omariqy Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Not confident at all tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted April 9 VT Supporter Share Posted April 9 28 minutes ago, imavillan said: Well we are great with these suspension tightropes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Lille, I would say, will probably end up being the strongest side we face in this cup. David, after a relatively slow start (7G+2A), is picking up steam in in 2024 (16G+3A) though 3G/3A were playing a much lower tier side in a cup match. Chevalier is a very highly rated keeper. Zhegrova will give Digne or Moreno a run for their money. Tiago Santos overlaps very well with him so our left side are going to have to be up for it. I think Unai will go with a slightly more conservative lineup and go in expecting a cagey match on both legs. The problem is the CM area. He needs McGinn in the center but also needs someone more defensively adept playing LM as well. I'm not sure if this will be during the home tie or the away tie but it wouldn't surprise me for Unai to play Moreno ahead of Digne. This is essentially how he ended the City match and mentioned that the last 30 minutes of the City match was for some 'practice' Emi Konsa Diego Pau Digne Bailey McGinn Luiz Moreno Tielemans Watkins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Django_Zooms Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 (edited) The Thursday Lille home - Sunday Arsenal away - Thursday Lille away situation is seriously tricky. Playing the A team against Lille & the B team against Arsenal is the only solution. Arsenal are 2/9 on and Villa are 9/1 against, so any complainants from City or Liverpool about the weakened team can do one. Villa must focus selfishly on finishing 4th or 5th & winning the ECL. Edited April 9 by Django_Zooms 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DakotaVilla Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 I don’t buy that at all. These are the games that players want to play in. Full first team now for the next few games. Hopefully we get the extra coefficient spot and can then put everything into beating Bournemouth and Chelsea and can then put our feet up in the league. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DakotaVilla Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 2 hours ago, omariqy said: Not confident at all tbh I’m confident. We have the most experienced manager possible for a European tie. Should be a great game at VP with a great atmosphere and that tends to bring out the best in our players and they’ll feel that they have something to prove after Brentford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 3 hours ago, omariqy said: Not confident at all tbh We have a manager in charge who’s quite good at these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turvontour Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 2 hours ago, Django_Zooms said: The Thursday Lille home - Saturday Arsenal away - Thursday Lille away situation is seriously tricky. Playing the A team against Lille & the B team against Arsenal is the only solution. Arsenal are 2/9 on and Villa are 9/1 against, so any complainants from City or Liverpool about the weakened team can do one. Villa must focus selfishly on finishing 4th or 5th & winning the ECL. But we actually have Watkins Mcginn and Martinez available this time. Would be a bit odd to play a reserve side again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 4 hours ago, Lille fan said: Hello Villa Fans ! Good games coming ! Here Aston Villa is perceived as the clear favourite to lift the trophy and the draw was pretty worrying ! However the last 2 weeks we regained some hope as Lille played two great games (beating Lens and Marseille with style) while we've seen Aston Villa conceiding a lot of goals. to me it went from 75/25 to 60/40 odds. We obviously fear Unai Emery , Watkins and Martinez (WC trauma.. most hated GK in this country) and know Tielemans , Digne , Diaby quite well . I understand Luiz , Mc Guinn and Bailey (and others) are key players to watch for... Lille is much stronger in our stadium (best home team in ligue 1 ahead of PSG ... 3 losses in last 40 games) than away.... most of us would be fine with losing in Villa Park by a one goal margin.... 2nd game will be for sure in our full 50.000 stadium with a great atmosphere.. also we have no championship game in between 2 rounds (while you play Arsenal) so expect a fresh opponent both times. We secretly hope Aston Villa somewhat prioritize Premier League battle to get a C1 ticket... You should expect to face a surprisingly technical team ( on a "farmer league" scale) with quite a lot of activity and fighting spirit... some weaknesses here and there due mostly to some players being a little too young and some others being a little too old.. i might post a deeper review of our team later. Fonseca is a very tactical coach , making up specific plans for each opponent. sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't . Last year he tried a full-on offensive approach who was interesting but he realized the players weren't strong enough to play like that (lots of goals conceded in lost balls) so now we're more balanced and more impredictable... i expect this game to be a chess game between Fonseca and Emery , although Emery play with more expensive pieces... . cheers ! I think it will be 2 very interesting games, with 2 evenly matched teams. I see our Arsenal game as a plus not a minus...its an opportunity for us to sharpen our minds to a top class opponent, they will bring the best out in us....We have already, beaten them once this season, that in itself could be useful, if we use it, to our advantage. It was after a tough win over Man City too....so we seem to play better, against better opposition. I think, when you play at home, the pressure will be on you, and we can be very dangerous in transition...and our centre forward is in the form of his career...so not sure the second leg, would necessarily be to your advantage. I respect your team, but I think the inquest after our Last Premier league game, could be something that might work against you. Our bounce back ability is our forte. look forward to 2 good games. Chin Chin.