Another Boxing Day, another breakdown. Naturally it was disappointing, as was the officiating that contributed to it. That’s been much more the focus than the match itself, which is never a good thing.
As to the match, probably the biggest issue is that Villa were trailing from the start and that was obviously only amplified by Duran’s red card. Much harder to chase with 10 than to simply hold on for a draw or protect a lead.
But that opener does bear some scrutiny as it came off a turnover from Kamara, a ball that had come to him and he needed to do better with as everything behind him was wide open and Villa largely up the pitch. Yes, Newcastle did the work from there, and the shot was perfect, but it’s the kind of thing you just can’t afford, especially in the opening seconds. It was lax from him. If you’re not going to claim that ball, you need to foul and stop the move.
Obviously the red will have done Emery’s head in, but I’m sure the opener was right up there, too.
Overall, I’m not sure what else to say, watching the match in a post Christmas-roast haze. What happened after probably isn’t too much to be bothered with. Going down 0-1 at St. James in the first 90 seconds is never a recipe for points. There wasn’t really a stirring response, though.
I’d started to write a piece about the squad, the inconsistency, and maybe even extending to the lack of goals and chances. Basically, I was arguing that to get where they are, the side have to consistently play at the top end of their ability. And after a while, that gets harder to do. There’s mental fatigue, I think, along with the fatigue that would’ve been carried over from last season along with the extra matches so far this season. (I read a good article from a physio who pointed out that there is accumulated load along with match-to-match load and recovery. The context was the proliferation of hamstring injuries and how many are taking longer to heal.)
When it comes to goals and chances, we’re basically putting it all on Ollie, Duran, and Rogers. There’s been the odd contribution from others, of course, but without a strong right side or anyone from the left (apart from Digne) adding to goals and assists, Villa are easier to defend against. We miss Ramsey’s thrust, and while Cash has the odd moment in him, it’s not consistent enough to pull defenders around and plan against. Close down the middle, and we’re searching for answers.
We do have players to call upon off the bench, but while Barkley, for example, can readily come in and freshen up for Onana or Kamara, maybe Youri, it’s a like-for-like. Good for seeing out games or providing a bit of impetus, or starting as needed, but it’s not changing the side. Philogene hasn’t taken his chance. Bailey has just gone missing. Cash playing as a winger is a decent response from Emery, but it’s not a long-term answer. The only truly game-changing substitute has been Duran, and Ramsey to some degree when he’s been available.
Playing Onana and Kamara together probably is a decent longer-term setup, but it’s early days. There’s more strength, and they should be complementary with Onana able to cover more ground. It allows Youri to play further up, reduces his defensive responsibilities (and a fair amount of chasing). But then you’ve got McGinn, who does seem to be struggling a bit, providing a lot of link-up and service with Youri, then Rogers with either Ollie or Jhon. Ollie seems to be tired of mind, and Rogers can be hit or miss in his decision-making and subsequent impact.
So you can see why there haven’t been that many chances, and especially why we aren’t really troubling teams across the width of the pitch. There really isn’t a different kind of personnel grouping to drop in and change the nature of the attack. Or the defending. I’ve read a little about the forgotten men on loan, Iling Jr and Barrenechea, and it doesn’t seem like they’re making waves. January is January, and depending on Ramsey’s progress, a recall for Iling Jr is maybe possible. But I’m not sure it changes much.
That’s not really down to anything more than PSR and the squad Emery inherited. It’s becoming more his, but the ability to make impact buys in more than one position has been limited. Rogers was a fantastic bit of business in that context. We’ve gotten to the point where we can be two-deep, but with the problems on the right, especially, it’s less about all of them being starters vying for a spot than a set of backups who aren’t much of a drop-off. But carrying two right wingers who don’t produce isn’t helpful. You’d have to find a way to play Ollie, Rogers and Duran as a three to sort of make up for it, and go with Youri, Onana and Bouba behind them, or maybe McGinn with either Amadou or Kamara. Likewise, carrying Bogarde and Carlos isn’t helpful.
