MotoMkali

El ghazi had some great moves but did look average for a while. Our team was likely anticipating a softer and less biased whistle. You could see that from el ghazi, mcginn and wesley. For me it was a free lick when el ghazi would have been clean through. He got knocked over from behind and when you are at full speed a little knock can send you over.

Personally i would like to see him play with targett against worse teams before judging him. He skinned walker-Peters a couple times but lost the ball when sissoko or alderweirald stepped in. He definitely needs more support especially from the centre as he needs an option to lay it off to or at least draw defenders away from him when he cuts inside. 

3 hours ago, MaVilla said:

yeah, he looks a much better player than El Ghazi tbh.

For me Hassan has to be nailed on, El Ghazi/Jota are competing for the other slot imo.

Unfair to say to el ghazi. Once again was playing on the side with the weaker attacking full back. Had a couple of excellent moves. Went down to easily but against other teams I would expect him to get the whistle there. If he carried on running twice we would have been in on goal and we would all be saying how great el ghazi was.

As I have said on other threads I think a lot of the lads were expecting a soft whistle which they would have gotten when the ref wasn't wank and we were playing a worse side. In my opinion mcginn, el ghazi and wes got the worst of it and they didn't perform as well as they would have done had they been getting the correct whistles. 

Just now, Stevo985 said:

Yeah of course. In isolation they'd mean nothing.

It was more for stuff last season like people accusing Whelan of not running anywhere and they'd prefer BB because he gets around more. 

I'd have loved some stats to show if that was actually true or not.

Stuff like that.

 

In this scenario you could compare how much ground Kodjia covers vs Wesley, for example.

Well you would want to know whether wes was being lazy as well. Last game though I thought kodjia was getting around quite a lot. This was not a good game for him. He needed to get the ball more and needed some support but we couldn't do either of those things so he struggled. 

Also last year whelan wasn't being lazy he just couldn't close down without being out of position the next 5 minutes he had the turning circle of an oil tanker.

4 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Last season I mentioned a few times how it would be great if we had access to stats about how far players have run in a game to help dispel (or confirm) some of these "lazy" accusations. Not just with Kodjia.

Now that we're back in the prem we may well have access to those kinds of stats.

We would have to use someone as a baseline. For that I would either say el ghazi or mings. Mings because midfielders run more so would be unfair for a striker. He also makes forward runs which would bump the numbers up a bit. El Ghazi because whilst he tracks back he doesn't do it every time as he is often looking to break on the counter. 

I reckon we should be fine on the goal front. Spurs have a quality defense with probably the 2nd or 3rd best centre half in the Pl playing. It was no wonder wes and the like struggled. Against lesser teams we will have a lot more of the ball and we will do much better. It will allow el ghazi, Trez, Grealish, wesley, and mcginn to get fully in the game and start to dominate.

We played very well defensively and were unlucky not to come away with a point (2 massive deflections unlucky) so I reckon 13th. 

There was one bit where he got knocked off the ball by Danny Rose but like 3 seconds later he barged Sanchez and sent him stumbling.

With his his finishing his first chance I would argue that he did what was best as he nearly sent the defender the wrong way. With the 2nd chance Grealish should have played the ball earlier and when he did play it, it was a poor pass. There should have been more on it with his pass it stopped short of trez so he had to cut back in. 

13 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Well Engels cost what? £9m? Looked far superior out there today.

Bargain Partnership or bargain Back Line? 27mil for mings and Engels when they played so well even if it is only 1 game.

Engels was only 7 million

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

Yes for a big strong lad he seemed to go over far too easily.  He needs to understand this is The Premier League, not some foreign league where any kind of contact leads to a free kick.  It's a physical game here and ref's let a lot more go.  He'll serve himself much better by using his strength to stay on his feet and overpower the defender than falling to the ground and appealing to the ref. 

In Belgium he got kicked the hell out of. Our players were anticipating a looser whistle and probably would have got it if we were playing against a team outside the top 6. If it is 50/50 it will always go to them which I think alot to the times he went down were. 

