Ratings & Reactions: UECL16: Ajax v Villa

[HanoiVillan]

1 hour ago, YLN said:

It's a football aphorism. Logic is not relevant

It's a load of Colemanballs, is what it is 

[Nigel]

Any idea how the ref did?

[bose]

In the whole a poor performance but a very decent result away in Europe.

[Follyfoot]

Very difficult wank but managed to get there in the end

[Jas10]

 

[markavfc40]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

We're more than capable of losing to West Ham and Wolves and being locked into a really tight battle with Spurs and United for 4th-6th at the end of this month even if we beat Spurs at the weekend.

 

We haven't lost two league games on the bounce this season (in fact it has only happened once in over a year) so to say we are more than capable of losing to West Ham and Wolves is doing us more than a bit of a disservice.

I'm very much of the opinion a win against Spurs and we're nailed on for Champs League qualification. 

[briny_ear]

Never cease to admire how Emery is managing our rather stretched resources this season. That was a reasonably strong side with some players key to the Spurs game sensibly starting on the bench. It seemed the plan was to play a low key controlling game and hope to snick a goal or two as Ajax tired. Unfortunately we didn’t control the game well enough and never really got enough counter attacking momentum, though we might have had a great goal at the death via Zaniolo and Watkins.

Thought Lenglet had a good game and Emi saved our bacon not for the first time. There was some quite sloppy passing in midfield and we were muscled out a bit before McGinn came on.

I wonder if Morgan Rogers and Tim Iroegbunam were a bit overawed by the occasion. Both emphasised after the match what a massive iconic club Ajax are. Lads, you are playing for a massive iconic club yourselves and the sooner you start drinking that in the better. No room for inferiority complexes.

We got a bit better in the second half, and the substitutions helped, but were still oddly sluggish throughout.

However, we are going home from the first away leg of a European tie at 0-0 so not too bad a result all in all.

Shame the ref was a complete and utter headbanger and I am very sorry for Konsa who shouldn’t have been booked once, let alone twice in my opinion. We will miss him in the return leg.

 

 

Edited March 7 by briny_ear

[Adam2003]

Good line in the Guardian match report:

”The problem with setting the bar so high, as Villa have done this season, is the average performances feel anaemic.”

Or the caviar/sausage line, as Wenger used to say.

[Adam2003]

2 hours ago, Caddy said:

I think the one thing that really benefits us from having ECL this season is that is helps the players become better at dealing with the rigors of competing in multiple fronts; knowing the importance of staying in 1st/2nd gear when another gear isn't needed, etc.

This 100%. Compare to Newcastle who just tried to go in fifth gear every game and blew their whole season, league and Europe. 

[The Fun Factory]

15 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

Good line in the Guardian match report:

”The problem with setting the bar so high, as Villa have done this season, is the average performances feel anaemic.”

Or the caviar/sausage line, as Wenger used to say.

Every time I feel slightly disappointed I just remember when we lost at home to Barnsley in the championship with 28,000  in attendance.

[ozvillafan]

Interesting some of the reactions here.

This was Ajax. At their stadium. In a season where they find themselves 27 (twenty seven) points off the top of the table. In their last throw of the dice to stay in Europe. And nothing else to play for this season.

They threw themselves at everything. Did you see the reaction of the defender who desperately slid in to block Bailey's shot late on? You'd have thought he'd won the lottery.

Now consider that we started with 5 changes to the team. We have a very important game vs Spuds in the next few days. We limited them to 5 shots and something like 2 corners. Emi had 1 save to make. We did not concede. Nobody (except Pau, maybe) was injured.

That's exactly what Emery would have wanted.

Job done. Nothing to see here.

[Ponky]

People are being a bit harsh on Tim and Rogers I think. Yeah they struggled a bit in the first half but so did nearly every other player.

I think this sort of performance is partly on the players but it's too much of a pattern now to not be heavily influenced by what Emery wants from them. I suspect it might just not be quite translating into the quality of the output.

[thunderball]

Abysmal, criminally inept officiating for a premier European tournament, it would have received the same criticism for non-league. So many down right wrong decisions. Two players sent off in a luke warm encounter, players booked for no offence; bookable offences ignored 2 minutes after a less innocuous similar carding events; throw-ins given to the opposite team.

Judging by the line up and pace of the game, we are juggling and prioritising the premier league. No harm in that, given the prize for getting 4th is worth £40m+ and underwrites our FFP, team investment etc. A goal would have been nice, but we were hardly full throttle. If we beat Spurs the plan has worked perfectly.

Edited March 8 by thunderball

[the_sun_never_sets]

Some of the strongest teams in the tournament lost their first legs (at home in some cases). So a draw away to Ajax is creditable with a rotated team. Beat spurs and win the second leg and it will be viewed as brilliant management. 

[alreadyexists]

Boring but the game plan worked, and we take a draw away from home to make it a 90min game on our turf… never in doubt  

[villa4europe]

as a side to the game - knowing what ajax fans are its good to see nothing from the villa fans over there apart from one story about our guys being attacked on a train station platform, from my social media it looks like our lot had a great time, loved seeing that lad in the crowd absolutely hammered with a pint in each hand

from a fans perspective last night looked class and apart from a win exactly why you want us in Europe

[alreadyexists]

10 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

as a side to the game - knowing what ajax fans are its good to see nothing from the villa fans over there apart from one story about our guys being attacked on a train station platform, from my social media it looks like our lot had a great time, loved seeing that lad in the crowd absolutely hammered with a pint in each hand

from a fans perspective last night looked class and apart from a win exactly why you want us in Europe

Weird (to our eyes) that you can drink in view of the game! Imagine that here, it would be great  

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, thunderball said:

Abysmal, criminally inept officiating for a premier European tournament, it would have received the same criticism for non-league. So many down right wrong decisions. Two players sent off in a luke warm encounter, players booked for no offence; bookable offences ignored 2 minutes after a less innocuous similar carding events; throw-ins given to the opposite team.

 

The thing is, this is not really a major European tournament to UEFA. This was designed for countries with smaller leagues like Albania to get more exposure. The finals are usually played at smaller stadiums and countries like England get one spot while Ireland for example gets about 3

In terms of stature Villa vs Ajax is probably the biggest game the tournament will probably ever have

[RichW]

The game I expected beforehand. Wasn’t pretty, think Ajax would have seen this as their biggest game of the season since they can’t win the league this year. Away games in Europe are tough and we won’t just rock up and win comfortably, this is the first European campaign for a lot of these players. 
 

Favourable position for the second leg with it being at home, expect the team to get the job done next week. 

[VILLAMARV]

I liked Bailey telling Watkins he didn't pass to him because he was offside late on. Martinez got my potm vote despite, as others have said, really wayward distribution. Missed the first 20 minutes as I was heading home after a funeral. Considering the level of performance 0-0 is hardly a bad result away to Ajax. McGinn filling in at CB for the last 10 mins was an odd sight.