Popular Post tomav84 Posted April 27 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted April 27 with talks of us being close to FFP and needing to sell one of the top players, i can see him being fairly high up the list of potential outgoings. what can i say, i've never fully warmed to the guy. he's had moments and spells of being great for us, but we just seem look better when he's not playing. 3 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 He's still a very good player who Emery never benches when he's off it. I thought he was fine for the first hour so think the horrendous performance line is OTT. Issue with him is he's the weakest of the CMs at shielding the ball when teams are pressing. SJM 90% of the time knows when to back him and either win the foul or hold off the player and pass the ball on. Doug isn't as strong and also has the tendency to refuse to release the ball even when he's about to lose it. Was very annoying to concede from that when Chelsea were already stepping up the pressure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooJung Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 The thing is that he's showing poor intelligence/leadership/maturity. We know how good he can be technically, but his mentality right now is letting him (and us) down. I believe it's more than fair to expect much more from him, and judging by Unai's reactions, so does he Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted April 27 Moderator Share Posted April 27 He was poor tonight. I don't worry about him and he'd still be on my team sheet for Thursday. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meregreen Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 He was simply lethargic tonight. When he’s good, he’s very good, but he can see games pass him by. For a decent fee, I wouldn’t be heartbroken if he left. Thought Gallagher was excellent tonight, he may very well be available. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongo Waring Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 He's been poor for a while. Silly yellow cards, silly decisions, holding onto the ball too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Appalling. Again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 3 hours ago, Xela said: He needs Kamara alongside him to be at his best. Yeah. He's not as good as I thought if that's the case. And I think that is indeed the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troon_villan Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 We've needed him in recent times and he simply hasn't stood up and been counted. Very disappointed in him tbh. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 (edited) This new trend of turning on our better players, that have made huge contributions (and majorly responsible for where we are) for us, and clamouring for their sales (it’s either JJ - who is injured! - or Dougie… who’s next??) is really unpleasant, small time and smacks of short termism and this modern, constant thirst for instant gratification. Almost like some believe we should be winning every game and players should be at 100% every time…. a loss or poor performance just cannot be tolerated which is… delusional… With how well we’ve done and over achieved this season, expectation and demand has increased and probably unrealistically and unfairly so.., we should be more appreciative and a bit more loyal to our players (who, funnily enough, we demand that from)… Perspective is required… new experience and level for most of this group, a real mental and physical challenge with all of the games and difficulties we have had to face… (they are going to learn and develop so much from this, so much gain and benefit) it’s not easy to be consistent when your teammates are getting injured (and suspended) and fatigue sets in… it’s not realistic to expect everyone to be firing in every game. Unai had had to keep shuffling the pack and still gets results! When the team changes so often and the mix in defence or midfield keeps altering… it makes it harder. A lot of form depends on partnerships and combinations too… Luiz and Kamara for instance, which we have been deprived of. That’s still, easily, our best midfield partnership when everyone is available… but they aren’t… I’ll admit that Dougie hasn’t been near/at his best so far this year… but he still had that quality, class and ability in him.. he will be back. He was awesome in 2023. Not so long ago we were calling him our best player, irreplaceable etc. and now want him gone? That’s really poor… Edited April 28 by Jas10 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Had a shocker, at fault for their first goal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Stuff like this exposes an ugly side of our fanbase now… starting to resemble the arrogance and entitlement of other fanbases we usually criticise… thought we could have a lot more class… Don’t like this turning on our best players… we can’t manage with only 11 players too… we need a strong and varied squad with plenty of options… that’s the most obvious lesson from this season and the adversity we have faced. What happens when Dougie plays well again? Oh, we shouldn’t sell for less than 150m?? Too much of this clamour for selling players and wheeling and dealing… it’s very difficult to replace your best players and most of us don’t have the patience for new players to develop and establish themselves either… one bad game and the knives are out immediately! