ender4 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 11 minutes ago, DJBOB said: I think as @TRO has pointed out earlier, there is a minimum defense needed to qualify for UCL usually. They are entertaining and it will be interesting to see if they can break the mold and qualify for UCL while having the 5th worst xGA in the league. Though we seem to concede a lot as well for a 'top 4' team. 7 more than Arsenal and 9 more than Liverpool, and only 4 less than Spurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted January 15 VT Supporter Share Posted January 15 21 minutes ago, nick76 said: Ange-ball is very pretty and exciting but I’d take Emery’s tactical genius football over it if I’m thinking about getting the most points. It's really hard work though, even Liverpool with a better and bigger squad couldn't keep it up for more than a season, they always had a dip. Look at Newcastle too, Leeds with Bielsa, to play with such high intensity for a full season you need 2 top players in every position at least as you'll get a bucketload of injuries and niggles. Do we know if Ange trains with the Bielsa intensity too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 10 minutes ago, ender4 said: Though we seem to concede a lot as well for a 'top 4' team. 7 more than Arsenal and 9 more than Liverpool, and only 4 less than Spurs. The margins are small for GA but in reference to other stats - we’re 5th in xGA so we’re matching our output whereas Spurs have actually been fortunate thanks to Vicario to not give up even more goals as their xGA is 15th. We’re 5th in expected goal difference too so we’re 3rd-5th will go down to individual moments and quality. Thats why I would be very interested to see if Spurs can keep up this high octane, defense is just vibes kind of form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 10 minutes ago, romavillan said: It's really hard work though, even Liverpool with a better and bigger squad couldn't keep it up for more than a season, they always had a dip. Look at Newcastle too, Leeds with Bielsa, to play with such high intensity for a full season you need 2 top players in every position at least as you'll get a bucketload of injuries and niggles. Do we know if Ange trains with the Bielsa intensity too? I agree and also if it isn’t working then Ange at the moment doesn’t have a plan B and we know long term that gets found out. I’m happier with Emery-ball and genius. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 9 minutes ago, DJBOB said: I think as @TRO has pointed out earlier, there is a minimum defense needed to qualify for UCL usually. They are entertaining and it will be interesting to see if they can break the mold and qualify for UCL while having the 5th worst xGA in the league. I understand the notion of you score, we score more....but its based on the view, that you can, and are capable of. trouble is, there is an irritant called the opponent, and they set out to stop us being that free flowing goal machine....and they don't care much, how they do it. as just a random example...in the last 10 games of 1980/81 we won 5, drawn 2, and lost 3.....50% win ratio....the last stretch is hard, just like the last mile in the Marathon, is a whole lot different from the first mile....The other teams are far better equipped to deal with that. We have a better than that now....they had 12 wins after 21 games, we have 13 after 21 games....The holy grail is momentum, its keeping that momentum going...they managed it with a further 14 wins, to finish on 26 for the season. My point is, the closer you get to 38 games played, in our position, you have to get used to the fact, everyone wants to beat you........I am not sure we have enough of the right players in the squad, to deal with that, that is not saying they are as equally talented.....thats just my call. I hope we have, and they prove me wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 50 minutes ago, Pinebro said: Spurs play really good football. I've not seen us play like that since the City game. Right now Spurs would be my favorite for the 4th spot. We need to play a lot better to make it. We’re slight favourites with the bookies ahead of Spurs at the minute. A lot can change in a few weeks though. Spurs attack is unreal, but their defence is chaotic, and that is what will hopefully cost them. They can’t maintain 100mph football the rest of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 (edited) 28 minutes ago, romavillan said: It's really hard work though, even Liverpool with a better and bigger squad couldn't keep it up for more than a season, they always had a dip. Look at Newcastle too, Leeds with Bielsa, to play with such high intensity for a full season you need 2 top players in every position at least as you'll get a bucketload of injuries and niggles. Do we know if Ange trains with the Bielsa intensity too? No I don’t think he does murder ball. A lot of his training is, no surprise, very much attacking and passing oriented. Ange is on the extreme end of continuous attack. That’s not to say they can’t defend at all but the numbers they commit in attack are always going to lead to some open games. Arteta is on the other end of the spectrum. Defensively controlling the game to the detriment of their chance creation. They were 0-1 down against us and yet still refused to really commit 6 or 7 players in the box. Unai is in the middle - with a shade towards more defensive. Unai has that mix of positional play from the likes of Pep, Arteta, and Ange - coaches whose philosophy revolves around “we will play this way and be the protagonist” - but also the game by game opposition specific tactician that Mourinho and Conte used to win a lot of trophies. Squeezing specific weaknesses in the opponents and not bothered to play defensively in a 6-2-2 if we have the lead. Definitely an interesting set of coaches vying for UCL. Edited January 15 by DJBOB 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farlz Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Anything below 5th now would be an almighty collapse imo. I can't imagine we're going to bottle it quite that much. Still no reason why we can't finish top 4, away games are rubbish but as long as we remain untouchable at home we'll be fine. Spurs are a good side and with no Europe plus Maddison and whatnot coming back from injuries soon they'll probably only get better but the idea from Sky yesterday that they're a certain for top 4 is a bit mad. