StefanAVFC Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 They haven’t won in 3 and no Rodri. We’ve won every game at home this season. They lost every game they played without Rodri incoming 5-0 to them 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talldarkandransome Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 There's no reason why we can't beat them, we'll get chances and we just have to take them. We also need to be very very tight at the back 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 (edited) Would have preferred City winning today. When’s the last time they went 4 games without a win in the league? Pep will be fuming. Edited December 3, 2023 by Vive_La_Villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 We were shite today, we have to play much better on Wednesday and then again on Saturday if we want to take anything from these two tough games. Being at home of course helps because we usually play better, but we were really poor today. Bournemouth's XG was 2.55, ours was 0.90. Nowhere near good enough against a team that until recently was in the bottom 3. We are lucky City have no Rodri, Grealish and potentially no Doku either. Stones was on the bench today so might come in. Their defence looks ropey, but our defence can't even keep clean sheets against mediocre teams so we don't exactly have an advantage there. No win in three which seems odd saying that about City. Either way we need a huge performance to get something from the game so I hope we are ready and the atmosphere is intimidating for them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 Winning run at home going to come to an end but we can get something from the game. Hopefully Kamara is refreshed to play a big role again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallisFrizz Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 Honestly, I think we are flagging a bit, Europe maybe taking a toll. We have looked dodgy for at least one half per match for a few games now and have managed to either ride our luck or grind a result out. Whilst the latter is admirable, I don’t think it will work on City (even without Rodri) or Arsenal. We need a much better whole-match performance than we’ve been getting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 (edited) Edit Edited December 4, 2023 by AJ Tried to make an anagramy joke that most people won't get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Most of their fans are predicting a loss. So weird to be favourites against City. This whole season has been surreal really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oishiiniku_uk Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 10 hours ago, Leeroy said: We were shite today, we have to play much better on Wednesday and then again on Saturday if we want to take anything from these two tough games. Being at home of course helps because we usually play better, but we were really poor today. Bournemouth's XG was 2.55, ours was 0.90. Nowhere near good enough against a team that until recently was in the bottom 3. We were playing our third game in 8 days. And Bournemouth are looking a decent team since Iraola's tactics started to click. It's a high energy, controlled chaos style of football that will cause a lot of teams problems especially at the Vitality. Iraola's Rayo Vallecano beat Real Madrid and went unbeaten against Barcelona last season on a tiny budget and were close to qualifying for Europe. I think a mid-table finish is possible for Bournemouth. A point there might look a decent result come the end of the season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
It's Your Round Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 2 hours ago, Keyblade said: Most of their fans are predicting a loss. So weird to be favourites against City. This whole season has been surreal really They’re probably only predicting a loss because they’re so used to winning every game and have now not won in three, they’re sulking. Man City are still clear favourites, 8/11 to win with Villa at 16/5, and the draw is the same. Which is a marked change from years gone by where we’d be 7/1 or more! I believe we can beat them but we need to be near on perfect, and hope the PGMOL don’t feel they have to rectify their mistakes in the last game. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oishiiniku_uk Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 (edited) Match officials deserve better. 5 game ban for Haaland, effective immediately, for his aggressive behaviour towards the ref would be fair, right? Edited December 4, 2023 by oishiiniku_uk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWARLEY2 Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Shame that the possible Haaland FA charge will not take effect till after they have played us. All i know is that if we don't tighten up in defence we will be beaten. Cannot keep making these unforced errors. That said if we do then we do have the ability to beat them. Will need all our key players on our game though. Got to get Diaby properly firing again. Based on who started against Bournemouth i would go Emi, Cash Konsa Torres Moreno McGinn Kamara Luiz JJ Diaby Watkins With Bailey chomping at the bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oishiiniku_uk Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Diaby looked good on the wing in his cameo. I'd be quite tempted to play him there and have McGinn off Watkins. And PLEASE Unai, no more Konsa at right back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 2 hours ago, oishiiniku_uk said: We were playing our third game in 8 days. And Bournemouth are looking a decent team since Iraola's tactics started to click. It's a high energy, controlled chaos style of football that will cause a lot