markavfc40

21 minutes ago, TRO said:

but best teams find them.

I never heard of Mickey van der ven or Sven Botman...but they seem to have settled ok.

In fairness mate Van Der Ven is part of a team that have conceded two more goals than us in one less game. Sven Botman is part of a team that have conceded 8 more. Now obviously they aren't solely responsible for those sides defensive records and both Spurs and Newcastle have had defensive injuries. I'd argue though we have suffered as much as any side in that regard with arguably our best centre back being out all season, Pau Torres missing a quarter of the season, Konsa and Carlos being out for a number of games, Moreno missing the first 3rd of the season, Digne being out for a number of games and arguably our best defensive midfielder out from early Feb for the rest of the season. 

You take everything into account then it is in some ways remarkable we still have the 4th best defensive record (it is currently the 5th but I'd bet my house on Man Utd conceding today).

50 minutes ago, TRO said:

but, why is it ok to compare ourselves with the top 3 for goal scoring....where we are holding our own......

I'd say a massive reason for that is that Watkins has stayed fit all season and off the back of it had 26 goal contributions. You swap Mings getting the ACL for Watkins and I'd imagine we'd quite possibly now be talking about us not competing with the best teams in terms of goals scored. 

36 minutes ago, TRO said:

but realistically, do we have to score 4 to win a game away from home?.....I think that is an ambitious ask.

No we don't and the fact we have only conceded more than 2 goals away from home three times all season tells you that. 

36 minutes ago, TRO said:

We also need to remind ourselves, we are 4th and them 18th, before, we dismiss, our second half performance...games are 90 odd minutes.

That is true. If you have watched them then it is also true that they have given some very good sides, in fact sides better than us, just as tough a time at home this season (drew 1-1 with Liverpool, lost 2-3 to Arsenal (in last minute), lost 1-2 to Man City) and have also beaten Brighton 4-0 and Newcastle 1-0.

36 minutes ago, TRO said:

I must admit Mark...I am not a fan who thinks, we can keep attacking our way out of trouble

Why can't we? Emery has managed us for 52 league games during which time we have scored 99 goals so pretty much two goals a game. That has yielded 104 points (2 ppg). We are not talking about a few games here and thinking this can't be maintained and the bubble is going to burst. This is us now and what we do.

I wouldn't dispute in an ideal world I'd rather we scored at the rate we do and never conceded. Given the choice though would I rather win 2-0 or 4-2, 1-0 or 4-3, 2-0 or 5-3, 1-0 or 3-2? I'll take seeing more goals every day of the week whilst stating the obvious of preferring to win 3-0, 4-0, 5-0.

I actually think given the amount of corners and free kicks (into the box) that we faced yesterday we defended them quite well. The two goals they did score one was a goalmouth scramble and the other was a superb ball from I think Doughty that 99% of defenses would have struggled with. 

My bigger concern yesterday was how we seemed to lack an attacking intent in the 2nd half as had we kept the same intensity we had in the first half I think we'd have grabbed another 2 or 3 and won comfortably.

Also you have to sometimes credit the opposition. They upped their game, and also deployed the tactic of going down when breathed on and had a ref more than happy to help them along with that tactic.

Bottom line though is that despite a poor second half we won and that is now 3 wins on the spin.

A lesser team after the Man Utd result 3 weeks ago, where we didn't get the result our performance deserved, could have wilted but we have shown great character in coming back to win 3 on the spin. We have also shown great character within those individual games in overcoming some very poor decisions in the Fulham game and a late rally from them, kicking on again after Forest came back, and yesterday coming again after throwing away a two goal lead and being up against a dire referee. That character really bodes well for the run in. 

Reading a few doubts in this thread/reasons why today may be difficult and they are all pretty easily debunked.

Luton are a different side at home to the one who we played at VP. They have won just 3 of 13 at home and lost 8. 

The atmosphere at Kenilworth Road will play a big part. It holds just over 10k and we'll have 1500 of those. Our lads will have played in far more hostile places.

The pitch is narrow which will impact how we play. Well yes the pitch is narrow at 66m compared to VP which is 68m. However it is 1m wider than Craven Cottage where we won two weeks ago with a very good performance.

Ross Barkley will be well up for this and will be a danger. Facts are Ross Barkley would struggle to make our bench and would get nowhere near a starting 11 top 6 side. He has done okay this season but in 20 games has 3 goals and 3 assists.

I have watched Luton a fair bit this season and they have given some very good sides a decent game. I can't see anything other than a comfortable win here for us though. I think they'll have a real go at us which will play into our hands and they'll leave themselves open and we have more than enough to exploit that. I'm going for a win by at least 3 goals for us. 

3 hours ago, turvontour said:

 

My take is that we play the way we do, with the players we do, to score more goals than we concede. And this gets us up in and around the champions league qualification places.

