GeordieVillan

Yeah saw the same, proper captain’s stuff from Super John, hope he called him out in the dressing room for it as well. Just stupid.

Based on today, I would say we need another centremid, as McGinn just didn’t look comfortable there, and it also negates his main strength of playing in one of the roles further forward. I wonder if we could get Calvin-Phillips. Lots of talk Newcastle are after him (on loan), but I reckon we would be pretty attractive right now. I actually think we are covered in other position if we get another centre-mid, as with McGinn and Bailey as right wing options, we don’t need to ever use Cash at right back again!

The right side isn’t working, but it isn’t Cash’s fault. Either Konsa off and Cash to right back or Cash off, and either Dendoncker or Bailey on… McGinn in the middle isn’t working either…

This is a big week. Realistically even if we lose both games, the most we can be outside the top 4 is 3 points, which isn’t terrible, although our goal difference is worse than Newcastle’s (and the Top 3) which I think might become a factor later in the season if we can’t claw it back. I don’t think we need to win both games, but I think if we can get 2-3 points at least - so either draw both or win one and lose one - it will give the players a real confidence boost to know that they can compete, as well as keeping us right in the mix before the tough game at Brentford. Unai has got some big decisions to make for the first time - Konsa or Carlos at centreback? Konsa or Cash at right back? Moreno to start at left back? Ramsey or Tielemans? Diaby or Bailey? All season I think we’ve been able to name the first 10 players on the teamsheet, but it doesn’t feel like that right now…

Not sure the best place ask this - we are 2 season ticket holders, not local to Birmingham, both ill today and unlikely to be able to attend tomorrow - we are wanting to give the 2 tickets to friends based in Birmingham, but we can’t physically get the ticket cards to them in time for tomorrow (no Royal Mail service), is there any way to do this online? I can see an option for forwarding tickets in my online account but it doesn’t actually allow me to do it by the looks of it. And the ticket office is closed on Saturdays so can’t speak to anyone!!! Having a nightmare and don’t want the tickets to go to waste…

Unai is resisting going back to the low block that he started with to turnaround out away from last season. I think he sees it as backwards step to do that, so we are sticking with the high line. What we missed today, in the first half especially, was pressure on the ball. It was similar to what happened against Newcastle and Liverpool, it felt like Forest had ages to pick a pass over the top and in behind because we didn’t put enough pressure on them (or perhaps they were very effective at beating our press). I actually think we played better today than we did against Wolves, especially second half. Goals dictate the narrative though.

I think he might have to wait, after a shaky start, Digne has been tidy and his numbers have been decent, and I think that bringing Moreno straight back in would send the wrong message to the rest of the squad. He will get a chance at some point, and then I would expect him keep the left back slot for the rest of the season. Contrast this with Ramsey, where Zaniolo at the moment seems to be wasting the chance to make that position his. You would expect Ramsey to get straight back in, and there would be no issues with that.

Ironically, in defeat today I saw a few things which I have never associated with us, and in a strange way it’s cemented in my mind that we are in the top 4 hunt. 1) we dominated the ball throughout and controlled the game, even though we were at times taking the usual risks with the high line 2) we played “our way” and stuck to it until the very last kick, even though we were losing and the temptation would be to go more direct 3) in the final half an hour when Forest were sitting deep, we were carving them open. We must have had about 10 decent half or almost chances to get back into the the game. Frustrating that we didn’t take one, but we had chances. How many times in the past have we seen Villa fall behind and then forget how to play and struggle to create anything at all. Maybe not an opinion shared by all, but if today’s performance is what we now consider to be a disaster, we are very much a contender as far as I’m concerned!

I came on to post this video - really powerful stuff and well done to Norwich for using their platform for something like this

Today was a great example of the other side of what our high line can do for us. We caught Chelsea offside alot, but we also gave them some chances and half chances by playing so high, which we got away through a mixture of good goalkeeping, last ditch defending and a bit of luck. In exchange we were able to control much of the game and create a few of our own openings. If we want results like today, we are going to have to accept results like Newcastle and Liverpool, and even in Europe in midweek. There is a bit of jeopardy to how we play, it’s almost cavalier, so sometimes it will work and sometimes it won’t.

I posted previously that I attended the game at Anfield a few weeks ago as a guest of someone in their hospitality section. Just by way of comparison, that ticket gave access to the hospitality area/bar, a match day programme, one free drink at half time, a cushioned seat, and unlimited “street food” before the match. No other drinks included. The face value of that was £479. So relative to that offer, what Villa are proposing is actually good value (both with this and Terrace View). However, I suspect that as long as we continue on the trajectory we are on, the prices are going to keep going up. Also these are the prices when we have been starved of success and have only in the last 12 months got our act together. Imagine if we won a trophy this year or qualified for the champions league, these prices would jump up for sure. It’s unavoidable unfortunately. As others have said, there are huge waiting lists of people that will be happy to take the place of existing season ticket holders. And even more so, I think the club will have run the numbers on this and they will know there will be enough demand to sustain this. Liverpool have been successful for a long time, and they are pricing their comparatively reduced offering at £479 because they know they can and they know that people will pay it. I think that Villa are doing the same at what is our current level. It’s a difficult one for the club - for a long time I think the fanbase has been saying that we should be run like a proper business - control costs and maximise revenue, and then invest in the team and facilities. That seems to be what they are doing, but obviously the investment in facilities isn’t for everyone (at the moment). The price of success? Or the price of chasing success?