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpotvilla Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 9 minutes ago, Farlz said: Anything below 5th now would be an almighty collapse imo. I can't imagine we're going to bottle it quite that much. Still no reason why we can't finish top 4, away games are rubbish but as long as we remain untouchable at home we'll be fine. Spurs are a good side and with no Europe plus Maddison and whatnot coming back from injuries soon they'll probably only get better but the idea from Sky yesterday that they're a certain for top 4 is a bit mad. You do realise we are not welcome in the SKY top 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Are our goals against not a bit skewed by the opening day - when our most experienced defender went of writhing in pain and we had to throw in our new signing? And we were still adjusting when we went to Anfield? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpotvilla Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 3 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said: Are our goals against not a bit skewed by the opening day - when our most experienced defender went of writhing in pain and we had to throw in our new signing? And we were still adjusting when we went to Anfield? Where we also lost a centre half early on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 41 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said: Are our goals against not a bit skewed by the opening day - when our most experienced defender went of writhing in pain and we had to throw in our new signing? And we were still adjusting when we went to Anfield? It did but it all evens out at the end. We also were fortunate to put 6 goals in on Brighton and were unfortunate not to score against City more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 1 hour ago, Captain_Townsend said: Are our goals against not a bit skewed by the opening day - when our most experienced defender went of writhing in pain and we had to throw in our new signing? And we were still adjusting when we went to Anfield? Agreed, admittedly we do concede a bit too much, but we also score quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinebro Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 2 hours ago, TRO said: I understand the notion of you score, we score more....but its based on the view, that you can, and are capable of. trouble is, there is an irritant called the opponent, and they set out to stop us being that free flowing goal machine....and they don't care much, how they do it. as just a random example...in the last 10 games of 1980/81 we won 5, drawn 2, and lost 3.....50% win ratio....the last stretch is hard, just like the last mile in the Marathon, is a whole lot different from the first mile....The other teams are far better equipped to deal with that. We have a better than that now....they had 12 wins after 21 games, we have 13 after 21 games....The holy grail is momentum, its keeping that momentum going...they managed it with a further 14 wins, to finish on 26 for the season. My point is, the closer you get to 38 games played, in our position, you have to get used to the fact, everyone wants to beat you........I am not sure we have enough of the right players in the squad, to deal with that, that is not saying they are as equally talented.....thats just my call. I hope we have, and they prove me wrong. If the opponent is setting up to defend against you then you have already succeeded in my view. By doing that they are literally giving away the initiative of the game. If you are setting up against Spurs to defend you are gonna have a rough time as their strengths lies in the attack not the defence. You are basically letting them do what they want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Prediction time. 17 games remaining. I reckon we will win 7 more games. Draw 5, Lose 5. 69 (nice) points total for the season. That’s a decent season right? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 1 hour ago, Tayls said: Prediction time. 17 games remaining. I reckon we will win 7 more games. Draw 5, Lose 5. 69 (nice) points total for the season. That’s a decent season right? Based on home form and Emery near 2pts per game so far dropping to 1.5 in your prediction this is quite negative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 11 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said: Based on home form and Emery near 2pts per game so far dropping to 1.5 in your prediction this is quite negative Got some tough home games left though…. Liverpool, Utd, Newcastle, Chelsea, Tottenham. I reckon I’d be happy with a 69 points total. Be great if we can break the 70 mark though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 37 minutes ago, Tayls said: Got some tough home games left though…. Liverpool, Utd, Newcastle, Chelsea, Tottenham. I reckon I’d be happy with a 69 points total. Be great if we can break the 70 mark though. We beat Arsenal and City at home back to back 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 19 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said: We beat Arsenal and City at home back to back We will beat Newcastle and Chelsea at home, and no reason why we can't get results in the other games as they won't park the bus. They aren't going to want to come to Villa Park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turvontour Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 56 minutes ago, Tayls said: Got some tough home games left though…. Liverpool, Utd, Newcastle, Chelsea, Tottenham. I reckon I’d be happy with a 69 points total. Be great if we can break the 70 mark though. Man united Newcastle and Chelsea are a touch above mid table as an average. 69 points is a pretty disappointing outcome from here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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