Following two victories Villa needed to stabilize themselves in the league table, it’s back to the Champions League and a very tricky fixture against RB Leipzig, who handled Villa rather easily in their preseason encounter.
Naturally, this one is set up for disappointment as well: A good side with plenty of CL experience that hasn’t yet won in this year’s competition after a very tough string of opponents and is also the second-most high-pressing team in the competition. So far, no German team has beaten an English side in this year’s edition. These are the kinds of things you don’t like to read.
Manager Marco Rose also feels Villa’s clear structure makes them easier to prepare for. I’m guessing Emery will be motivated by that, as should the players.
For their part, Villa sit ninth, one of seven clubs with a 3-1-1 record. A win would go a long way to avoiding a playoff match. But the most important thing is probably not losing. It’s all very tight, just like the league.
If there’s one thing Villa struggle with it’s consistent high pressure. (We might also add counterattacks this season.) Naturally you can punish this with accurate long balls of the sort that have caught us out, but we don’t seem to consistently produce them. You can also try to link play quickly and find the passes between the lines.
Villa typically prefer to play out down the left, which is something everyone will be aware of. There will be a lot of pressure on Torres/Mings, Digne, and whoever the structure determines is the third player in that first triangle (Kamara, Tielemans, Onana, generally). What you’d like to see is being able to quickly get out of that left-side pocket and switch play where there’s often more space. It’s harder to push it through the middle, but if the half-turns come off and someone like Rogers can find a little room to carry, then you get more options. Again, I’m sure Leigzig will want to deny that as much as possible. With Ramsey still out, it will be interesting to see whether Rogers remains on the left of midfield rather than in the trailing slot position he seems most influential in.
But, given his ability on the ball, having him still on the left might be a good thing and I don’t know that Emery really has much choice.
On the right side, well, we know that’s our real weakness. Cash very often has a heavy first touch, and very little to work with in front of him. Emery might well opt for the three CBs again given Philogene will almost certainly fill in for Bailey. If Onana is fit enough to play, Emery could throw Leipzig a wrinkle by starting both him and Kamara. However, it would be a first and I’m not sure given the run of niggles that Emery will really want to start Onana. It also would obviously change up the rest of the midfield mix, maybe with Youri playing further up behind Ollie/Duran, and McGinn shoring up the right hand side.
So that’s kind of where my head is at coming into this. We’ve all seen it and know how it works. It really comes down to execution and composure. While Villa have had good spells the last two matches, particularly against Brentford, we’re still a bit off where we were. We’re struggling for goals despite creating chances. One would like to think the damn will break and they’ll just start going in. Which may very well happen.
But overall, it seems like we’re just struggling for form in a number of areas. Bailey being so far off it robs us of width, threat, service. Super John has seemed a bit leggy and not at his best. It’s also asking a lot of him to play that second role up front. Players have dawdled a bit, either getting caught out or failing to make the right pass at the right time. Lots of small things that just add up. I’m not sure Philogene is really any more of a liability than Bailey at the moment, but Tielemans and McGinn haven’t been a formidable obstacle, and well, like I say, it’s kind of dominoes.
Don’t mean to sound gloomy, but I think what we’ve seen in this patch is not so much Emery being found out as the various levels of the players average performances being subpar after the Bournemouth game.
As I’ve mentioned before, it would be fabulous to have wide players who offer a real, consistent threat and are stronger off the ball (we are better with Ramsey in and Rogers up front). That might be where I’d be looking if I were Unai, but then you’d have three right wingers and I don’t think we can carry that on the roster. However, if I were Unai, we wouldn’t be in the Champions League. And while I’m really not trying to knock anyone (as I do think they’re all honest and hard-working players), I’d probably want a new RB. I’m not sure what Nedeljkovic is lacking that Bogarde offers. Maybe it’s just adaptation and experience. Bogarde is listed as a CB on the official roster after all, so maybe it’s that Emery has been hoping he’d enable that three CB set-up without playing Carlos and getting a little more threat upfield than Konsa offers.
Anyway, we’ll soon see the team sheet and then what we’ve got against a high energy side desperate to salvage their campaign. On the plus side, Leipzig are apparently without seven ‘starters’, which may present opportunities.
Over to you.
The Author
John Clark
John is co-owner of AVL, and has followed the Villa since the '70s. A journalist by trade, he is, by most accounts, a very nice person. You can follow me on Twitter @JClarkKohoutek. It's an astonishing experience. Or a complete waste of time.Comments 205
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5-3-2 with 3 c/bs?
Liked it when GT1 and Brian Little used it back in the day. OOh, my creaking old back!
Goal set up by the heavy footed Cash. Good job he used his weak foot.
Might be a little method to my madness, jbd. 😉
Was a lovely pass, assist and goal.
Too effing clever for our own good.
It’s just not quite working for Morgan Rogers at the moment.
He tries things though which ‘if’ they work cam open up the opposition, so maybe he’s been given license to ‘give it a go’ even when he’s not 100% on form.
Better to take risks in the opposition half anyway
Shame Martinez had another brain fart. . . We don’t want him getting a reputation for that.
Yeah, shame about the mix-up. Not really threatening much.
Had a couple attempts from Rogers and Youri they should’ve done better with.
And yeah, we can try to be a bit too clever.
Just wish we could mix up this slow technically surperior possession football with the odd quick surprise jab up the front for Ollie. I reckon our style of football is making Ollie look worse than he is playing at the moment All the runs he makes come to nothing so often that he is caught almost by surprise when he does get a pass.
The ground only looks about half full
Another good opportunity wasted.
What the fuck!
What vision
Superb
Man…kid does score.
That will do nicely. Gosh, that was almost route1.
Shame…would’ve been a brilliant goal.
Oh dear
What has happened to our sweeper?
Well if there are only 5000 unsold tickets, a load of fans must be out the back enjoying the beer rather than in their seats
I reckon we are approaching a tipping point with Ollie. Should we redefine his position in the team and use his running power in another role to provide space for Duran to score goals?
I say this under the black cloud of PSR, do we sell Ollie while his credit and value are as high as they ever will be? Would Rory Wilson see a clearer path to the first team (if he is that good) and sign that flipping contract?
