Team shape, tactics and personnel

[viivvaa66]

52 minutes ago, duke313 said:

But doesn’t it also matter who’s having the shot? Isn’t it more likely that Haaland will score from a particular shot than Keinan Davis? Is that taken into consideration?

Yes, it do matter, but is there enough data for Haaland in every different type of goal scoring opportunity? The answer is no, and that is why the player is not included in the calculation. The result of that is that Haaland score more goals than his xG number, and Davis have a higher xG number that his goals total. And there you have a good use of xG, to identify efficient goal scorers.

That xG doesn’t include everything under the sun, doesn’t make it useless, it is a simplification that is slightly more informative that shots/shots on target.

If you want the 100% correct number of goals scored, you could use the match result.

[Kiwivillan]

4 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

@Kiwivillan

Steve Bruce post training in a kebab shop. That's your guy. I'll go with Emery

[sne]

Said it in the match tread: Our movement off the ball and the number of passing options our players have when in possession is glorious to see. Everyone has more time on the ball and look so comfortable with it now compared to only a few months ago.

Emery has worked wonders and it just shows how important the manager is. We are the real deal now.

[AshVilla]

So was today just another lucky win for us.

[DJBOB]

Unai looked at how Newcastle played and said, “Doesn’t look fun being pressed that high. Why don’t I do it to you instead?”

Over and over, we forced it away from Trippier and intentionally forced it to Burn and shows why you shouldn’t play 3 CB’s forever. Once it was forced out to Burn, Mcginn, Buendia and Dendoncker pressed hard while Young covered Gordon and forced bad pass or long punts for easy recoveries. 
 
Relentless pressing Burn once he had the ball had the LB flustered over and over again. 

[VillaJ100]

One of the biggest changes, in something that has been a weakness for decades even going back to the MoN days is out movement in the centre and in and around the box has always been lacking. Now we're like a bloody swarm, players roaming and progressing and floating everywhere, all to a shape and in unison with others, it must be a bloody nightmare to play against

[duke313]

5 hours ago, sne said:

Said it in the match tread: Our movement off the ball and the number of passing options our players have when in possession is glorious to see. Everyone has more time on the ball and look so comfortable with it now compared to only a few months ago.

Emery has worked wonders and it just shows how important the manager is. We are the real deal now.

We looked like we had a spare man almost of the times

[duke313]

4 hours ago, DJBOB said:

Unai looked at how Newcastle played and said, “Doesn’t look fun being pressed that high. Why don’t I do it to you instead?”

Over and over, we forced it away from Trippier and intentionally forced it to Burn and shows why you shouldn’t play 3 CB’s forever. Once it was forced out to Burn, Mcginn, Buendia and Dendoncker pressed hard while Young covered Gordon and forced bad pass or long punts for easy recoveries. 
 
Relentless pressing Burn once he had the ball had the LB flustered over and over again. 

Seen it described on Twitter that we forced it out wide (particularly to the side Burn was on), then choking them between the press and the touch line (the touch line was like an extra man). They couldn’t cope, Howe was outfoxed by the Don.

[mjmooney]

10 hours ago, sne said:

Mourinho is (was) pure Brian Clough. 

[tomav84]

big thing i noticed today was how drilled they were with winning 2nd balls. whenever there was a 1:1 scrap for the ball and we came off 2nd best, there was a villa shirt right there mopping it up. it happened time after time and so many attacks were started as a result. fantastic work by all involved

[MaVilla]

tbh, not having bailey in the wide midfield role, having Dendoncker (or kamara when fit) in the middle with Luiz, then Buendia/Ramsey/McGinn in those wide midfield/shadow striker roles, looks much more effective in terms of ball retention and physical combativeness.

Edited April 15, 2023 by MaVilla

[duke313]

25 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

tbh, not having bailey in the wide midfield role, having Dendoncker (or kamara when fit) in the middle with Luiz, then Buendia/Ramsey/McGinn in those wide midfield/shadow striker roles, looks much more effective in terms of ball retention and physical combativeness.