Anyway, lots of talk and I think most everyone sees some version of the same thing. At this level, you have to be right at it all over the pitch. When you’re not, it shifts the burden onto a smaller set of players. Given the way last season played out (running on fumes), the ECL matches and the CL matches and a ferocious league slate this season, keeping those levels up every match is asking a lot of some players.
But here’s to bouncing back today against a troublesome Brighton side who’ve had varied results as well.
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 172
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We are improving. Made the other side wait more than 12 minutes before we collapsed.
Was Torres carrying an injury?
Sigh. Brilliant start. Concede a silly goal and Pau looks to be out a while.
Dunno, jbd. Hadn’t seemed like it. Fortunately we have Mings. Fingers crossed.
Is it a foul elsewhere? Yes.
Thank god
Mentally, that was huge for Ollie.
Thought the replay was going to check whether the tea lady had badged in correctly.
Was a generous penalty decision but we have been screwed over quite a lot in the past few games.
Not much Pedro could do, but Rogers does get there first. So I’m good with it.
Guess who got held up making a cup of coffee and………………
Well taken, Morgan. Great assist for Ollie.
Should set up shop in the kitchen more often, jbd.
Best I get back there for the last 5 mins.
Good old cuddly Villa giving yet another sucker a more than even break. Ollie in a terrible place. Too many muddled fumbling midfield give aways. I’m still of a mind to give up on this league season, bust the PSR bank and take the points penalty. Worked for Forest.
Absolutely tripe,and include emery
Watkins 3 golden chances to score none the target, Bailey new contract no returns, why,mcginn not seeing any captain performances from him,no goal in premier league this season, konsa mentioned a few weeks how poor he has been being,majority of goal we conceded come down his side ,emery subs to nite far too late and ramsay for his return was madness, pissed of fan agains
Didn’t press our advantage…should’ve been out of sight.
But yeah, a number of players not at their best.
Shame, as there was enough of the good Villa on display tonight.
I’d also encourage a quick read of the leader (if you haven’t).
Not because it’s genius, it’s just the working theory I’ve settled on (for now).
But I would hope it eases the sense of despair/dismay/finger-pointing that’s inevitable right now. Was always going to be a tough season, basically.
On the upside, I did see flashes of the useful Leon.
I did read your leader John, it’s always the first thing I do when a new one appears. And you’ve nailed all of the salient points as usual. Balanced and accurate.
Gutted with the result last night. Two points dropped for me. We had the game won but you just know that we’ll go into that poxy game management mode which always seems to let us down.
Must admit I was pretty sure Mings and Onana would be selected to match up with their 2 big centre backs for the set pieces. In the event, neither made the starting line up which alarmed me somewhat.
Once again we give the opposition a goal start. 656 says we lasted 12 minutes this time but I say Pedro was laid out for 4 minutes of that so it was 8 minutes!!
Having clawed our way back into the game and getting ahead, we never finished them off with a third goal. It was no surprise when they started to take control.
I could see a Brighton goal coming for 15 minutes and was screaming for some fresh legs in midfield. The goal duly arrived and the fresh legs came immediately afterwards, way too late.
On the positive side, Ollie got a goal and an assist. On the negative side, Pau looked in a bad way as he was helped from the field. He could be missing for a stretch.
We have a decent squad but there does seem a reluctance to utilise it. Maatsen has seen very little action, I am not a fan of Konsa at RB but he is preferred to Ned in that position. Unai sees them all in training and acts accordingly, but some selections are puzzling.
All in all, the evening was a bummer. We are shipping too many goals and I believe Rogers picked up another booking which means he’ll be missing next match.
Arise Sir Beaky. FFS. My overriding memory of his tenure are the paper aeroplanes winging their way down from the Wembley terraces on to the pitch.
Duran hit with another charge,for not leaving pitch properly, typical fa they know red card was wrong
Plug,
Definitely two points dropped and it’s a shame. I really thought we’d get the third, some real gilt-edged chances including Ollie’s at the death.
