DJBOB

I think we won’t actually go out of our way to sign an outright CDM. 
 
No doubt people will be unhappy, but I have a feeling Unai will target a ball playing CM who can be defensive at times over a defensive CDM. 

Textured lion for me. Hopefully can get some brand uniformity next season. 

The guy on the bench is always the solution. 
 
But Tim has looked tepid at best when playing. Maybe he is more of an 8 than a 6 but that Unai brought on Chambers, a guy he’s tried to sell twice, ahead of him says it all really. 

54 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

I'd have liked to have seen the change on the hour mark today. We showed a bit more intensity when Cash came on and actually had decent possession for a five minute spell so think that would've been a good time to put him on and release McGinn a bit more.

Not really sure what the allergic reaction to going 4-3-3 is when early part of the season we were constantly starting Cash as a right winger and that didn't really work. And three CBs has been up and down with results aswell.

Even when we have played different players, the system never changed except for that freakish Tottenham home game that was a disaster. 
 
Out of possession - 442 midblock, diamond midfield in a high press, 532 or 622 when defending leads

In possession - 4222 box midfield in the first phase, 343 or 3box3, when advancing up the pitch or in the final third

The names changed and players shifted around but the core of the system didn’t change. 
 
We saw what a disaster it was when Unai suddenly shifted to a 532 for Tottenham. Players didn’t know where others were, missed obvious runs and passes. The same would happen if suddenly switched to a 433. What’s our first phase build up? What’s our second and third? How do we defend OOP? And do this with everyone dead tired with a Thursday and Monday match. 
 
I don’t see it happening. 

4 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

4-2-3-1 is really hurting us though. We were basically sleep walking to a 1-0 defeat today with Brighton getting a lot of players in the central position and overloading. Chelsea also wised up to it second half.

Not a good idea to just play it v Liverpool and Palace will also cause us major issues with Olise and Eze coming inside once in possession. 

Tim might not be good enough currently but he's still an extra body and that will give McGinn and Luiz less ground to cover and ability to get more on the ball past the halfway line.

Bailey is half fit and Diaby is floating around the pitch doing very little so we're effectively three players down in the final third currently and that's why Ollie is feeding on scraps.

That Tim and a formation change will change our fortunes is not really what Unai is going to hinge the last 2 (or 4) matches on. We’ll continue playing the same way and hope we have enough bodies to win 1 league game and 2 more cup games. 
 
We’ve gotten 4th and a SF in this system. Keep playing the same way so everyone knows where everyone should be according to the system instead of changing it for the last few matches. 
 
It would be a bigger mistake to play 433, that we haven’t played all season, for just 2 or 4 matches. 

1 minute ago, VillaChris said:

We've spent large portions of this season playing 4 CMs across the pitch.

Now we seem to be actively refusing to play anything but a 4-2-3-1.

I get injuries and fatigue but as we've seen in the last week that is really really hampering us now as Luiz and McGinn have too much ground to cover and both aren't in great form either.

We simply have to go 4-3-3 v Liverpool otherwise that will be a pointless 90 minutes as they'll just play constantly through us.

There’s not many other formations we can play. Everyone says Tim but he has lacked confidence, to say the least, when he has played. Chambers is awful. Until Tielemans comes back, the lineup picks itself. 
 
Unai is not going to switch to a 433 as it ruins the rest of out of possession and in possession ideas. 

There’s not much left to say with tactics and personnel. 

When Morgan went down, it might be the first time in his Villa tenure that Unai had no idea what to do. He took a look down the bench and uncharacteristically looked sick.
 
Bailey was at LM then second striker then back to LM. Cash at RM ahead of Konsa returned. 
 
Even Watkins with his terminator like endurance looked a shell of himself. Pau noticeably could not get moving even with his pace. 
 
The squad is spent and should be cheered loud and hard home and away for the remainder of this incredible season. 

1 minute ago, Stephen_Evans said:

Ironically I think he approached both chances in the wrong way and got a bit fortunate today.  I’ll get my tin hat!

Can only do so much with the speed he’s got. Closed the distance and cut off a cut back. Maybe fortunate but he’s not quick off his line as it is so closed the angle and offered one option for the attacker. 

