Ratings & Reactions: Leicester v Villa

[CVByrne]

32 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I agree. We virtually created nothing before traores goal. It took two terrible passes from leicester too.

I didnt think we were that good as a attacking force yesterday and leicester are one of the worst teams in the league.

Fans talking about champions league are setting themselves up for disappointment.

We got newcastle Brentford utd liverpool and spurs still in our run in before a tricky game vs Brighton 

A finish of betweeb 9th -7th is more realistic.i dont want to out too much pressure on the lads as its been a unbelievable turnaround

 

I think the Newcastle Brentford Fulham run of games will be defining. If we can get 6+ points it'll be big. An away win at Brentford would be massive in particular. 

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

When was the last time we scored a late winner? El Ghazi at Wolves?

You cant beat it, does wonders for the side’s already brimming confidence, as well as the fanbase.

[wedge]

I just can't get my head around the confidence that UE and his coaching team have instilled in the players (the same players bar two that we had in the squad as under Gerrard may I add!) and the change of playing style that we've seen in such a short, short space of time. I appreciate some may accuse me of getting carried away but I think he might be the most elite tactician we've had in charge in recent history. We look so relaxed and comfortable on the ball and then after we scored we looked even more relaxed and comfortable! I shrugged my shoulders when Barnes scored their equaliser and I think the players weren't affected either - we just carried on playing our style as Unai wants and we were rewarded, we didn't sit back for a draw in the second half, we were trying to win the game even before they went down to ten men and were the more progressive side by far. 

 

It's taken a few months (as it would) for Unai's methods to get through to the players (even though during his first few games we still picked up plenty of points but saw some wonky performances and individual player errors when playing out from the back) but now our decision-making is miles better and not once last night did I think that we were going to play our way into trouble. Vardy never got a sniff or a run on Mings and Konsa, Alex Moreno is a gem - a lovely footballer (some of his link-up play with Buendia was a joy) and he never looked out of position offensively or defensively somehow a bit like Matty Cash, and when we get the ball into Buendia, Ramsey, McGinn or Luiz's feet and they turn we look so, so dangerous! Over the moon for Bertrand Traore as well, he's not the best player the world has ever seen but he's got an air of unpredictably and unquestionable bags of skill, what a stunning intuitive finish that was.

 

I'm not sure where we'll end up this season and we're not going to win every game, but one thing is for sure, I am 110% signed up for the Unai Emery/AVFC ride, long may this feeling continue!

 

[Nigel]

8 hours ago, RicRic said:

Luiz was far from incredible and in fact untidy and poor at times, sometimes a win masks over poor performances , ramsey not far behind… standouts were buendia, mcginn and moreno, played phenomenal especially the latter two. Funny how football works as i never wanted to see mcginn anywhere near the first team and buendia was in that same conversation and now they are the two best performers tonight along with moreno

I know people view performances differently but to describe luiz's game yesterday as poor and untidy is just odd.

His ability to create space yesterday was brilliant. His control of the ball in tight situations meant that Ndidi, Mendy and Dewsbury-Hall stopped trying to press him which gave us freedom in the middle of the pitch.

He became much more of a metronome than usual which allowed us to dominate the centre of the pitch. 

I thought he was outstanding 

[MakemineVanilla]

This is scary: 7th in the Premier League, 3rd in the form table, behind Arsenal and City; a late fabulous goal from a player brought in from the cold.

No swank, or frantic play, just a disciplined shape and controlled possession, waiting for their moment.

Anything is possible and it is terrifying!

[VillaJ100]

1 hour ago, TheMightyVillans said:

Remember when he stared into the camera in his post match interview after the stevenage loss and apologised to all the fans for the poor performance. 

He backed that up with action and now we are in 7th position. Legend.

Minus the head chopping and totalitarian theocracy ownership, there are shades of Newcastle to be honest. They lost to Cambridge in one of Howe's first games and went on a still continuing mad run. 

Saw a discussion on Reddit which said a swap in the big six between us and Newcastle and spurs/Chelsea would be decent.

[Kiwivillan]

1 minute ago, VillaJ100 said:

Minus the head chopping and totalitarian theocracy ownership, there are shades of Newcastle to be honest. They lost to Cambridge in one of Howe's first games and went on a still continuing mad run. 

Saw a discussion on Reddit which said a swap in the big six between us and Newcastle and spurs/Chelsea would be decent.

Add the TIFO podcast I listened to that said every team in the league has figured Liverpool out and even referenced Dean Smith about how we beat them in the 7-2

[jim]

Job Done!

We rode our luck first half but who cares 3 points and 7th, can't ask for anymore than that!

[BOF]

 

[avfc456]

What a night, what a winner. 

[StefanAVFC]

9 hours ago, birdman said:

That triple sub was just what I was hoping for. The game was too big an opportunity to let slide and Unai knew the 3 points were absolutley crucial for an outside chance at Europe. Elite mentality.

And in the triple sub, he subbed both full backs off for more defensive full backs!! Who does that at 1-1 against 10 men? Genius.