JG,
I guess the silver lining there is the FA being petty will at least give Emery something from outside to underline his, “that’s not how we conduct ourselves” message.
Big Jhon gets kicked in the nuts, turns his ankle over and falls on Schar all in the same tackle. He receives a red card that so many professionals outside the club have questioned its validity and the FA decide he should have walked smartly off and not kick a water bottle over. Football’s credibility is in the sewer.
Happy new year to all fellow lifers ,and especially John Clark the boss for running an excellent blog
Happy New Year Lifers wherever you are. And as James says, many thanks once more to JC for providing a platform to groan, cheer, discuss and dissect all matters AVFC. It is really appreciated.
Cheers…Happy New Year one and all!
Transfer window open
A lad from Germany seems to moving forward, another link to lad from Porto a centre half only 22 loan to buy then this evening a rb is mentioned
No word of torres injury probably tomorrow press conference
Anyone fit for a game tomorrow, Rogers duran banned,Carlos and jaden injured since Brighton game,jaden didn’t even play,torres out for 2 months broken bone in foot
Not much fire power on the bench if Ollie gets nobbled.
Now we will see just how much SJM gives the team.
Yeah, hard to believe how many injuries we keep picking up, jbd.
I’m just gonna start slagging off Leon, see if we get a 2nd half response.
Really bereft of options. Rogers would help so much out there.
Feel much better with Mings at LCB! Not much cover for him on the bench. Wasn’t impressed by Swinkels in that cup game against Wycombe.
Bailey at his mercurial worst. SLAG ON!
I’m only able to follow the game from live texts, but the fact that there was only 1 shot on target from Villa and none from Leicester out of only 4 shots in total in the first half suggests a pretty dull game.
You can’t blame Leicester sitting back and hoping for a breakaway, considering their position in the league, so you have to hope for a creative surprise from somewhere and with Bailey not 100% and Duran and Morgan out, its harder than usual to see where that will come from.
Newcastle’s form right now is interesting. Last season there were increasing voices suggesting that Howe had hit his ceiling and maybe it was time to bring in a big name European manager. Credit to the club for sticking with him because they’re increasingly looking like a decent bet for European football again next season.
Get in, Ross.
Fab goal by Ross. Been looking good all game. Might be my MOTM at the end.
Yeah, jbd. Tyrone gets and puts himself about much more than Pau.
I was going to say that Barkley or Tielemans have it in them to pull something out of the bag. . . . but now it looks like being ‘wise after the event!’ 🙂
Just gets worse for Ollie.
JFC….they’ve done nothing all game.
Poor pass from Ollie and they’re off. Cash needed to throw himself at that.
Well whaddya know.
God…how do we not score there?
Not again Ollie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bailey can consider himself unslagged (for today).
Fair play to Ollie, just not working for us today.
Well, it was enough. But I was yelling at a number of players.
Really hard going for Ollie. Not helping his starting claim.
Watkins and Konsa still having varying degrees of international team hangover. Although it was only against a lower team, our defence was less shaky than usual and was only really undone by Watkins hopeless bad pass to Mings. We lost intensity when SJM went off.
On the positive side, our subs were better than their subs, Ramsey has one more game towards getting back to form, Buendia got a chance to do his scrapping and Bailey seems on the way towards needing less slagging in the universal ether. Biggest positive was my MOTM Barkley. Seemed to be our most stable in control player.
Well that’s a relief.
We’re far from convincing so far this campaign, but I suspect we’ll all happily take us being just 3 points off a probable Champion’s league place, as we move into the second half of the season.
Imagine what it must be like to be a Spurs fan. Only 2 teams have scored more goals, and yet only 3 teams have lost more games. We have felt vulnerable at times, but they have turned it into an art form.
Jbd, interesting that you mention an England hangover, because I was thinking just the same. They were given a bit of a break at the start of the season, but it’s certainly one possible reason for their dropping off of form compared with last season.
