Pre Match thread

[roonst83]

The City result was big for us but I do wonder if, tactically, it's much easier or straight forward for Gerrard to prime the players to sit back and try counter. Obviously the opposition is world class but the nature of defending for your lives and picking them off if you're still in the game, could be argued, is easier to set up. Leicester poses a conundrum for Gerrard as he'll have to weigh up how much we "go for it" by bringing in more creative players, against nullifying the opposition as we did well last week. I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar set up to how we started against City but bring in Countinho/Buendia earlier in the second half if it's still tight. 

[bielesibub]

20 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

 

 

@Marc_Albrighton this has to be VillaTalks best reply to a post EVER!

[Steero113]

18 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Martinez 

Young (Cash)   Konsa    Mings     Digne

      Luiz        Dendoncker    Kamara

              Bailey        Ramsey

                      Watkins 

This is what I would go with personally. 

[ender4]

Such a tricky match to predict. 

Villa are absolute turd and have been for over half a season.  But a slight increase in confidence from the Man City match.

Leicester are also shitty and lost important players over the summer.  But they are at home which should help.  

But really anything could happen. A lot will depend on Gerrard's formation. If he plays defenders in attack and midfielders in defence as he likes to do, then we lose. 

If i had to bet, i'd go with 1-0 to Leicester. 

[Chindie]

A loss to Leicester is unacceptable.

[TRO]

50 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Yeah people banging on how if we don’t win, however Rogers and Leicester have more riding on it then us, so it instantly becomes a harder game for us.

Not a position I would envy being in if I was a premier league manager of any of the other 19 clubs. 

Tommo, that is true.

but we have to be a bunch.....that don't wallow in excuses.

reasons, yes.....but not excuses.

as a team we have to find resillience, to go hand in hand with our talent.

[lexicon]

17 minutes ago, Chindie said:

A loss to Leicester is unacceptable.

I've got this weird feeling that's a combination of both trepidation and desire to watch the game. The Man City game was encouraging and now there's this tiny feeling that he might have learnt a lesson and we'll kick on against Leicester... BUT... As we all know, it's the hope that kills you. I'm feeling like I know that I'm going to be disappointed and deflated again but I just want to rip the plaster off and get it over with. 

[DJBOB]

12 hours ago, viivvaa66 said:

Against Leicester I would like to see a 4-2-3-1 formation instead of Gerrard’s 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-2-1.

Something like this:

                          Martinez 

Young (Cash)   Konsa    Mings     Digne

                  Luiz        Kamara 

      Bailey     Buendia (Coutinho)   Ramsey

                      Watkins

Should provide better defensive protection, better ball retention, creativity upfront and more natural with in attack, than having Digne and Cash trying be attacking wingers.

This should be the team. Great balance. Good coverage from the wings. JJ might not have the top end speed to have his heels on the touchline but he can take up more inside positions to allow Digne to bomb forward and keep Cash or Young defending on the opposite side. Create a good left side overload and allow Bailey to remain 1v1 against his defender. Buendia and JJ also have a pretty good understanding with each other from the few times they play together.

Allow Buendia to sit in the pockets with Luiz and Kamara able to play him the ball so he can turn and slot players through.

Sadly, we won't see it - but this is still the best configuration for the current squad.

Edited September 6, 2022 by DJBOB

[TRO]

5 minutes ago, Ingram85 said:

A draw against the current absolute worst team in the league after one of our worst starts to a season ever is not good enough no.  That you think it is in the current situation is mind boggling. 

They finished 8th last season?

They are in poor form like us, who knows what happens, when it changes.

Its hard, to just predict, absolute outcomes, surely you have seen this so far , this season, some bizarre results.

I would guess many teams down the bottom will recover....its just a start, thats all it is.

Arsenal lost the first 4 last season, and experienced a fall out like ours.....they recovered form and finished 5th......I'll bet you would take that, wouldn't you.

Have faith man.

[Keyblade]

24 minutes ago, TRO said:

A draw away to Leicester, not good enough?....thats clutching at pitchforks.

Yeah ok.

Worst team in the league at the moment. Just 1 point all season. If we draw that will be 5 points from 7 games. It's just not good enough, I'm sorry. 

[DCJonah]

40 minutes ago, TRO said:

A draw away to Leicester, not good enough?....thats clutching at pitchforks.

Yeah ok.

I'll say it again but my god, the hypocrisy is unreal. 