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltesemike Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 I was guilty of some over reactions last night given how poor we played and what a shocker Doug had. Perspective is needed though, on both sides. We need to stick by him, he was superb earlier this season. But he also needs to realise that we are at crucial time in our season and we really need him at his best, given how threadbare we are. But something is clearly off with him. I hope both sides can support each other as both ultimately benefit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 With Bouba out for a while… it is imperative that we bring in a quality, strong DM who is adept at and can focus on the defensive side of the game… maybe create some proper competition and depth there too… the two could even play together at times behind a more attacking set up… this is the problem, we have CMs filling in at DM and no proper option there, their games are being curtailed by having to play there… and while they are drained or exhausted too.. Dougie shone with Kamara beside or behind him…. that was the way to get the best out of him. McGinn and Tielemans have more to offer going forwards… The worst or most impactful injury has been Kamara’s… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 2 minutes ago, maltesemike said: I was guilty of some over reactions last night given how poor we played and what a shocker Doug had. Perspective is needed though, on both sides. We need to stick by him, he was superb earlier this season. But he also needs to realise that we are at crucial time in our season and we really need him at his best, given how threadbare we are. But something is clearly off with him. I hope both sides can support each other as both ultimately benefit. Unai will be on his case… he’s capable of stepping up… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Massively overrated by Villa fans. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dufresne1947 Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 30 minutes ago, Jas10 said: This new trend of turning on our better players, that have made huge contributions (and majorly responsible for where we are) for us, and clamouring for their sales (it’s either JJ - who is injured! - or Dougie… who’s next??) is really unpleasant, small time and smacks of short termism and this modern, constant thirst for instant gratification. Almost like some believe we should be winning every game and players should be at 100% every time…. a loss or poor performance just cannot be tolerated which is… delusional… With how well we’ve done and over achieved this season, expectation and demand has increased and probably unrealistically and unfairly so.., we should be more appreciative and a bit more loyal to our players (who, funnily enough, we demand that from)… Perspective is required… new experience and level for most of this group, a real mental and physical challenge with all of the games and difficulties we have had to face… (they are going to learn and develop so much from this, so much gain and benefit) it’s not easy to be consistent when your teammates are getting injured (and suspended) and fatigue sets in… it’s not realistic to expect everyone to be firing in every game. Unai had had to keep shuffling the pack and still gets results! When the team changes so often and the mix in defence or midfield keeps altering… it makes it harder. A lot of form depends on partnerships and combinations too… Luiz and Kamara for instance, which we have been deprived of. That’s still, easily, our best midfield partnership when everyone is available… but they aren’t… I’ll admit that Dougie hasn’t been near/at his best so far this year… but he still had that quality, class and ability in him.. he will be back. He was awesome in 2023. Not so long ago we were calling him our best player, irreplaceable etc. and now want him gone? That’s really poor… Great post (yours, but Keslers one is pretty good too) I tend to get pretty angry and overreact when we lose and/or play badly during and in the immediate aftermath of a game. But the match thread is always far too critical so I try and avoid that. I think you get a fairer reaction from people a day or two after the game. I think if Luiz is getting severe criticism over the next few days then I believe that is pretty harsh, although he hasn’t played well in the last few weeks/month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 (edited) 18 minutes ago, dufresne1947 said: Great post (yours, but Keslers one is pretty good too) I tend to get pretty angry and overreact when we lose and/or play badly during and in the immediate aftermath of a game. But the match thread is always far too critical so I try and avoid that. I think you get a fairer reaction from people a day or two after the game. I think if Luiz is getting severe criticism over the next few days then I believe that is pretty harsh, although he hasn’t played well in the last few weeks/month. Don’t like what a lot of us are turning into tbh… we can be a lot better… Very much a case of “what have you done for me lately?” here… how about all he HAS done? Edited April 28 by Jas10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJay Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Just in a bad run of form at the moment, he's played a lot of football this season and on the whole been very good, his form over the last few months has coincided with Kamara being out and our own performances as a team have been inconsistent in comparison to earlier in the season. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 9 minutes ago, VillaJay said: Just in a bad run of form at the moment, he's played a lot of football this season and on the whole been very good, his form over the last few months has coincided with Kamara being out and our own performances as a team have been inconsistent in comparison to earlier in the season. Played the most hasn’t he? Alongside Ollie and Emi? He’s missing Bouba too but still done well with McGinn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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