Barkley made his own luck tonight by taking a potshot at goal. Sweeper Torres is not a natural defender. Tried to play proper football in the wrong place and at the wrong flipping time.
Poor emery standing watching all his well laid plans collapse with laurel &hardy and the mark bros playing in our team
However brilliant subs all played there part super win
3 much needed wins and now a match against an anti clough forest
It is interesting, jbd…Thing about Duran is that he has instant impact, but often isn’t much of a factor after that. Maybe I’m generalizing a bit too much. And I wouldn’t have expected Ollie’s assist from him.
But, broader picture, yes, there may well even be a push from Ollie to go or another from Duran. PSR, yeah it makes sense to sell while Ollie’s value is high.
I’m glad I’m not the manager or Monchi.
Thought cash was exceptional tonight so unlucky with offside for durans goal,
Big worry for me are our 2 English stars konsa & watkins,would definitely say worst spell for pair of them
We really deserved to win that, so it’s nice to have a bit of luck go our way to make it happen.
The commentators were saying what a good game to watch it was. . . . and I’m sure it was. . .for a neutral!
Barclay at 5m was inspirational signing. Anyone see/hear monchi interview before match
Nice to see young Serbian lad get a run out
Robbo
Spurs chelsea was good game for neutral, don’t like our games good for neutrals unless last season v gunners and city
JG, I agree, that Cash was super ‘again’ tonight.
I missed what you must have seen from Konsa though as I thought he had a decent game.
As for Ollie, I thought he generally had a good game, but it’s a fact that he’s not putting away chances which you’d expect him to. I don’t know how many times we’ve said that it’s a game of fine margins, and that confidence can make the difference and Ollie seems to be just missing that tiny bit of confidence which would see him putting those chances away.
At least he’s still creating opportunities for others, and getting himself into plenty of goal scoring positions. . . . . it’s just, just, not falling for him. . . Yet.
JG, yes, as a neutral, the Spurs Chelsea game was fun to watch, but a peep at the Spurs forums revealed how agonising it was for their own fans!
Get in! Fabulous result from a magnificent performance with the exception of our back 3 trying to handle long balls and the world’s No 1 having a brain fart. But the UCL for us is all about the money and we have a great chance now of making the top 8.
We played some really slick football. The UCL affords our players a shade more time (unlike the EPL which has every team pressing immediately). So players not blessed with great pace look comfortable. Unai’s selection of a back 3 and wing backs meant Cash effectively became Bailey’s replacement and to great effect.
As James above, Unai’s subs all contributed big time.
Robbo
1st goal konsa could have jogged across leipzig man ,my commentary at half time picked it so clear,just think he has made a lot of enforced errors, maybe it’s everyone else errors he just doesn’t look happy, maybe he doesn’t want to play rightback
JC and jbd, I’d rather not consider us selling either Ollie or Jhon, but it’s going to come down to PSR isn’t it. To compete in the Champion’s league we need to have players of their standard so it’ll be quite a blow if we can’t hang on to both
And the goal from Big Jhon was worthy of winning any game. The rest of Europe will have taken note. Leipzig got the benefit of 2 extremely tight offside decisions so the bit of luck with a deflected winner was no more than we deserved. We were the better team throughout.
I’ll have to watch it again JG. .. I had that first goal firmly down as an Emi cock up.
Robbo
As for ollie,he is still working so hard,but missing so many chances,look at end of soton match glorious chances to shoot or square to unmarked players he done neither
Robbo
Martinez was main cock up ,but all 3 centre halves could have stopped it so easy,torres step up,Carlos clear the ball shout at Martinez after,konsa block goalscorer
JG, I agree, Ollie isn’t putting away as many chances as he should. We’ve been here before and I’m sure we’re all hoping that it just clicks for him again. . . sooner rather than later.
Did anyone else think we looked much more pacier when Ned and Maatsen entered the fray?
I thought european football used different var for offsides,my commentary on ireland virgin never showed 1 of them
Ollie still had an assist tonight. That’s always as good as a goal in my book.
JG, agreed, my feeling is that if Mings was on the putch, he’d have just got rid of the bloody ball, one way or another.
So….2 teams from the Bundesliga and 6 points. Two teams from Serie A and 4 points. Oh dude…
Leipzig may have lost all 6 of their UCL games but they’ve been up against shit evil opposition. Easily the worst possible teams in their draw.
Would expect mings to get a game Saturday, along with maybe barclay and Duran
JG,
Indeed, I don’t really think Leipzig were in it if we hadn’t gifted them the first. Spurned chances to make it 2 or 3 nil almost cost us in the end.
But, I suppose Ross’s deflection equals out the Martinez-Konsa mess, so 2-1 on good goals.
Last night shows us yet again (as if we could have forgotten), just how fortunate we are to have Emery as Villa manager. Bailey has been struggling and is now injured, and Philogene, just hasn’t quite had the confidence to make the position his own, so Emery adapted our formation to go 3 at the back and give Cash a more attacking role (which as JG I think said, he performed really well). Can you imagine Gerrard having been able to analyse what was missing and finding a way to adapt to it?
Plug, you’re right that the whole of Europe will have noticed Big Jhon’s goal. . . .what a goal reel he’s putting together, and what would he be worth now?
I’m not too concerned that he’d want to move on mind you. He’s signed a new long term contract and I think he’s realised that at this stage in his development, Emery is exactly what he needs.
Plug, we probably did look pacier when Ned and Maatsen came on, but the groundwork had been laid for them by those that went off. The opposition were probably also starting to tire, and the game was even more open, due to them needing to win. Having said that, I would like to see more of both of them and it’s great to know that we still have some quality in reserve, despite having had the 5th highest number of injuries in the Premier league so far this season.
To expand on that last point, this article shows how each team has fared so far this season:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c93gkkxrp9yo
Yes, we’ve had the 5th highest number of injuries, but we’re right in the middle of the pack for the number of days lost. Of course, the number of injuries will put extra demands on the manager who is constantly having to adapt his plans to the different personnel available for each game.