No that’s basically it! We played a high line yesterday and didn’t press the defence, so Trent had all day to pick out long passes in behind our defence. It was strange to see, as Emery knows the game much better than us, so either he was asking the players to press and they were just off the pace for some reason, or he was trying something different and it just didn’t work…

The main difference with Newcastle is that St James Park is right in the middle of the city centre. It’s literally a 5 minute walk from Eldon Square which is the equivalent of the Bullring, so it’s easier to market it as a destination for non-match going customers, and also to run at a profit on non-match days as the footfall is already there. Creating a Box Park type set up outside Villa Park might not work because other than match days it would probably only appeal to fans on days when away games were being shown on big screens. Clearly though with the feeling the Terrace View has created, the club either need to massively improve concourse facilities or think outside the box for another solution.

Oh ok, I’ve not been in the 82 Lounge. I know that Newcastle are creating new hospitality lounges everywhere they can at St James Park, and interestingly they have put in a planning application to create a Box Park type set up directly outside St James Park, which I think will divert a lot of traffic from their normal concourses pre-game and post-game, but obviously not at half time. I suspect the motivation is to generate more income from fans both attending and not attending the matches, but also to keep general admission fans happy as it’s providing new facilities for them. Maybe Villa are missing a trick by not doing something similar….

He’s an excellent crosser - very much a stand and deliver crosser in a Beckham style. He’s been great in the last few games, but against the better teams he doesn’t have legs to cover the whole of the left hand side and even though the back 4 was left exposed yesterday, he feels the most vulnerable 1-on-1. It’s not his fault, but the injury to Mings has meant Torres playing every game, and Torres and Digne together don’t have any real pace. Moreno will solve this problem hopefully. I also noticed him pulling out of tackles a few times. Not a good luck.

Clearly since the injury to Mings, he’s already become very important to us. Torres and to an extent Konsa are more “passive”, Lenglet from what I have seen is the same. Carlos is as close to a replacement as we can get for Mings in terms of strength and physical presence. After he went of yesterday, we looked soft and weak at centre half and centre mid.

Stephen Warnock highlighted something on MOTD2 which I hadn’t noticed at the match. Trent was coming inside to the centre back position rather than into centre midfield. When he did this, Matip was going out to the right back position. It was something new that Klopp hasn’t done before. I’m not saying this excuses our lack of pressing, but maybe we were set up to contain Trent at right back and at centre mid, and in order to do this we were going to leave the centre backs with space because they posed less of a threat. Klopp making this change was what gave Trent all the space to play the balls over the top. The only concern would be that if Stephen Warnock saw this, then why did no one on our bench!

I don’t want to go off topic, but just as a comparison I wanted to share my experience from Anfield today. I was in their hospitality section, for which my ticket had a face value of £479. I can assure that I did not pay for it, I was a corporate guest! On that ticket, you have access to an unlimited food buffet before the game, and receive a match day programme. There are no drinks vouchers, but you do get ONE free drink at half time. The seat has a cushion, and it was located in the middle tier of the equivalent of our Trinity Road stand, basically close to the far end where our North Stand is (so at the opposite side to where the Kop/Holte End holds the home fans). The hospitality area was basically the same as the Terrace View in terms of facilities, but bigger and with a larger capacity. Now obviously Liverpool have been more successful than Villa (and have a larger following?) so you would expect their pricing to be higher, but I can honestly say that I thought £82 per game for the Terrace View compares very favourably with what I experienced today at a price of £479.

There was no noticeable change in effort after the Salah goal - we were off the pace all game! Obviously players heads will go down when you are 3-0 and the game is over, but the game just fizzled out, especially when substitutes came on. Things might change if you can nick a goal, but that didn’t happen. I actually thought Duran made a positive impact. I’ve heard him described as “agent of chaos” and I think that’s fair. He makes a difference, unsettles defenders and gets in their faces. He’s physically stronger than Ollie. But his decision making is poor and he looks very raw - but those are things that can improve with coaching. I do wonder if we could somehow get Duran on the pitch with Ollie at the same time, maybe it would ease some of the physical burden on Ollie as he looked out of his depth today, but it seems in our system it’s one or other, not both.

I think we probably did, or we couldn’t find the “right” player. It’s clear we only buy players we know are the “right” fit now.

I like Ollie, he has good games and bad, and runs hot and cold. That’s what he is. That’s our level currently. I feel we will go for another striker in January and sell Ollie next summer. I don’t think it’s easy to find better strikers than him, but I think we are looking. And the fact we let Archer go suggests to me that we might have someone lined up.

Aside from organisation, our set piece issue may be that we generally have smaller players than other teams? It feels like we don’t have any height to defend these corners and free kicks. We aren’t going to be able to progress if we physically can’t compete to defend and attack on set pieces. Genuinely I think a team like West Ham will have a field day against us.

This is a perfect synopsis. 4 games in, 2 wins, 2 defeats against tough away opponents. Sort the above issues and we might have a chance of doing something. I also like that you havn’t highlighted any major issues with the defence as such. For me it’s the way we are set up against the better teams, rather than weak personnel.

He’s raw and makes bad choices. But he did more today than Watkins did. He managed to stretch the defence and he was getting himself into positions where his team mates could find him. Watkins is obviously the better player and won’t be usurped as the no1 striker, but I would be more concerned about him today than Duran.

Didn’t have a great game, but the whole back 4 was left massively exposed today. We are missing Ramsey and Buendia who set the tone on the press, which McGinn then follows. Hopefully when Ramsey returns, he will be able to drag the others with him.