FLVillan

I remember a comment from McGinn about Emery, saying that if players cannot/will not perform, Unai will move them along.  Tim must be seen as one who is at least applying himself in training and showing signs that he has the ability.  Otherwise, he surely would have been given the green light to move on in January rather than Dendonker...

On 09/05/2024 at 09:09, OutByEaster? said:

Really good news in the interview to see that the return to an in-house model for our retailing is confirmed.

A Villa shop operated by Aston Villa again instead of Fanatics - Villa products on sale in sports shops around the world rather than restricted to Fanatics partners and the Fanatics website.

The chance re-establish the link between being a Villa fan and the store - perhaps getting some use out of those Pride Reward Points by being able to link them to products we sell, or even, dare we dream, the return of the season ticket holder discount.

A whole world of possibility has reopened!

 

Being an exiled fan, any move away from Fanatics would be a positive move.  Up until the Fanatics contract started I had collected every single home shirt from 1980 onwards.  I moved to states in 1993 and continued getting gear from the Villa mail-order.  After a couple of horrible experiences with Fanatics about ten years ago I just stopped buying.  The only time I've bought anything in the past ten years was on my occasional visits to Villa Park.  They are a terrible company - even on their home turf in the US they are a nightmare when you try to get NFL etc gear from them. 

11 minutes ago, VillaAlex said:

Tiredness is the whole reason those things can suffer. Not sure how that can't be understood. If your legs are on fire, your muscles aren't working you are going to struggle to do the most basic things well in any match let alone a European semi final.

Agreed.  It's well documented that the first thing to be affected by tiredness is speed of brain function.  That is scientific fact. 

A few others have mentioned this..... that the disallowed goal and non-penalty award in the first leg were key moments.  I agree 100%.  If we had got an early goal in the first leg (which we did according to everyone except the ref who saw a player fall over and blew his whistle) it would have completely changed the complexion of the entire tie.  Olympiakos, from a trailing position would have been forced to come out and attack at some stage over the two legs, and we all know what this Villa team can and will do to any team who does that. 

Anyone who suggests that our injuries aren't an excuse/reason is fooling themselves.  The only difference between Aston Villa and all of the other clubs in the premier league is that our manager has class and refuses to berate officials or blame injuries.  

31 minutes ago, Alakagom said:

People were clowning Birmigham owner but Edens came with a recent clanger in that NYT article

“Our fans are like, ‘We like tradition,’” Edens said. “And I tell them: ‘No, you don’t. You think you do, but you don’t.’ I mean, who doesn’t like a big-screen TV with plenty of food and beer?” Then he spread his arms wide and answered his own question: “Nobody.”

Nothing more "clowning" than anything published by the NYT.... 

17 hours ago, punkiller1981 said:

Not being a medical man can you have different levels of ACL injury. Buendia and mings are missing the whole season as others have mentioned timber is missing the whole season so it feels unlikely he would be back by November if his injury is as bad as those others

Yes, there are different types of ACL injury.  I did mine at 32 years old and was back full training at about 8 months, but not really fully match fit until 12 months.  Even then it was probably another six months before I felt 100%.  

There are also other factors such as meniscus damage etc that can increase severity of the injury....  The biggest issue is not the repair(s) healing time, but rebuilding the muscle and then re-training said muscle fibers for range of motion, elasticity etc.  With the level these pros are at, it's a lot of work to get back to the same performance level in that leg...

5 hours ago, jimmygreaves said:

Moyes arguably the most successful manager in their history. Binned off. Mental.

Their fans have been historically delusional dating all the way back to the 1960s.  Always talking about the "West Ham way" and demanding stylish football.  Their heroes are players like Brooking, Devonshire, DiCanio - flair players who've actually won very little but produce "moments of magic" (maybe Stevie G would be a good fit for them?).  Brooking and Devonshire used to keep Mortimer and Cowans out of the England team - a period when England won the sum total of sweet fa, and failed to even qualify for major tournaments. 

They sacked Allardyce after he got them up and into European contention and are now doing the same with Moyes after he won a European trophy and solidified them as a premier league team.

