Jump to content
Euro 2024 Coverage ×
Just visiting?

TomC

Established Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,772

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by TomC

  1. TomC
    We can bring Cash, JJ, Moreno, Diaby, even Lenglet off our bench. No worries.
  2. TomC
    I'm too happy to analyze this one right now. The best Villa win of recent years. Sure, we've had some big wins, but they were upsets. This feels like we've arrived. Bailey MOTM by a whisker over Kamara. But everyone, everyone played well tonight.
  3. TomC
    Leon deserved that!
  4. TomC
    Right now we're dominating midfield. Kamara has been absolute class, helped by McGinn and others. Who's their ball winner without Rodri? Stones? He doesn't look fully fit and isn't a pure midfielder in the first place. I will be curious what tactical changes Guardiola makes to shore up midfield. He doesn't have a full slate of options. Might he give Phillips a chance? Bailey has also been outstanding. He and Kamara are leading candidates for MOTM. Can't say that anyone in the side is playing poorly.
  5. TomC
    The usual rule against City is, don't give the ball away cheaply because you won't get it back for a long time. We're taking risks, we're giving the ball away (sometimes cheaply), and it doesn't matter because we're winning it right back. Outstanding stuff.
  6. TomC
    Surprised to see them ahead in possession. We've certainly had more of it in dangerous positions.
  7. TomC
    This looks like a match between a couple top 4 sides should... ...and for a change, we're one of them.
  8. TomC
    I expect the exact opposite. Expect him to try to pin Stones and Lewis back and make them work since they're not operating in their usual roles. That means lots of balls to Tielemans and McGinn in advanced positions.
  9. TomC

    Clément Lenglet

    TomC replied to Tom13's topic in Villa Talk

    It's from the Birmingham Mail quoting Bild, take it with a grain of salt, but... https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/aston-villa-star-champions-league-28238025
  10. TomC
    Good post. It goes beyond decisionmaking with the ball, though...his off the ball running isn't very good, either. I'm beginning to wonder if he lacks the sort of intelligence that a player needs. I'm not ready to write him off yet, though.
  11. TomC
    With all due respect, this is much too harsh. I would agree that a title challenge requires winning games like today. Making the top 4 is not quite as difficult. We may not have wrestled victory from the jaws of defeat, but at least we wrestled a draw. If Duran hadn't hit the post, we might have had the victory. The Newcastle team that you claim is going to overlap us lost to Bournemouth 2-0.
  12. TomC
    I’ll take the point. A lot of things went wrong today: flat (McGinn) to downright awful (Zaniolo) performances; a ref who didn’t have the courage to send off Semenyo; and some bad luck (Duran post, Digne offside by milimetres). Instead of complaining about the bad, I’ll make a few other observations. Credit where credit is due. Whatever problems Bournemouth had earlier this season, they’re a solid side that should finish mid-table comfortably. They are well organized in back, press well, have some genuine attacking talent, and (although it took me 60 minutes to realize it) avoided our offside trap better than most of our opponents have. Speaking of being well organized in back, we still don’t break down the low block very well when playing from behind. Speaking of breaking down the low block, Diaby is a crucial player for us in that regard. He plays so well in tight spaces. I know that some around here don’t think that he’s been playing well lately, but he influences the game in non-obvious way sometimes. Diaby to Watkins was one of those moments of superior quality that bigger clubs used to do to us even when we had frustrated them for most of the match. Now we do it to others. Thank God we have the best goalkeeper in the world or this could have been worse.
  13. TomC
    This is my main problem with this referee. Most of his decisions have been OK. I understand that referees do not want to decide the match (I used to be one) but you can't lack the courage to send somebody off when they deserve it. He's Semenyo get away with two fouls that should have been second yellows. Once, maybe I can understand, but twice? He doesn't belong on the pitch.
  14. TomC
    The skill is there. Confidence or not, he has some serious flaws...he's a ball hog without much of an eye for a pass and his off the ball running is not very intelligent.
  15. TomC
    Prediction: Cash on for Diego at halftime.
  16. TomC
    It seems like a lot of the goals that we give up these days are gifts. The risk of playing around in back, I guess.
  17. TomC
    I'm going to be overly analytical because that's just how I am sometimes. I think that you have to read the question carefully. It doesn't say anything about future years. No trophies are guaranteed in future years no matter which choice you make, no trophies are excluded in future years no matter which choice you make. Therefore, I don't see this as primarily a delayed gratification problem. We're not talking about current gratification vs. bigger future gratification because the future reward is uncertain either way. I see it as gambling question: Would you rather have one certain trophy in hand plus some chance of winning more in the future, vs. CL qualification which might help us attract (or keep) an extra player or two that gives us a somewhat increased chance of winning in the future, but no trophy in hand? We haven't won the FA Cup since 1957. We haven't won anything since 1996. As others have pointed out, plenty of other clubs have qualified for the CL once or twice and failed to win anything; CL qualification only increases our chances in future years slightly. Therefore, I'd take the certain FA Cup over CL qualification. It means something to me. I think I'd take the CL qualification over the conference trophy not because the underlying logic is any different, but because that trophy doesn't mean as much to me...I would like to win it, of course, but it feels a little more like glorified second-rate pre-season competition. Winning the FA Cup where 8 or 9 quality PL teams are playing is a bigger accomplishment than winning the ECL where probably only Fiorentina is even a semi-glamorous name.
  18. TomC
    Do you mean on or off the pitch? Don't want to be anywhere near the stadium for that one.
  19. TomC
    We were already in the next round before our match kicked off. An inch away from winning the group.
  20. TomC
    Mission accomplished. As others have said, I like our chances of a draw against Zrinjski. Good to see Moreno and JJ back out there. Moreno grew into the match and was playing well in the second half. JJ didn't have as much time, but he'll get there. Diaby played well against a packed defense. Duran is still young but did some good things. Doug was Doug. Tielemans was better in the first half but can't really find any faults. Kamara, well, he had a boo boo. (Sorry.) Olsen's best performance for us?
  21. TomC
    One more goal and we win the group tonight...
  22. TomC
    I'm expecting more of the same second half. We've already advanced because even if we lose our today and against Zrinjski, and AZ beats Legia in their next match, we advance over AZ because of head-to-head matches. We do want first place in the group so we have an easier match in the knockout rounds, but we can get that with a draw and then beating the weaker Zrinjski side. On the other hand, if we lose today, then we're three points behind Legia and can't possibly catch them because even if we beat Zrinjski and Legia lose to a (presumably unmotivated) AZ, we'd miss out on first based on head-to-head record. We aren't going to take stupid risks. A draw for Legia means that AZ can't catch them. If they lose, they can't afford to lose against AZ. A draw is everything to them. So both sides have the incentive not to take any risk.
  23. TomC
    Kamara's gift changed everything. Now Legia can play cagey football for the draw, which suits them just fine. I understand that they're hard to break down, but I'd like to see us take a few more chances in attack. Make them actually defend, don't just let them occupy space well. Sooner or later, they'll make a mistake.
  24. TomC

    Youri Tielemans

    TomC replied to thejoker's topic in Villa Talk

    We've missed Buendia's ability to play the through ball. I will be happy if Tielemans plays them regularly. .
  25. TomC

    Youri Tielemans

    TomC replied to thejoker's topic in Villa Talk

    Now that we have a sophisticated tactician for a manager, I have to wonder whether players will take a while to settle and learn the system just like we often see at City.
×
×
  • Create New...
Â