Two other interesting points are that Brighton have suffered both the highest number of injuries, and by far, the highest number of days lost. . . . how well has their manager done to adapt to that? I did see somewhere that they were the highest spenders in the whole of Europe last summer so it does seem to have been money well spent too.
In contrast, we’ve heard Pep, with one of the most valuable squads in tech world, whingeing about the number of injuries they’re struggling with, despite the fact that there are 5 teams (including us) who have suffered more injuries, and 6 teams, who’ve lost more days to injury than they have.
Once again, I can’t help wondering just ‘how’ good Pep is when he doesn’t have the very best, and most stable squad to work with?
R0bbo, Yep we are extremely lucky to have Unai as our coach. He does choose some strange selections but we are possibly 1 win away from the last 16 in the Champions League. He’s a master. Yesterday he was able to utilize a back 3 with Cash and Digne pushed forward as wing backs to flood the midfield. We did look solid (except for the balls up over their 1st goal and getting caught out for their 2nd). Leipzig did have some other chances too, but away in a Champions League tie you have to accept some pressure will get through your defence. With Bailey injured, wouldn’t mind seeing Ned take his place until he’s back. It will provide us with real pace and his defensive duties will come more naturally than Bailey’s.
With Carlos banned from the next Champions League game now he’s picked up 3 yellows, enter Tyro a more than able replacement if Unai repeats the formation at Monaco.
I haven’t got a scoobie what selection/formation Unai will run with at Forest but if we can produce another pass and move game like yesterday then hold on to your hats.
The eternal Pep question, isn’t it, r0bb0? What I find interesting is that in this current predicament, he’s basically said they’re not the same without Rodri.
Which, okay, brilliant player, but.
And it’s not to say that other managers don’t look to him tactically, etc. But as we all know, when every player is so good, moving around your Rolls and Ferraris, well, you’ve a garage full of them.
For me, it’s gotten to the point at City where they’re so terribly predictable, not really any fun to watch. Every match looks the same. They just grind you down, you make a mistake, and they take that half-chance.
Maybe to the point further up about the league being more competitive is that if lesser teams start taking more points it might not change the cast at the top, but might have more influence on the placings.
The article on injuries is informative. Shows we’ve had more than our fair share. Guess Pep has been relying on Rodri too much for too long but hey, his devaluation of Grealish does leave questions eh?
England is way ahead on the coefficients numbers for a 5th UCL place next season. Then we should also find out what punishment if any Citeh are going to get for their 115 cheats. Whilst I’m not holding my breath, their guaranteed UCL place could also vanish for someone else to claim.
Using Cash as a winger was an excellent decision. I believe he started as a winger until he got moved to RB (years ago at Forest, yes?). Think we’ve seen it a time or two before from Unai, but maybe not from the start.
It does play to his strengths and helps strengthen the right side. I did say above we can do better, and I still think we can, particularly defensively, but I could see Emery going to this more often. Far more contribution than Bailey and Philogene combined.
Just watching the Arsenal Monaco game.
First point. . . When will they get round d to banning those fucking drums from grounds??
The first time I came across them was away at Wigan, probably 15 years ago. I’ve always associated them with small clubs with small grounds trying to create an atmosphere that their fans can’t do on their own. These days, they’re appearin more frequently, particularly in European games and the incessant banging bass noise drives me effing nuts!
The broadcasters could surely at least move the microphones away from them?!
Oh yes. . . the other point. . . Monaco are competing really hard, closing down fast and fighting for every ball.
Our defenders are going to have to be really sharp to keep the ball away feom them when we play out from the
back,
And with that. . . .Arsenal score
Can you imagine what some of our ‘fans’ would have said if Ollie had missed the chances that have just fallen to Martinelli and Odegard?
Not getting at anyone on this forum by the way 🙂
And another miss from Martinelli
Anyone watch villa on tour,he does decent videos and I must have just missed him in frankfurt on Friday I was on same streets roughly same time
Think in his 2nd video IAN TAYLOR is leading the sing song in pub great scenes
Then seen video of alan mcinally leading sing song in another pub
Really jealous of anyone getting to european nights
As for playing cash brightside of midfield brilliant by emery young jaden had plenty chances to find form,needs a game when we are 3/4 up to get confidence
Durans interview on prime last night was entertaining, lady doing it was brilliant switching from English to Spanish effortlessly, Duran face when she mentioned his 21st birthday and parting was beautiful
Giving Saudi Arabia the World Cup is totally nauseating.
Credit to the Norwegian FA for speaking out against it. I wish our FA showed 10% of the morality and guts that the Norwegians have.
A few quotes from Man City fans tonight:
“Injuries have crippled us and fatigued the rest.”
“Something has happened off the pitch. There’s more to this than injuries.”
“Sideways, sideways, sideways, back, sideways, back, back, sideways, sideways, sideways
We are Side-to-SideChester City!”
“That was so pathetic tonight no excuses pep needs to come out swinging and call people out himself included for not changing it!”
“Pep has the biggest task of his managerial career so far to turn this around”
Pep still has the resources available to turn it round, does he have the heart for it?
JG, yes that was a lovely interview last night. . . It should have come with subtitles mind you. 🙂
It was good to see Duran looking so natural, comfortable and relaxed too. He looked like a player that’s enjoying himself at the moment. He seems to be recognising, and enjoying that he’s part of the team .
Had a look at draw for champions league if league stayed the same,highly unlikely, at them minute we would face winners of ac Milan and celtic in round of 16 and winers would play winers of bayer leverkuson v atlanta/real Madrid winners of that would meet Liverpool section in semi final
We can dream
Pep should have pulled the pin like Klopp. It doesn’t matter how good you are you get stale and lose that edge. It’s going to happen with Emery too. It’s up to the sporting director to pick up on the signs of fatigue with their manager. The length of emery’s contract should be a good indicator of his best before date. Look at Mourino, his best before is only 2, maybe 3 seasons. Doesn’t make him a poor manager, he just gets fed up sooner than most. All of the top managers lose that edge and move on. They haven’t turned into pumpkins they just need a change of scenery.