A great testament to the ethos and discipline that Unai has instilled exemplified that despite the absolute exhaustion on these players, no one’s pulling for cramps or asking to be rotated out unless actually injured. 

There’s nothing left in the tank in the squad but Unai has ensured there’s no quitters on the pitch. 

Go on Robin! Really great that he learned from Thursday and kept his leg low to block the 1v1 in the first half. A carbon copy against Olympiakos. 
 
Will probably be off in the summer but at least one MOTM to hang his hat on. 

Just a dip in form lads. The thing about most of this squad is that they have played very few high leverage matches, relegation dogfights aside. 
 
Luiz will be fine but these are high pressure and there’s still a shakiness in their confidence. It will come back. 

Give the man space to run and he’s electric. By far our best player tonight. 

8 minutes ago, Brumstopdogs said:

I thought he was partly at fault for the second goal the way he went down with the speed of a sloth.

The fourth goal as well looked awful and it certainly looked a shot that should have been saved.

Get rid.

His speed is…shocking to watch and antithetical to the way we play. 
 
Not much to be done for the rest of the season but been clear for a long time he’s terrible. 

A stinker but a player of quality. He will make it right. 

1 minute ago, viivvaa66 said:

I assume everybody is following the Spurs match, but people should have a look at the other match that is played now. It looks like summer vacation has started early in Brighton, hopefully they still are on the beaches next Sunday.

Of course you still have to play hard but the Brighton team on paper is one we should beat easily. 

 
Going to be a race. Hopefully a precaution to make sure he’s available for the 2nd leg. 

 
Not great no matter the severity. Probably why he was so angry. Potentially missing a cup final after so many pivotal wins. 

29 minutes ago, avfc1982am said:

This is it for me.. Just back from the game and what is abundantly clear is quick physical teams can take us apart too easily. Newcastle, Spuds, Chelsea. We were very lucky to get anything out of that game tonight. Absolutely atrocious performance just getting bullied all over the park. 

Yes all the teams that have outplayed us are very similar in types of personnel. 
 
The way Unai sets us up to play leaves us on lots of 1v1s all over the pitch. When we’re better, like Bournemouth or Arsenal, we have them for the taking. 
 
But Chelsea, for all their dysfunctions, have a lot of athletic players and hunted us down whenever we tried to escape. 
 
Morgan was part of this plan to help but he is only one player. Maybe a Zaniolo, a Kamara, a Buendia could have helped when the game becomes duels all over the pitch. 
 
But we’re just getting over the line right now. 

He inspires no confidence. That much is clear from the others playing around him. 
 
Its a difficult position to be behind the worlds number 1 and not have any playing time on top of it. 
 
But we need someone with more potential (Gauci) than someone like Olsen. 

United are shit and won’t finish…6th

We’ve already picked up Gauci but Chevalier has impressed in both legs. Can’t see him staying at Lille long. 

1 minute ago, duke313 said:

I don't see how this breaks the new rules.  Bentaleb was nowhere near the ball when Emi lifted it, he was still walking over.  It would have been different if Emi walked over and lifted the ball after the taker had set it down or lifted it.

It doesn’t break the rule. 
 
But Emi knew what he was doing when he took the ball. I’m sure he studied the rule and you can even see in the video, he’s sort of judging if he can get away with it and then does a quick sprint to get to the ball first. 
 
Set the tone, disrupted the routine, game over. 

12 minutes ago, John said:

I thought Benjamin Andre looked a decent defensive midfield addition for us last night. He's 34 in August, so he wouldn't cost a lot, but would offer a decent option in Kamara's absence for next season imo. No re-sale value, I know but might be worth thinking about?

Not sure Andre will ever want to be in the same room as Emi again. 

2 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

The first penalty I thought Lille knew what was coming, the keeper tried to throw the ball away so that martinez couldn't get it first which resulted in a strange looking walk towards the ball with bentaleb broke out in to a jog

It was almost like them trying to stop emi swung it the other way and went more towards the mind games 

Yes and notice how Emi throws the ball to Luiz for the last kick to make sure Chevalier doesn’t try anything. 
 
In fact, Chevalier doesn’t go for any intimidation tactics and I thought our players looked relatively comfortable taking their kicks as a result. 
 
Whereas Emi always had something going on.