17 hours ago, YLN said:

Oh brother.. these sorts of posts bring me back

Ayew and Veretout were nailed on to get 10 each. Amavi to chip in 5, and then 10 for Gestede and Sinclair, with Traore a bit of an unknown, but would get at least 5, and if he hits form could get over 15... If Gabby could get fit and his head right he could get 10 as well.

Last season Grealish got 6. El Ghazi got 6. Hourihane 7. Kodjia 9, Mings 2,  McGinn 7. And in a far more difficult league, they're about to surpass these tallies next season? I think we're in for a shock tomorrow night. We've been away too long. 

First of all only el ghazi and Grealish would have to surpass those numbers and considering Grealish didn't score in his first 10 games and el ghazi didn't have a Consistent run of games to settle I think it is reasonable to assume both of them should either equal their previous goal scoring record or exceed it.

As I said we only need about 40 goals and we can assume that with wesley, kodjia, jota, Hassan, mcginn, hourihane, Luiz, nakamba, Guilbert, targett, Engels and mings can combine fro 28 goals. That is an average of less than 2.5 goals each. Assuming el ghazi and Grealish get 6 each. 

Mings scored 2 goals last season in what 15-20 games I'd expect him to score 4 this year, hourihane may not play much but when he does I wouldnt be surprised if he chipped in with 4 as well. That is already 20 and you have 10 players who we haven't accounted for who will all likely play 25+ games. 

6 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Fantasy football this, not going to happen.

The low ball estimates pretty much keep us safe. And I don't think any of the players reaching the top values is outside of the realm of possibility. As I said 40+ goals is the target so you only need ten players to score 4 or 6 to score 7.

On 28/07/2019 at 19:15, Jas10 said:

I think there was one comment from someone earlier that said one day he could be as good as Delph or something like that, seemed ridiculous to me. He’s already miles better and better or more talented/skilled than any other English midfielder, imo at least. Not his fault that he hasn’t got abundant PL game time or experience, not his fault that we were shit. I’m just glad he has stayed loyal to us and he deserves our admiration & affection. 

He’s a unique talent, especially for a British player. He’s a gem.

Totally agree the only players from Britain I would take over Grealish from the last decade are sterling and bale and I wouldn't take bale at this point in his career. 

11 minutes ago, useless said:

Can't write Norwich off after one game, if so not really sure what that says for our chances when they finished eighteen points above us last season.

They finished 18 points above us so 6 wins. How many games did we have Steve Bruce? How many games was Grealish out? 

On 06/08/2019 at 00:45, Monsieur Hazdazler said:

Wolves are a great example of the idea of a 20 goal a season striker for any clubs aside from the top 4-6 is kinda irrelevant. The team needs to score enough goals, if we do that from all areas of the pitch rather than mainly one source, then that's fine.

Wolves only scored 47 goals last year and came 7th. If Grealish gets 6-8, mcginn 8-10, el ghazi 5-10, mings 2-5, hourihane 2-5, wesley 8-12, kodjia 6-10, Hassan 5-10, jota 5-10 and Guilbert, Luiz, nakamba, Engels and targett chip in with a few we should be fine.

I've looked at the last few years and if you score over 40 goals you are almost always safe. 

We need to come up with a song about our magnificent window including all 12 signings, giving Jack a payrise, extending mcginn and getting rid of unnecessary players. 

I hope we do sign another player. As others have mentioned we are quite light up front and on the wings. Hopefully Smith saying that is either a negotiation tactic or just villa simply not wanting to get our hopes up.

If necessary we may have to look at the free agent market and try and low-ball sturridge if possible. I really don't like him and he probably expects 60 grand a week but if we could try and Convince him to take a 'hometown' discount if you will and get it down to under 20 he could be a good signing maybe have a hefty appearances and goal scoring bonus. Maybe 20 appearances and 5 goals gets him half a million. (Equivalent to 10k per week) 

El Ghazi. I think he had the highest potential aside from Luiz and I'm not certain how long we will keep Luiz. I think if el ghazi was more aggressive in taking shots on he could score 10+ goals this season. Whenever he shoots from outside the box I think it is going in and if it doesn't that keeper has had to parry it back into the danger zone.