Yep, was a big improvement without Bailey. Buendia is more comfortable dropping into the middle, it becomes a 4231 when Ramsey and McGinn drift in.

[Raymond]

To me, the real development today was how Mings, Konsa, and Luiz pressed the issue with their passing. 

Even when we were playing well, that trio too often has settled for the shuffle out wide and then let Moreno/Young get it to the midfield  

Today they routinely found the midfielders themselves, and doing that in one fewer pass puts a lot more pressure on the defense. I think we saw that in the space JJ and Emi had.

A great example was from Luiz. He was headed back toward the goal, and in the past he would have passed it to Konsa who would have passed to Young who would have hit it to McGinn. Today, he hit a long pass over the press to McGinn, who immediately put Newcastle under pressure.

Having McGinn in the front four instead of Leon probably helped open some space, but those passes have been there. Emi consistently finds those spaces. If we start hitting him in them, this could get very exciting.

 

[rubberman]

Quick question. I see lots of chat about UE setting up to attackdown the left, but RB sitting back as a proper defender (see transfer thread etc). Why is this a good thing? Surely that is predictable and will be countered soon enough. Why wouldn't we want to have the option of attacking down both sides?

[Tomaszk]

Something clicked for the team second half today.

They were totally at ease playing out.

Good times ahead.

[Kiwivillan]

Weirdest thing about game today is why does Emery keep persisting with Bailey. I know Donc was strategical pick for Newcastle but I wouldn't change that starting team next game or beyond

[Kiwivillan]

15 minutes ago, rubberman said:

Quick question. I see lots of chat about UE setting up to attackdown the left, but RB sitting back as a proper defender (see transfer thread etc). Why is this a good thing? Surely that is predictable and will be countered soon enough. Why wouldn't we want to have the option of attacking down both sides?

We score a lot through the middle as well and 3rd goal came from build up on the right

[Zatman]

20 minutes ago, rubberman said:

Quick question. I see lots of chat about UE setting up to attackdown the left, but RB sitting back as a proper defender (see transfer thread etc). Why is this a good thing? Surely that is predictable and will be countered soon enough. Why wouldn't we want to have the option of attacking down both sides?

Think its taken out of context, 2 of our goals came from the right today. He prefers a solid full back on the right but not one who necessarily is a stopper only

Its why we haven't really seen Konsa there yet

Edited April 15, 2023 by Zatman

[Monkeypuzzle]

Just looking at the levels that our players had played at when we signed them and we have done a great job of developing our own stars by plucking players from lower or lesser leagues. This is something that many complain we don't do enough of, but:

 

Emi Martinez - before us he had played just 15 games in the Premier League over 5 years and 50 games in the Championship.

Matty Cash - had played 4 seasons in the Championship before we signed him, never in the Premier League.

Ezri Konsa - had only played 1 season in the Championship and 2 seasons in League 1 before we signed him.

Tyrone Mings - had only played 57 games in the Championship and 17 games in the Premier League before he came to us on loan in the Championship.

Douglas Luiz - only played 38 games in La Liga before we bought him. None in the UK.

John McGinn - played 2 seasons in the Scottish Championship and 4 seasons in the Scottish Premiership before signing for us.

Ollie Watkins - 2 seasons in League 2 and 3 seasons in the Championship before we signed him.

 

If you count Ramsey as one of our own youth products that is 8 of our regular starters that we have turned into stars ourselves! That leaves Olsen, Young, Carlos, Chambers, Digne, Moreno, Dendoncker, Kamara, Coutinho, Sanson, Buendia, Bailey and Traore who you would have to say we haven't particularly developed ourselves at top level. (You could argue that 2 seasons in La Liga for Luiz should count here but then Buendia only had one season in the Premier League to balance it out.) I would say that we have done a good job of developing players both from our own youth ranks and plucking from lower leagues in recent times.

[Tomaszk]

5 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Weirdest thing about game today is why does Emery keep persisting with Bailey. I know Donc was strategical pick for Newcastle but I wouldn't change that starting team next game or beyond

I agree, but he could name Robin Olsen out there and I'd bet it would be the correct decision.