 They are the 4th/5th biggest club in.....London.  They make Spuds look like perennial world-beaters. 

When was the last time they won a trophy of any note before Moyes?  I think they won the FA Cup in the 80's maybe?  Not sure...

13 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Emery straight down the tunnel. I'm with him, pressure too much maybe.

he always goes straight down, handshake with the other manager and off he goes - win, lose or draw

Can anyone enlighten me on why Bailey's goal was disallowed?  

The game plan for today was so obvious, and was working perfectly until Luiz and then Tim gifted them a pair of goals after we had two key players go off due to injury.  He must have been fuming at Luiz especially (Tim less experienced so he will learn to close players down).

There are two overwhelming traits that Emery has, that no other manager has had at Villa for many years.  

1. He has the often-quoted "Plan B" (and a Plan C, D. E etc).  

2.  He doesn't play favorites - against Lille McGinn was awful, so he hooked him.  Today against Chelsea, Luiz was awful, and he got the hook.  And the fact that he will sub a sub shows he's ruthless in his pursuit of success.  Bailey, Rogers and now Diaby have all been subbed after coming on as a sub.  Man of the match (Carlos) hasn't played since the match where he was so good at Arsenal.

17 hours ago, tinker said:

It will change once one of the leading pundits starts to take notice the rest will follow, just need to finish the season giving our best shot. Still not over by a long way as we all know anyone can beat anyone in this fantastic league (despite manky City cheating) 

Honestly would love to agree with you here, but I'll tell you from experience, the media won't change.  1981 was all about Bobby Robson's Ipswich blowing it and how we were lucky with injuries and 1982 was seen as a shock result against the star-studded Bayern..... Nowadays it's worse than then due to the Sky money and corrupt FFP rules... 

Some brilliant away support, as always, but this song literally had me rolling.....

"He left cause you're , he left cause you're , Emi Martinez, he left cause you're "

1 hour ago, claretman said:

One of the greatest away performances in recent years IMO.

My biggest annoyance was with myself as I presumed Watkins would be offside so didn't celebrate initially.

#metoo 

13 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

It was a masterstroke in the first half when Brentford were willing to sit back.

It was very clear as soon as the first goal from Brentford came in that he, Konsa, and Bailey were being targeted.

Continually - when asked to play a lot out of possession - we have been overrun with Tielemans in the middle.

Playing him deeper reminds me of when Dean Smith used to play Hourihane in that role at home, then he would play Whelan away.  More ability to pick a pass from deep when we're on the front foot at home but a liability defensively when we're under pressure.  I think if we'd been away today it would have been McGinn or Tim alongside Luiz.  Not only are we missing the mobility and presence of Kamara, but also his instinctive tracking back into our own box to support the centre backs.... When the crosses came in for both Brentford's second and third goals it was 2v2, 1v1 with no tracking midfielders in sight.  Kamara would have been in there.  Tielemans simply doesn't have that mindset or instinct.  

The other part of our midfield that suffered today was no pressure on the ball in the wide areas, and I believe that's why Rogers was the first to be substituted.  Many don't see what Ramsey brings defensively, but so many times today in the second half horror-spell, Brentford players were picking passes at will to play in behind our defence.  

I think the more that we see other clubs moving to shiny new stadiums, the easier it has become for us Villans to accept it may be inevitable for us also.  Lerner was all about preserving and improving Villa Park as he was a bit of history buff, but NSWE have remained relatively quiet on the issue.  In recent times we've seen Arsenal, Spuds, Citeh and Everton make the move, with Southampton, Leicester, Sunderland, Brighton and even little Walsall making moves before that.  I honestly think that if ManUre take the leap, then that will trickle down and see all of the big(ger) clubs following suit.

Personally, Villa Park for me is sacred ground, but if a new stadium is the way forward then I'd reluctantly go along with something new if it means us staying on an even keel....

17 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

I'm shocked Enck and Sorenson made the list.  I don't recall them being good (Sorenson obviously not bad), but maybe more to do with how the team around them was performing at the time.

Sorenson more of shock for how many games he played maintaining that level.

