Indigo

What a finish and what a player, seriously got the team out of jail today.

Even with all the plaudits he's getting I still feel he's somehow underrated at the moment. His 2023 numbers have beeb ridiculous. 

Thought Villa were really poor there, Bournemouth will be gutted they didn't put the game away. Reminded me of those games over recent season where we just look so easy to play against, centre backs having little to no help defensively, every loose ball and 50/50 being lost. Even after the equaliser it was an absolute mess, couldn't get back on the ball and couldn't wait to give it back on the rare occasion we did.

Did well to come away with a point considering, phenomenal finish from Watkins in order to do so. What a striker he is.

The header being marginally offside took away from the fact that it was an excellent finish regardless. The winner was absolute quality from him too obviously, great link up play and the take and finish was the same thing Haaland was being rightly lauded for yesterday.

If only he wasn't so bizarrely poor at penalties. In the hypothetical world he was good at them and you gave him Luiz' ones from this season he'd already be on 10 goals in the league. Only Trippier and Neto with more assist than him too.

14 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

He’s a good defender but his lack of pace is why one of the big clubs never signed him I reckon. 

I think it's a lack of physical attributes in general. Just thinking off of the top of my head at the top clubs you've got the likes of Dias, Gvardiol, Van Dijk, Konate, Matip, Saliba, Gabriel etc, even Romero and Van de Ven now at Spurs too, all of whom are good on the ball in their own right but also varying levels of fast and powerful. You don't really get that with Torres, as good as he is otherwise, which is probably why one of those "big" moves never ended up materialising. 

Lovely player though. Don't think it's any coincidence that Villa are flying this season and he's a staple of the team.

A really weird, unconvincing game but huge to get the win all the same. Looked quite weary at times, lost an awful lot of loose balls and 50/50s, and had to rely on the woodwork and Martinez to bail us out, but the second half was a big improvement and with how depleted Spurs were it was a matter of riding it out until the started to fade.

Huge win in any case. A third of the way through the season, in the top four and only two points off the top, it's crazy stuff. Getting there in the process by beating far more lauded sides, today included. Happy for Villa to still somehow be flying under the radar in this way.

I know some folk hate xG but just as it's relevant to the topic of chances created:

1 minute ago, WHY said:

Poor, you have to beat teams like that if you want top 4, they are poor team. They spent a small fortune and can’t string 4 passes together but deserved to win. 

I'm not saying Villa weren't poor or anything, but it's something like only Newcastle and United that have beaten Forest in the league at the City Ground this calendar year. They're good at home and have gotten wins against Liverpool, Arsenal etc at home since getting promoted. City only managed a draw with them. Villa don't really have any right to expect to be rocking up and beating them, and failing to do so doesn't really prove that there's any ceiling to what we can do this season.

One of those extraordinarily frustrating games that is decided on individual moments.  Villa start the game sleepwalking and give a soft goal away - albeit one that 99% of the time isn't going in - and suddenly the whole complexion of the game changes as they can sit in from the get-go and look at counter.

Said it in the pre-match thread that Forest are very good at making sure they at least don't get beaten at home, and despite the confidence and equivalences being drawn from the AZ game it was always going to be tough and Villa made it easier by giving them that platform. Then they come out for the second half and Martinez absolutely gifts them a goal to compound things further.

They've had two shots on target (three in total) and both have gone in, while in contrast Villa had many an opportunity to get back into it and just showed a complete lack of composure in the important moments. It's desperately frustrating but not as demoralising as the previous losses this season.

Forest are good at avoiding defeat at home, as much as they're not a great side going away to them just has one of those awkward feels to it. Would be delighted with a win however it comes, feels especially important to pick up as many points as possible over the next couple of games before the fixtures start to get a bit trickier.

1 hour ago, The_Steve said:

The media don’t realise 1) how rich we are and 2) how we’ve built an entire infrastructure around Unai. He’s got the keys to the castle that is Villa Park. He’s rebuilt our fortifications. He’s adored and got the 100% support of the owners. He’s got the system and the ambition to win things here. People like Carragher don’t want that. 

He did basically acknowledge that to be fair.

