Ratings & Reactions: UECL6: Zrinjski v Villa

[Adam2003]

45 minutes ago, Spoony said:

There’s something about it though. Like we can play a tiny English team in the FA Cup and the players would be more up for it and the game a bit more meaningful. All these ECL games feel a bit like a pre-season tour. 

That’s the nature of a group stage, especially when already through. A point for them is a great result, a point for us guarantees topping the group, no real issue for either side if they lose. It is how it is and it’s down to us doing the job over the last 4 games.

[mole86]

1 hour ago, Spoony said:

There’s something about it though. Like we can play a tiny English team in the FA Cup and the players would be more up for it and the game a bit more meaningful. All these ECL games feel a bit like a pre-season tour. 

Like Stevenage?

[OutByEaster?]

When is the draw?

EDIT: 14:00 on Monday.

[It's Your Round]

Will the draw be televised? Maybe on TNT

[Ceemo]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

When is the draw?

 

Draw for the Last 32 which we are not involved in is on Monday.

The Last 16 draw which is where we re-enter won't be on until February 23.

[The_Rev]

Had an hour or so to ponder on the game and I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn that we didn't know going in.  It was always going to be a bit after the Lord Mayor's Show, last week was huge for the team and AFAIK Unai gave them all two days off which meant they came back to Bodymoor on Tuesday and travelled Wednesday.  The game itself seemed like an afterthought in all of this.   Zrinjski didn't offer much, five at the back and two DM's screening really killed the game as a spectacle as there was just no room to play football once we were 30 yards from their goal.   The players were cruising through it but it was good to see people who needed minutes get minutes, pleased for the debutants  and  nice for Zaniolo to get his first goal.  All we needed was to get through the 90 minutes and win the group and that's mission accomplished.  Won the group, avoided the playoffs so we can put Europe to bed until March and we will get a favourable draw too.  Not going to remember much about this game, but job done.  

[OutByEaster?]

1 minute ago, Ceemo said:

Draw for the Last 32 which we are not involved in is on Monday.

The Last 16 draw which is where we re-enter won't be on until February 23.

Aww crap, I thought we were getting the big draw on Monday.

Christmas is ruined.

 

[fruitvilla]

The correct interpretation of the game ...

Marschall ... I thought he did really well, the goal was not his fault. One or two nervy 'incidents' but nothing too serious.
Cash ... did OK, nothing terrible, nothing spectacular
Konsa and Torres ... rock solid
Dendoncker ... Not as bad as some make out
Luiz ... did ok, but didn't have his normal impact on the game. Thought his corner goal was a little bit unlucky
Zaniola ... controlled McGinn's cross really and put it away. Seemed to have half Villa's attempts on goal. Too many dead runs for my taste. Is where Bailey was a while ago.

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

Marschall - solid enough but will be remembered for his blocked clearance and the few minutes thereafter where he looked panicked. Did well to smother the ball shortly afterwards. Though I wondered if he was a bit far off his line, I don’t think he had a chance on the goal.

Cash - lots of gesticulating and lots of heavy touches. Didn’t link well with Zaniolo. Did little wrong defensively (other than losing the line occasionally) but was loose coming forward.

Konsa - can’t remember much of his performance other than him trying to move the ball around and not getting options in front of him. He and Pau look assured.

Torres - moved the ball well but like Konsa needed more movement ahead of him. Tried some probing passes forward.

Moreno - still getting up to speed. Plenty of energy but struggled. Looked frustrated when he came off. 

Doug - some loose touches and didn’t look as assured without Bouba next to him. His fluffed shot led to the breakaway for the goal.

Diaby - poor. Cut a frustrated figure. Made some runs in the first quarter of the game but seemed to be moving about in the midfield line in search of the ball. I wasn’t impressed with the accidental but still annoying shoulder block on O’Reilly when he came off. 

Zaniolo - contrary to the abuse he got on VT during the game, he was an outlet for us. Not the smoothest player in the world but was trying to make offensive runs in the final third. Took his goal well. 

Dendoncker - seemed solid enough in the first half but switched off too often at key moments. Poor range of passing. Perhaps doesn’t understand the system well enough to play a big part. Not the lynchpin we need as a backup for Bouba.

