Pre-Match Thread Cup Final 7 of 10

[Rodders]

well we were lucky at villa park, we were absolute **** shite for 60 minutes and wolves should have been out of sight, but that was 2-3 months ago, so fingers crossed we have some fresh energy and for once actually start a match well. Does feel like the Newcastle game is an outlier in terms of performance lately. Good at getting results generally, but performances have been uninspiring. Too many slow starts. 

[HKP90]

I just worry about our stamina/freshness for this one. I don't think it's a coincidence that we are dropping off a bit toward the end of the season. Our squad is as deep as a puddle.

[John]

Well the Dingles certainly didn't do us any favours against Brighton did they? This will be their cup final, rather than the first of four for us. We just have to win, or at worst take a point, get beat and I think we will need at least 7 points from our last three games, and that looks a very big ask. Coral have us as 6/4 favourites for this and the bookies are always right (I hope, this time). Would be nice if we had Kamara, Cash,  Coutinho or Bailey, as options off the bench, or at worst a couple of them. Let's take this season to the last game, or preferably be qualified before then. Mind the Gap! 

 

[sheepyvillian]

It's quite strange how Watkins is suddenly looking like he's lost that groove and you get the sense the rest of the team have had their confidence somewhat dented.

The difference with previous Villa sides shorn of confidence and this one is, I believe, they have a manager who will not tolerate defeatism and negativity. He will be instilling into the players, I imagine, that Sunday was a blip and in sport blips are inevitable, but this is still the same team that scored in 20 consecutive games and have only conceded 4 goals since February. No need for self - pity, we are still firmly in the race for European football, so it is imperative that they refocus and maintain that self - belief with the same winning mentality that has given them the chance to actually achieve something that they, and most importantly, us as fans will be immensely proud of. 

It really does feel like something special is evolving at this beautiful club of ours. What a smile this manager has put on fan's faces. Let's enjoy the ride. 

Edited May 2, 2023 by sheepyvillian

[BOF]

Referee: Stuart Attwell.
Assistants: Simon Long, James Mainwaring.
Fourth official: Steve Martin.
VAR: Tony Harrington.
Assistant VAR: Steve Meredith.

We've only had Attwell once this season and we've only had one 0-0 this season. Yes, that. Leeds away.

[sheepyvillian]

18 minutes ago, BOF said:

Referee: Stuart Attwell.
Assistants: Simon Long, James Mainwaring.
Fourth official: Steve Martin.
VAR: Tony Harrington.
Assistant VAR: Steve Meredith.

We've only had Attwell once this season and we've only had one 0-0 this season. Yes, that. Leeds away.

Apparently, Emery doesn't do 0 - 0 matches, so there's that. 

[burchy]

If Brighton can put 6 past Wolves then we can beat them. They’ll be up for the game itself but I think, if we’re at it, we’ll have too much for them.

[It's Your Round]

I’m hoping that the week’s rest will have put the energy back in their legs. United were a step too far as the last game of three in a week, they’ve had some time to recover now so we should be a bit more sprightly. Having Cash back for this would be massive, poor old Youngy looks shattered at the minute. 

[Guest av1]

The 6-0 makes this one difficult to predict, it could fire them up (especially playing us) or it could have broken them. 
 

hopefully the latter. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by av1

[TreeVillan]

Yeah we shouldn't really put too much emphasis on their previous result, just look at how good Newcastle have been since we played.

Chalk and cheese. 

[VillaChris]

Wolves have beaten Chelsea, Brentford and Palace in last month at home without conceding a goal.

[rjw63]

18 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Wolves have beaten Chelsea, Brentford and Palace in last month at home without conceding a goal.

[It's Your Round]

1 hour ago, VillaChris said:

Wolves have beaten Chelsea, Brentford and Palace in last month at home without conceding a goal.

As we know, all good runs come to an end. 

[MrBlack]

1 hour ago, It's Your Round said:

As we know, all good runs come to an end. 

Not to mention Chelsea are the easiest team in the league to beat at the moment.

Brentford were in the middle of a bad spell too.

Weirdly the Palace win is the one that stands out as they'd been on a winning run since Roy came in. That said they are still very much bottom half fodder.