It's one of those unfortunate realities of supporting a club that isn't one of the "big" ones that it feels like you can't have a good thing for long before folk speculate on it being nabbed, but I don't think that Carragher piece is a particularly bad example of it. He just says that Emery will end up wanting to test himself at the highest level again and acknowledges that it could be with Villa. Overall though it's one line/sentiment in an otherwise pretty positive piece, albeit with nothing that is particularly new information to us as fans.

To me it's more of a tacit dig at Ten Hag and those that back him than it is even about Emery, if you read between the lines.

It's worth noting about McTominay that he really isn't a defensive midfielder. At youth level he even occasionally played as a striker such was his attacking instincts, and basically got shoe-horned into DM at senior level because of his size and general athleticism, but you can see from his performances that it isn't his natural game and his best work for United has come as more of a box-to-box player where he's able to get forward and offer a goal threat. He'd be a square peg in a round hole as a Dendoncker replacement.

1 hour ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Disappointment!!???

Not sure how anyone can be disappointed with anything Villa at the moment.

It's also obviously being lost on some the amount of games we have already played this season (in such a short space of time) with not much rotation happening in that time. The players need to stay in 1st gear in some of these games or we risk our best XI risking burn out by Christmas.

Hell, I predicted 6-0 but I'm not too bothered we only managed 3 - even if it was only Luton.

Also, Sitting 5th in the League and 4pts off 1st place.

We're joint top in our group in UECL.

We've got two of the best owners in the world.

We've got one of the best managers in the world.

We've got the best goalkeeper in the world.

Disappointed!  Yeah, I can see why!?  

 

 

Wasn't disappointed at all myself, just saying I could understand where folk were coming from that said the last 10 minutes or so were pretty messy, but thought there was context as to why and didn't have any concern about it.

Understand some of the disappointment with how sloppy the last period of the game was, but I think it was just a case of once they got their freak goal the players themselves checked out a bit as the clean sheet was lost but the game was already one.

Should of course be beating Luton regardless but enjoyed the manner of the performance all the same. Yesterday and against West Ham also, Villa have just played like a "big" team in terms of the control of the game and the patience shown and that's something that feels different from even other good times in the Premier League.

Diaby's movement is so impressive live, really gives you even more of an appreciation for him. Certain runs he made for Cash, Kamara etc to pick him out looked so simple but they were perfectly executed and he had their defensive line so unsure of themselves all game.

I think it took a while longer for him to get up to speed than others when Emery first came in, but he's kicked on a lot and while his position dictates that he doesn't get as much stick as say a Watkins can, he's still probably proven many wrong who thought his ceiling was lower than he's gone on to show this season in particular..

It's harsh to suggest he's brainless as a player, in my opinion. Has his shortcomings without doubt but he's playing in quite a detailed, fluid system under one of the best coaches around, across several different positions and/or interpretations of them at that. You're not managing to do that without a good aptitude for the game. 

12 hours ago, lexicon said:

The area of his game that he needs to work on is his decision-making when he's on the ball. He put Kamara under pressure several times playing the ball to him when he shouldn't have. He's a good defender but passing it around and out the back is an important requirement for our CBs. 

Much of the time I think he was just getting the weight of the passes wrong more than anything else. He has this lovely technique where he absolutely whips the ball into the midfielder, but as much as aesthetically it looks great it also made it unnecessarily difficult to receive properly for Kamara etc. Think it's something that'll come with the more minutes he plays though, he's still played well any time he's had a chance but it's still crazy that the amount of competitive minutes he's played since signing amounts to around 8 games.

That. Pass.

Think Tielemans will be playing off the left personally. Don't think it suits him hugely, but that's the spot that makes most sense for him given the rest of the team.

Perfectly fine team otherwise. Villa haven't assembled a squad of experienced top-level players in terms of both Europe and domestically to just not rotate at all for games such as this.

He's one of them where it just feels like he needs a goal to really set him on his way. Does a lot of good stuff at times, then at other points overdoes it or tries to force it, maybe just needs that first goal to properly get into his rhythm and you'll see his decision making become a bit more natural.

Good news.