Ratings & Reactions: Man United v Villa

[PaulC]

2 hours ago, MaVilla said:

why are we running on fumes?

We arent playing any more games than anyone else, we got knocked out of the cups super early, are these players not capable of playing a 38 game season?

Manure played last on Thursday, we played last on Tuesday, i know the players may be a little tired, but saying the team is running on empty and unable to compete because of this feels like a big stretch to me?

Rat boy Fernandes has played 52 games / 4545 mins so far this season, Watkins has played 36 games - 2958 mins (i guess Watkins is one of the highest numbers in our squad?), so ratboy has played roughly 50% more minutes this season than our highest minutes players?

How does that stack up to us being exhausted or running on empty?

 

Not having a go, its a general observation that many are saying we are tired, but i honestly doubt any of our players have played more games/minutes than the average PL player?, feels a bit like its words we banter around than have no basis/evidence to back it up?

 

edit:

had a look at some specific data, of the top 50 players in terms of minutes played in the PL, Villa have 4 players in the top 50:

13th - Konsa - 2963 mins

32nd - Mings - 2790 mins

37th - Martinez - 2780 mins

38th - Watkins - 2778 mins.

even in the top 100, we only have Luiz (59th), McGinn (90th), Ramsey (95th).

Only 8 of our players have played over 2000 minutes  in the PL (22 equivalent games) - in order, highest to lowest - Konsa, Mings, Martinez, Watkins, Luiz, McGinn, Ramsey, Buendia.

 

I cant see how an argument can be made for running on empty, fatigue, blowing out of our butts etc, the data doesnt back it up.

 

 

Yes I agree. We shouldn't be.running out of fumes but levels have dropped since the Newcastle game. Mind you before that we won a couple of close games without being at our absolute best. 

I think we are missing Kamara and even Bailey as an option as well. 

[TRO]

2 hours ago, MaVilla said:

why are we running on fumes?

We arent playing any more games than anyone else, we got knocked out of the cups super early, are these players not capable of playing a 38 game season?

Manure played last on Thursday, we played last on Tuesday, i know the players may be a little tired, but saying the team is running on empty and unable to compete because of this feels like a big stretch to me?

Rat boy Fernandes has played 52 games / 4545 mins so far this season, Watkins has played 36 games - 2958 mins (i guess Watkins is one of the highest numbers in our squad?), so ratboy has played roughly 50% more minutes this season than our highest minutes players?

How does that stack up to us being exhausted or running on empty?

 

Not having a go, its a general observation that many are saying we are tired, but i honestly doubt any of our players have played more games/minutes than the average PL player?, feels a bit like its words we banter around than have no basis/evidence to back it up?

 

edit:

had a look at some specific data, of the top 50 players in terms of minutes played in the PL, Villa have 4 players in the top 50:

13th - Konsa - 2963 mins

32nd - Mings - 2790 mins

37th - Martinez - 2780 mins

38th - Watkins - 2778 mins.

even in the top 100, we only have Luiz (59th), McGinn (90th), Ramsey (95th).

Only 8 of our players have played over 2000 minutes  in the PL (22 equivalent games) - in order, highest to lowest - Konsa, Mings, Martinez, Watkins, Luiz, McGinn, Ramsey, Buendia.

 

I cant see how an argument can be made for running on empty, fatigue, blowing out of our butts etc, the data doesnt back it up.

 

 

when better quality players are asked to play consistently,well, they find it easier to cope, than players of lesser quality asked to step up.

UE has got a lot out of our lads, since he came, and I think it is showing.....I have no evidence, its just my suspicion.

We also are up against teams with bigger squads in volume, who are able to rotate, we are paper thin, with injuries to key players.

Thats what I mean by running on fumes....we have stretched them, mentally and physically.

I actually, didn't think some of our players had it in them to do this.....but I think we are pushing our luck now.

I hope the last few games, prove me wrong.

 

[Tom13]

I wasn't able to watch today, but from the highlights:

It looked like the chance which ended up Buendia squaring for Watkins - Buendia could have shot earlier on in that move, and it was a great opportunity?

The Douglas one was so unlucky not to go in.

If only Mings would have stayed standing when he got back on the line.

Fine margins that we have to be more clinical with in games like that.