Duran - lots of running that wasn’t rewarded by any decent passes into him. Having said that, when he did get the ball, his touch looked impressive at times today. He needs the same advice Ollie received: stay in the central part of the pitch and leave the chasing down the flanks to others. I want to see him in the box because he’s got a shot on him.

Ramsey - had a purple patch at the start of the second half but was anonymous most of the rest of the time. Still a yard off the pace. Not his usually direct self. While not guilty of losing the ball, he stunted our play in the first half.

Subs

Chambers - he won’t be here at the end of January. Should have been the grown up in the room coming on but couldn’t assert himself on the game. 
Digne - lively enough and looked an upgrade on Moreno. Added some dynamism on the left side. Some invitingish crosses.

McGinn - changed the game. All action. Linked well with Digne. Seems to understand Emery’s system better than any other offensive player (perhaps barring Pau). Faded in the final ten minutes. 

Diego - not his best performance for us today. Tried to bully them but needed to impose himself on the game in a different way. 

O’Reilly - looked quite bright. Some neat touches and clearly likes to get in the front foot. I’m probably bigging him up too much in the Hope he’ll come good. 

 

 

[alreadyexists]

When do we find out who we play in the next round of 16? 

[tinker]

Job done, Thought Marshall played well, bit nervous about him starting but he played the sweeper role really well early on when they broke free he came from.the left side of.my screen and cleared the danger beautifully. Couldn't be blamed for the goal, deflection and  unlucky with his clearance hitting Chambers.

Everyone else was as expected, it was hard to beat these at home and nothing changed away. 

Edited December 14, 2023 by tinker

[It's Your Round]

5 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

When do we find out who we play in the next round of 16? 

February 23rd it seems from the posts above

[Vive_La_Villa]

2 hours ago, jim said:

Poor but we are through. 

Interested to know why you gave Emery poor rating. What do you think he got wrong ?  I didn’t watch the game.

[RicRic]

2 hours ago, osmark86 said:

Damn that was fast

He probably lives in croatia 

[MrBlack]

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Interested to know why you gave Emery poor rating. What do you think he got wrong ?  I didn’t watch the game.

I'd say it was poor if you look at it purely from a stand alone game perspective. Drawing to such a poor side is not good. 

But I gave him good because we only needed to draw, never looked like losing, and saved the legs of maybe 70-80% of the starters that we'll have on our next league game. It's good in that respect. It's probably poor as a stand alone result.

[The Fun Factory]

Job done, good to see Zaniolo get his first goal. A couple of the kids were given game time, top the group, no injuries. Letting one in at the end was a slight annoyance but after the first game at Warsaw and about 90 minutes of the home game versus this lot, we would be very happy with that.

[Vive_La_Villa]

7 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

I'd say it was poor if you look at it purely from a stand alone game perspective. Drawing to such a poor side is not good. 

But I gave him good because we only needed to draw, never looked like losing, and saved the legs of maybe 70-80% of the starters that we'll have on our next league game. It's good in that respect. It's probably poor as a stand alone result.

Thanks for this. It’s why I find the rating fascinating. On Saturday everyone gave Emery very good but if Arsenal just took one or two of their big chances would he have become poor? Fine margins.  

I get we should be beating this team but travelling to Bosnia and playing in that environment is never going to be easy. 
 

Massive respect to all the fans that went! 

Edited December 14, 2023 by Vive_La_Villa

[fruitvilla]

7 minutes ago, RicRic said:

2 hours ago, osmark86 said:

Damn that was fast

He probably lives in croatia 

Back to the camper van.

[Adam2003]

Just looking at prize money - that goal was worth a not insignificant €166,000 to them (and cost us €334,000). But then we also got €650,000 for winning the group (vs €325,000 if we had been runners up). Starts to add up a bit - we’ve banked a few million from the group stage at €500,000 per win and got just under €3,000,000 just for making the group.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Adam2003

[villan95]

13 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

Just looking at prize money - that goal was worth a not insignificant €166,000 to them (and cost us €334,000). But then we also got €650,000 for winning the group (vs €325,000 if we had been runners up). Starts to add up a bit - we’ve banked a few million from the group stage at €500,000 per win and got just under €3,000,000 just for making the group.

Nearly enough to pay Digne's wages for the week!