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TomC

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Everything posted by TomC

  1. TomC
    I'd rather have him further forward, but I thought McGinn played well enough in the double pivot today. Tim brought some energy when he came in and did some good things, but he also looked like he was making the young player's mistake of trying too hard. This sort of cameo is probably what he needs until he settles down a bit.
  2. TomC
    Ollie has hit his peak and is a wonderful player now. Before this year, I was never quite sold on him...I liked his pressing, I liked the positions he got into, but he had a tendency to try to drive the ball too much, often shooting right at the keeper. His first goal today showed how much he has matured...he just calmly passed the ball into the net with perfect accuracy.
  3. TomC
    That might be a good explanation, though the offside would have been the linesman's fault, not the ref's.
  4. TomC
    I agree that the ref was pretty bad today, but the idea that there's some sort of conspiracy against us is ridiculous. Fulham probably had more complaints than we did. Watkins penalty? Well, then give two against Pau in the first half at our end. Offside on the Moreno goal? Probably wrong, but it was close. Offset that with the Doug back pass to Emi...you can argue that he didn't deliberately kick it to him, but that's a borderline one our way. How about the clear corner off Cash at our end that they gave us a goal kick instead? Never explain something with a conspiracy when you can explain it with basic incompetency.
  5. TomC
    Had to give MOTM to Watkins, but Pau was a close runner up...without him, you have to wonder if we would have had all the scoring chances that we did.
  6. TomC
    The same way the ref didn't give a couple pens against Pau in the first half.
  7. TomC
    Lenglet shouldn't have checked his run. Obviously no guarantee Emi was going to collect.
  8. TomC
    Tielemans through ball masterclass.
  9. TomC
    I don't get that one. Moreno looked even with the line in that screenshot.
  10. TomC
    It took only about 5 minutes for it to be obvious to me how much we've missed Pau.
  11. TomC
    This... We've had some incredibly bad luck with long-term injuries this year, but midfield is one place we should be able to make do. McGinn is more valuable in attacking midfield than in the double pivot, but he can do the double pivot. Tim may get his chance. JJ and Tielemans, or Rogers and Tielemans, can hold down the attacking midfield slots. None of them are as good of ball-winners as Kamara, but the situation is not hopeless. I remain more worried about our defence.
  12. TomC
    Having grown up with ice hockey, I'm open to the idea. I do agree with those who question how well it will work with a running clock. Maybe it should be clocked only for time the ball is in play. Refs are very hesitant to pull out that red card, especially early in the match. They will be less hesitant to send someone off for 10 minutes.
  13. TomC

    Emiliano Martínez

    TomC replied to hippo's topic in Villa Talk

    It may be the best free kick I've seen this season and he still got his fingertips to the ball. I can't criticize his positioning.
  14. TomC
    Before anyone accuses me of wearing rose-coloured glasses, let me say...Chelsea were the better team and deserved to win. That said, I don't think that the match was as bad as the scoreline indicates. Gallagher's opener was a perfect finish with three defenders on him, and the free kick was also perfect (a few inches to the right and Emi makes a world-class save). You won't see two strikes of that quality in a match very often. That said, the middle goal was atrocious defending from Diego. And they got two perfect strikes in part because we gave them so many chances. We do miss Konsa and Pau (and Mings). Even if we had held them to one goal, the staleness in our attack may worry me even more. The first 10 minutes and last 10 minutes were OK, but the rest of the match, whenever we had the ball, we either gave it away with poor passes or couldn't find our way through. I think that our buildup has become too predictable. So, in my view, it was like the 0-0 draw, a mediocre match between two currently mediocre teams, punctuated by two moments of magic for Chelsea, who were otherwise just slightly less mediocre than we were. If I can take away one positive, maybe our goal will help Diaby get his confidence back.
  15. TomC
    To me, this may be the biggest match of the year so far... Let's assume City, Liverpool, and Arsenal have three CL spaces wrapped up. If we beat Man U, we're 11 ahead of them and it's probably just a two team race between us and Spurs for the 4th spot. (Assuming England gets just 4.) Given that Spurs tend to be Spurs-y, I like our chances. On the other hand, if we lose to Man U, we're only 5 ahead of them and we're in a 3 team race.
  16. TomC

    Emiliano Martínez

    TomC replied to hippo's topic in Villa Talk

    Even among semi-recent players, I can't put him ahead of McGrath. Yes, Emi won the WC, but he played for a country capable of winning the WC. McGrath led an Irish squad to the WC quarterfinals, which was pretty remarkable for a country of its size and football history, and like Emi was in the discussion for best in the world at his position. Not to mention he won two trophies at Villa. Let's not leave Billy Walker, Pongo Waring, and other old-timers out of the conversation either. Will Emi be top 10 or maybe even top 5 in the club's history when all is said and done? Yes. But let's avoid recency bias.
  17. TomC
    Normal (Unai) service has resumed. I hope that all the pessimists can take some heart from this. This is not "same old Villa." After the first half, it was close between Ollie and Doug for MOTM, but Ollie stayed on second half, got another assist, and cleared a ball off the line, so I have to give it to him. Bailey could also have been in the conversation. That said, as Doug goes, so goes the team. He made the first two goals and, after a mediocre stretch, was back to his best today. It was promising.
  18. TomC

    Unai Emery

    TomC replied to PeterSw's topic in Villa Talk

    Priorities are probably decided higher up...like by NSWE themselves.
  19. TomC
    The title is gone. CL? Look at the table. City, Liverpool, and Arsenal will all make it. Long gap from us and Spurs to West Ham. We have plenty of time to recover and qualify for the CL, especially when the competition is Spurs, who are know to be...Spurs-y.
  20. TomC
    I hope that people give him time. Playing for Unai seems to be a little like playing for Guardiola...it takes some players a while to learn the system and adjust.
  21. TomC
    He was missed more this match than in others. We needed his passing to help break the press.
  22. TomC
    We couldn't solve Chelsea's press in the first half and badly missed Pau. The second half was brighter. In Unai we trust, as always. A replay is not what we need when everyone is fatigued already. I would have rather have had the tie decided tonight one way or the other. Emi has to be MOTM, but Kamara was a close second.
  23. TomC
    It’s true that we haven’t played well in any match recently. However, this match is different. Most teams have backed off the high press against us recently and played the low block. Breaking the low block has been a problem for a long time. In this match, Chelsea are pressing high and doing it to perfection. Breaking the press is not usually a problem. Everyone who has pointed out Pau’s absence is right.
  24. TomC
    I'm sure you're not the only one around here who would like two new RBs, but first you have to find one. We may not even find one until the summer. Two aren't happening anytime soon. I would maintain that Cash is still capable as cover.
  25. TomC
    So essentially, you're saying we should sign two RBs.
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