Emi did have a season with us fighting relegation so I'm sure his average has been getting continously better, and hopefully will continue to. 

I think context on how we play - Unai is about scoring goals and controlling possession and less obsessed with clean sheets.  

David James was excellent for us and probably had his best two seasons as a pro in his time at Villa.  Doesn't often get mentioned because he only stayed two seasons before Ellis did the deal for Schmeichel on his yacht. 

The majority of problems clubs like ours face is down to the farce that is FFP/PSR or whatever they've labeled it now.  It was the reason why Lerner pulled the plug, it's the reason Leicester weren't able to build on their league win in 2016 and sold their best players and why Everton are in deep  now.  What is the most galling is that the majority of the football-supporting public don't see it, or refuse to see it.  The media and the so-called "big six" have complete control and the media hate the fact that we are gate-crashing.  

If we do finish fourth or even fifth it will be a monumental achievement.  Then watch the media do everything they can to unsettle Emery by "linking" him to every single vacancy.

It's all very well saying we should have strengthened here and bought there, but simply put, the rules won't let us.  Nothing to do with how much money our owners have (Leicester's were minted too).  Our current midfield of McGinn, Kamara, Luiz and Tielemans cost less than ManUre's fourth choice centre back.  

Take a step back, look at the numbers and realize that we are punching so far above our weight...

1 hour ago, The_Steve said:

Thank god Ollie wasn’t injured despite the attempts of the Tottenham defence today. 

Am I the only one that thought the Van Der Ven challenge on Watkins in the first half was a blatant penalty and clear yellow card?  Yes, the side of his boot made very slight contact with the ball, but he absolutely smashed directly into Watkins, injuring him in the process. No VAR intervention and (of course) the commentators used the "he got the ball" excuse which has been dismissed time and again by the officials themselves. ie. just because you get the ball doesn't mean it's not a foul.   If that had happened to Salah or Son, that would have been a very different outcome imho...

40 minutes ago, kidlewis said:

First game this season I remember him having a shocker. He is usually an absolute rock at the back but he was completely off the pace today.

 

I don't think he necessarily had a shocker, but he was culpable on a few occasions and looked lost at times.  Mitigating factor for me would be that this may have been his first game (ever) at this level as part of a three, with the instruction to advance into midfield.  Hence the error for their second goal.  He's trained and played as right-sided centre back and as a right-back many times, but this was new to him.

I don't agree that playing with the 3/5 at the back was/is some kind of ultra-defensive tactic.  Spurs have, all season, pressed goal-kicks with a line of three players across the width of the box (thereby creating a 3v3 situation with the opposing 2cbs and gk).  Having the extra man in there allowed us a better chance of beating that press.  And it happened a few times early on in this match, to the point that they actually sat off us a few times later in the half, after we had played in behind them from two such moments.  It also gave more freedom to both Pau and Konsa to push into midfield, which Pau was doing more and more as the half wore on.

I believe that had Mings not had the season-ending injury we would have seen this way of playing far more often this season.

We/Unai are punching way above our weight by still being where we are with 10 games to go.  Bentancur, who comes off the bench for Spurs, cost more money than our entire midfield put together.  

16 hours ago, Ponky said:

One of the more concerning things for me was a few minutes after the Morris goal we almost conceded again from an almost identical set piece 

He was a good two yards offside on that one... never would have counted

22 hours ago, juanpablosaliceband said:

Definitely. I just saw the Villa TV clip of the Digne goal. Our commentator absolutely and utterly lost it. I’ve never heard him like that. That was huge. 

Our current commentator, despite being a million times better than the previous Jack Woodward, had a tendency to be a bit dull.  Sharing the booth with Sir Brian and Tayls the last few weeks has livened him up a bit... It's great to hear tbh.  It's our club channel, so why not give the big'un when we get a late winner... 

4 minutes ago, Follyfoot said:

Let’s put it right into perspective. Jammy win for us but Liverpool, they always seem to find a way. Make of that what you will

We could win ten consecutive league titles, half a dozen champions leagues on a shoestring budget and give all our prize money to Gary Lineker's charity of choice and still the bias will continue...