ferguson1 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 It’s really infectious watching us at the moment and the games can’t come soon enough. In periods during games we play some lovely stuff which wouldn’t look out of place from a top six side. The most noticeable difference between us and a top team is our option to rotate and/or make an impact sub. For instance, Ramsey and Davis last night. We’ll need to be incredibly lucky with injuries and control fatigue if we’re going to stick with our first 11/12/13 players for the majority of the season. This isn’t a criticism of Smith at all because he’s done a truly fantastic job to date. FFP doesn’t help our cause. We’ve a great bunch of lads at the moment and they’re probably annoyed this morning and quite right. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 4 hours ago, paul514 said: We must rest the team for the Liverpool game. It is an opportunity for a 12 day rest for their bodies with three games in quick succession afterwards. Agree though Traore and El Ghazi i would play as they haven't played as much as the rest 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 It's hard to accept that 2021 also will be a year when there's one set of rules for Manchester United and another set for everyone else. But if we look past that the match yesterday wasn't that bad. We're looking like a top side I'd say. We sure where a lot more pleasing on the eye than the team in red the commentators couldn't stop wanking over. If we could get in a quality winger, striker and CB, I could see us being in real contention. Just hope our scouts can understand what we actually need from a winger and find us one according to it. Deano's is doing a bloody amazing job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, dudevillaisnice said: Davis is garbage at this level. Ramsey genuinely looked more likely to get a goal at this point. He is not. And it's more likely that a midfielder gets a goal than any of our strikers. That's just tactical. I'm normally a proponent of always fielding your best sides in cups, but I think this year and this match, is one of the first times I'd heavily rotate. We just have to give some of the guys a breather where we can. Rest Luiz, Watkins, Grealish, Konsa, Cash, Martinez. We will lose, but it's not impossible we will lose with our first team anyway. Edited January 2, 2021 by KenjiOgiwara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 7 hours ago, paul514 said: We must rest the team for the Liverpool game. It is an opportunity for a 12 day rest for their bodies with three games in quick succession afterwards. Klopp will surely put the kids out again anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 (edited) I’m a bit flat after the defeat yesterday. It just feels like an exact copy of the god knows how many years when it comes to playing Utd. I expected us to lose. We lost. I hope it’s not the beginning of a bad run, we have some tough games in a row in the league and could well end up with zero points come the end of the month. That will have a massive impact on confidence/morale etc. I don’t know what I was expecting really, maybe I was over confident we would get a result based on recent performances. But instead of feeling good about the fact we played well (we had more possession than them - when has that ever happened?!) , I just feel like we could end up getting ourselves back towards the wrong end of the table and scrapping for points again... Hope not. Lots of work to be done. Edited January 2, 2021 by Tayls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 4 minutes ago, Tayls said: I’m a bit flat after the defeat yesterday. It just feels like an exact copy of the god knows how many years when it comes to playing Utd. I expected us to lose. We lost. I hope it’s not the beginning of a bad run, we have some tough games in a row in the league and could well end up with zero points come the end of the month. That will have a massive impact on confidence/morale etc. I don’t know what I was expecting really, maybe I was over confident we would get a result based on recent performances. But instead of feeling good about the fact we played well (we had more possession than them - when has that ever happened?!) , I just feel like we could end up getting ourselves back towards the wrong end of the table and scrapping for points again... Hope not. Lots of work to be done. I was flat because of the shit refereeing, all in all this was a good Villa performance and probably one of our better ones at Old Trafford. I remember when they had Van Gaal or Moyes and were playing shit we would still turn up and get stuffed. I think was a lot of positives yesterday and we are really not that far from the upper tier of teams and arguably are ahead of where we want to be 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaCas Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 38 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said: it's more likely that a midfielder gets a goal than any of our strikers. That's just tactical. Clearly that’s not correct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 (edited) 47 minutes ago, VillaCas said: Clearly that’s not correct