season.  I'd be surprised if he left now because he's rumored to have entered contract renewal negotiations.

Just now, Jas10 said:

Not exactly a negative but Diaby…. hasn’t done much has he? Thought he’d tear these apart…

????  Bailey looks like a completely different player alongside him these past two games.  Diaby has created a lot of space for him to exploit.