They may not turn into pumpkins, but what about cabbages?
A change of scenery for Bruce stopped working 10 years ago.definitely a cabbage.
And what are you doing up at 2:55 AM?
You’re in Vancouver?
RObB0 quoting Citeh fans above:
“Something has happened off the pitch. There’s more to this than injuries.”
There’s 115 fucking things happened off the pitch. Wonder if their team knows something we don’t.
Ian, if he’s not in Vancouver, he’s up during the night putting more logs on the fire. It’s freezing here.
Not in Vancouver sadly, and not even putting logs on the fire. I just woke up, and thought I’d quickly play an online word game to get back to sleep. . . and then ‘needed’ to complete the word game before I could get back to sleep again!
Plug, you can’t help wondering how much people within City, have a strong inkling of the likely outcome of the charges.
Ian, you must surely be right, that pep should have competed his contract at City and then gracefully, and successfully, walked away from the club at the end of this season. His successor would then have had the chance to rebuild the squad as he saw fit as they do indeed have a few key players reaching the end of their top flight careers.
I’m still seeing regular references to their ‘thin’ squad, despite a third of the clubs suffering worse than them. . . . its not a great excuse. As you suggest Ian, virtually all managers have a Best Before date, but sadly, they’re usually printed in hard to find areas and in very faint ink.
Hey Plug, the weather isn’t too bad here. Been around the freezing mark, no real snow yet.
Oh to be a fly on the wall up at MC. The whole team has been built on lies, deception, and a bottomless pit of money. The players have milked it for all its worth, the manager couldn’t give a rat’s ass right now. And everyone is going to bugger off when the feces hits the biggest fan on the planet. Then in true form the prince and princelings will high tail it back to Arabia.
Team news:
Martinez; Konsa, Carlos, Mings, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Cash, Rogers, McGinn; Duran.
Guess it’s Tyro for Pau to take care of Woods. Onana still not ready? Big Jhon up front.
Mings has pulled out. Suspect Torres will get duffed over by Wood!
I can only imagine that var didn’t give a penalty because the pull started outside the area?
Robbo
Var where at their tea
Bore fest but that’s ok,draws are still a good result and clean sheets even better
It’s like a game of chess. Think we really miss Tyro. Kamara has been our best defender by miles. Rogers just starting to come into the game.
It’s congested in the middle. Cash and Digne down the flanks is the way to go. Perhaps a game for Maatsen second half?
Very poor refereeing. Penalties don’t come any more obvious than the one on Rogers. Ref and VAR not fit for their purpose.
Don’t know how it wasn’t a penalty
Hendrix with villa specs on its a pen
Redlapp said blatant penalty
Jon brooks on var joke ref joke var,too many pies
Was it forest chairman who said refs and var was corrupt last season, or am I imagining things
What a save by the world’s number 1
Mcginn not In, game
Rogers struggling
Nothing going for duran
Fcuk all 3 combine for duran to score bullet header,Watkins can sit down emery mind games at best
Happy birthday john duran
A clean sheet is so vital
Not pushed on using 5 subs every game especially tight ones
A let off,var comes up trumps
But I don’t get woods is way offside not trying to get onside so he has a major advantage, yet a big toe is classed off
We never cleared it and forest do score
Kamara gets beat for 1st time all night, martinez didn’t cover himself in glory either after 2 earlier brilliant saves
Fer fcuk sake
Var have been shocking definitely a foul on cash,but we have nobody to blame but ourselves,
Just not enough defensive power in our box. We got overpowered and over run in the last ten minutes. Can I blame the chumpions league or are we not as good as we think we are?
Yeah, they missed a couple big ones, VAR. But yeah, Emi had a chance to save the winner.
Didn’t necessarily disagree, but thought we got a bit too ‘cautious’. I like managing a game, but you always felt you needed a second, and I think Forest just had that bit more energy down the stretch.
Unexpected relief. We are no where near as bad as another blog thinks we are. Think I’ve just happy clapped!
Haven’t see it yet again,but most posts are saying forest player was offside for winning goal when they broke,but it doesn’t excuse konsa from not putting ball in row z Instead of hospital pass to cash
Jbd
They all get out from nuthouse near end of a draw or defeat
jbd,
Think CL definitely is a factor for mental fatigue as much as anything else. Again, some poor decisions that help keep the pressure on, but they were also in service of trying to score.
Thought Cash and Rogers had passes that would’ve kept us ticking over, but they held on instead. That kind of thing.
But strength-wise, Pau isn’t strong, Carlos isn’t tall. Onana just returning, and it’s tough anyway getting up to speed in a game like that. I thought it called out for Ty, but he wasn’t even on the bench, so I’m wondering if the knee is still a work in progress.
Onana was a good step in getting bigger and stronger, but not a lot of good ball winners, still.
So I don’t think we’re ‘not as good as we think’ so much as the league’s been wild, and it’s a tough campaign. Hate dropping a lead and then points like that, but the old fine margins come into play.
Mings was named to start but became ill 30mins before game
JG,
And that’s the thing…poor decisions like that from Konsa. When teams are really pressing, just follow the old schoolboy advice, give yourselves a chance to reset.
Ah, thanks, JG. I think he’d have helped, though we did basically keep them at bay until the end.
Think we screwed our selves up taking Kamara off. We weren’t really playing that well but Kamara was unobtrusively papering over the cracks and keeping us in the game.
Jc
The ref and var were atrocious today,blatant penalty on rogers,foul on cash ,yes we got offside goal
We need ramsay back,Bailey to return as well our attacking options are so limited
3mins 10 seconds var took to decide goal,that’s madness
Watching sky redknapp destroy our centre halves for defensive setup for corners
Winning goal,twice konsa played hospital passes to cash,clear foul agreed by both commentators
I am fuming
James, I was fuming, but I’ve calmed down a little now. The foul on Cash was despicable refereeing. The suits who appointment them are very culpable. If a ref can’t see an obvious foul from 5 yards, he needs removing.
