Greenfly

1 minute ago, Xela said:

Now starting his 8th season with us

31 games played 

That seems to be a common situation for a lot of keepers. Look at Martinez, for example.

It's there a more competitive position in football? It's the one position where versatility is irrelevant, and there's usually several people vying for one single spot.

9 minutes ago, striker said:

Wesley is injured and Traore is a winger. That cuts your options by half.

Traore is actually a pretty adept centre forward. Most of his goals for Lyon came in that position. Much like Watkins, he's capable of rotating his position and he brings something different depending on where he plays.

This is the sort of player Smith seems to want. The question is, can Edouard do the same or is he more rigid?

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

patience is a virtue.

I'd like to clarify that I'm not implying he's crap. We just definitely made the right choice.

1 hour ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Personally I would get a strong striker on early. I'd increase the tempo a lot. Playing wide is fine, but pinging crosses into the box isn't the way to go when they are clearly better in the air. You need to up the tempo and be patient. Get them tired. 

Letting them getting breaks by clearing or taking down crosses just gives them the advantage of pushing their team out, catching breaks, running down time, reorganising and so much more. 

I'm baffled anyone can be happy with how we perform against 10 men. My mate tends to be rather objective about Villa with no interests one way or another and he said we looked 'clueless with advantage'. Sums it up. We don't look drilled in how to handle an advantage at all. 

This is the problem though. They weren't going to move; they all know their role when it comes to defence, and they were more than happy to let us come forward.

Howwere we meant to break them down? They had enough height and bodies in the box to be first to any cross and they left no space between their lines for us to move the ball through. All we could feasibly do was shoot from range, which is likely exactly what they wanted us to do.

Also, I doubt anyone is happy with the performance per se, but we won despite not playing a great game. That's all that matters in the end.

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

He doesn't trust his subs.

That would be my guess.

You're probably right. I don't see any impact players on that bench at the moment. Our starting 11 is always pretty easy to guess too.

4 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Plus keeping on topic there is goalie is crap and ours is class. 

Weren't we in for Ramsdale at one point? Can you even imagine?

5 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Both kicking and throwing. There was one where he overarm hurled a MAHOOSIVE throw out to (I think) Trez on the right flank, almost at the halfway line - right to his feet. 

I audibly gasped at that throw. I can't even kick a ball that far.

Not that that's saying much, but still. I was impressed.

5 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

It's pretty common tactics to utilize the entire pitch, increase movement offball and tire the opponent.

It looked to me like that was the plan. It's hard to do that though when the opponent is holding such a rigid shape.

1 hour ago, Taxahunter said:

That is a bit wierd as they, for 90% of the games, one is playing in the right side and the other on the left

See? That's how good his work ethic is. He does whatever the hell he wants.

35 minutes ago, Andy81 said:

Yeah City were scary first half.  We probably should have scored more than one really, but we couldn't live with them.

Adama was bloody awful too defensively.  Constantly putting us under pressure.

Still a decent start, and don't worry, I'm minding that gap  

I was surprised to see him playing in defence. Does he do that often? It seems like a waste of his talents.

8 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

He is Romero. Full name Damián Emiliano Martínez Romero

Someone on here reasonably assumed all the ITKs that said we were in for Romero may have stemmed from this

That's his full name? I was wondering why Google had him listed as D. Martinez. I thought they'd done him dirty.

I love these guys.

I don't want Fred to leave. I'll sulk all day if he does.

9 hours ago, Xela said:

5 page match thread on their forum. Usual stuff... "vile are spawny" etc 

They break yer 'eart Tom, they always do.

I've read that thread. They're so bitter, and for no reason too. It's like they have to actively search for reasons to hate us.

I don't think he had a bad game today. He wasn't brilliant, but he wasn't bad by any means. Unless I missed something?

Just now, deeps said:

His hold up play is the best we have. Fella is never going to be a go getting player but he has a role in this team IMO. He was very good when he came on. Even SU’s big lads bounced off him. 
 

Tough call to loan him out or not 

I wouldn't loan him out. Even if he's not getting goals, he provides far too much in other ways. We'd regret it.

Just now, VillaChris said:

Great penalty save.

Comfortable claiming of crosses second half.

Not really sure what our defenders were actually doing heading it out for a few corners when he was clearly shouting at them to leave it. Can't be a communication issue as he speaks fantastic English.

They're probably not used to having a keeper they can trust in those situations.

A good debut, I think. He looked defensively sound when he needed to be, and good going forward.

Class. Class, class, class. What else can I say?

I think I'm going to like him very much.

He showed his versatility today. Seeing him move to the wing to make room for Davis and allow Grealish to move into the middle was encouraging. He struggled to find space, but then there wasn't ever going to be any.

That was always going to be difficult. Free teams defend as astutely as Sheffield, and even they went down they were always going to park the bus. A win's a win.

I bet Traore watched that and decided he could definitely add something going forward, though.

Also, Martinez is class, pure and simple.

I'm sure Cash was signed less as a direct replacement for Guilbert or whatever and more because he is versatile and can cover on the wing, as well as a potentially high ceiling. That versatility is prevalent in every signing and rumour so far other than Martinez, for obvious reasons.

I've never put any serious stock into this rumour. I'm yet to see any legitimate link with any substance. Besides, as has been stated numerous times, it always seemed like either him or Watkins, not both.

4 hours ago, Genie said:

Fun and games in their game at Swansea

 

Unpopular opinion: there's nothing funny about this. This sort of behaviour cannot be condoned, no matter who it happens to. There's no place for it in football.