Unai Emery

[The_Steve]

5 minutes ago, avfc1982am said:

Whoever we sign, we need to start ensuring we bring in physically strong and quick players. We have too many that consistently come out of challenges second best or those that just can't keep up with opponents. This needs addressing imo which is why a Felix signing would be against what I think we really need.

We are in for a fascinating window. Unai will know exactly what he needs and backed sufficiently. Exciting times regardless. 

[HKP90]

3 hours ago, TRO said:

I think its hard to organise yourself, when you are being out muscled by bigger men, and being moved around.....Only Mings is able to mix it physically with them.

It creates chaos, and disorganisation....its difficult to get systems to negate that.

If the system of play was working and effective? what constituted us losing?....are you suggesting there is more to it, than just systems?

Unai intimated, the game plan was deviated from, why was that, do you think?

Mings intimated, it was just poor defending?

I seem to think, its all too familiar to me.....maybe we will do better at Spurs.

I already discussed this. We made loads and loads of good chances and we finished none. A striker not finishing chances is not a result of systems,  it's down to strikers not finishing chances.

Are you suggesting that changing the way we create chances in offensive play will improve our defending of set pieces? If not then I think you are trying to have a different argument with me than the one we were originally having, which was me countering someone who suggested that we should have changed things because we'd conceded from set pieces and had been battering them for 30 minutes at the start of the second half, but had only scored once. 

[DJBOB]

The game plan was fine aside from some shoddy set piece defending.

Liverpool edged us out because they have superior defenders and forwards.

We were the better side against United and Brighton in the league and go into a very important stretch after the Spurs game.

Unai will either prove a lot of his merit in January because those are the games we need to win in this current time. Scalps are needed, but wins in and around us are what will get us within reaching distance of Europe - not consistently outplaying the top 6 until we have some much needed squad improvement.

[Pinebro]

50 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Of course they are comparable.

I know you get upset about Newcastle being better than us, and spending better than us. So do I.

No need to bury your head and pretend they haven't though. It's reality.

We were on the right trajectory recruitment wise then we appointed Gerrard. 

We won't move forward until Purslow is gone 

[VillaChris]

7 hours ago, IrishVilla10 said:

Agree on the sale part I don’t think we’ll get 50 million though

Not sure how Ollie in his mid 20s with a general 1 in 3 scoring record at this level would go for less than what we paid for him. I'd say he'd be around 30m for a few London teams.

Yeah probably optimistic to think McGinn would fetch 20m these days, probably more in 10-15m range.

[macandally]

8 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

The high line was realkt scary yesterday.  If nunez wasnt such a donkey we really could have been thumped.  Think thats something we need to work on vs spurs. Kane and son will have a absolute field day of we defend like that

Kane won’t, he has no pace

[foreveryoung]

2 hours ago, MaVilla said:

a lot of that finishing is genuinely amateur hour, a half decent side would at least put 1/3rd or half of those away.

This is why Watkins is not gonna be good enough for us. That second shot, I would be having a fit at him. Shoots and then gives up, CHASE THE F***** BALL IT'S STILL LIVE!!

An the one at the end he jumps over, YOUR THE F***** STRIKER, TRAP IT AND GO FOR GOAL.

So frustrating, don't look hungry for goals at all, like when he looses the ball, never chases for it!!

[Johnnyp]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

I think he was trying to say, the instructions are complicated and the learning slow and patchy....

I don't think there is any suggestion, they don't want to play for him, that would be bizarre, so soon in to his tenure.

Well he won’t be going anywhere. They will. 

[MrBlack]

5 hours ago, Farlz said:

 

Good grief that's some horrendous finishing.

Our xG must have been over 3?

[VillaHatesMe]

3 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Good grief that's some horrendous finishing.

Our xG must have been over 3?

1.56

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

This is why Watkins is not gonna be good enough for us. That second shot, I would be having a fit at him. Shoots and then gives up, CHASE THE F***** BALL IT'S STILL LIVE!!

An the one at the end he jumps over, YOUR THE F***** STRIKER, TRAP IT AND GO FOR GOAL.

So frustrating, don't look hungry for goals at all, like when he looses the ball, never chases for it!!

the 2nd shot was given offside at the time

[MrBlack]

32 minutes ago, VillaHatesMe said:

1.56

That does surprise me.

I suppose the issue was more that those chances didn't even get close to going in.  Some of them weren't even on target. The least we should have done with all those chances is make the keeper work. Which we failed to do. So maybe 1.56 is right, but it feels worse because half of them didn't even reach the goalkeeper, let alone make him do anything.

[Zatman]

45 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

That does surprise me.