You don't play our tactic with Watkins, and keep the idea the striker is the one to get you goals. That's why we most likely have 2-4 midfielders with more goals per minute than Watkins. By the end of the season I wouldn't be surprised if a midfielder was our topscorer overall either. Can easily see Jack getting more goals than Ollie. Ollie has 6-7-8 goals? I'm willing to bet we have 15-20 goals from midfield. That's where our goals will come from, unless we sign a much much better striker. Edited January 2, 2021 by KenjiOgiwara 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul514 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 3 hours ago, sharkyvilla said: Klopp will surely put the kids out again anyway. I don’t think so this time, they had the world club championships last time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 5 minutes ago, paul514 said: I don’t think so this time, they had the world club championships last time He put them out in the 3rd round last season vs Everton, he doesn't care for the domestic cups. Would ld prefer then abolished 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, Tayls said: I’m a bit flat after the defeat yesterday. It just feels like an exact copy of the god knows how many years when it comes to playing Utd. I expected us to lose. We lost. I hope it’s not the beginning of a bad run, we have some tough games in a row in the league and could well end up with zero points come the end of the month. That will have a massive impact on confidence/morale etc. I don’t know what I was expecting really, maybe I was over confident we would get a result based on recent performances. But instead of feeling good about the fact we played well (we had more possession than them - when has that ever happened?!) , I just feel like we could end up getting ourselves back towards the wrong end of the table and scrapping for points again... Hope not. Lots of work to be done. I'm still of the view that we need to get to 40 points as quickly as possible and go from there. I'd happily take 10th right now tbh, it would be progress from last year and a good platform to add a few more quality players in the summer to build a squad ready to fight for top 6. I hope people don't start getting on Dean's back if we do go on a bad run at some stage, he was a bit of a victim of his own success in getting us promoted before we were really ready and people wanting him sacked because we were in a relegation battle, it might be the same now we have had such a great start that people might think 10th to 12th is a disappointment. I don't think we have got the squad to keep it up all season and would rather we wait til the summer for the right signings if they aren't available in January. Edited January 2, 2021 by sharkyvilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 4 hours ago, Tayls said: I’m a bit flat after the defeat yesterday. It just feels like an exact copy of the god knows how many years when it comes to playing Utd. I expected us to lose. We lost. I hope it’s not the beginning of a bad run, we have some tough games in a row in the league and could well end up with zero points come the end of the month. That will have a massive impact on confidence/morale etc. I don’t know what I was expecting really, maybe I was over confident we would get a result based on recent performances. But instead of feeling good about the fact we played well (we had more possession than them - when has that ever happened?!) , I just feel like we could end up getting ourselves back towards the wrong end of the table and scrapping for points again... Hope not. Lots of work to be done. I’m the opposite to be honest. We always know that playing Man U that you start at a 1-0 disadvantage because they always get things. I mean for starters they’ve had 27 penalties awarded in the last year....that’s just a joke. We went there and matched them, unlucky at the end not to get a draw. They had chances but we also had great chances. Compare that to a year ago, no comparison. We are a team that so far has only been outplayed once this season and on occasion we have outplayed some of the big teams like Liverpool 7-2 and Arsenal 3-0. If things had been a slightly different yesterday by a minor variance ie Pogba’s falling over himself was deemed not a penalty and Davis had scored that last minute chance and we walked away with a 2-1 win then people would’ve said we nicked a win but wouldn’t have said it was completely against play. You can see from Ole’s reaction he was delighted, the Man U players at the end were delighted. That gives me confidence if we continue as we are, we’ll get some rub of the green and get the points we need. I am concerned by the size of the squad, more around quality outside the first XI but my confidence hasn’t reduced because of yesterday for all the reasons above. I do think some Villa fans are running away with what we can do this season. We are a very good team but we have to remember the teams at the top are very good teams as well, with far more experience and far bigger squads than us. We are the up and coming rookie but some of the old timers still have some moves and still have game. We just need to stick in there and continue to grow over the coming seasons... