TomC
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Everything posted by TomC
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This is reminding me a lot of the Chelsea match...we look dangerous with the ball but they've had most of it.
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Hate to say it, but both were the right decision.
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Certainly not offside. Didn’t look for a shirt pull.
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I can't see selling him unless we've got someone else coming in. We've got 8 established first team midfielders (JJ, McGinn, Doug, Buendia, Zaniolo, Kamara, Tielemans, Rogers) and that really isn't enough, as can be seen by the fact that 5 of them are currently hurt, leaving us at 3. If we don't buy/extend Zaniolo, that already puts us at 7, and selling JJ would put as at 6. Then you have to consider that Kamara probably won't be ready until at least October/November and Buendia may not be 100% yet in August. We're going to be very thin if we sell.
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Good article in the Athletic today for those who have subscriptions... https://theathletic.com/5393658/2024/05/01/unai-emery-douglas-luiz-aston-villa/
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We have only three senior midfielders healthy: McGinn, Doug, Rogers. We're missing Buendia, JJ, Kamara, Tielemans, Zaniolo. The first three are definitely gone for the season. We don't know how long the latter two are out. Assuming none of the 5 are ready for the next few matches, what do you do? Play both Bailey and Diaby? That got us overrun in midfield against Chelsea. Yes, I know, Unai has played Bailey in midfield in the 4-4-2 many times this season, but almost always with McGinn or Tielemans as the second "forward," so you still had a 4th midfielder on the pitch who could move back if needed. Start Tim? High stakes point in the season to rely on a youngster. I suppose you have to play both Bailey and Diaby and somehow adjust tactically...
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After this weekend's fixtures, Olympiakos is still embroiled in a four-way title race with 2 or 3 matches left for each team. They're in 4th, 5 points off the lead, but they control their own destiny because they play all three teams ahead of them and have a game in hand on two of them. However, that probably will not be much of a distraction for them. Next weekend is an off week the entire Greek league because of Greek Orthodox Easter, so they have no more league matches until after both legs against us. They can go all-out against us on Thursday and still be well-rested for the following Thursday.
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It wasn't always the passes themselves. Often it was awful first touches. I've seen individual players have games where their first touch is off, but you'd swear that an infectious disease called firsttouchitis was afflicting almost the whole team.
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Note that the list has five midfielders on it. There's a reason we were stuck playing a forward in midfield for most of the match.
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Especially Buendia. At least Mings played one game this season.
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I'm not saying Doug has been as bad as some around here have been saying, but he hasn't been at the level he was earlier this season, either.
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Agreed. I was referring to Kamara. We need another Kamara-type to get us through to October. I don't think it's any coincidence that Doug's form has dipped without Kamara.
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We have one but he's out, probably at least until October. We need a backup. After Tielemans got hurt today, we were back to Doug and McGinn in the double pivot, which rarely works well.
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I agree with you. I was just explaining why he made the mistake; it was a mistake.
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Palmer was next to him and made the slightest of feints that made him worry that Gallagher would play the ball through to him behind Tim, so Tim hesitated. However, Pau would have had Palmer easily. Tim was playing midfield; he's got to let his backline worry about this. It was a definite mistake by a young player not fully used to the system.
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Can't agree. He was left out to dry by his defenders on both goals and he made two excellent saves to preserve the victory. He gave the ball away once, but on the whole he's gotten much better on the ball.
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We looked dangerous with the ball, but we hardly had the ball because we got absolutely dominated in midfield. This is the sort of match where we really missed Kamara, and losing Tielemans made things worse because we had only 3 true midfielders on the pitch. All things considered, I'm happy to escape with the draw. Can't blame Olsen for either goal. First was an awful giveaway; on the second Tim bought Palmer's decoy run and backed off Gallagher. I thought Olsen played pretty well and liked the "world's #2" chant from the Holte End.
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He's walking off on his own. Can't be too bad.
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Possession 71-29 them. Wow.
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We look hungry...contesting every ball. I love it.
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Scary to think he's even ahead of George Ramsay... If he gets half of Ramsay's hardware haul, we're all going to be very happy.
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I can think of several reasons that a manager would leave. Let's analyze regarding Unai... 1. More money: Certainly other clubs have more revenue and can afford to pay him more per year. However, I think our owners know what we have and will come up with the money to keep him, even if it means spending less on players. Also, you have to think of money over a career, not just money per year, which brings me to the next point... 2. Stability of job: Clubs like Bayern, Barcelona, and Real Madrid tend to chew up managers and spit them out quickly. Unai has already been through that with Arsenal and PSG. He could make more money at Villa because he will likely last longer at Villa. 3. Resources: No dispute here...other clubs can spend more money on players for him. 4. Control: I doubt that any big club is going to give him the kind of control he has now. Certainly not Barcelona or Bayern or Real Madrid. So, on the whole? I see him staying.
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I watched the extra time between Olympiakos and Fenerbahce and wasn't much impressed by either. Olympiakos is the dominant power in Greek football (47 league titles all time compared to 40 for everyone else combined), but after a run of 19 titles in 21 years, they've won "only" 3 of the last 6. They are currently 4th in a close 4-way title race. In short, they've regressed to the level of the rest of Greek football. I'm not saying that it will be easy, but a 4th place Premier League team should not lose to them over two legs.
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True, though Mings is a better player than Cash...
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My opinion on Cash has been pretty consistent. He's a solid player who does a lot of good things, but he has his flaws. If we find the right player, upgrades are out there.