It was a brilliant header from Big Jhon. Fit to win any game. From that point on, you know the opposition is going to attack, kick anything that moves and get the crowd screaming at the ref. So in my book, you can only manage a game from such a point IF you have an exceptional defence. Which we don’t have. We’ve grumbled about various shortcomings for some time.
We needed the 2nd goal but attacking play disappeared and we got deeper and deeper. Their goal was coming. We got lucky with VAR but the writing was on the wall. Elanga got in round the side. For once, our subs never worked. There was no response from the coaching team to Elanga. It was guaranteed he’d do it again.
Why on earth we don’t size match the big defenders with the big attackers at set pieces I don’t know. Why wasn’t Onana marking their big centre half? It’s a question for the wild man of Borneo. Was he marking Woods instead?
So it was a game we should never have lost. I’m sure the midweek efforts took its toll. Look at the bindippers and the Arse results. It’s no excuse, we have a squad. But I must also say, I am lacking in faith when we’re trying to see out a 1 goal lead. Is it mental? Possibly.
Mings was a big miss today. Kamara easily our best player. What I would give for an out and out pacey winger capable of taking on FB’s.
Plug
Emery has only bad luck this season, how many games have we been stitched up by really poor officials I Europe as well
Then players martinez makes great save then fumbles one,konsa lost his edge playing well elow capacity, Watkins is not same either and when ramsay or Bailey are fit they have no form
It’s all fine margins and none for us
This football management is not easy,pep really struggling, emery struggling, lego head struggling,
City Brighton beat today
Spurs haven’t played yet
Getting a bit neurotic about Mings withdrawing from the Forest game! Hope it really was illness and nothing related to his big injury. I remember Martin Laursen getting a knock in a game against Albion then suddenly retiring.
I wonder do we have wiggle room for a couple loans in January
Emery changed his system to aback 3 ,it hasn’t really worked either 4 goals conceded in 2 games
What does he do now,I suppose injuries dictate are ramsay Bailey nearly fit,are we fit enough either individually, me I think mcginn needs a restand even rogers but unfortunately unless Bailey or ramsay are fit we have no one to replace him,beundi hasn’t looked anywhere near level we need in his few cup matches and his sub appearances, if mings is fit he has to start,then do we go to back to our old defence, and then if no wide men fit what do we do on right,a lot of heavy thinking for de boss
JG,
I’m assuming the back three is down to Bailey being out and Philogene not convincing rather than a defensive tweak.
You’re right, Ramsey would help, but Emery’s hands are tied for the most part. I would like to see Ty back in if jbd’s fears aren’t realized.
Mainly though, I think a lot is coming down to decisions and just getting some of the players to calm down a bit. Last year, they had the benefit of a nothing-to-lose mentality, this season I think they’re feeling the weight of the league a little bit more.
It appears Manure are willing to let Rashford go for a “cut price” in the January window and The odd link to Villa has been muted. No thank you, no thank you, no thank you. His head is up in the clouds somewhere. We do need a speedy winger, but not him.
Congrats to the U-21 team who beat Blackpool on penalties in a cup game. Only 38 spot kicks were taken, a new record for a professional match, before prevailing 18-17.
So city up on Saturday, what does emery do ,how does he lift players,what team does he go with
Congratulations to our number 1 MARTINEZ, keeper of year again,we need a few solid games from him coming up,
Was watching Canadian pete,and as I thought/mentioned forest winner came from an offside slightly earlier in move,yet var didn’t go back to it,as with their equaliser from a corner that torres conceded under pressure from an offside woods
The offside rule is not fit for purpose, go back to lino putting flag up
Anyone catch any of spurs utd game,absolute chaos
Can Cash discipline himself enough not to jump in on Grealish and get himself a second yellow? No Carlos on the bench so can’t move Konsa over to RB unless we bring Mings on…………….
Not sure how much lo ger Rogers can keep playing. . . He’s given it everything!
Tell you what. . . I’m really liking the extra all round effort we’re seeing from Duran. . . he’s in danger of becoming an all round player
Has Akanji been booked yet?
That performance shows what we CAN be.
Of course City are suffering a crisis of confidence, but some of our play was simply outstanding.
Hopefully that will have reminded the players just how good we can be and give that little boost of confidence which has been the only thing missing over recent weeks
Unbelievably easy game for Villa. Can’t believe and just don’t understand why they didn’t target Cash in the second half. Have the unwholesome thought that Duran would have done better with the one chance that Ollie got. Obs Rogers for POTM.
It just shows you how much our expectations have risen when we’re bemoaning our really poor spell of results, and yet we’re 5th in the Premier league AND Champion’s league.
we are the one & only villa baby. never doubt us ❤️❤️❤️ VTID UTV
Fabulous win. Fabulous performance. Great shape to negate Citeh and we had some great chances on the break. Might have scored 4. Perfect weekend for me.
Echoing Korean’s comment. Thought we made them look ordinary. Citeh not as quick with their passing and movement that has been their hallmark. Ageing team?
Really impressed with Big Jhon. Was sure he was going to bury his chance 15 seconds in and shocked to some degree the keeper saved it. But he scored a great goal. The lad has a footballing brain.
Wouldn’t argue with 656’s choice of Rogers for MOTM. But I must say that Tielemans was also brilliant and conducted everything from central midfield. But the whole team played their part and this was an unexpected 3 points for me.
Was pissed off big time failing to complete a clean sheet yet again. But it seems from replays I’ve seen Digne stepped on the ball so was unlucky. He should have just hoofed the ball into the crowd on the half way line instead of trying to play it.
Thought the derision by some members of the crowd towards Joe was less than cordial. After all, the guy got us promoted, saved us from relegation, got us £100 million and is Villa through and through. He deserved better.
So Merry Xmas Lifers and I’ve started the celebrations already.
RObb0, we are firmly in the hunt for a Champions League place again. Citeh may well slide further or even cop much worse for their 115 cheats meaning 4th and 5th are up for grabs this year.
Has emery got his motor back,what an impressive performance, forget about city off form they are still quality
Has duran overtaken ollie for starting roll,me I think ollie will start at Newcastle, unlucky to concede the goal digne really unfortunate but he is playing so well
What a way to start xmas holidays
Plug, I agree that it felt a bit off for the fans to boo Jack. His sullen behaviour wasn’t great either mind you and the petulant up-ending of McGinn felt extra sour.