We have a few players who are falling short of what we know they’re capable of, but the good news is that there’s still bags of pent up potential in the squad, if only the players can tap into it.
JC, we must all be desperate to see Ollie getting a goal or two, to set him back on his way. We’ve seen spells like this from him before, so it ‘can’ click into place again at any time
r0bb0,
I’d hoped the peno might’ve kick-started his confidence, but I guess not yet. He’s snatched at more than one of those, reminds me of the chance at the end last week. Just off, not feeling it.
But yeah, he can click on, and I’d back him to at some point.
What happens to Watkins confidence when Duran gets back and proceeds to score and improve? Alternatively we flog off the flaky disruptive Duran for team stability and PSR (spit) purposes then get in two more forwards (‘cos there is no one at all behind Watkins) – it will still knacker his confidence à la Ings. Never played football/fifa manager so I have no available scoobies.
Well that was just the most awful first half from Villa in a long time. Walking pace, not looking like any interest in attacking or scoring a goal, Bailey a liability and the sort of fare that left me wondering why I’d turned up on a freezing day to pay for watching it.
At least we showed some attacking intent after the break. Or should I say we decided to put in a bit of effort. Barks daisy cutter when it arrived was most welcome. Only for our defence to chuck yet another clean sheet out of the window. FFS, it’s tough supporting Villa.
And then to cap it all, the much maligned Bailey scores the winner. Even after that, Ollie and Buendia passed up gilt edged opportunities to kill the game once we decided to depart the game management mode for a short while.
I’m just thawing out now in front of the fire. Happy of course that we took the points but still concerned about overall form and effort levels. After all, this was Leicester.
I did like the intro of Maatsen. He gave us some energy. Don’t know why his appearances are sporadic. But it’s now beer o’clock.
A win,Suppose that all matters,even if watkins missed another big chance,no doubt he will have to play cup match as there is no one else to fulfill role,glad to see Bailey scoring, but looking at stats our midfield have been shocking in goal scoring
Anthony Taylor can’t help himself,every match he do is full of bad decisions, controversial decisions just plainly wrong
Interesting Watkins discussion/rage going on elsewhere. Think they are using 10000 words to our 1000.
My take is that ultimate professional Watkins is on the wane (for whatever reason) and sky high potential but unproven Duran is too much trouble. We will have to turn into Pep’s sterile robo pass pass pass strikerless Barcelona
WE ARE ALL DOOMED.
Newcastle gain from another dodgy referee
JG, there seems to be a Newcastle love in on MOTD tonight.
How Joelinton gets away with his GBH, week in and week out, I do not know, but the BBC seem to be in favour of it.
Jbd, I really do think it’s premature to say that Watkins is on the wane.
It’s undeniable that he’s going through a bad patch, but just think back to when frem was on here, and able to point to Watkins misses, for weeks on end. . . . until Ollie turned it round again.
r0bb0, really hope you are right – I suppose the appreciably older Harry Kane went through similar low key seasons. Glad you are not mistaking me for f!!m – are you?
Robbo
Micah stupid laugh Richards and danny murphy, 2 of biggest tossers ever,at least shearer said wrong decision for duran,
We are last tonight by look of it
We are 12 points worse than last season, not fatal,we just needs fine margins to go for us and some goals from our midfield
We definitely need some new blood to come in,just break up the group,monchi needs a couple rough diamonds
Ahhh jbd, you’ve sussed that I was wondering if you were f***, returned under a different name!?
JG, you may be right, that just a little bit of disruption from the introduction of a couple of new players may help right now.
Ironic if one of them is a right winger, just as Bailey is showing signs of getting his mojo back.
I loved the way that Maatsen won the ball back and created the winning goal yesterday.
He demonstrated, right there, what we’d been missing. . . . that tiny ‘extra’ bit of intensity that says ” I AM going to win this ball”
It made all the difference
Oh, and a shout out for Ramsey, for the clever little flick that enabled Maatsen’s assist too.
