Keener window-cleaner

6 minutes ago, est1874 said:

Yes

Perhaps

23 hours ago, Rightdm00 said:

This version of Watkins is better than Benteke. Don't get me wrong Benteke scored some absolute worldies for us but I think we forget how important Watkins pressing from the front is. He presses at that level for the full 90. That's wild. Absolutely insane, a top class striker is willing to do that level of defensive work.

I wouldn't go that far yet, Benteke at his best was top class at everything, best you could get as a target player, in the air he almost jumped the height of the cross bar and scored many headers at corners, he dribbled and ran through defences and scored (against the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool), he even took free kicks at some point and scored. Watkins is better at pressing all game, and better at running on balls plyed in behind the defence. But Benteke was more complete. 

I really love watching Watkins now, with his confidence and him playing to his strenghts, what Emery has done is fantastic. But he still has a little bit of a heavy touch and does not have that smooth passing ability or always those clean strikes that many top class strikers have. With his commitment and willingness to improve it might come tough. And what he contributes with now with his goals and his pressing is just amazing, long may it continue! 

I think it's strange how little attention he and Villa has got in the media, BBC or SKY Sports haven't written much at all except the usual pre game articles and reports after the games. When we end up in forth place they will.

Emery seems to have created such a good spirit and tight knit group already, I hope we don't mess that up by going out and buying loads of players in the summer.

For me I'd be happy with one more winger/attacking midfielder, a central midfielder and a right back. Perhaps a new No 2 GK if we can find a suitable one.

As winger/attacking midfielder I'd like us to go for Harvey Barnes, as central midfielder I dont know, but someone with very good passing ability and who is strong and good defensively wont come cheap. Same for the right back, if we don't go for my idea in the other thread and try out JJ there  

He plays very good in this position now, few players can drive forward with pace like he does, and has a good shot and is a goal threat. Very good passer and careful with the ball as well. Still young so can develop further.

A thought I had before, when he had a bit of a less good spell, was that if we were looking to upgrade on him in the summer - would an option be to try him out as right back? Imagine having him bombing down the right, with his passing ability and goal threat. He has showed enough defensive qualities in the position he plays now to suggest he would do a job defensively as well.

The way he played yesterday he makes the attacking midfield position his own, but it's still an interesting idea imo to try him at right back.

I can't remember the last time I saw such a complete Villa performance, 10/10 all around. This is the best football we have played since the latter days of Houllier, and now even better. I started following Villa under Ron Atkinson and I don't think I can remember us ever playing this good, perhaps some time under Brian Little or some performance under MoN with Milner, Barry, Young, Petrov, Downing.

Immense today, he had the better of both Murphy and Trippier the whole game.

I thought this was perhaps his best game in a Villa shirt, he found so much space between their midfield and defence and was involved in everything. Really promising to see that he had such a good game against a team in the top 4. Previously I had some doubts if he could perform against the top teams, today he showed that.

BIG DONK! Such an accomplished performance, didn't put a foot wrong, reads the game perfectly and makes us solid in defence. Top player!

10/10 performance! Buendia, Moreno, Watkins 100 out of 10!

Immense today, played really good in the centre of the pitch, I'm a bit worried about his ball control and passing in that position, but he handled it superb today.

I don't really get the criticism, he is clearly adapting to the Emery style. Gone is the headless chicken bursting forward and hoping something good will come out of it, now he is much more careful with the ball, meaning he doesn't do the one on ones as much, but rather keeps the ball, passing it back to Young or to a midfielder. He has the trickery in his locker and it will come off now and then, a bit more confidence and he will get there. He stretched Leicester quite well by drifting out wide, and they often doubled up on him.

He is not usless at all, he is just playing a bit smarter than before, being more careful with the ball. With a bit of luck he could have had a goal and then it would have sounded differently on here.

I wonder if we would have a chance to sign harvey Barnes and how much he would cost. He reminds me of a young Milner.

It was nice to see how glad he was after scoring and how glad everyone else seemed to be for him, not just the goal and points, shows how much he cares and how well liked he is. Also nice to see how Bailey ran up to him after the game and gave him a hug. Such a good team spirit!

For the first time in ages I felt we could actually take advantage of being one more on the pitch, and how we did it, it was like Ice Hockey-style power play the last 15 mins, possession was something like 15-85.

This says so much about how we have progressed under Emery and how we have implemented a propoer possession based playing style.