In fairness this whole discussion about us needing to concede fewer goals is a load of BS. In any individual game you need to score more goals than you concede to win and the more times you can do that the higher up the table you'll be. 

This whole discussion bewilders me though as we have in comparison to the other 20 sides we are competing with the 5th best defensive record in the league (conceded 35) only bettered by the top 3 and the team that currently sits 15th (conceded 34) and I doubt any of us would want to have conceded one less goal but be 11 places worse off.

11 hours ago, TRO said:

The last 5 seasons the 4th placed team has conceded, respectively.......33-40-36-54-39....after 38 games, average 40.....sure it's only one set of criteria, but it's an important one.

It is interesting that you have posted this mate but I think you have made a big omission. 

The team that finished 3rd in the last 5 seasons conceded 43, 33, 42, 36, 39. So in two of the 5 seasons you quoted twice the team in 3rd conceded more goals than the team that finished 4th and on one occasion the team in 3rd/4th conceded the same amount of goals. In fact in 2 of the last 5 seasons the team that finished 2nd conceded more goals than the team that finished 4th.

Bottom line is that to win any individual game you need to score more than you concede. You then get consistent at doing that you are going to find yourself up near the top of the league. We have been really consistent for 18 months under Emery at doing just that and we are reaping some great rewards and playing some cracking football. 

1 hour ago, TRO said:

 

The last 5 seasons the 4th placed team has conceded, respectively.......33-40-36-54-39....after 38 games, average 40.....sure it's only one set of criteria, but it's an important one.

We are currently on 35 after 26 games

We can all formulate reasons, but those are the facts, and they don't allow for mitigation.

In fairness it is only important relative to the teams you are competing with and what happened in past seasons is totally irrelevant.  The two teams we are competing with for 4th place, Spurs having played a game less have conceded 38, and Man Utd have conceded 36. Man Utd have also scored 20 less goals than us and Spurs 4 goals less than us.

Our defensive record stacks up really well and outside of the top 3, who we simply aren't yet competing with, only Everton have conceded less than us (one less).

Fantastic news. May not make the weekend but hopefully back for Ajax/Spurs. 

I think Gary Neville summed it up nicely when he said Chelsea were billion pound bottle jobs. Fair play to Liverpool's youngsters. 

Before my time but he is just one of those players that surely every Villa fan should know of and I'd imagine most of us have seen that league cup final goal. 

The last few years must have been horrible for both him and his family and hopefully they have found peace now. RIP Chris. Villa legend and now HEITS.

7 hours ago, bickster said:

So how long before Anderson becomes a Reform MP?

I reckon by the middle of next week. The racist, one brain cell at most, prick is perfect for them. 

On 20/02/2024 at 10:50, Stevo985 said:

 

Saw this at the weekend. Really very good indeed

Just watched this. I didn't have a clue about the family before hand and won't say too much so as not to spoil it for others. Well worth watching though.

Thought Zac Efron was excellent in it and fair play to him bulking up. 

13 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Seems like Spain is having its Grenfell moment. A 14 storey building totally engulfed and quickly spreading to the surrounding blocks. Composite panels already blamed. 

Looked terrible earlier. The firefighters managed to rescue the two people trapped on the balcony.

Brehme was a great player. Remember watching him at VP in 1990 when we beat Inter Milan 2-0. 

I wonder how many of the deluded fools are getting carried away and thinking they can do a Villa and win 10 on the trot, storm into the playoffs and get promoted. 

Based on our last two league performances if we play as well in this game then I  can't see anything other than a win for us. We were excellent against Sheff Utd and Man Utd the only difference in the Man Utd game is that we were wasteful with the chances we created as on another day we'd have won that game by a couple of goals at least.

I'm going for a high scoring game 2-4. 

18 minutes ago, villan95 said:

Lead down to 11-12 points in the last 2 polls.

What polls are these. This appears to be the latest poll.

Even if he was still here it is unlikely that Emery would have played him. When Kamara got suspended for 3 games in December he was on the bench for two of those games, coming on for 2 minutes in total, and started the defeat at Man Utd (his only league start of the season). In total he had played less than 2 hours of Prem league football this season. 

Crikey 20 people have voted the managers performance as poor or very poor. I assume therefore those supporters feel the manager picked completely the wrong team/got the tactics completely wrong/didn't have the players fired up or motivated. Amazing really how we somehow in the main dominated and outplayed the team currently 6th in the premier league. 

Where we did on occasion look vulnerable today, defensively, which ultimately cost us, it is probably worth factoring in that we are currently playing our 4th and 5th best centre backs.

Seriously if we have supporters who think that performance warrants giving the manager a very poor/poor rating you either have very, very, very short memories and have forgotten what poor management looks like or have just started following us in which case if you stick around long enough you'll eventually come to realise what poor management really looks like.

He has had some stick recently but he was really good today. Put a real shift in, got forward well and was solid defensively.