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaCas Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 4 hours ago, KenjiOgiwara said: You don't play our tactic with Watkins, and keep the idea the striker is the one to get you goals. That's why we most likely have 2-4 midfielders with more goals per minute than Watkins. By the end of the season I wouldn't be surprised if a midfielder was our topscorer overall either. Can easily see Jack getting more goals than Ollie. Ollie has 6-7-8 goals? I'm willing to bet we have 15-20 goals from midfield. That's where our goals will come from, unless we sign a much much better striker. Obviously the guy who plays at the front, in the middle, is the person you expect to lead the scoring tables. It’s the same at every team, in every league, your CF is expected to score the most goals You can argue about the quality of the striker but that’s a different point - your argument is that Smiths tactics are designed for a midfield player to outscore the CF, which is just wrong Ollie is underperforming in front of goal at the moment he has 6 but should really have 9+ based on xG ( This is a measure of finishing quality) but still outperforms everyone in mins per goal except AEG ( who has penalties in his total) If Jack does end up top scorer that will be more to do with the fact that he is a world class player rather than tactics. You’re obviously wrong, but seem very committed to your theory so I’ll leave it there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 15 minutes ago, VillaCas said: Obviously the guy who plays at the front, in the middle, is the person you expect to lead the scoring tables. It’s the same at every team, in every league, your CF is expected to score the most goals You can argue about the quality of the striker but that’s a different point - your argument is that Smiths tactics are designed for a midfield player to outscore the CF, which is just wrong Ollie is underperforming in front of goal at the moment he has 6 but should really have 9+ based on xG ( This is a measure of finishing quality) but still outperforms everyone in mins per goal except AEG ( who has penalties in his total) If Jack does end up top scorer that will be more to do with the fact that he is a world class player rather than tactics. You’re obviously wrong, but seem very committed to your theory so I’ll leave it there The midfield will always get the goals. Stats prove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaCas Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 1 minute ago, KenjiOgiwara said: The midfield will always get the goals. Stats prove it. You seem to have changed your point. We were talking about who would lead the scoring, you now seem to be saying that in total the five midfield positions will score more goals than the single CF There is also a question about whether wingers/forwards (Trez, AEG, Jack) should count as midfielders or as you intimated in your original post “strikers” Your point was that Smiths tactics were that Ollie was not designed to be the top scorer - this is obviously nonsense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I'm honestly not too concerned. We're playing exceptionally well and we didn't fall into a rut after losing 4 out of 5 earlier in the season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 13 minutes ago, VillaCas said: You seem to have changed your point. We were talking about who would lead the scoring, you now seem to be saying that in total the five midfield positions will score more goals than the single CF There is also a question about whether wingers/forwards (Trez, AEG, Jack) should count as midfielders or as you intimated in your original post “strikers” Your point was that Smiths tactics were that Ollie was not designed to be the top scorer - this is obviously nonsense Not really sure if it's that difficult. What I'm saying is that in our tactic it will always be the midfields job to supply the majority of goals. That may be one man or all 5. Which the stats show as well. You simply are incorrect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCollins29 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 7 hours ago, Tayls said: I’m a bit flat after the defeat yesterday. It just feels like an exact copy of the god knows how many years when it comes to playing Utd. I expected us to lose. We lost. I hope it’s not the beginning of a bad run, we have some tough games in a row in the league and could well end up with zero points come the end of the month. That will have a massive impact on confidence/morale etc. I don’t know what I was expecting really, maybe I was over confident we would get a result based on recent performances. But instead of feeling good about the fact we played well (we had more possession than them - when has that ever happened?!) , I just feel like we could end up getting ourselves back towards the wrong end of the table and scrapping for points again... Hope not. Lots of work to be done. Play like we did yesterday and we definitely wont get zero points 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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