Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Lille

[PaulC]

It's a lead but disappointing to concede from a corner. Carlos shouid hsve done better there 

[AvonVillain]

Know absolutely nothing about the game as I got in so late. Here's something I do know: we won!

[sheepyvillian]

Shame we couldn't keep them out, but they're a decent team, especially the kid with his socks down. 

I fancy us to score at their gaff, so hopefully, we'll be ok.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Slender lead to take over there given how many chances they were afforded tonight. Going to be very tricky to navigate that one. Dougie needs to reward us with one of his world class showings given he has the week off.

Emi MOTM

Watkins good again, Rogers continues to show promise. Diego had a mare, needs to really sharpen up given we have no alternatives.

Still a lead is a lead. Onto Le Arse

[Delphinho123]

Martinez MOTM says it all. Lucky to come away with a win there in all honesty. It’ll do.

Going to be tough in the return leg. 

[villa89]

Probably a fair result. They are good side and the second leg will be very tough.

[HongKongVillan]

I bet the French hates Emi even more now

[Annoyman]

Poor Emi

[Lerner's Driver]

Martinez man of the match. Shit Lille goal. Let's hope it's enough. We aren't playing with much belief. Set pieces and our goalkeeper are all we have got at the moment.

[tonyh29]

Outplayed first half , better in the second and could have even had a 3-0 lead to take to France … but we might regret those tactical substitutions , 

man of the match to Austin MacPhee closely followed by Emi

Emery earns his money next week 

[andym]

Good win, but we are going to have to play much, much better next week.

Gave Lille far too much space, and let them exploit it through stupid decisions and turnovers, e.g. the 1 on 1 Emi saved from whatever Rogers was trying to do in the first half with that bizarre ball backwards.

 

[Rossi]

We’ve got this covered, 180 minute game !

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Who is this fresh looking brother on TNT

[Lerner's Driver]

Just now, Delphinho123 said:

Martinez MOTM says it all. Lucky to come away with a win there in all honesty. It’ll do.

Going to be tough in the return leg. 

Yup. We'd be **** without him. We are very lucky to have him.

[ozvilla28]

Our defence is shambolic we can't do the basics right defend corners or mark a player what's going on never seem to get it right. Switching off is a habit now.

[stewiek2]

The best result for any of the English clubs tonight, I'd take it over Arsenal's and dare I say Man City's. We won. You can tell Don Unai has to think of energy reservation with a game Sunday then second leg so we simply can't go gung ho with the depleted squad. If anything away suits us more. We're at a phase were we just cannot rotate at the moment too much, unless he pulls a rabbit out the hat and Mings and Buendia are fit and ready to rub through a brick wall Sunday.

But when you look at the obstacles the season, the long-term injuries to key players this season, goddam this manager is magnificent. We can still get fourth with such injuries whilst playing European football all season is nothing abort of a miracle. Seriously, only Rob Edwards is performing more of a miracle this season than Don Unai.

Wow.

Edited April 11 by stewiek2

[romavillan]

Great win but the problems at the back make going there pretty **** scary. Their stadium will be a furnace compared to VP tonight. Going to be hard, need an early goal. I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot of running chasing the ball. Beat these and we're well on the way though, there's not much better left in the tournament.

Positives, we have an incredible goalkeeper who likes to win, we made a lot of chances too. Negatives are we didn't control the ball at home again, we'll have to be very patient over there and stay disciplined.

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

Would’ve taken that result before kickoff. Fact is they are orders of magnitude the best team we’ve played in the competition. Considering the injuries and the fact that we’ve taped together a team, we showed flickers of some v good football. Defensive shape and concentration has gone to sh*t, but Emi bailed them out. Fantastic fantastic player. 

 

Their fans were in v good voice all night, too: they’ll make it a difficult atmosphere at their place. 

[striker]

Will Villa never learn?

Got the second goal and again took the foot of the gas.

How many times did Villa get into Lille’s box after the second goal excluding corners? I counted zilch. No wonder Emery was losing it.

Rather than go for the killer third goal Villa withdrew and finally conceded which might make all the difference in Lille.

I’m absolutely fuming so will post nothing further!

[VillaAlex]

Next week is going to do tough. We need to be a whole lot better than we were tonight.

We won, great. But we look so disjointed with the injuries and so tired. We now have a tough game Vs Arsenal and Lille get a week's rest.

France will be intimidating, I fear for us to be honest.