TomC

3 minutes ago, Reivax_Villa said:

Competition over

NOT. 110 minutes to go, and we won't be as unlucky next week.

2 minutes ago, AshVilla said:

We still need to win at least one more game this season for 4th imo.

Can you see us beating Brighton away this weekend with only 3 days rest if we play like this?

The way Brighton have been playing recently, yes. Last 5 league results draw, loss, draw, loss, loss.

1 minute ago, AXD said:

I would like a similar DM

Done.

1 minute ago, srsmithusa said:

umm, what US feed is that?

Can't comment in the thread because of the rules but sending you a direct message.

4 minutes ago, Troglodyte said:

Not been following the thread, but would I get crucified if I said that objectively I think the ref has been quite strong?

I thought has good until the denied penalty. That was clear as day.

4 minutes ago, AshVilla said:

Luiz is so shit.

No he's not...

3 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Luiz has no fuel in his tank

This is closer to the truth. Not to mention that he plays better with Kamara next to him.

13 hours ago, CVByrne said:

I think Buendia is more the 10 / second striker role than midfield. We are short a CM that's for sure. I think LM is covered by Rogers / JJ as it stands. 

Good point...he can play both roles though...

Either way, we agree that we're short a DM.

Ball don't lie

2 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

McGinn is utterly ineffective in a deep midfield role just as Diaby is wherever it is he is meant to be playing

Doug and McGinn in the double pivot didn't work under Deano. They didn't work as part of a 3 under Gerrard. They still don't work in a double pivot under Unai.

Unfortunately, we don't have much of a choice with the injuries right now. Playing Tim would bring its own risks.

It's a 180 minute match. Let's not panic yet.

Just now, Awol said:

No Pau was a bad call. Hope he’s got the bollocks to change it 

Agreed. The threat of Pau dribbling out makes would draw someone from the press and open up one of the passing options that they're cutting off.

They know that our back line likes to play it out to either a midfielder or Watkins with his back to goal who then plays it off to the wing. They're cutting off the passes to the wings. That's how we lost the ball.

This is reminding me a lot of the Chelsea match...we look dangerous with the ball but they've had most of it.

1 minute ago, allani said:

WTF are the officials playing at.  Italian TV still at a complete loss as to how our goal was disallowed and theirs was allowed.

Hate to say it, but both were the right decision.

Certainly not offside. Didn’t look for a shirt pull. 

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.

Good article in the Athletic today for those who have subscriptions...

https://theathletic.com/5393658/2024/05/01/unai-emery-douglas-luiz-aston-villa/

Quote

The Brazil midfielder is already staring back at him. The pair share a frank relationship, a testament to how highly Emery rates Douglas Luiz and, as Villa’s head coach often puts it, how “demanding” he is with him.

The 25-year-old has shouldered the burden of being Emery’s go-to man, caught in the crossfire of intensive, labour-exhaustive demands on the pitch. When Villa are not pursuing the state of control Emery usually craves, he will share forthright views with the man in the middle. 

With Douglas Luiz’s form tailing off lately, Emery has sought to maintain standards. The midfielder has been substituted in two of the last three league games, as many as the previous 18 before that.

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...

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.

11 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

We've played some good sides off the park this season, but last night, we barely played at all - we got our plan wrong, our shape and balance wrong and our distances wrong and then we passed the ball so badly that we gave Chelsea complete control of the game. 

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.

10 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

 

 

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.

9 hours ago, Sulberto21 said:

If we secure top 4 and they’re both registered I’d love to see both for a few seconds regardless of scoreline against Liverpool. 

Especially Buendia. At least Mings played one game this season.

Just now, Kiwivillan said:

4 wins 3 draws 2 losses

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.

3 minutes ago, Nigel said:

Tielemans is great, bit he's not a dominant midfielder...we need a beast, someone who probably fights bears on his off days.

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.

Just now, Nigel said:

I'd say we need a strong dominant centre midfielder 

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.