I took a look at a Man City, match thread forum, and they were hating the ref, and wanting a card for Cash almost from the start. I remember clearly when Jack was still with us, how uncomfortable I was with his diving and over-dramatic falling to the ground, and whilst Cash did take him out, Jack, as ever, tried to make it look far worse than it was. . .even remonstrating with the ref for a yellow card. I actually think that he sees one of his key roles these days to be winning free kicks and drawing yellow fouls from opponents, rather than creating wonderful goals, the way he used to.
Contrast him yesterday with Morgan Rogers. Now there’s a player who shrugs off tackles, rather than seeing them as an opportunity to win a free kick. He knows that if the opponent has kicked him, they’re now off balance and he has the chance to drive on, deep into the opposing defence. When he’s on top form, I’m struggling to think of a player in the Premier league who does it better.
What makes it even sweeter of course is that (like Cole Palmer), Guardiola didn’t see, or was unable to develop the potential in Morgan Rogers, and let him go.
Of course Pep has achieved wonderful things at City (we’ve had this discussion before), but he has been able to do it by buying in a whole squad of Champions league ready players of the highest quality. As a result, and despite a number of their players now coming towards the end of their playing careers and contracts, and therefore seeing their values diminish, Pep still has the highest valued squad in the league, worth an estimated £1.25 billion. By way of contrast, our squad is now valued 7th most valuable, at less than half Man City’s.
Whether it’s Pep, or someone else, their squad should still be able to ease into the top 4 places and odds still are, that we’ll see that in. the New Year.
I’m still buzzing from yesterday. Any win against Citeh is to be enjoyed and there haven’t been many over the Pep years. He’s had so many advantages over the rest of the league since he reached Manchester that it’s always going to be sweet to beat him.
Whilst I don’t care about Citeh, my thoughts of them at VP left me thinking the team is getting close to its “sell by date”. Their pressing lacked intensity, their legs looked slower. Kovacic chased after Rogers in the build up to his goal, failed to catch him and failed to bring him down. Maybe they’re carrying more injuries than they’re letting on. No idea. Is it all down to Rodri’s absence? Possibly as the Arse have looked much better since Odegaard returned and we have certainly looked better since Kamara returned. Or is this Citeh team in need of a rebuild?
rObB0, if we have the 7th most valuable squad then we’re punching above our weight since the arrival of Unai. Not too shabby eh? I was impressed with the formation and set up yesterday. If more injuries don’t bite us, we could have an excellent 2nd half to the season.
2024 what a year yes there has being g downs too but we went to arsenal beat them 2 zero well deserved, pulled 2 goalsback in dying embers verses Liverpool with injury struck side lost a semi final in Europe got top 4 and champions league, summer was spent trying to get financial side sorted, then back with a bang duran and onana combined for few wins,European champions league arrived we despatched young boys with ease then came repeat of our biggest night and heroics again and that man duran we won again,,juve came to town and only a dodgy ref gave them a point,some indifferent league results with injuries, individual mistakes and goodchances missedmore dodgy refs
Then a trip to Germany were unai was left without a nerve of any kind brilliant display followed by defending not seen anywhere but school yard,then in days of xmas pep comes to town and is dispatched with probably our best performance of season
Hail our messiah emery and our owners we are so lucky to have them
Plug, yes we are punching above our weight, when comparing league position with squad value.
Perhaps even more interesting, is that the value of our squad is increasing due to the work that Emery and his team, and of course the players themselves, are putting in. Last year our squad was estimated to be only the 9th most valuable but after another season with Emery, players like Rogers and Duran are now far more valuable than they were a year ago.
JG, yes our club have given us some real highs to remember over the past year, and unlike City, they feel as if they’ve been earned through talent and sheer hard work against the odds.
Let’s all hope it can continue like this, and we don’t lose sight of just what a challenge it is to operate at the highest levels of football these days.
Shameful performance from anthony Taylor already,cash booking then foul against cash never and finally a red card for duran
Never a red for me
So a foot landing on backside is red,but lifting your hand to face is only yellow
Well done bent officials
Yeah, I didn’t see intent from Duran. Just an awkward tangle.
I have seen a fair few matches Taylor has reffed and every one of them has controversial desicions, as for clattenburg on tv another conman loves himself
I think it was his plant leg slipping that leads to it.
Only caveat for me is we know Duran’s lack of emotional control. Still don’t think he was being malicious, but I can’t rule it out 100%.
Oh dear, yet another tyneside SNAFU. Rogers looks a bit jaded, time for Ollie if fully fit? In my world of imaginery football folklore logic we might have a miniscule chance that the ref might be subconsciensly predisposed to even up the red card in some way. That’s about ten boxes worth of clutched straws! We will do well to only lose one nil.
JG. . . mixed opinions in our household about the sending off. I wasn’t convinced, but after the 4th slow motion replay, I was just about convinced that Duran ‘could’ have avoided standing on the defender, but brought his leg back into the left instead of out to the right. It’s a harsh one, and if it had been given as a yellow I don’t think many would have complained. I do think that the the referee was swayed by the Newcastle players though.
As for the booking of Joelinton, it was another marginal one, and I don’t think anyone would have been shocked if he’d been given a red although it would have been a soft one.
What I don’t like in what I’m hearing on my commentary is that it’s given that was his intent. Maybe he is dumb enough to stamp on him in plain view, but it seems harsh to presume.
Robbo
Lifting the hand is intent ,nearly every one agrees on that rule but surprisingly Mike Dean on says rogers went down to easy,we have had some shocking reffing performances
And the free given against rogers that led to cash getting his shirt pulled and concede a free
Ollie on tielmens off would have swapped cash off too
Newcastle assistant sent off following a melee in tunnel
And yeah, we will do well not to ship more, jbd.
Agree, a couple players look just a bit off it. Bouba with a couple big turnovers, onana missing some passes, Rogers trying to do too much. Cash struggling. They’ll be targeting him relentlessly.