Is there any situation that would cause you to lose faith? Because being one of the worst sides in the league, facing a relegation battle doesn't seem to bother you as much as when we faced a relegation battle with a much worse squad and under much tougher conditions.

[TRO]

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

I'll say it again but my god, the hypocrisy is unreal. 

Is there any situation that would cause you to lose faith? Because being one of the worst sides in the league, facing a relegation battle doesn't seem to bother you as much as when we faced a relegation battle with a much worse squad and under much tougher conditions.

get over it.

[Pinebro]

Just have bad feeling they will beat us. 

Based on nothing else than they are the worst team  and we all know what happens when aston villa play against the worst teams 

[ccfcman]

My 2 cents - a good away draw is a good away point, regardless of Leicester's position. They, like ourselves are objectively below the expected points tally and league position. 

If Bournemouth, Forrest and Fulham were in the bottom 3 and we faced Leicester with a better total, but with both teams mired in uncertainty, the draw would still give us 1 solitary point. It would still be a good point gained.

Getting a result is important, as is the display but it's all relative. Leicester should be much higher up.

Green is home win, red away and orange the draw. Home advantage slips over time but still exceeds away wins. Is there really an argument against getting a point away?

[Marka Ragnos]

2 hours ago, Pinebro said:

Just have bad feeling they will beat us. 

Based on nothing else than they are the worst team  and we all know what happens when aston villa play against the worst teams 

If you didn't secretly believe you deserved to be punished for enjoying last weekend, you may not be a Villa fan. I think hairshirts and flogs should be handed out at Villa Park with scarves. Of course we're going to lose. Probably in a really heartbreaking and infuriating way, too.     

 

[BOF]

14 hours ago, Pinebro said:

Just have bad feeling they will beat us. 

Based on nothing else than they are the worst team  and we all know what happens when aston villa play against the worst teams 

In your defence it is based on something.  It's based on it happening countless times in the past.  Team needs a result? Boom, here come the Villa. Player needs a goal? Boom, here come the Villa.

The hope is we & Gerrard have learned something from the City game. That a bit more steel in the team will make us tougher to beat (who knew?!?).

[NoelVilla]

Should be interesting, Leicester is still dangerous offensively but they seem unable to defend at all this season.

[VillaChris]

18 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Worst team in the league at the moment. Just 1 point all season. If we draw that will be 5 points from 7 games. It's just not good enough, I'm sorry. 

A draw is acceptable to me IF we the put in a similar performance to last season v Southampton.

5 points from 3 games so suddenly there's some momentum, start of an unbeaten run and likes of Leeds and Forest coming up after international break.

If we totally botch these two games then surely Gerrard is done. It will be 1 win from 8 and even worse he's shown once again he can't build up from a promising result and performance. We'd also be bottom 3 so those defending him at that point would be purely in the blind faith/crossing fingers category e.g. Purslow.

A change would have to be made otherwise we run the risk of just drifting through winnable games in October and then we really would be gearing up for a season long relegation battle.

Leicester are rubbish currently....however both their strikers scored last match, Maddison can always come up with a decent free kick in tight games and if they move Ndidi back to midfield then him, Dewsbury-Hall and Tielemans is certainly a midfield you could see overruning ours if Gerrard starts McGinn yet again.

We had a better chance v West Ham and totally stunk the place out for 50 minutes and that was at VP so away at ground where their fans will be desperate for first goal is different and could go either way.

Edited September 7, 2022 by VillaChris

[BOF]

52 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

A draw is acceptable to me IF we the put in a similar performance to last season v Southampton.

5 points from 3 games so suddenly there's some momentum, start of an unbeaten run and likes of Leeds and Forest coming up after international break.

If we totally botch these two games then surely Gerrard is done. It will be 1 win from 8 and even worse he's shown once again he can't build up from a promising result and performance. We'd also be bottom 3 so those defending him at that point would be purely in the blind faith/crossing fingers category e.g. Purslow.

I also wonder if the Tuchel sacking could have any effect on NSWE's thought process.  Maybe it doesn't. Maybe they keep to their own pre-defined plan.  But, to me, when you see your peers taking action against unsatisfactory results, something subconsciously has to make it a little easier for you to pull the trigger, both in terms of knowing that on some level you're not the only one doing it, and also that you're not missing out on good change by not doing it.

[PussEKatt]

3 hours ago, BOF said:

 

The hope is we & Gerrard have learned something from the City game. That a bit more steel in the team will make us tougher to beat (who knew?!?).

I would have hoped Gerrard learnt something from our game against Man $ity last season,but,going on our first few games.Apparently not.