Ratings & Reactions: Arsenal v Villa

[ben1505]

1 hour ago, 479Villan said:

I said earlier this weekend Villa needed to learn to run at their own pace and not worry about those behind them.

I also said I thought this lineup was designed to "first to 6 goals wins."

Everyone, that was a team in the second half that ran its own race and did not care one whit about anyone or anything else. And a clean sheet with that lineup?

There is a reason I am a lawyer, and Unai Emery is a football manager.

We have a maximum of 15 points from the top 3 teams, and we have secured 9. That is outstanding stuff, with or without a European campaign (for the first time in well over a decade) as well.

You can talk about Ange all day. You can give him whatever shampoo bottle looking trophy for manager of the year. I don't care, it does not matter.

Unai Emery has shown the league he has the skill to pants the top 2 clubs, at home, and also away, making do with his teams with their injury situations. That second half performance was handcuffs. Arteta didn't get beat, he got taught.

If I were Lille, I'd be very concerned this same XI are coming to my town in a few days, because they appear to not care about hostile crowds, or possession tactics. But they do know how to run.

The guy is a chancer.. they’ll soon get bored of him

[479Villan]

6 minutes ago, ben1505 said:

The guy is a chancer.. they’ll soon get bored of him

He didn't hang the moon, he seems fine so far though. Nothing amazing. He's racing to keep up with Unai who has a less valuable squad (whatever that means) and has European football. But he's at a London club, so the media can suck him off. Great, have fun, go nuts Sky.

Let's see what he does with their last month and the fixture congestion, and then with a European campaign also with his tactics next year.

[StewieGriffin]

47 minutes ago, ben1505 said:

The guy is a chancer.. they’ll soon get bored of him

What? The guy is a footballing visionary. No manager has attempted to play a high line here before, he's a genius.

They sometimes get beat but that's just how they play mate ay?

[HeroesAndVillans]

4 hours ago, punkiller1981 said:

Hope this helps you feel a little bit better remember your always part of the big Villa family 

Thanks mate, had an awful time with my mental health recently, won't get into it too much here, but I ended up in hospital last week. To be honest I was close to tears after the game, the bond a man can have with his football team is unexplainable sometimes. I am proud to be a Villa supporter and it is a genuine honour that I get to support this club for the rest of my life.

[DJBOB]

• 6 corners vs 4 corners - Arsenal's prowess from corners and our weakness is well known so to limit them to only 4 corners and to have less corners than us was a huge win. We defended our goal well and our first goal came off the second phase after a corner
• 12 fouls vs 7 fouls - with almost 50/50 possession, we largely stayed away from the troublesome fouls that got us in trouble in other matches. Of those 7 fouls, only 1 was in our final third (Tielemans 49')
• 5 offside vs 1 offside - though we were under the kosh a few times, we kept our midblock line high to keep them out of the box as much as possible. They were still able to breach the line but we kept to the game plan to keep us out of a siege
• 191 passes vs 112 passes - 191 passes from Emi/Diego/Pau vs 112 passes from Raya/Saliba/Gabriel - as dangerous as it seemed - we committed to baiting the Arsenal press as high as possible with Emi frequently receiving a pass right at the goal line with Arsenal players in the box. It helped us to beat the press especially with Zaniolo pinning White back several times with great hold up play

[brendanvillatalk]

I had no faith in us getting a result. Just too many silly goals going in lately and they are on a great run of form and it's at their place. Would have been delighted to come away with a point. I love being wrong like this.

Amazing performance.  And to think we were without Dougie-I feel he would have stifled Youri today who was excellent. Rogers had a whiff of Buendia about him-very forward thinking from midfield and we've been lacking that I think. Great performances across the board. No smash and grab-it was a well deserved win. Let's hope this has unlocked something in us and we can show some consistent quality for the rest of the season. It should give us confidence in beating a team that doesn't conceded many and scores a lot.

To the fans who traveled - hats off - congrats on being there for such great day!

[Ponky]

7 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

Who else saw 8 mins of added time and thought , still time to lose this !! 

No I was supremely confident from the 96th minute onward.

[AJ]

8 hours ago, FLVillan said:

#metoo 

Sounds touching.

[il_serpente]

I gave MOTM to Diego as many others did, but I nearly chose Emi because I think it would have been a different game and probably result if he hadn't made that save on Trossard.  Arsenal were generally on top with their tails up in the first half and us having to chase the game that early may have opened the floodgates.   A crucial save from a class keeper.

Like @maqroll, I was disappointed in the 2 Robbies on US coverage in that they were wondering why Arsenal and Odegaard fell off in the 2nd half rather than acknowledging that Villa made it difficult for them.   In their defense, on their podcast later on they were much more complimentary to Villa.

We are fortunate to never have to listen to Neville or Carragher commenting on games in the US.  The commentator for the US broadcast was Graeme Le Saux, and he is by wide margin the best commentator we get on any of the PL broadcasts over here.   He is intelligent, thoughtful and balanced, and gave plenty of praise to Villa.   I really enjoy listening to him.   They often pair him with Lee Dixon for big matches (i.e., Sky 6 v. Sky 6) over here and he actually manages to make Dixon tolerable to listen to (I know, I know) by giving him something to react to.   It also means there's less time for Dixon to open his mouth, which is always helpful.

