rubberman

Feels like this is likely to be one of those really frustrating games unless we can get an early goal, settle things down and make them have to come at us. Want to see a really aggressive start from us.

1 hour ago, DakotaVilla said:

We will rotate as much as we can for the first leg to save everything for spurs. Then have to play a strong team in the second leg to get the win. 

But then we play West Ham away so something will have to give unless konsa and Carlos are back by then. 

Alright Martin - how's things?

Similar to the DM 'supercomputer' ^^, Opta have us 50% chance of 4th, 29% 5th and 12% 6th.

Spurs: 32% 4th, 38% 5th and 19% 6th

Utd: 9% 4th, 23% 5th and 37% 6th

That feels about right to me. But every game we get 3 points is going to shift the odds further in our favour now as games run out. Need to win the next 2 to maintain the gap to Utd and hope for a new manager bounce from Palace against Spurs. Would be great to have a bit of a gap to them when we play them and put the pressure on their run in.

26 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Watkins and Ollie are out there

So good they named him twice? 

What is particularly annoying is that these spates of injuries were supposed to happen to the intense pressing teams - Newcastle, spurs, etc. Our style should have avoided it. Bad, bad luck. 

Anyway - still 4th or 5th for me. We'll adapt somehow. Could really do with everyone scoring from every chance now though. 

With no defence left, we'll just have to go all Keegan all-out attack.

33 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

A question I wish could be answered. I do hate football. There is no joy at all to it. Win a game happy for a few mins or just relieved. Games like Newcastle at the start of the season or United yesterday. Days of suffering.

There is no trade off. It's all a complete negative. Especially this cursed club 

I'm sorry to hear that. This is the most I've enjoyed following our great club for years. I'm disappointed by results like yesterday but there is so much positivity about where we are heading at the moment, that goes quickly. And the highs are just amazing - rewatch us schooling City for a boost of endorphins. Ever since Unai came in its been a joy for me. I wish you could enjoy it too! We're not going to win every week but that wouldnt give the highs. 

36 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Not only is this go e for us. Next season Chelsea, Newcastle will be back. Spurs and United build more. 

So the peak for us was 2023. Time to return to where we belong in mid table.

Well, for starters Chelsea will be docked 10+ points for ffp next year. And are already a basket case. Newcastle will bin off Howe and get in someone much worse. God knows what will happen at United but Ratcliffe/Brailsford will change things and they'll have to rebuild again to replace the spine of their team. 

Truly can't see any of them being significantly better next season. 

Damn - that's a nightmare. At least the medical staff should be shit hot on acl recovery by now. 

Watching again and many other games that would have gone the other way. Obv their first goal shouldn't have happened from the previous offside and we should have had a penalty. Looking at the goals - theirs were 1) just low enough to go through Emi's legs and 2) just inches to the side of his hands while at the other end our shots hit Onana pretty much full-on every time. Very, very fine margins from that being 3 or 4-0.

Disappointed in the result, but encouraged by the performance. Still - the defending really highlights the missing of Konsa and in particular Mings. Without them, we rarely get commanding headed clearances and the number of times Ty would get in the right place for blocks last season was huge.

Really poor. Passing was horrific. May be the lack of confidence in the back 4 but just nothing going for us. 

Please come back Pau. 

7 hours ago, Leeroy said:

One good thing is Slabhead is likely to start for Man Utd against us so we should cause them lots of problems in attack where we are generally fully fit. They might play Shaw as a LCB but will then have issues at left back so they will be weaker at the back for sure. 
 

Hopefully it will be Pau and Carlos at centre back with Digne potentially back at left back (to give Moreno a rest as he will start tomorrow night) but if it is Carlos and Lenglet we really need to adapt the high line. I think we need to do that whoever starts because Man Utd are very good at counter attacking with the pace of Rashford and Garnacho so playing a ridiculously high line is asking for trouble.