Edited April 5, 2023 by StefanAVFC

[ozvillafan]

32 minutes ago, Nigel said:

I know people view performances differently but to describe luiz's game yesterday as poor and untidy is just odd.

His ability to create space yesterday was brilliant. His control of the ball in tight situations meant that Ndidi, Mendy and Dewsbury-Hall stopped trying to press him which gave us freedom in the middle of the pitch.

He became much more of a metronome than usual which allowed us to dominate the centre of the pitch. 

I thought he was outstanding 

There was a period around the hour mark where Leicester had a lot of the ball in our half.

We struggled to retain possession, and when we did, Luiz turned over possession on his next 4 plays:

- Missed a pass to Moreno which went out for a throw (the beginning of this period)

- Twice sprayed poor passes in our own half, finding opposition players instead

- Took a free kick just over half way that ended up at the feet of the first defender, where they started a counter attack.

To his credit, he got his head back in the game. I put it down to fatigue.

But outstanding? Not for me.

[Nigel]

8 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

There was a period around the hour mark where Leicester had a lot of the ball in our half.

We struggled to retain possession, and when we did, Luiz turned over possession on his next 4 plays:

- Missed a pass to Moreno which went out for a throw (the beginning of this period)

- Twice sprayed poor passes in our own half, finding opposition players instead

- Took a free kick just over half way that ended up at the feet of the first defender, where they started a counter attack.

To his credit, he got his head back in the game. I put it down to fatigue.

But outstanding? Not for me.

TBH I would consider the whole 90 over a particular period, i thought he was our most influential player.

I suppose we will just have to agree to disagree here oz

[cheltenham_villa]

55 minutes ago, Nigel said:

I know people view performances differently but to describe luiz's game yesterday as poor and untidy is just odd.

His ability to create space yesterday was brilliant. His control of the ball in tight situations meant that Ndidi, Mendy and Dewsbury-Hall stopped trying to press him which gave us freedom in the middle of the pitch.

He became much more of a metronome than usual which allowed us to dominate the centre of the pitch. 

I thought he was outstanding 

i thought the same, he was my man of the match. Add in the context of Kamara missing and hes having to do a lot more than is normally expected. 

[HKP90]

9 hours ago, FLVillan said:

Some on social media giving Ashley Young pelters for their goal (saying he's too old blah, blah, blah).  Perspective here, Barnes' first touch was probably the best first touch he's ever produced in his career and would've skinned any fullback in the world.  Literally took a touch inside that was perfectly weighted so he could accelerate into the space.  Ditto for the placement of his shot - the only place he could've put it where no keeper can save it.  

IMHO Young was excellent today against a very good player.   

I think that Leicester's strengths just neatly match up with our current weaknesses. Ash has been great this season, but he has lost a yard of pace, which he can normally make up for with guile, but Barnes will naturally exploit that. I think if Ash was a LB and Moreno was a RB we would have had fewer problems.

[SuperTed]

12 hours ago, GingerCollins29 said:

Just waiting for sky's tweet: movement in the bottom 14

Their “PL Hits and Misses” article has a subheading of “Villa Show Leicester how to beat the drop,” I kid you not. Mods sorry I can’t link the article as it’s through the app. 

[HKP90]

8 hours ago, Johnnyp said:

Think when you have a spell of games where you are running on adrenaline and emotion and get a few good results ( Gerrard coming in ) you can’t sustain that because it’s basically just dust - nothing of real substance their and novelty can’t be maintained. That goes, and then what do you have. What we are seeing now is seriously professional coaching and incredible detail. That does last and you can sustain it . 

I think our main potential pitfalls for the remainder of the season will be injuries and fatigue. We started to see the limits of our squad depth yesterday up until the red card, and given the game last weekend.

[avfc456]

9 hours ago, FLVillan said:

Some on social media giving Ashley Young pelters for their goal (saying he's too old blah, blah, blah).  Perspective here, Barnes' first touch was probably the best first touch he's ever produced in his career and would've skinned any fullback in the world.  Literally took a touch inside that was perfectly weighted so he could accelerate into the space.  Ditto for the placement of his shot - the only place he could've put it where no keeper can save it.  

IMHO Young was excellent today against a very good player.   

Think sometimes you have to appreciate a moment of quality, I thought it was an outstanding touch, run and finish from Barnes, the sort we can only dream off from Bailey. Thought Young applied himself well and under tough circumstances did fine.

[rubberman]

God this is fun.

As others have said, shades of our promotion run. The togetherness of the players is something I wasn't expecting from an Emery squad but seeing a team that is once again greater than the sum of its parts and at the same time seeing individual players upping their game is such a delight. Can only imagine how good it is for the youngsters who are getting involved with the first team as well.

Loving it.

[duke313]

8 minutes ago, rubberman said:

God this is fun.

As others have said, shades of our promotion run. The togetherness of the players is something I wasn't expecting from an Emery squad but seeing a team that is once again greater than the sum of its parts and at the same time seeing individual players upping their game is such a delight. Can only imagine how good it is for the youngsters who are getting involved with the first team as well.

Loving it.

The complete opposite of Chelsea who are just a collection of quality players.