Blatant pull by gordon let go as is another foul by trippier
Can’t get out and Isaacs scores
Rogers is really struggling today
I’m afraid this is drivel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone remember an MON era game against manure at VP. 2 Villa players sent off and we only lost one-four. That’s where my head is at. I’ve turned on, tuned in and now I really want to drop out.
Didn’t think Taylor could make a bigger prick of himself,but watkins cleaned at edge box he goes back to rogers foul
Another boxing day disaster for us
What is Onana doing there?
I think the mental side is going to be important going forward.
Bollocks! Sulk! Does anyone wish Mings would have Duran by the throat up against the back of the team bus and ram a few words of kindly advice down his shredded ear holes?
Have a feeling Emery’s assessment will probably be just as scathing, jbd. Didn’t even look at him as he went to the tunnel.
Jbd, one of the most positive things I’ve seen this season, is the very much improved workrate and attitude from Duran, but we know he’s not yet the finished article. From what we’ve already seen, I’m hopeful he can learn even more from today, and take another step towards becoming a top, all round striker.
Onana was a really naughty boy there and deserves a proper bollocking.
I’ll forgive him for the tired pass which gave the ball away, but what he can’t be forgiven, is the half arsed effort to then close Joelinton down, to recover from his earlier mistake.
I was entering the camp that said Duran was eclipsing Ollie as our cenre forward and it was time to cash in on Ollie. Duran’s frame of mind totally screwed us up today. Don’t think we can plan to go forward with this disruptive crap. Get rid for the best price.
r0bb0,
Agreed. He needs to be doing more to atone there.
Sorry r0bb0, I wasn’t shouting you down. I was venting before I saw what you wrote. I will calmly express my opinion that I don’t think Duran is mentally stable enough to be depended on enough to cope with the demands of top flight football in England.
I suppose the takeaway on Duran will come down to whether Emery thinks it was a petulant, intentional act or whether they come to believe it was simply unfortunate and harshly punished. If the latter, it comes down “look, you have to do more to avoid that contact.” That kind of thing.
If it’s the former, he’s really done no one any favors and it will move him right back down the pecking order. It was bold, in context, for Emery to give him the starts and now he might’ve gone and spit in his face.
The bottom line is yet another piss poor Boxing Day performance. We never really laid a glove on them.
The sending off of Big Jhon was manipulated. Never in a month of Sunday’s is it a red card when 2 players are tussling for possession of a ball. The refereeing in the EPL is not even 3rd rate.
First tackle (Tielemans) missed and it’s a goal. Another lost tackle (Tielemans) and the World’s No 1 has to pull of a blinder. In fairness to T’mans though, the ball to him in the latter instance was poor as he was closely marked.
Plug,trying to see things from your perspective and find an excuse for Duran, schar actually lifted his foot and kicked Duran in the upper thigh first. . . . this may be why Duran reacted and you could make a case for ‘both’ players being sent off, or just try to keep a lid on things and just give Duran a yellow.
We got well beat,that seems to be familiar under emery we lose gloriously usually by a fee goals too
Don’t think duran deserves his abuse he is just turned 21 ,it’s only 8 months ago our captain threw him under the bus so to speak,think the red was ridiculously harsh especially with everything else that Taylor let go
Our defensive play has been woeful all season 2 league clean sheets all season and it’s mistakes from everyone that’s leading to goals,nobody is immune god today mcginn martinez onana all gifted the ball away ,chances missed at other end by watkins rogers
Emery has to get it figured out
Jbd, no need at all to apologise, one of the positive things about this forum is the thoughtful commenymts, and respect that everyone shows for each other. . . . unlike certain other places! 🙂
Thought Rogers looked really leggy. So too SJM. After the World’s No 1, our next best player for me was Kamara. It was good to see Ned get some minutes. With his intro and Bailey’s we saw some much needed energy down our right flank.
Silly immature thought. Sammy Morgan/Andy Lochhead or Jhon Duran down a dark alley way?
James, it’s unfortunately so true. Clean sheets from our defence are rarer than rocking horse shit. And this with Emi between the sticks. I understand and fully support that Unai deploys a set up of risk and reward so I expect us to ship some goals. But we really need to work on our defence.
This ‘could’ be just the incentive that Ollie needs to win back his place. . . you can bet he’ll be busying a gut to score against Brighton.
If he scores a couple of goals in the next few games then it’ll be Duran’s turn to fight to start games again.
Dunno 656, down a dark alleyway, that Tonali geezer looks nasty.
Yep r0Bbo, a straight red is a 3 game ban. Time for Ollie to step up and deliver goals or assists, either will do.
Haven’t seen or heard unai interview, but according to reports huge melee in tunnel at half time
We need a fit ramsay back in the team,mcginns legs have gone by look of it
Don’t understand the love for barcodes of commentators, given mainly played for Newcastle sacked the money out of us,hitzsleborg ex Villain really disappointing,clattenburg the ref always a pratt, along with Mike blind Dean on sky
newcastle are one of the media football lovies along with manure, spuds,arse, red scouse etc. We simply are not and never will be coming from (spit) Birmingham.
Someone like SJM, maybe his legs have gone. I was reading an interesting article from a physio about the rash of hamstring injuries. He went into workload and how it’s cumulative over time, not just in a given season or run of games.
I think what we’re seeing is a combo of a couple things, but I think there’s mental fatigue from the home stretch, getting CL, then coming in with that expectation, playing those much higher profile games while knowing you need to try and qualify again. And then I think there is accumulated physical load from last season into this one.
So all of these lapses, poor passes, being so inconsistent…I think that’s what Emery’s trying to contend with. And the answer is probably to have greater quality in depth, but PSR is hamstringing us there. Emery can’t turn over the team as fast as he would like or is needed.
The other aspect that the load affects is the decision-making, speed of thought and play. We have moments with the lovely quick interchanges, lots of clean touches and clever passes, all on the same page, but not enough.
JC, I’m sure you’re right about cumulative fatigue, but we do have more quality in depth than most other teams in the league now. Hopefully, with them all having to endure a run of games in quick succession, the cumulative fatigue for their quality players will be greater than ours!