Our interest in striker Malen from Dortmund asks the question…..is either Big Jhon or Ollie going to be shipped? This morning’s report suggest PSG want Big Jhon. I will be pissed off big time if we lose him.
Number of interesting thoughts.
With Ollie and Duran, I didn’t really say anything, but one of the fears I had with Duran starting ahead of him was alienating Ollie in favor of a temperamental man-child who, despite the contract extension, will always be looking for brighter lights/bigger stage.
Doesn’t mean Ollie doesn’t want to score or that it didn’t make sense to put Jhon in given Ollie’s dry patch. But that’s been a long-term source of stability, and from Ollie chasing 20 last year, to starting games on the bench…think that shows some of the pressure dynamics behind the scenes.
For me, yeah, if Emery can calm Duran down, get his head on straight, we do have a star in the making. But to me that still seems like a big if.
I don’t know where Emery will end up tactics wise, but bringing in another forward only makes sense. If we could sell Duran for £70m, say, and make a couple of astute buys, we’re a better overall team, I think.
So many sides seem to have better wide men than us…To me, Bailey going would be an easy decision. Likewise Cash. And then probs SJM (though I wouldn’t mind seeing him still in the squad). I’d also let Philogene go if we could find a buyer. I really like Buendia (the Buendia we saw before he was injured), but I’m thinking he’s replaceable now. I’d think Ramsey could be on the block, as well. Carlos, too, certainly.
Cruel, but PSR is seemingly going to force these kinds of decisions on us.
Big question, as always, is buyers and fees.
Would Ollie be happy changing role? Make Duran (if we think we can put up with the temperament) the main goalscorer and have Ollie operating off the left wing which he seems to get drawn to naturally. Take that goal scoring burden off Ollie and he might just be able to take advantage of the chaos that Duran causes in opposition defence. Well that’s my football manager fantasy anyway.
Plug, I know nothing about Donyell Malen except what I’ve gleaned from clickbait. Seems to be a right winger who can also play across the line ie what Emery did with Diaby and maybe a Bailey alternative. Looks much tougher than Bailey from the photos I’ve seen. Obviously a squad vacancy that needs filling due to Phillogene not working out. Suggest the first out would be Phillogene rather than one of the dynamic duo.
Mings vs Torres is an interesting one.
Me, I’ve not seen a big drop-off (on a very small sample size) in passing quality. I have seen more strength and aerial prowess. I know Pau is Emery’s buy, and he is a good player, obviously. But I think Ty is more suited to the PL.
What I do find interesting is that by and large, most every team attacks down our right (when it’s by design, rather than random opportunity).
One could argue that Mings should’ve gotten to Ollie’s poor pass. Tough one, was very 50-50, and I wonder how much his knee might’ve been in the back of his mind. Would’ve had to be a physical challenge, easy to get skinned or hurt. That said, he did have the pace to match the run.
jbd,
That all makes a lot of sense. The only thing about Ollie and the left is that it seems that’s just where a lot of balls end up running. Maybe it’s by design.
When they have played together, Duran’s taken that Rogers positioning, which doesn’t really seem like a ‘second’ anything, just a slightly different set of responsibilities. I agree Ollie would benefit from the chaos. But also seems like Rogers brings more all-round impact playing further up than from left midfield.
Agree, Philogene should be first out and then Bailey. Love what Leon’s done for us, but I think this is all above his physical and mental abilities, game-in game-out. He’s just so lightweight on the ball, everyone knows he’ll cut back (I counted three Foxes players at some points arriving to cut him off), and he’s so hit or miss with that first touch. Great contributions last year, maybe he’ll get that back, but we’ve seen far more of this Leon than last year’s.
Diaby was also a bit of a miss, as well. Lots in his locker, but again, seemed a bit over his head stepping into the PL. Sure he might’ve adjusted, but again, his top speed didn’t seem to outweigh his light build and indecisiveness. Think we did well to basically get our money back.
Easy solution. Have Mings playing central CB between Konsa and Torres. YES A BACK THREE!!!