I would also let him take free kicks when hourihane isn't playing as knuckle all free kicks are virtually impossible to save when done properly and I think el ghazi has the ability to do it. 

On 02/08/2019 at 17:29, MaVilla said:

why.

does he wear.

a BANDAGE.

on his hand.

ALL THE TIME!

 

does he think its cool?

Does he think its a fashion statement?

Does he not think he might look like a tool?

We should sack any player who wears a Michael Jackson bandage glove thing for.......any other reason than medical.

its something a 10 year old might do cus it looks "dope", something they grow out of at 14 when their mates start laughing at them.

 

 

(redacted if its something medical, sustained if its as above)........

He broke his hand I think. He chooses to keep wearing it either because it is a lucky charm or 2 because he thinks it will help prevent a sprain/twist or break in the future. 

On 28/07/2019 at 19:35, TRO said:

haha,so right.....we are 1-1 and 15 minutes to go......and you have that bit of magic to come on,( in a team now that can use the ball) it gives everyone hope.......and them 3 magical points are not quite so far away.

I am not bigging Kodj up but like Lansbury maybe better in a passing team....it was difficult to get much out him in a predominately stop/start team.

Yeah me thinks kodj will pass the ball more this year. He has played for crap sides most of his career including us. Him playing in a better side should let him release the ball earlier. Every where else he has played. If he passed his team lost the ball. So he may as well have tried to create for himself

Just now, MaVilla said:

Hourihane over Mcginn?

Are you high friend?

Only because Luiz is wins as many free kicks as mcginn and is a better defensive midfielder than mcginn/hourihane. Against a top team we may need a brilliant free kick taker as shown against Leipzig. If benrahma can fill this role then excellent but if he can't then I personally don't see much other option than starting hourihane.

Hourihane is brilliant playing further forward where he can get in better positions to play the final ball or shoot himself. When he plays dm I think hourihane gets in his own head because he thinks if he loses the ball then the opposition will be through on goal.

Also imagine playing a fresh mcginn in the last 30 minutes of a game that would be brutal on a team which has a full press as they can no longer rush mcginn and he will be popping up everywhere. 

2 hours ago, Dave-R said:

Did feel he was abit ineffective during the game, Trez changed the game I felt, he seemed to be able to pick out and pass through those gaps that Ghazi couldn't seem to find.

El ghazi couldn't find many gaps because there weren't realy any when he was playing. Leipzig were doing a full team press for most of the game. El ghazi started playing a lot better once they stopped and after he got injured Hassan came on and took advantage of a tired team no longer able to full implement their defensive scheme. 

40 minutes ago, av1 said:

It looked like a horrible tackle and the fact you could hear him still screaming for a good minute or so was worrying, that said it always offers a bit of optimism when players walk off the pitch rather than leaving on a stretcher. 

Not to ruin your hope or whatever. Kevin Durant tore his achilles and walked off of the basketball court. Which is arguably the most serious Injury you can get. 

12 minutes ago, KMitch said:

WhoScored rated him as the 12th' overall best player in the Championship last season, just ahead of McGinn, who was 13th.  4th overall Winger behind Buendia, Lolley, & Hernandez.  

Yeah it looked like he scored a few from set pieces. Hopefully he is good enough where we don't have to at hourihane purely for it. Once we have Luiz against a team like City or Liverpool I would play hourihane over mcginn because I think we will only score from free kicks but if benrahma is good enough we could keep mcginn on and win about 20 free kicks a game. 

7 hours ago, dubbs said:

True but there is nobody at the club who can currently hold a candle to God.  Not saying they won't in time but for now....

Have you seen mings's body

6 minutes ago, dubbs said:

Surely you mean McGrath.....

Look there can be multiple gods. McGrath has just passed on the mantle....

Needs to start with M though. 

On 30/07/2019 at 17:18, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Couple of points to note - Transfermarkt is awful for any kind of statistical analysis and throughout his interview he talked about bringing the ball out from the back, controlling the flow of the game and shouting instructions to the midfield in front of him. It could be an elaborate ruse I guess, but he is under the impression this is to be his primary position. 

He also spoke a lot about god. I mean a lot. 

I mean if your coming to villa you can't bust ignore mings.