It's decent, and we should be aware of it, but it's nothing to be intimidated about.

[DJBOB]

Will be a tough game and the lineup will depend on who comes back fit. I think I don't want to see the same XI as the last time out. That configuration has been found out a little too easily in the build up. McGinn on the right can occasionally be a good match up but opponents have been figuring out to stick close and face him towards the side line. He will naturally want to cut into his left and he's rarely taken it down the line and Young has rarely put a ball over the top for him. Maybe that's a tactical change Unai can make if McGinn is continued to be deployed on the right.

Buendia needs to play closer to Watkins and win his duels with the CB or CM trying to stick to him. He had a good run of winning these duels with Newcastle and Brentford but a bad run of it ever since teams have figured out you need to stick to him as soon as he receives the ball. He's not good enough to win a lot of these duels but they were afraid of Watkins running in behind before. Watkins naturally wants to gravitate to the left channel so the other CB has been charging down Buendia. The space is there to exploit where the defender leaves it but it requires McGinn (or whoever plays out wide) to maintain their width on the right to exploit that space. These little combinations have to work better or else we're too predictable unless Moreno has another worldie.

On the other side - we need imperious JJ and not indecisive JJ to release the ball a hair faster, or find the pass, or go on his trademark runs. The same story for McGinn exists with JJ. Opponents are pinning him to the sideline, knowing he wants to cut in and that leaves Moreno with not enough space to go down the flanks. This requires JJ's ability to find the right combination of passes instead of dithering on the ball too long. I'm hoping Unai has been training both sides here (McGinn and JJ) to recognize these opponent pressing schemes and figure out the combo to unlock them.

Will be a tough game, but we can beat this lot if we're a little more tactically aware of how teams are pressing us now that we've had no rotation.

[Indigo]

2 wins, 5 draws and 10 defeats at home for them this season, which is a nice 180 from what we were dealing with last week at least.

[srsmithusa]

Would really like to see some fresh legs back in the squad.  If not one of our former starters back, then I'd still like to see some youth given some time.  I really think our lads are tired mentally, emotionally, physically.  

[TRO]

I don't think they will have the type of player who can stop us playing, like Man U did......but it will be tough.

a Draw.

[TRO]

16 hours ago, DJBOB said:

Will be a tough game and the lineup will depend on who comes back fit. I think I don't want to see the same XI as the last time out. That configuration has been found out a little too easily in the build up. McGinn on the right can occasionally be a good match up but opponents have been figuring out to stick close and face him towards the side line. He will naturally want to cut into his left and he's rarely taken it down the line and Young has rarely put a ball over the top for him. Maybe that's a tactical change Unai can make if McGinn is continued to be deployed on the right.

Buendia needs to play closer to Watkins and win his duels with the CB or CM trying to stick to him. He had a good run of winning these duels with Newcastle and Brentford but a bad run of it ever since teams have figured out you need to stick to him as soon as he receives the ball. He's not good enough to win a lot of these duels but they were afraid of Watkins running in behind before. Watkins naturally wants to gravitate to the left channel so the other CB has been charging down Buendia. The space is there to exploit where the defender leaves it but it requires McGinn (or whoever plays out wide) to maintain their width on the right to exploit that space. These little combinations have to work better or else we're too predictable unless Moreno has another worldie.

On the other side - we need imperious JJ and not indecisive JJ to release the ball a hair faster, or find the pass, or go on his trademark runs. The same story for McGinn exists with JJ. Opponents are pinning him to the sideline, knowing he wants to cut in and that leaves Moreno with not enough space to go down the flanks. This requires JJ's ability to find the right combination of passes instead of dithering on the ball too long. I'm hoping Unai has been training both sides here (McGinn and JJ) to recognize these opponent pressing schemes and figure out the combo to unlock them.

Will be a tough game, but we can beat this lot if we're a little more tactically aware of how teams are pressing us now that we've had no rotation.

It also comes down to winning your individual battles.....and overcoming opponents, who's intention is to stop you.

I would also like to see Dendoncker and Luiz.....closer together, not a massive gap, to allow opponents to run through.

[rjw63]

14 minutes ago, TRO said:

not a massive gap

I seem to remember one certain teams fans continually mentioning a "gap".

I wonder who that  was...