DakotaVilla

Keep it as tight as we can for as long as we can with Bailey, Diaby and Duran given license to rampage on the break. 

If we get to half time at 0-0 the crowd will turn after their performance v Arsenal. 

We basically just need two wins and it becomes pretty much impossible for man utd to get past us unless they go on a ridiculous win nearly every game type of run which they are just not going to do. 

It would be typical man utd this season to somehow shit house a win v Liverpool but then lose to sheff Utd 

We’ll have a much clearer view after this round of games. 2 English v German ties so we have to hope west ham and Arsenal get through. 

We’re a bit naive to this. We don’t make enough of the oppositions consistent fouls and then make stupid fouls in front of the ref that get punished.

Overall though our discipline has been very good. The only exceptions being the ridiculous antics at Brentford and McGinn losing his head v spurs. 

Signs are promising but he needs to do a lot more over the remainder of the season to earn a permanent move. 

12 hours ago, omariqy said:

After today's match I don't fancy either of Arsenal or Man City in the UCL. 

I disagree. Arsenal just showed they can go away to a very dangerous team and lock the whole game down.

Very boring yes but a tactical masterclass from Arteta and very disciplined from the players. They’ll be looking to do exactly the same v Bayern away. 

I think it’s his fitness record and the big wages he’ll be on.

He’s a very solid fourth choice CB if he can stay fit. The 4 CB should be Pau, Konsa, Mings, Carlos and then add a fifth young high potential CB if Feeney is still a few years away (subject to PSR and all that).

His heart has fallen out of it at Brighton this season after the big sales last summer but make no mistake he’d be a great appointment for either Newcastle, Chelsea, Man Utd or Liverpool. 

I think both us and spurs will clear 70. Fourth will go to the one who picks up an unexpected win v the top three and avoids slipping up in the games that are the bankers. Let’s say we get 4 wins and a draw out of our remaining 8. That leaves us on 72. 

Spurs would then need 5 wins and a draw which would be targeted from forest, Newcastle, west ham, burnley and Sheffield and a draw against the bigger teams they face. Hopefully if they slip up v west ham or Newcastle that will put a lot of pressure on them to beat arsenal, Chelsea or man city. 

We really need to target 5 wins out of the 8 games and avoid a spanking from Man city to put max pressure on spurs. 

The five targets for us would be Brentford, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Brighton and Palace on the final day. No easy feat with the European games thrown in. 

Arsenal just showed how to play against Man City away out of possession but we just don’t have the personnel available in midfield. It would be a lot to put on Tim but feels like tactically what we should do. 

I wonder how many bullshit yellow cards we’ll get given on Wednesday…. Complete farce.

That’s pretty much guaranteed, there’s a reason why Guardiola, Emery etc don’t play that way and it’s because they know it’s not sustainable. Bielsa, Howe, Ange are all cut from a similar cloth. 

The positive for us about spurs is they only know one way of playing - 100 miles per hour. 
 

These derbies v west ham, Chelsea and Arsenal are going to be combustible and hopefully the fixture congestion in the final few weeks will catch up with them and at the very least balance out our additional European fixtures.

15 minutes ago, omariqy said:

So April we have 7 games in total. Man United have 6. Spurs only have 4. How Emery rotates the squad in games will be key. The form of Duran, Zaniolo, Cash and Rogers will be massive in deciding how we do in games. 

Game management will be key. We could do with cash back asap to be able to rotate. 

We will likely need four or five wins of the remaining games to secure fourth.

Brentford, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Palace and then one of Brighton/Liverpool may be needed. 

It could also easily be at least three wins from their next 5 depending on which spurs shows up. They could beat - or lose - to any of those teams on their day. 

23 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I say this in the nicest way possible, but after your last string of posts in this thread, could I kindly ask what the **** you are on about?

I could ask you exactly the same question. 

Very nervous and excited about this game. Hopefully Ollie gets a goal to put the international break behind him. A goal from Diaby or Ramsey would also be perfect. As long as we don’t concede from a set piece we should have enough. 

6 hours ago, Galway Lion said:

Strange that as it is nearly always at the top of people’s lists of favourite away day grounds. It’s not soulless like most new grounds.

It’s their favorite stadium because they’ve all got happy memories of beating us so often during our abject years. 

Errr no. That’s why it’s an incredibly sub optimal stadium in the modern age. I guess some may see beauty in what is basically an architectural mess but I’d suggest that they’re probably at least partially blinded by claret and blue tinted glasses. 

There has never been a holistic plan for villa park. That’s the entire problem.

We have a bastardized trinity that replaced the most beautiful stand in the history of football, we have a dual tier holte that bears no resemblance to its previous single stand glory. We have a north stand that is quite frankly rotting and the Doug Ellis is an abomination purely for its name. 
 

16 minutes ago, Villa_Vids said:

 Obviously the housing issue is very contentious but could we play at the same capacity while the DE stand is being rebuilt behind? Much like Liverpool did with their main stand.

Depends how far back the CPO went. If it went to Holte Road that’s unlikely to be sufficient. If it went to Yew Tree road we’re in business as you could then probably rotate the stadium as well. But it would have to be CPO all the way.

38 minutes ago, Mazrim said:

You think anybody would seriously propose knocking down Aston Hall for a stadium?

And how long do you think this broke ass council is going to be able to maintain it for? The unfortunate reality is that its future is already probably very gloomy.