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 I'm not confident but am hopeful. This competition hasn't been easy to predict, we've struggled somewhat at times in games where we've been expected to win and possibly comfortably, but also we've probably been at our best in the so called tougher games, such as against AZ and Ajax, so hopefully that puts us in good stead against Lille 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 4 minutes ago, useless said: I'm not confident but am hopeful. This competition hasn't been easy to predict, we've struggled somewhat at times in games where we've been expected to win and possibly comfortably, but also we've probably been at our best in the so called tougher games, such as against AZ and Ajax, so hopefully that puts us in good stead against Lille Makes sense, we struggle to breakdown low blocks. Lille will hopefully be more open, might play into our hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted April 9 VT Supporter Share Posted April 9 3 hours ago, omariqy said: Not confident at all tbh No, I’m feeling that way too, I don’t know if it’s just the draw with Brentford at the weekend but I feel like we might struggle. BUT we have Emery the genius at the helm, so that gives us one huge advantage. Who do we play if we get to the semi? I feel like that was drawn at the same time but can’t remember who it was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 For the most part in this competition we’ve been under cooked . Hopefully we can start upping our game over both legs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben1505 Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 5 hours ago, alreadyexists said: No, I’m feeling that way too, I don’t know if it’s just the draw with Brentford at the weekend but I feel like we might struggle. BUT we have Emery the genius at the helm, so that gives us one huge advantage. Who do we play if we get to the semi? I feel like that was drawn at the same time but can’t remember who it was? Olympiakos/Fenerbache I think? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 6 hours ago, duke313 said: Makes sense, we struggle to breakdown low blocks. Lille will hopefully be more open, might play into our hands. Fonesca is a young Emery it seems with defined tactical plans so I think they'll low block us at VP in the style Brentford did but also counter attack quicker with David upfront. I think we'll win this 2-1 so very much in the balance for the second leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lille fan Posted April 10 Visiting Supporter Share Posted April 10 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: Fonesca is a young Emery it seems with defined tactical plans so I think they'll low block us at VP in the style Brentford did but also counter attack quicker with David upfront. I think we'll win this 2-1 so very much in the balance for the second leg. Fonseca and Emery are about the same age . You're right to compare them though , they share a lot of similarities (they're both guardiola fanboys after all) . Fonseca is undoubtly the star of our club and is regarded as one of the best coach in french league , if not the best. He probably deserves a much better/richer team than Lille , although his bad run with AS roma hurt his career... what he tries to get from his team : as much ball possession as possible , always building from the back with short passes (bit too risky sometimes) , and quick passes sequences in the middle to defeat opponent's pressing. i don't think you should expect a low passive block with rare counterattacks.... more like a medium block and a big fight between midfielders with some tactical ideas to try to neutralize Aston Villa's individual superiority. I wouldn't be surprised if ball possession is pretty much equal. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 Gotta tell Dougie to leave it all out on the pitch in these 2 legs because he's not playing PL football for 2 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 Definitelty going to be a step up from Ajax who have just lost 6-0 to Feyenoord the other day. Lille seem to be on the up and we are looking a bit torn and frayed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinebro Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 Didn't realize they were that strong. 4th in Ligue 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo71 Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 It's going to be a tough game, but if we aspire to higher competition then a good bunch of these players will be playing then too, so we need testing. I've decided I'm going to view the Brentford game as a nick-of-time kick up the ar$e for us that will sharpen our senses going to the final straight of the league and Conference. Yes, it's a cope! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts