VillanousOne

14 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Is he the weak link? 

No, he just needed a rest. 

won almost everything, apart from the overhead kick - absolute beast

starting to show why we should keep him

he's been ok of late never quite doing enough but never doing much wrong either, but today was another level, loved the way he interacted with the fans on corners also

can't believe he only cost 8 mil

Incredible, Zaniolo and Carlos were immense but everyone was quality, both finishes were disgustingly good

I don't know where we land on this, rest players and focus on Lille etc or try and put a team out to try and compete.

come on Forest!

Injuries have hurt us a great deal and with that the lack of rotation at times has also brought us burn out and suspensions. Psychologically it also feels like something is missing.

Every time we've made too many changes, it's cost us games.

Lenglet and Carlos are not able to fill at the level needed, even if both have had some good games.

Konsa at right back works some but not all of the time,  he's not done badly but you can tell it's not his natural position.

Dendonker (before the loan) and Tim haven't been able to fill in for Kamara or Doug, I don't think even if we had the former still with us it would have made much difference. Tim is too raw and needs more experience. Tielmans is being asked to drop deep and so is McGinn and neither really suit central positions

We have always had enough players in attack to rotate a bit, Diaby, Duran, Tielmans (when he plays further up), Rogers and even Zaniolo (occasionally) offer some opportunity to rotate.

But we have no real cover for Cash and KKH seems unlikely to get any game time. Obviously we have a young player who is joining in the summer to help provide cover for Ramsey etc.

But at this point we are truly limping towards fifth place.

hell of a signing

That back four combination has rarely worked.

Konsa and Torres is the best CB partnership we have, Diego and Torres do not work together that well. Even Lenglet seems to give more balance alongside Torres than Diego.

Konsa has been quality this season, hopefully this was just a one off. Hopefully Cash comes back soon.


 

come one we can win this!!!

Chuckle Bros levels of defending

wow

Just now, wilko154 said:

I understand why Emery did it last night, and agree that we would most likely have lost the game regardless however the lack of intent to at least try and win the game was disappointing for me. Maybe it annoys me more as I travelled, if I hadn't I could have switched off and not given it much thought.

I actually think the resting argument is largely nonsense, the team are off the back of an international break. They've played one game in three weeks. Torres and Bailey didn't even go away with their national teams.

What's done is done though, lets hope that a fresh side with a returning McGinn and Watkins can push on the remainder of the season now.

Careful you'll get dog's abuse for expressing an opinion like this

4 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

The comparison to MON is nonsense.

What MON did was to sacrifice an entire competition to favour the league.

 

Emery hasn't done that at all. He's sacrificed one game, that we probably would have lost anyway, to ensure that we win the next game in the same competition as well as our European tie.

I didn't bring up the MON thing i just responded to it, I pointed out if anything he did the opposite, but neither opinion is credible.

I hope we do win the next game and against Lille and Unai was right.
 

18 minutes ago, omariqy said:

The only one that would have made a difference yesterday was Bailey imo. Pau great on the ball but against City I think we wouldn’t have seen him at his best. Defensively, Lenglet and Pau are similar quality. 

we could have put a beard and glasses on McGinn and sent him out as our new youth prospect McBeard and won easily

1 minute ago, beasley14 said:

3 points dropped away to City, really?!  Even the draw was a tough ask with their record at home.  

I think Unai is taking both as series, he rested players in the away leg v Ajax

A City without a first choice defence who looked vulnerable, a draw would have been be a tough result also, but it was 'possible'.

4 minutes ago, pete101 said:

That performance against city at villa park was best I've seen us play in my lifetime and the effort put into that was ridiculous. Our form after that gamed dipped dramatically (including the arsenal game , which we won but were poor). You have to pick your battles to win a war. And obviously Unai has decided not to take that toll on his team a second time in a season. 

That's fine, i get the sentiment, I appreciate what he was doing. But i don't have to agree with it and i'm entitled to that opinion.

It will be forgotten when we beat Brentford and Lille hopefully

5 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

Yes three points dropped against the same man city which has only lost one at home in 67 games

That's the spirit. They looked vulnerable every time we ran at them - i doubt we would have beaten them but we could have got a point considering that was nowhere near their first choice defence 

 

4 hours ago, Pinebro said:

Ok.

We can always follow MON's strategy and play our strongest eleven every game and burn out

I'll take short term pain for long term gain thank you.

MON's strategy was to rest players in Europe and go after the Champion's League place, so a reverse Unai in this case. What is more important now? The league or the Euro Conf League competition? No idea. Those 3 points dropped could haunt us if we don't qualify.

and you're welcome.
 

I would rather Unai rested Doug who has played too many games, looks burnt out and walking a disciplinary tight rope.

It's horrible to lose to those plastic cheats, particularly since we beat them before and their defence are rubbish this season, a draw was possible in my opinion. But I trust Unai, but until we know this strategy pays off i'm not going to pretend it's fine as we won't know till later.

1 hour ago, Wainy316 said:

Right decision I think and I'd rather go for it against Brentford and Lille than Arsenal.

I guess it does raise the pressure to win a bit in the games we save the players for though.

yeah if we lose to Brentford or Lille people will be waving their pants in the air.

I guess it depends on who is coming back from injury and when. I would have thought resting Doug might have made more sense, seeing as he has played more games than anyone and is nearing a suspension for cards earned.
 

I trust in the Sultan of Unai, but getting turned over by those plastic financial cheats never feels good, especially when we beat them already and they look so shaky at the back.

1 hour ago, Pinebro said:

Ok.

We can always follow MON's strategy and play our strongest eleven every game and burn out

I'll take short term pain for long term gain thank you.

Isn't it a reverse MON, as MON played a weakened team in Europe in order to push for Champion's League.

MON also had players available just tended not to bother playing them.

and you're very welcome

as many have said we'll see if that result comes back to harm us, only the power of hindsight will tell us.

my opinion is we didn't need to throw the game away before kick off, but there you go, each to their own.
 

3 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

Was very sensible to do what he did last night.

People won't like to hear it but we were very likely to lose regardless if Bailey and Pau started.

It was a free hit and an ideal game to rest some players.

Have to prioritize Brentford.

It's a narrative that makes us feel better, not sure it's really one that works.