[HeroesAndVillans]

Amazing the power that football has to put people in a good mood. Not only am I up at half five in the morning to get ready for a day of shopping with the Mrs, I am actually excited to go and visit my parents on the 18th! Seriously, I wish I could thank Unai and the players personally for the positive impact they have had on me this season.

Not sure how to explain this thought, but I said it to the Mrs last night, yesterday was the first time I have ever actually FULLY realised that I get to support this wonderful club for the rest of my life and pass it down the family- and that nobody can take that from me. Football is a beautiful thing and I am definitely romantic when it comes to the sport.

[AVFC_Hitz]

Wake up! It's a beautiful morning.

Edited April 15 by AVFC_Hitz
Autocorrect being a bumder

[Robtaylor200]

Just now, AVFC_Hitz said:

Wale up! It's a beautiful morning.

It certainly is, just watched MOTD again. Still as good. Didn't realise Spuds have to play all of the top 3 

 

[fruitvilla]

2 minutes ago, AVFC_Hitz said:

Wale up! It's a beautiful morning.

Bedtime here.

[Rugeley Villa]

Villa put the icing on the cake on what was already a great weekend. Always believe you can go to places and get a result . 9/1 for Villa to win was an insult . Wish I’d put a few quid on it but I’m happy enough with the  3 points 

[TRO]

We came, we saw and we conquered.

That was reminiscent of the 1980/81 side....such was the resolute display......gone was any sign of passive play, and a true reflection of their position

All the things, I have picking this team up for, they showed yesterday, they can do it......that was against a formidable Arsenal side, that was some scalp.

The defensive display was sublime, allied to some fine,fine offensive work.

Carlos stood out as a rock...closely followed by a Tielemans display, on par with his England showing.

I could not see that performance or result coming...its showed intensity, desire, belief, resilience, and rarely have I seen a collective defensive performance as good as that.

I was proud of that team and credit to every single one of them....so many could have been MOTM.

I would like to say a special mention to Pau Torres, for his involvement in the first goal, ....He took out Gabriel, for the ball to fizz across the box, to Bailey, it was instrumental in that goal.

Surely, that must change the complexion of the Lille visit, where Lille must be on their guard, after that rendition.

Bravo you Villa Boys.

[TRO]

19 hours ago, briny_ear said:

I reckon even @TRO would approve of that!

Excellent performances all over the pitch and perfect game management by Unai. 

It was particularly pleasing that we came out for the second half very very focused and took control of the game - none of that 45-60 minute wobble nonsense today!

Every player was MOTM today but the bedrock of our success was the defending in the first half and Carlos was central to that so my vote goes to him.

Now… what are the prospects of us catching up with Arsenal and Liverpool? 

Abso "bloomin" lutely.

It had all the things being done competently, that I have been moaning about......I genuinely didn't see that coming.....and I didn't see the resolute defensive work of McGinn and Tielemans being as dominant as it was, in the pivot...sensational.

So many MOTM performances....and it shows clearly, this team, can defend, when it wants to.....I thought the tactics were spot on.....We sat a bit deeper, but no low block, and our ability to regroup in an organised fashion, when we hadn't got the ball, was a joy to see.

Despite all the superlatives, I could aim at our team defensively.....They still showed the excellent skills they have showed all season in the offensive work.....what a complete performance.

I have to take my hat off to a masterclass from Unai, one of the most complete performances of the season.

This is a fine, fine Arsenal side, we must remind ourselves of that....at 0-0 I would have took it, as a great display....this is beyond my dreams.

I was so,so proud of that performance and thought Rogers and Zaniolo, showed great signs of strength and a willingness to compete.

However, I did feel a good performance here might be the filip we need to go in to the Lille game......This will show real belief, we can do it...and spook the opposition.

sometimes tough games, bring the best out of us, opposed to tiredness.....this has been one massive leap in faith, for the run in.

Proud of the boys.

UTV

 

Edited April 15 by TRO

[TRO]

13 hours ago, Tayls said:

I thought we were going to get absolutely destroyed today. So, I was wrong. 

you and the majority of the fan base.

I didn't see this application coming.....so, so delighted.

[Vive_La_Villa]

10 minutes ago, TRO said:

you and the majority of the fan base.

I didn't see this application coming.....so, so delighted.

Yep I thought we’d get smashed too. This is football and why we can’t expect to just turn up next week either. So much can still happen. 

But what a great position to be in.

[avfc456]

Outstanding to a man, that is all!

[TRO]

13 hours ago, allani said:

I've knocked Carlos a few times.  Anyone could have got man of the match today.  But as a personal apology to him - he gets my vote.

but you wasn't wrong, when you thought it.....that was a colossal contrast to the Carlos in the Brentford game.

That's the Carlos, we expected, yesterday.

Shows what a top defender, he can be.