Ratings & Reactions: UECL16: Ajax v Villa

[sne]

Fair dues to the AJAX fans. They managed to get a nice atmosphere going in their "soulless bowl". As per usual.

[ianifratti]

Ref spoilt the game just as we were getting some impetus. Kaplan MOM , looks loke one to watch 

[ender4]

4 minutes ago, AndyM3000 said:

One of the worst games I've ever seen.

You haven’t watched Villa play in the past?

[nick76]

Ajax players and fans are so happy!  

Shows how far we’ve come because we didn’t get out of 2nd gear.  

Solid and great draw away from home in Europe.  

I think some fans aren’t used to playing in Europe and football being different to PL.

[OutByEaster?]

Really poor - the wrong attitude to the game right from the off - we looked like we wanted to keep a clean sheet and win it 1-0, like we were playing Milan or something - we then carried out that plan poorly, we were sloppy and we played some awful stuff in possession. A terrible ref didn't help us either. 

We should have gone for these from the opening whistle and looked to score three or four - we've shown them far, far too much respect and ended up creating a second leg where we have to turn up, pick a strong side and work hard if we want to win it.

Spurs is a big game, and we did the right thing in weakening for this game, but losing Konsa makes it more difficult for us to do that in the second leg and West Ham is a game that's very, very difficult. Torres doesn't seem to have 90 minutes in him, let alone twice in a week, so if he plays against Spurs it'll be Lenglet/Carlos or Lenglet/Chambers for the second leg of this one - we really could have done with a cushion here.

Lose at West Ham and drop out of Champions league qualification and you can pin it on this performance, the approach and the attitude tonight - I'm really disappointed with it.

 

 

[Talldarkandransome]

Never a 2 red card game that, Zaniolo gets a yellow for nothing, Konsa gets one for nothing and gets sent off. Even their sending off wasn't one either. 

Draw away is always good. I'll give Emi MOTM

[MakemineVanilla]

You can't beat the glamour of European football but there are definitely exceptions.

I have often wondered why it was called the conference, but its obviously where they get the referees from.

[Marka Ragnos]

5 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Happy with that! Job done!

Agreed. I fancy our chances in England.

Edited March 7 by Marka Ragnos

[YLN]

You can't win a tie in the first leg but you can lose it. So 0-0 is fine

[villa4europe]

1 minute ago, Marka Ragnos said:

We went to Amsterdam against a legend and survived. Lots to learn. We're getting great experiences. We will dispatch them at Villa Park.

Henderson? That you Gareth? 

[NorthEastVillan]

1 minute ago, Davkaus said:

They're doing a **** lap around the pitch for a 0-0 draw.

After the way we were bigged up before the game im not surprised. Think they were expecting 1970s Brazil instead of a lacklustre Villa.

[Marka Ragnos]

1 minute ago, villa4europe said:

Henderson? That you Gareth? 

Hey, he's very committed to social justice -- except in one rich middle eastern country.

[striker]

Well that was crap. Not one Villa player stood out for me. Actually could have been caught out again playing in second gear late on. 

Ajax were there for the taking tonight but Villa were happy with a 0-0. I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite Villa in the arse next week?
 

Normally I don’t comment much on the ref but he was very poor. Konsa’s first yellow wasn’t while the second probably was. Unlucky to be sent off.

[allani]

Almost spot on.  0-0 draw in second gear.  A few players got a decent rest.  Two youngsters getting starts in a big match.  Nice position for the return leg.  Players shouldn't be too knackered ahead of the weekend.  The referee's performance was utterly bizarre.  Zaniolo's booking was probably the most bizarre yellow I have ever seen.  He protects the ball, gets fouled and somehow gets booked.  And then 5 minutes later their defender catches Ollie in the face and doesn't even concede a free-kick.  Hopefully the ref is nowhere near the game at VP.

Kaplan looks like a good target for the summer.  Good on the ball and decent in the air too.

[AndyM3000]

1 minute ago, ender4 said:

You haven’t watched Villa play in the past?

The old Villa games always had goals in them, just usually not for us. 

[mykeyb]

Unai knows what he is doing, Spurs is more important.

Still in it with a great chance to go further.

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

We should have gone for these from the opening whistle and looked to score three or four - we've shown them far, far too much respect and ended up creating a second leg where we have to turn up, pick a strong side and work hard if we want to win it.

Couldn’t disagree more!

[villa4europe]

1 minute ago, Talldarkandransome said:

Never a 2 red card game that, Zaniolo gets a yellow for nothing, Konsa gets one for nothing and gets sent off. Even their sending off wasn't one either. 

Draw away is always good. I'll give Emi MOTM

Their sending off was as easy a two yellow cards as you will ever see

Konsa deserved his first yellow for the handball, it's cynical and you can't do that, the 2nd is debatable but again if the ref sees that as konsa fouling him rather than konsa being fouled then in that scenario it has to be a yellow card, I though both of Konsas cards were completely avoidable which is what makes it disappointing, 2nd one just play the ball rather than trying to step across the man 

[Davkaus]

5 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

Ajax doing a lap of honour! LOL, what a bunch of dicks.

Apparently they do this after every home game. I also thought it was a bit small time if they just thought this was such a big event that they should do one, but nope, just a cool gesture to their fans after every game. I kind of like it in that light

[StewieGriffin]

Ref looked like he'd been given a Be a Ref for a Day gift experience for his birthday and cashed it in tonight.

Played in 3rd gear for most of it - if we'd gone with a bit more tempo we'd have won that by a couple.