Paul33

That's the strongest Villa team we can put out at the moment ...... deserved start for Youri !

Zaniolo is different to our other midfielders - Buendia excepted - in so much as he rarely takes the easy option. Instead, he tries to make things happen and when he is on his game, he breaks the game line and opens up opportunities for our forwards. When he is off his game however, he ends up running down blind alleys and giving the ball away.

I think he has things messing with his head at the moment but I really don't want to see his exuberant style tamed because it is very useful. Maybe he just needs a break and when Ramsey returns, I think he'll get that break. 

8 hours ago, WallisFrizz said:

The only and I mean only thing that worries me about Unai and the control he has at Villa is what happens if he does get poached? I’m not talking about United as I genuinely don’t think he’d go to another Prem club but what if Real or Barca came knocking? Do we lose our entire coaching and scouting staff who all came to be with him?

Are we leaving ourselves a bit vulnerable? I don’t know. 

We can always get Stevie G back and if he's not around then Bruce will jump at the job. Nothing to worry about really !

Not sure I'd pay big money for him but Gresford would certainly add to the current Villa side and make us stronger. £30M would be worth a punt !

At last he has woken up to the level he needs to be at to be a part of this team ...... long overdue but well done young man ...... my MOM !

Full strength team for this one otherwise what was the point of battling to get into Europe ?  Players can easily recover in time for Sunday ...... no excuses !

Tielemans is exactly what Leicester fans warned he would be ...... lazy and with a bad attitude. He also looks decidedly unfit, blowing like a steam train and struggling to make up ground when out of position. Add to that his uncanny talent of passing to the opposition more times than he passes to a Villa player and you end up with a player who really has no legitimate basis for complaint.

Of course I'd love to see him come good but he keeps getting game-time and is showing no signs of improving to my eyes. If Buendia or Ramsey were fit, Tielemans collects splinters even if he is lucky enough to make the bench !

Should have taken Ollie off at half time ..... he was being bullied out of the game from very early. Duran would have been a handful and would have held the ball up. All in all, some very bizarre substitutions ...... just when we needed to go after the game, we bring on two of our worst players !!!

Surely its meaningless stuff really. Players will sign new contracts regardless of their intentions ...... it simply means the club can hold out for a bigger fee from the small handful of mega-clubs who can afford him (eg; Grealish, Delph, etc). Be interesting to know what the buy-out clause(s) would be !

Good news but if the likes of Man City, Arsenal really throw big money at him then the club will, I'm sure, release him but I doubt very much that there is any risk of that.
 

Was absolutely certain we would get smashed by at least three goals and did not see that performance coming. Looked like a side with and without the ball and if we can hold on to that level of performance as a baseline then good things are ahead !

Sigur Ros - ATTA

Superb for post Villa games of late and, seriously, one of the finest albums ever ..... really !

5 minutes ago, duke313 said:

 

That's the spirit.

I'm not a 12 year old. Difference between what I fear and what I want ..... obviously !!!

Can't see anything other than a very serious rogering from Brighton here ..... scores like 1-5 are in my head.

Might go out and hide on Saturday !

The last three games have seen an alarming fear among our players of giving the ball away which, in turn, is drowning us as an attacking force. I get that Emery bases everything on keeping possession and you see him ripping in to players who dare to play long balls but the players look terrified to try anything adventurous, always choosing to play the easy ball sideways or, more often, backwards. Last night, everything ended up back with Konsa. Even when we had dead ball situations up front, the ball ended up going back to Konsa and the attacking opportunity was lost.

Our more creative players (eg: Luiz and ...... errrr ...... Torres ?) are too deep to create forward threats and the #10 role where such creativity needs to come from ...... is vacant. I get that Buendia is absent but somebody has to play the #10 role or you just end up with Duran and Watkins being completely absent from the game.

We desperately need a Maddison type player who always looks to make things happen whether by stepping around players or by making ambitious passes but Emery would never touch Maddison because his playmaking gambles mean that he occasionaly gives away possession and he can't deal with that.

The obsession of putting possession ahead of the game's fundamentals of actually scoring more goals than the opposition, has to change ..... the balance is all wrong as typified by the last 10 minutes at Chelsea and the last 10 minutes last night where we spent most of the time triangular passing at the back when we desperately needed the ball at the other end of the pitch.

Big game on Saturday ...... Emery needs to adapt his style because teams are starting to work it out and use it to their advantage.

8 minutes ago, Django_Zooms said:

Whom do you prefer? Gerrard, Bruce, Di Matteo, Black, Garde, Sherwood, Lambert or McLeish? 

I think Bruce was largely misunderstood ...... deserves another chance !

Emery out ? Too soon ?

Olsen

Cash, Chambers, Lenglet, Digne

Tielemans, Dead Donkey

Bailey, Ramsey, Zaniolo

Duran

Case of our defending being poor rather than just our defenders being poor. Would have expected 2x players in the #6 role and we had none. Kamara has been cack this season and just never looked bothered tonight ..... never tracked back, never defended and left Konsa/Lenglet completely exposed. Still thought we'd escape but the crass decision to replace the dynamic and powerful Duran with the lightweight, sloppy Watkins ended the game right there ..... and don't start me on Emery's love affair with Bailey !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bench looks weak  !!!

12 hours ago, Keyblade said:

He's meant to be a lot worse in a back 4. I think we'll only see this in the ECL if ever.

Whatever he has or hasn't been good at in the past, shouldn't necessarily mean he has similar pros/cons under our coaching. I would like to think we can mould players into what we need so long as they have the core skills required and I would assume we wouldn't touch them if they didn't have those skills.

We will see !

Lenglet is no mug and is Premier hardened so Konsa and Lenglet should be our default CB partnership for any game against the likely top ten sides.

9 minutes ago, His Name Is Death said:

But can it really be said that he's fallen below expectations when this was a well-known weakness of his before we bought him? He wasn't intended to fulfill a physically-dominant role in the system and now injuries to Mings, Moreno and Carlos mean we have to find ways to compensate for this, even if it means asking him to play in a style he's not comfortable with.

 

Fair point !

1 hour ago, His Name Is Death said:

This is exactly the sort of crap I mean. Do you realise how fickle this makes us look?

Then, when his peformances pick up, like McGinn and Konsa's did, he'll be a top-class 'Rolls Royce' defender once again and the fact that he was being slated as Emery's potential 'downfall' will suddenly be forgotten.

I said Torres was way short of Premier standard after Burnley in fairness. Skilled player but too soft and gets knocked off the ball too easily. Hope he improves but until he does, we have a problem !

1 hour ago, Mantis said:

and Torres is blatantly not "out of his depth at this level.

Take a bow ..... post of the season so far LMAO !!!!!!!

Next game ........

MARTINEZ

CASH-KONSA-LENGLET-MORENO

McGINN-LUIZ-TIELEMANS-ZANIOLA

WATKINS-DIABY