Digne has been fantastic, but Maatsen is also a super player and has hardly been used
Mings must be absolutely itching to get back on the pitch
Ramsey should be back soon and (fingers crossed) will have a good run of fitness now
Barkley is a quality player and has been little used so far
Carlos has had a bit of a rest
Watkins has had a bit of a rest
Buendia as hardly been played
Bailey will surely come back into form at some point.
Of course Emery would prefer to play his preferred starting 11 every game, but I don’t think we should be too despondent about the resources we still have at our disposal
Jed, you’re right that the media have a bit of a blind spot for us. . . . let’s just keen flying under the radar!
(but let’s also get a fair go from the officials)
JG, I think it was Mike Dean who basically said that VAR was never going to overturn the red card, and to be honest, it’s right that they shouldn’t. There have been lost pf different opinions from media commentators so, once Taylor had made his decision it was never going to be clear and obvious enough for VAR to disagree with him.
emery was right. . . .he should have taken more time to discuss it with them ‘before’ he came to his conclusion
Robbo
Only seen on sky sports
match reports what Dean said on Duran and Rogers decision, but someone put up Dean saying rogers went down to easy,no word of intent by Linton of barcodes
Does anyone ref the refs ,Taylor decision leading to 2 barcodes frees in lead up to red card we’re pathetic, along with him not asking var about charge challenge on durans leg in incident either
Totally pointless irrelevant reminescence. I was in the crowd behind the goal mouth at Blackburn in Jan 98 when Savo spat his dummy at the crowd. Remember problem boy Collymore picking up Savo’s boot, handing it back and commiserating with him. We lost nil-five and flogged Savo soon after.
I would hasten to add that I wasn’t baiting him and did actually see the player in him, but knew then his head had gone too far to be useful to us. It was my penultimate away Villa game – I was living in nearby Rochdale at the time.
Why do we seem to end up with problem child head case nutter centre forwards? Wish I had seen Derek Dougan, before my time.
When alan shearer says it was a harsh decision against his beloved Newcastle, you know it was a bad one
Jbd
Think duran is different case,hope I am right,we seem to have 2 different camps the older Dean Smith players and the younger lads,commentators making a big deal out of duran not getting hitting earlier free kick,for me he should have hit it,he is the man in formand if he messed it up duran goes to back of queue
Really don’t want to see duran sold ,Watkins is way off it this season and like mcginns lack of goals assist nothing is being said
JG
You triggered yet another decomposing memory. WTF is happening to me?
I remember a novice Harry Kane demanding, getting, taking AND scoring a free kick at VP. That was the start of the goal machine that we know now. I agree, we should have let Duran take that free kick just to see what he has got then live with the consequences.
I do think Duran is a special case and has been too supressed for too long in favour of seasoned pros. I also think our acadamy players are being held back too much hence we will probably lose hot prospect Rory Wilson.
BUT I didn’t like his pouty attitude after he was denied the free kick. Worse was the way he lashed out when leaving the pitch. Who was he trying to kick? Seems to have a delinquent mentality. I vote get rid while he has still got cred for his recent scoring splurge. PSR PSR PSR ad nauseum…
Liverpool game held up by var,they are an absolute shambles as is time keeping
I know we haven’t faired well in Europe think it’s 4 of 6 games decisions went against us but at least it’s quick,none of this ludicrous 7,8,9 mins of injury time either
Jumping on the PSR bandwagon again, why don’t we just write off this year’s premier league season by spending what we like, take the points deduction and get ready for next season. We have still got the (cruddy) chumpions league to focus on.
Looking at the red card decision again. Taylor displays total incompetence. Schar got Big Jhon sent off by grasping his arse like it had received a bullet. Nobody except the Villa fans are mentioning that Schar deliberately put a boot into Big Jhon’s nuts as they both went down. And so the official decided that home advantage wasn’t enough, best kill the game there and then with a red card and facilitate an even bigger advantage.
Honestly don’t think we’d have won the game anyway, the Wai Ayes were good value for the result. But the referee cannot be excused for his incompetence.
The EPL issue a statement on X. John Duran was sent off for violent conduct. So now it’s official. Falling on a player as the result of a tackle is violent conduct. But putting your studs into somebody’s nuts wins you a free kick. Talk about “the club” sticking together and circling the wagons after screwing up. Instances of much worse violence goes unpunished every week in the EPL.
Anthony Taylor was suspended earlier in season, yesterday before red card he made few horrendous decisions,
Match of day never showed any of them of joe lineton hand to rogers face,but commentators all agreed ref made wrong call with duran
Also I wish commentators would learn the rules ,one Newcastle goals disallowed yesterday martinez was how of goals Isaacs was ahead and none one picked it up need 2 players to be on
Rant over
Plug
What do they say about lineton hand nothing typical committee weaklings
No surprise, villas appeal on Duran red card thrown out,time for emery to call out official every game
Taylor performance before the red card was scandalous yet neither two sky ex refs called him out,what is point on sky having them on
Watkins has 3 games now to get form back while duran make go on a small vacation
Never have I remembered a season where Notting even half way yet but we have been hammered by bad ref and var,1st game of season penalty v cash,the Liverpool game torres penalty shout,forest game rogers penalty shout,there 2 goals were both offside yet var didn’t go back far enough,Taylor performance yesterday, Europe hasn’t been much better in all fairness if we count last years semi final,then young boys duran got booked for celebration yet goal was chalked off but not booking, bruge mings pick up yes letter of law it was right but no common sense,juve keeper drops ball ref gives a non existing foul
I am sick of crap refs and premier league hiding behind them,every dog knows Taylor got it wrong but no stick with it
Henry winters another adding his voice to ridiculous decision
I will be heading off to VP later today. It’s a sad state of affairs when my main interest is not what the starting line up might be, but who will be refereeing the game. Tonight it will be Craig Pawson and VAR is Attwell. If we get any more crap like Taylor dished out to us, I’ll combust.
Here’s to it breaking our way at home tonight, Plug.
btw, a fresh page is coming up momentarily.