Pau back on the bench tomorrow, so hopefully ready for Utd.

We're obviously not out of it completely yet, but massively outsiders. Let's see where we get to over the next couple of games. I'm pretty certain that even City will have some crap results - it's a really compettitve competition this year. Do our business and see where we end up. I still believe (a bit) for now.

interestingly playing a lot more direct through the middle than we have recently. Much better getting Ollie on the ball and more involved.

Luckily my stream has now given up. Off to watch call the midwife with the missus. 

For all their supposed injuries, Saudi still look a decent lineup. Hope this is one of the more open games we thrive on. Would be great to get back on track after the slight slump. 

1 hour ago, RicRic said:

if we get docked 10 pts so be it, its worth the risk, our boss will get that all back in no time. 

Nope. Terrible call. Could/would mean missing out on European football, far less revenue, even tighter FFP and less chance to spend and less attractive to the players we want. Would be a disaster - which is why we (and most other clubs) are avoiding that.

11 minutes ago, avfc1982am said:

I think your post is good but I just cannot agree with this statement. 

Dougie 15m, Konsa 11, McGinn 2, Youri 0, Kamara 0, Ramsey 0, Emi 20, Moreno 13, Cash 15, Torres, 30, Watkins 30, Bailey 30..... The players are about to compete and affordable, we just need to find more of what we have. We've spent very little to get where we are in the grand scheme of things. I don't think major work is needed. And yes, we can say they all needed development, but if it's not development it's time to settle, and sometimes those less established without the pressure can become the perfect buy. 

You don't need just established players, you need a mix. A bit of everything. A star or two next to a water carrier, next to a bundle of energy, next to a power house, next to a speedster. There are loads of ways to build a squad good enough to compete without thinking the only way to improve is buy increasing our individual spend all the time. The trick is having the right individuals to spot a) what we need to improve b) where to get them at the right price. They don't have to be superstars or expensive buys, they just need to be what we need not necessarily what everyone else wants. 

We are literally 3-4 players away from being a solid top squad that will compete with anyone on our day and in the PL for the next 5 years, that's the best you can ask for because nothing is guaranteed. The idea we cannot compete because we don't spend as much as the Chelsea's or Utd's is for those that want excuses. Look where spending has gotten them recently. 

Yes - I guess that is kind of the point I was trying to make. We have to continue to shop smart and I'm sure we will, but even if we wanted to splash out on a player, or a couple of Diaby price players we aren't going to be able to with our revenue so far behind our competitors. I wouldn't expect us to go on a chelsea spending spree but I if we can only spend say half of what those around us can it really is going to be hard to compete over the next few years as we have to be better in every other department. Hopefully we have the team in place to do that. 

We're in a fascinating and difficult position. Squad- and performance-wise we are top 10ish in the world, but 21st for revenue. In the PL, 3rd but 11th for revenue. In the main, established players that can push us on are just not going to be affordable - we just can't shop where we want with financial restrictions and it's going to need at least 5 years of CL qualification to shift that. 

So Monchi has one hell of a job on his hands to either find the equivalents of Emi, Salah, KDB who have been mismanaged or a few McGinn gems or some Luiz types we can give a bit of time to develop (which looks like Jan's direction). And then Unai has to work his magic. 

2 minutes ago, useless said:

Smith Rowe is a very good player when fit, like genuinely very good, and he's actually the kind of player we need if people want to talk about us needing a player that can unlock defences, would be a good alternative to Buendia, can play as No.10, or on the left, so could cover several roles within our team

But I doubt Arsenal will sell to us at the moment.

 

Maybe Arsenal know the PL are sniffing about them for FFP/PSR violations and have a desperate need for cash suddenly? 

Definitely be last on MOTD tonight!

No var! Lol. 

Cash is having a honking game. 

Just now, rjw63 said:

Doesn’t sound too exciting on the radio 

It isn't any better on the telly. 

Didn't Cash used to cross the ball a bit?