FLVillan

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... 

7 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

But that's the thing, unless it's a foul they'll never judge that as interfering

The "block" by the dippers midfielder in the league cup final wan't be a foul either but that was chalked off because he impeded a defender from an offside position....

1 hour ago, The_Steve said:

Chong was offside and interfering with play for the second goal also. Dived all game too. So glad to see the back of him and 3 points. 

Glad I'm not the only one who saw that.  EXACTLY the same as the situation in the league cup final when the dippers first goal was chalked off.  Player in an offside position impedes a defender.  Offside all day. 

Rest In Peace Big Man.

Will never forget the 1977 League Cup final marathon, being behind the goal at Old Trafford when he thumped one in from what seemed like the halfway line and went on to lift the trophy as our captain.  The team he captained was the foundation being set for the glory days just four years later.

Holte Ender in the Sky. 

11 minutes ago, paul514 said:

If Tim is a DM then he must get a run of games in Kamala’s role. Sink or swim

Vice President?  Couldn't be any worse....    

7 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

What? Macphee knew Onana would try and steal a few yards? He ain't a wizard.

He wouldn't "know" that Onana would do that specifically, but it's clear that they've done the research that has seen Onana be highly affected/distracted by players around him - it happened away at Manure too and actually indirectly led to our first goal.

11 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Kamala may give the ball away occasionally, but he's quality. We'll miss him immensely.

You're wrong - she never gives balls away.... 

3 hours ago, Mr_Dogg said:

Cruciate ligament injuries do not prevent walking, so I wouldn't read too much into it.

Yes.  When I tore my ACL I was up walking after a few minutes and actually tried to play on afterwards.  Got this nasty, horrible pain initially that was unlike anything I'd ever had, but then once that subsided I was walking and moving quite comfortably. The ACL is responsible for stability in the knee when pivoting.  I did mine at age 36 and the surgeon actually gave me the option of doing nothing and living without the repair - he said it would have stopped me playing most sports though, so I got the surgery.  Surgery was relatively straightforward.  Long and often painful rehab was the worst part, you basically have to rebuild your leg muscles, especially the quad.  

4 hours ago, supermon said:

I think the Ezri injury had pissed him off

Nah, I think the stupid journo who asked him about magic wands REALLY pissed him off.  I loved it when he slammed the pen down..... and gave the journo a five-minute version of shut the f**k up, you pillock." 

MY MANAGER!!! 

Just watched Unai's press conference.  Bad news on Konsa, but his response to the stupid "if you had a magic wand" question was absolutely brilliant.  In a 4 minute response he essentially told the reporter to shut the f up.  Love it Unai!