DJBOB
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Everything posted by DJBOB
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Both Arsenal and City just lack any great 1v1 attackers. You see how City and Bayern are just having players go at their defenders and then the City and Arsenal players are always slowing everything down.
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I'm always fascinated watching Arsenal/City play in the UCL these past few seasons. In the prem, let's face it - they're going to be significantly better than almost every club in the league bar maybe each other and Liverpool. But in the UCL, they look distinctly mortal since the opposing teams will usually have a Vini or a Sane that are just devastating their lumbering CB's as FB. This is not too dissimilar to what we did with Bailey on Gvardiol.
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It's interesting between City/Arsenal and Madrid/City. The latter have Vini, Rodrygo, Sane, Gnabry, and Musiala - all ball carriers that can devastate a team solo. Meanwhile City and Arsenal start Grealish/Foden/Silva/Martinelli/Saka. All good players in their own right, but none of them pacey ball carriers. Or if they are - they're actively instructed not to go for it and instead consistently play in these wide flank positions. A contrast in styles - great for consistent league play - but not so much for tournament 'magic' moments.
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Looks like these teams are lacking character.
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Against teams they dominate - they like to do so but he went with the boring control lineup. Gvardiol, Dias, Stones, Akanji and Rodri. 4 CB's and a CDM. Steve Bruce would be proud.
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I'd be very surprised to see Rico Lewis out on the pitch to face Vinicius. Akanji seems like a better bet.
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Lille, I would say, will probably end up being the strongest side we face in this cup. David, after a relatively slow start (7G+2A), is picking up steam in in 2024 (16G+3A) though 3G/3A were playing a much lower tier side in a cup match. Chevalier is a very highly rated keeper. Zhegrova will give Digne or Moreno a run for their money. Tiago Santos overlaps very well with him so our left side are going to have to be up for it. I think Unai will go with a slightly more conservative lineup and go in expecting a cagey match on both legs. The problem is the CM area. He needs McGinn in the center but also needs someone more defensively adept playing LM as well. I'm not sure if this will be during the home tie or the away tie but it wouldn't surprise me for Unai to play Moreno ahead of Digne. This is essentially how he ended the City match and mentioned that the last 30 minutes of the City match was for some 'practice' Emi Konsa Diego Pau Digne Bailey McGinn Luiz Moreno Tielemans Watkins
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Might not play but could see him making the bench ala Diego at the end of last year. Even that would be a big boost to morale for everyone.
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With only 3 away matches left - we're probably going to end up somewhere in 4th-8th in away form. Our xGD is 9th away (-4.5) which is a decent representation of us as we don't particularly blow away anyone away from home. In comparison - we will end anywhere between 4th-7th in home form but our xGD is better at home in 6th place and positive (+11.2) At the end of the day - our away form didn't end up being too poor. Only the title contenders have a positive xGD away which belies their strength in different areas. What's interesting is a sorted from highest GD between home and away - you can see the different clubs with a great home effect. I imagine Newcastle has something to do with travel. Fulham - 30 Newcastle - 25 Villa - 19 Palace - 18 Brighton - 16 Luton - 14 Liverpool - 13
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I mean let's be real. It's Villa. I've said it before - but I think it's still somehow going to come down to the last day either in the league or in conference league. It's not that unbelievable, we've taken the hard route both through promotion and surviving relegation. It'll come down to either winning away at Palace on the last day of the league or somehow having to win the UECL final to get the final coefficient points for 5th place to qualify. I can't imagine the VT meltdown if we have to win at Athens to get into the UCL and our first trophy in decades.
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I do think it will be significantly more difficult. It's not a panacea to all problems, but again - we have to seize the chance in front of us. Additionally - I think Unai is better than both Howe and Ranieri at managing multiple competitions, not to mention he has experience doing so. For me - it is closer to Spurs making UCL and UEL than it is Newcastle (so far) and the Leicester flash in the pan.
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I'm kind of in this boat now. And it might not be the purist way of competing every match but if we beat Bournemouth and Palace, then the best way we can help ourselves with 5th place is to go all in for conference league to keep picking up coefficient points because it's going to end up being very close.
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- aston villa
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This table was from last week. But the Brentford draw would bring us to 5 dropped points. But the Liverpool draw would bring them to 6.
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Still top of the league and keeping the lead after this weekend’s results.
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- aston villa
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It’s really not. It reminds me of the same thing when our “away form” was the problem. It’s not really the problem. And similarly, I still believe we’re top in the league at NOT dropping points when ahead even after the Brentford result.
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- aston villa
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Maybe we should start posting it this way. If Villa don’t win another match, United will need to win 4/7 to overtake us.
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It is a team game. And injuries have slowly taken away our best defenders along all the defender, midfield, and forward lines.
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The first one didn’t warrant a change. The second one, an almost carbon copy of the first, definitely warranted a change. That they were allowed to do the same trick 3 times in 10 minutes is a mistake, one that Unai alluded that he should have stopped. But at the same time, it wasn’t rocket science what Brentford were doing. And that same lack of vocal leadership that Ty had was ever missing there.
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Yeah wholeheartedly agree. The remaining players need to step up but we had a stellar defensive record in the second half of last season. But we’re without Mings, Kamara, JJ, and Buendia - all key players during that run. All players who in some way, play with high intensity and defensive tenacity. Tielemans is not that.
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Slow to react to the Brentford onslaught once it got going. But he can’t play the match for these players.
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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.
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Dougie makes the most logical sense unfortunately.
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- aston villa
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Yeah the problem is that he’s a CB. And he plays like a CB even at RB. Tends to drift too narrow and doesn’t put an emphasis on blocking the cross.
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Their “fullbacks” have a special set of skills that make them 50M+ transfers. Konsa can neither invert to CDM and is very so so on the overlap. As a purely defensive RB, he’s usually okay but his best position is CB.
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When we have the ball, he’s key to making those incisive passes. When we don’t have the ball, he’s consistently been a liability when he’s in the double pivot. If we can hide him when he’s up top with Ollie, it’s forgivable. When we ask him to cover a lot of ground in the middle, it ends up with results like today or Legia away or Newcastle at home.