[MaVilla]

Just now, TRO said:

when better quality players are asked to play consistently,well, they find it easier to cope, than players of lesser quality asked to step up.

UE has got a lot out of our lads, since he came, and I think it is showing.....I have no evidence, its just my suspicion.

We also are up against teams with bigger squads in volume, who are able to rotate, we are paper thin, with injuries to key players.

Thats what I mean by running on fumes....we have stretched them, mentally and physically.

I actually, didn't think some of our players had it in them to do this.....but I think we are pushing our luck now.

I hope the last few games, prove me wrong.

 

yeah, i agree that Emery has us performing far above our usual levels, and possibly even a slight fatigue issue could compound that and cause a larger drop off.

Going to be an exciting summer for sure (i said that last year and it didnt really live up to it....lets hope it actually is this summer lol).

[VillaChris]

1 hour ago, jim said:

Pretty poor overall. Had our moments but would have been more had it not been for Emi.

Really? What serious saves did he have to make apart from the goal? Sabitzer fired one over, they hit the bar (but think that was ruled offside in the end) and only thing I can remember them doing in second half was Casemiro firing wide of the post.

If we're going to Old Trafford next season and only conceding 2-3 serious chances in the match then the defensive block will be as strong as it is now. We were below par but I never felt we were under siege at any stage compared to what it was like v say Arsenal when they got it back to 2-2 a few months ago.

[TRO]

11 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

yeah, i agree that Emery has us performing far above our usual levels, and possibly even a slight fatigue issue could compound that and cause a larger drop off.

Going to be an exciting summer for sure (i said that last year and it didnt really live up to it....lets hope it actually is this summer lol).

Fingers crossed

yeah.....I am waiting for the Summer with baited breath.....recruitment is paramount, I hope we get it right.

despite the humungous turn around, I still think we need some upgrades here and there as well as numbers.

I think this game went some way to showing where we need upgrades.

Edited April 30, 2023 by TRO

[ozvillafan]

Felt his high line was ultimately what outdid us - particularly in the first half.

It's not that we can't play a high line, but the conditions were atrocious which made it easier for the forwards facing our goal to get in behind and harder for us to turn and keep up, then play out. We were finding it hard to keep our feet at times, slipping and sliding.

Looked like the weather eased up a bit in the 2nd half?

[TRO]

33 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

Felt his high line was ultimately what outdid us - particularly in the first half.

It's not that we can't play a high line, but the conditions were atrocious which made it easier for the forwards facing our goal to get in behind and harder for us to turn and keep up, then play out. We were finding it hard to keep our feet at times, slipping and sliding.

Looked like the weather eased up a bit in the 2nd half?

The high line, was always my worry too, because they have the players with pace to exploit it, and they have done it in the past......but I understand the reason why we play it.

Sometimes, you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, and thats what I think we was.

[Sulberto21]

2 hours ago, MaVilla said:

yeah, i agree that Emery has us performing far above our usual levels, and possibly even a slight fatigue issue could compound that and cause a larger drop off.

Going to be an exciting summer for sure (i said that last year and it didnt really live up to it....lets hope it actually is this summer lol).

You know how it is at this level a 1-2% drop off in performance and the opposition will beat you.

I think today in the first half Manure were extremely brave with their tactics - at times it looked like the old 2-3-5 / 3-2-5 and those switches of play from Casemiro were causing us problems. 

Defensively Shaw, Lindelof, Malacia and Casemiro were excellent and you just have to hold your hands up and say they got the better of us today. 

This is the type of game where Ashley Young coming in after 3/4 games on the bench would be perfect for us. As it is he is being played every game at the age of 38 so inevitably that 1/2% drop off is being seen. 

Ratboy can play 52 games at a higher level than our players because of his mentality and that’s the level of player we need to bring in.

He raises the bar at Manure as does Eriksen and that goes through the squad. Our squad with exception of Young and have been flirting with relegation so will take a bit of time to get used to challenging for Europe. (Emi obviously has had great success with Argentina ) . 

[Kiwivillan]

The one first Emery couldn't achieve was getting a win with Jarred Gillett in charge of the match. That's 4 or 5 games without a win with him as ref

[Ponky]

5 hours ago, ozvillafan said:

Felt his high line was ultimately what outdid us - particularly in the first half.