It's actually a bit similar to the total football that Ajax or AC Milan played in the 90's.

2 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

Your mate was wrong. At no point did I feel like Chelsea were going to score. 25 shots is not as good as it sounds if 20 of them are into row Z or aimed at the corner flag.

To be fair they put us under quite some preassure at time, for example towards the end of the first half where they also had a ball in the net that was disallowed for a bit of a soft foul. They also hit the post and Martinez made at least two top class saves. Mudryk had a chance one on one that he should have put away.

It's of course super with three points away to Chelsea, we looked disciplined and organised, but we didn't see much of the great build up play and passing game that we have seen against the less good teams. Changing to a back three in the second half represents the game quite well imo.

Our first goal was fantastic, build up play from the back, ending in a move where we have 5(!) players in their penalty area and McGinn just outside. Our tactics and style of play is fantastic!

I think some of our build up play today was fantastic, the goal was an example of this, and we had another couple of build ups where we out-played them. I just love to see that we have a well settled passing based playing style with clear tactics and look well drilled. We didn't create very much, but we controlled the game, were patient, and had much quality in the chances we created.

I don't know how the expected goal stats work, but teams just throwing in crosses will have more chances in the stats, but we would be more likely to score. I love the fact that when we get to the box and put a cross in we often have three or more players in and around the bow. That's well built up attacks.

2 hours ago, S-Platt said:

If playing Sunday The Donk will score the winner you heard it here first  

All hail big Donk!

On 18/02/2023 at 08:28, Delphinho123 said:

They were. Towards the end, he couldn’t even get in their side and now he’s stuck plying his trade in Turkey and will probably go back there again next season. Lyon fans wanted him gone just like our club wanted him gone and paid for the privilege. He’ll be toast at the end of this campaign. On a similar level to Trezeguet and El Ghazi - not good enough. 

I'll continue to dispute this everytime I see it being mentioned as a fact. It was villalad who came up with the fact that the Lyon fans didn't rate him based on what a couple of people said. Go back in this thread by the time we signed him and you'll see my post where I went through quite a few Lyon fans communities and you can see that the picture was more nuanced.

He scored a good goal, but I think most players in that position would have made that run and it was served on a plate by Moreno and Buendia. Apart fom that I thought he was mostly wasteful in possession, sure he dropped back and collected the ball and made a sideways pass a couple of times, but not much apart from that. Defensively he is so weak and slow. It was mainly his fault that Arsenal was a constant threat on our left. Our right hand side was closed down by McGinn. Feels hard to say but having Coutinho on the pitch is almost like playing 10 against 11. He can come on with 15-20 mins left in some games and start some cup games against lower league opponents, and I'm sure he is good to have around in training, but that's about it.

3 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

How can anyone defend this? He clips his own damn leg to ensure he falls over and cries like a baby to get the pen.

Agree, I don get why there wasn't more protests and a check by VAR (if we now have to have that). Sure there was some contact at first, but then they were competing, then he just clips his own leg and falls over. Not that it had changed the game but it looked silly and soft.

Also before the game I thought we should have set up more defensively than in previous games. It would have been a perfect game for McGinn to come in and press and be the usual pit bull player that he is, I also think it could have been good to give kamara a rest and a break and put in big Donk to give us some more strength and defensive options, especially as Mings was out. We could even have thought about playing another one in midifeld instead of two up front to stiffle the centre of the pitch.

I was a big surprised that Emery went with more or less the same team at home against Leicester as away to Man C.

Lessons learned. 

I thought this would have been a good game for him to start, we needed som more grit and fight to frustrate them.

He must have ran the least of the players on the pitch, it still looks like it is a big effort for him every time he starts a run, he doesn't look up to the tempo anymore, he lost the ball at so many times. There are basically three things he can do, he can fall back and pick up the ball in our own half if not under pressure (but that's not his role), further up the picth he can make a 50/50 direct pass which can come good, but as likley just resulting in us losing the ball, the third thing is that he can pop up in the penalty area in the second wave, but he does that too seldom. I'd say he doesn't contribute defensively or to the pressing at all.

Sorry to say, but this makes him a luxury player at the moment that we have very little use of. I don't mean it in a bad way regarding his personality, I bet he tries his best and has a good influence on the training pitch, but simply he is way past his best and should go to a league with a slower tempo during the last years of his career.