Ratings & Reactions: Legia Warszawa v Villa

[troon_villan]

Arguably the Toughest fixture in the group so should have played a full strength defence wit Torres and Cash. Would even have played a back 3 with Digne and Cash as wing backs and dropped Bailey who doesn't perform away in the physical games.  

Attitude was really poor from a few and there was no cohesion to make up for it.  

[nick76]

16 minutes ago, ozvilla28 said:

Underestimated them simple as that should have started our strongest side. Leaking to many goals and school boy ones to. Duran and Zaniolo subs I don't understand.

Yep I don’t get that, I thought he’d make defensive subs instead as the front two looked alright, maybe just bring on Diaby for Bailey.  Watkins did nothing and first touch was poor, Diaby had a bit more effect so the “big guns” were mostly less effective.  Should’ve brought on Cash and Torres at that point instead and Diaby for Bailey, then Dougie for somebody in the middle, any of them because none were playing well.

[AVTuco]

13 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Now over to depressingly watch Brighton probably dismantle AEK.

They are so good, it's annoying.

[briny_ear]

I confess I had forgotten we had Lenglet. He hasn’t played a  competitive game for us yet this season has he? So selecting him for this game seems particularly reckless.

[Rugeley Villa]

2 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

You underestimate their collective quality. They might have had individually inferior players, but they played as a team and were able to prosper because of it.

Our defensive line up was cack handed, slow and mismatched. He should have had the best team on from the start. Simple as that.

I agree they worked hard and played well , but as I said we never matched their work ethic which is inexcusable.  I wanted a stronger side  too but that was too bad to be true . 

[blunther]

22 minutes ago, Zatman said:

The best team won and the Europa Conference arrogance might disappear now

We were never going to walk this tournament. Idiots booking hotels for the final

You're an idiot not to book if you had any intention of going. Free cancellation is a thing. 

[allani]

Too many fans and too many players believing that we just had to turn up to win this competition.  All the talk of playing our U23s to gain experience because they'd be too good for teams that regularly compete for honours in their own leagues.  Another example of the English arrogance that annoys the rest of Europe and the world so much.  Hopefully this is the wake up call that we all needed.  If we want to get into the latter stages of this competition we first have to go out and play well in each game.  I thought that after Hibs, Emery at least was taking this seriously and treating the competition and our opponents with respect.  He was let down by several players today but maybe he's also learned a lesson - our back-up players are OK if there is just one or two coming in - but our "B" team is still a long way distant from our "A" team.

This just smacks of pretty much every season we've qualified for Europe since 1990.  Spend so much time and effort getting ourselves into the competition and then we are there we treat it as a Sunday League tournament and get knocked out because we just expect to turn up and win.

Hopefully this cuts out all the bull**** about us winning the competition and we get back to just focussing on the next match and trying to win that game.

[tomav84]

1 minute ago, blunther said:

You're an idiot not to book if you had any intention of going. Free cancellation is a thing. 

Started to reply myself and decided not to bite

[StewieGriffin]

3 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

Chambers, Digne, McGinn, Kamara, Tielemens all terrible tonight.

If you're going to rest players, you should do it properly and rest McGinn as well. First half it was like we were playing with ten men. The guy was invisible, clearly off the pace. Worn out after his efforts for Scotland.

If you're going to rest players, don't play Chambers! In fact just don't play Chambers! Ever!

Digne was all over the shop, just like his country man Kamara. 

Tielemens just missed everything, tackles, passes, shots. Struggled to even stand up, has he even heard of balance?

Duran should've stayed on, his presence terrified them, Watkins was ineffective.

Zaniolo was good, but he can be a bit too clever sometimes.

Bailey was lively, unfortunately the got no support, and not one good pass from Chambers.

Jj looks hungry.

Lenglet was poor, looks slow, didn't try to play much, Konsa took over ball playing duties and it showed. He isn't and ball player.

Just really poor all round

Was going to post pretty much this myself. Chambers, Digne, McGinn and Tielemans in particular were shocking. Chambers is not good enough, passing is terrible and has no strength or pace. Could have done with Carlos being fit tonight and moving Konsa over.

Digne regressed to being absolutely dogshit again when not given the freedom of the left wing. Thought Legia were spot on tactically, pressed us high whilst maintaining their shape and cut off passes into our preferred areas.

It's the first time I've watched a game under Emery and thought he was as culpable as the players.

[Chasetown Villa]

Such a **** kick in the teeth with that team selection. CSKA vibes all over again. First time Emery has really pissed me off - totally underestimated the competition. 

[Zero7]

As a team that was one of the worst performances for a long time. Either we went in all buggy bigbollocks or the occasion got to us. Either way, we were weak, lazy and second best to them. Unai either got it totally wrong or pulled off a master stroke that our owners need to see we need better players. 

[duke313]

Just now, Chasetown Villa said:

Such a **** kick in the teeth with that team selection. CSKA vibes all over again. First time Emery has really pissed me off - totally underestimated the competition. 

It’s not like we played any better when the other players came on.

[Zero7]

We were better in attack before the subs came on, wtf 

[blunther]

Ah well, we'll learn from that and batter them at home instead. Long way to go in the groups lads. 

[Rugeley Villa]

In my time of following Villa that was pretty much typical Villa in Europe .

[troon_villan]

14 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

OK, who’s the joker who gave Chambers MOTM? Come to the front of the class…

Must be a visiting Warsaw fan

[WakefieldVillan]

1 minute ago, duke313 said:

It’s not like we played any better when the other players came on.

We didn't, which is probably more concerning than the original team selection. Usually Emery sees things and will fix it. We looked like we had no game plan at all after the subs.

That said, even then, we had 3 very good chances of getting a draw or even a win. (Ramsey, Diaby & Tielemans). 

 

 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

10 minutes ago, AVTuco said:

They are so good, it's annoying.

Not started well for them in fairness.

Making me feel a bit better 

1 down

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Someone with so much know how and experience should not have tinkered so much on matchday 1 in a tricky venue against a tough side. Was a recipe for disaster and amateurish imho. Players let him down too but the blame lies with the manager tonight.

[WHY]

Just now, picicata said:

Whilst true, I do think if you make too many changes you're asking for trouble as no matter the quality of the players the team will look disjointed. I'd rather start with close to our strongest team and then swap in the squad players later in the game rather than the other way round.

I'm not too worried, as I still think we'll get out of the group, but Unai does need to make sure there is a well drilled team out on the pitch, rather than a bunch of strangers 

Hindsight management is a wonderful thing. It’s one game, we have 5 left to put it right. Emery would have leant a lot tonight. It’s better to learn this stuff when you have a chance to put it right.