Reminded me a bit of the Liverpool game where we played high-line chicken with them and lost.

They had fast frontline players and the ability to hit them from deep and, but for that fleeting moment of everything going just marginally wrong, we dealt with it pretty well.

[Tomaszk]

8 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

The same Lindelof that many panned in the pre - match thread. So much for being a weak link. He was excellent. 

If Konsa or Mings played like that against Rashford, they'd have been carded immediately and had fouls given against them the whole match.

[AVTuco]

11 hours ago, romavillan said:

The ref was a clearing in the woods, repeated fouls by Fred playing the man and not the ball. Should have got a yellow for any one of 5 fouls. As far as I know two yellows make a red too.

 

We've gone to old Trafford an made them shit it. Should have scored, Emery's post match was perfect, he thinks we should go to places lo Iike that and do better and we can play much better. Fair enough, if we do, if he can do that then next season we're going to be incredible.

I love Unai's comments and hope our players start believing him even more. Unai was called a defensive manager before he came to us, but I hear him calling for players to be brave and also be able to take risks. Don't be afraid of anyone. You can be beat, but you come back on the front foot. He's so great.

[sidcow]

16 hours ago, robby b said:

Not a single attempt on target from us in the 2nd half, that is poor. And only one on target in the 1st half. And that's three games in a row now that we haven't played well overall. The quality has dropped off significantly and we seem to have run out of steam.

Not sure how these stats are counted, I saw at least 3 shots on target in the last 10 minutes charged down by United defenders. 

[AVTuco]

8 hours ago, TRO said:

Fingers crossed

yeah.....I am waiting for the Summer with baited breath.....recruitment is paramount, I hope we get it right.

despite the humungous turn around, I still think we need some upgrades here and there as well as numbers.

I think this game went some way to showing where we need upgrades.

Hoping for a big summer too. Getting to Europe would improve our chances of landing better players markedly. But if we don't, being competitive in our remaining games is important so that doubters cannot say it was just one run we had.

[sidcow]

16 hours ago, bobzy said:

The thing is that once a player is booked, the rest doesn't follow.  There's not a **** chance Man Utd should've had a man sent off - it's utter nonsense.

Casemiro should have been booked for persistent fouling and then after all that he absolutely cleared out one of our players, that was a yellow on its own and would have been red yet the ref unbelievably didn't even give it as a frigging foul. 

I'm convinced if he wasn't a United player at OT he would have seen red and there is nothing laughable or nonsense about that. 

[bobzy]

1 minute ago, sidcow said:

Casemiro should have been booked for persistent fouling and then after all that he absolutely cleared out one of our players, that was a yellow on its own and would have been red yet the ref unbelievably didn't even give it as a frigging foul. 

I'm convinced if he wasn't a United player at OT he would have seen red and there is nothing laughable or nonsense about that. 

He made 1 foul in entire game.  I made it 2 (the obvious booking and then running across Ramsey).
 

Either way, they weren't both yellow cards.

[sidcow]

1 minute ago, bobzy said:

He made 1 foul in entire game.  I made it 2 (the obvious booking and then running across Ramsey).
 

Either way, they weren't both yellow cards.

I think you're mistaking fouls given for fouls committed. 

[bobzy]

Just now, sidcow said:

I think you're mistaking fouls given for fouls committed. 

OK, sure.  I can't remember many of the tackles - as I said before, it wasn't a particularly dirty game (one Casemiro challenge aside).  The referee definitely gave Man Utd the rub of the green, but not to a point that it massively impacted on the game IMO.

[Vive_La_Villa]

9 hours ago, MaVilla said:

tbh i was solely talking about minutes played, nut maybe as you say, higher quality layers can handle fatigue better in terms of output.

fyi, players in the top 50 were players like Kane, Ward-Prowse, Rice, Tarkowski, Guehi, Bowen, Iwobi, Henry, Ream, Toney, Lerma, Saka, Dunk, Schar, Burn, Gross, Pereira, Botman, Palinha, march, Johnson etc etc.

Fair enough, I had one too many yesterday and my post was a bit arsey. Sorry about that.  I don’t think they should be tired, I just think United are a different level at home.