I suppose the issue was more that those chances didn't even get close to going in.  Some of them weren't even on target. The least we should have done with all those chances is make the keeper work. Which we failed to do. So maybe 1.56 is right, but it feels worse because half of them didn't even reach the goalkeeper, let alone make him do anything.

I dont think the 2 Bailey fluffed counted as actual shots

[DJBOB]

2 hours ago, MrBlack said:

That does surprise me.

I suppose the issue was more that those chances didn't even get close to going in.  Some of them weren't even on target. The least we should have done with all those chances is make the keeper work. Which we failed to do. So maybe 1.56 is right, but it feels worse because half of them didn't even reach the goalkeeper, let alone make him do anything.

xG doesn’t asses the quality of the finish and in fairness to Liverpool, they always had defenders around the ball and frequently outnumbered us save for the mcginn header so that will affect xG

PSxG (post-shot xG) takes into account the quality of the finishing. We had 1.7 and Liverpool had 2.2 which is fair enough. Nunez hit some wide and we hit ours into row Z. 

[ozvillafan]

Interesting the way we played yesterday.

We persisted with a high line - something we don't normally do, especially against the pace of Salah and Nunez. But it's something the better teams do: Keep the ball in their half, pressure and create chances.

Compare that to the more negative tactics of our former coach, who was happy to let them have the ball "in the right areas".

It also means against the better sides like Liverpool, it's more likely going to be an open, end-to-end type of game. Many chances and pleasing to the eye (though a bit nerve wracking).

It's going to take some time for Mings and Konsa to adapt as they need to change their style of play a bit, but they will. I suspect Carlos is used to this, so he should start as soon as fit.

[Hank Scorpio]

I wonder if he will adapt the tactics and style of play he wants to adopt, when it's obvious some of the players don't have either the technical mental or tactical ability to play the role needed?

[eholm]

16 hours ago, TRO said:

 

If the system of play was working and effective? what constituted us losing?....are you suggesting there is more to it, than just systems?

Unai intimated, the game plan was deviated from, why was that, do you think?

Mings intimated, it was just poor defending?

I seem to think, it’s all too familiar to me.....maybe we will do better at Spurs.

Yep, he made this pretty clear. Referenced the point that the players played as individuals in the first half. So this is due to one of 2 reasons. Either the players still need more time to fully understand the tactics and need more time playing within those tactical systems OR they do not have the tactical awareness/capability and skill to implement those tactics. 
Now, after having watched this group (mainly) of players for 3 years the natural assumption is the latter and that the majority of them will not be able to progress and develop. However, there is a part of me that feels UE will use the remainder of the season to see if he can coach them successfully to improve their level. 
 

IMO, UE is the best tactician we have had in my 40+ years of following the Villa. I think he will give this current squad time to try and develop, adapt and improve until the Summer. Maximum of 2 additions in this window as we cannot keep buying players when it is so difficult for us to move any on. Then, come the Summer, UE will make the big decisions around who needs replacing. We may be surprised at those that improve accordingly or our initial thoughts on those individuals who lack quality will be confirmed. Let’s let UE coach first and foremost - after all that’s what he does….and does it very well indeed. 

Edited December 28, 2022 by eholm

[Vive_La_Villa]

The times I’ve got worried about Villa is when we stop creating chances. That’s when you know you’re in trouble. Against Liverpool we created massive ones! Yes we could have conceded our fair share too but that’s sometimes price you pay when going for it. 
 

We’ve scored 6 in 3 league games since Emery took over. All of them against current top 7 opponents.  Im not too concerned and can see us picking up points in Jan.

[The_Steve]

40 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

The times I’ve got worried about Villa is when we stop creating chances. That’s when you know you’re in trouble. Against Liverpool we created massive ones! Yes we could have conceded our fair share too but that’s sometimes price you pay when going for it. 
 

We’ve scored 6 in 3 league games since Emery took over. All of them against current top 7 opponents.  Im not too concerned and can see us picking up points in Jan.

Yep, we will get it right and it will click into place more regularly with some quality additions. We are heading in the right direction, teething problems aside. Fully trust in Emery’s vision and knowledge. 

[Laughable Chimp]

15 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Not sure how Ollie in his mid 20s with a general 1 in 3 scoring record at this level would go for less than what we paid for him. I'd say he'd be around 30m for a few London teams.

Yeah probably optimistic to think McGinn would fetch 20m these days, probably more in 10-15m range.

Put it this way. His goalscoring rate is 0.33 per 90 minutes in the pl. Maupay’s was 0.31 prior to his everton move, almost identical to watkins rate yet he only cost 15m. Even the english tax isn’t going to double his price.