of teams problems especially at the Vitality. Iraola's Rayo Vallecano beat Real Madrid and went unbeaten against Barcelona last season on a tiny budget and were close to qualifying for Europe. I think a mid-table finish is possible for Bournemouth. A point there might look a decent result come the end of the season. Bournemouth played well I’ll admit, Iraola is starting to do good work there and I’m sure they’ll be well clear of relegation. But a top 4 team wouldn’t get outplayed like that against a bottom half team which is what Bournemouth are. If we drew but played well and were the better side, fair enough, but we won’t get top 4 if we play like that too many more times. I actually think we were worse than against Forest where we at least had most of the best chances. Tiredness can’t be an excuse either as Unai made 7 changes from Thursday night. I definitely feel we need at least one top signing in January, preferably a right back. I also think mid table is a bit much for Bournemouth. I imagine they’ll be similar to where they were last season, they’re better than the promoted teams and Everton and Forest, but I’d say Palace, Wolves, Brentford + the top 10 (us, the Sky 6, Newcastle, West Ham, Brighton) will finish higher. So Bournemouth around 14th which is lower mid table I suppose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan95 Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Some interesting choices to be made with team selection now Moreno and Ramsey are available. Although both may not be ready to start such a big match yet. Who we start out wide and up with Watkins are the biggest decisions. Whoever starts out wide needs to put a shift in and help defensively which makes me lean towards McGinn and Ramsey. Then up front do you go with Tielemans to try and give us an extra man in the middle or Diaby to give us more of a counter attacking threat. I'd maybe go Martinez Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne McGinn, Kamara, Luiz, Ramsey Diaby, Watkins Moreno, Tielemans and Bailey to change the game if needed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frodo Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Think we will push them all the way Wednesday, think we will miss Mings here, Haaland never gets much out of Mings, think Haaland will be the difference Wednesday unfortunately, but do think we will run them very close Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepDish Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 I think Ramsey do not look ready, so he should not start. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oishiiniku_uk Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Leeroy said: Tiredness can’t be an excuse either as Unai made 7 changes from Thursday night. I also think mid table is a bit much for Bournemouth. I imagine they’ll be similar to where they were last season, they’re better than the promoted teams and Everton and Forest, but I’d say Palace, Wolves, Brentford + the top 10 (us, the Sky 6, Newcastle, West Ham, Brighton) will finish higher. So Bournemouth around 14th which is lower mid table I suppose. We did rotate quite heavily in the week, but the midfielders who started both games (Tielemans, Luiz and McGinn) were all below their usual standards I thought and I'd put that down to a bit of fatigue. There was a close-up of Dougie standing over a free-kick in the second half and he looked out of it! And McGinn got pulled after being generally uninvolved in the game. I reckon Bournemouth can make steady progress up the table. Their chaotic style is a bit of a leveller I think (a bit like Leeds in 20-21) and I fancy them to take a few higher profile scalps. They're only 3 points of 12th and 6 points off the top half so a finish between 10th - 12th, given how poor the bottom half is generally, seems achievable. Next 5 games look favourable too. Edited December 4, 2023 by oishiiniku_uk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 5 hours ago, Keyblade said: Most of their fans are predicting a loss. So weird to be favourites against City. This whole season has been surreal really Will get even more surreal in a few months as I actually think Brighton will draw with us when we go down there. Ultimately we'll still have to keep all of Alvarez, Foden, Silva and Haaland quiet to win the game and that's far from easy so to me this isn't like facing a Spurs team without four of their best players. I'd be more than happy with a point. Interesting how they line up in midfield. You'd assume Kovacic and Ake will start as both are vastly experienced and came on near the end of the game yesterday. You'd take playing them at VP without Rodri or KDB available every time though as those two are usually the match winners if they're below par in their performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oishiiniku_uk Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 (edited) 5 minutes ago, VillaChris said: Interesting how they line up in midfield. You'd assume Kovacic and Ake will start as both are vastly experienced and came on near the end of the game yesterday. You'd take playing them at VP without Rodri or KDB available every time though as those two are usually the match winners if they're below par in their performance. This is where I'm fascinated to see how Unai plays it: Do we cede possession to City and play more of a counter-attacking game, or do we continue to try and dominate midfield and play in our opponent's half (as we've done in most games this season)? I certainly think it's more of a possibility to control possession when City don't have Rodri doing the job of two midfielders! Edited December 4, 2023 by oishiiniku_uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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