I’ve wondered if we’d see that, jbd.
And Ty and Ezri had developed quite an understanding over the years. I don’t wonder that playing RB with Carlos inside hasn’t helped Konsa overall, and then back to traditional CB with Cash. I know that’s not new, but as I’m sure everyone’s sick of hearing, I just don’t think Cash really helps defensively. Almost rather have the Spanish Cafu back there. At least he’d leave stud marks on people.
Ha…Scottish Cafu. This is what Emery’s done to my head.
I’ve been totally stunned by Rogers. As far as I’m concerned, Rogers can do WTF he likes so long as he is running at the opposition and causing our word of the year, CHAOS.
Cash is a serviceable RB rather than an especially good one. I think I have detected Cash having a few chopper moments through bustling exuberance rather than intent. Think Cash is more of a natural wing back than a FB. Heyho, back 3 again.
PS – no more Konsa RB. Period.
jbd,
Rogers has been a revelation…as he gains experience, he should only get better.
With Cash, I like him…always busts a gut, he cares, communicates. But I think there’s a better version out there of all that who can really defend.
Seems like with Digne providing so much high width on the left, the ideal RB is more like TAA in longer-range distribution, while staying home a bit more.
But it obviously doesn’t help having no one in front who can defend, win a ball or two or not give possession right back when everyone’s forward.
I’d also like to add someone (besides Youri) who can hit an accurate ball over the top for us to run onto, split CBs.
Maybe Onana or Bouba can get there, but we see how we’re often undone by that very player. One pass to that midfield outlet, then boom, turn, long ball and we’re in
trouble.
I know that’s not really Emery’s game, but whenever we do try to punish pressure by going over it, doesn’t come off very often.
Yeah, Konsa RB says all you need to know about the tradeoffs, jbd.
I have yet another solution. We need a defensive centre forward. We need another Emile Heskey. MON, you were a genius. You would also have loved Konsa.
Oh, Emile.
IF………………………..we took Dougie back on loan………….AND we got him going again, would we just be repairing him under warranty for Juventus?
Ha…hadn’t thought of it that way, jbd, but doesn’t sound far off.
Transfer,who doesn’t like a transfer window,1 week in ,malen,lad from Brazil, 1 from celto vigo,a player from Japanese club our owners own,then add in links to carney and Luis monchi is busy bee,never mind players heading out gauc i,young aussui keeper
kosta young Serbian lad,then carlos to Turkey, jaden to Everton today,Barry recalled and be sent god knows where,dobbin back from Tesco away to Norwich it all go
Break the bank for Kobbie Mainoo (manure have financial worries) or Dougie loan to buy?
Our transfer either come out of blue or drag on of late,
Would like to see the Dutch lad malen done in time for Everton game sooner we get him integrated the better,
West ham have changed their management, potter I would have taken him when gerard was sacked god even frem would have been an upgrade on gerard
Our team for Fridays will be strange,expect martinez konsa mings digne kamara tielmens all to be rested,Watkins will probably start as we have no other options
Olsen ned bogarde cash matasen barclay onana ramsay Bailey Watkins and beundi
Jaden going to Ipswich for 21m, so hopefully malen will be in quickly
So, Philogene is off to Ipswich and he goes with my good wishes. . . .and ‘ought’ to go with the good wishes of all Villa fans. However. . . . there are some unpleasant comments being made about him on the other blog which are thoroughly distasteful. Are some humans really so wrapped up in their own egos and insecurities that they are unable to see that they’re talking about a young person whose friends who may read these things and pass them on?
“Oh well footballers are well paid and have to take the rough with the smooth”. . .you can just hear them saying it . . . Bollocks. We’re still talking about real people with real emotions.
I’m not suggesting that we should be showering all our players with praise all the time, of course not, but there’s never any place for outright insults, especially. for someone who has come through our own Villa ranks.
Now we can all see that the lad hasn’t delivered on the pitch this season in the way we’d hoped, but we’ve also (presumably) seen what he was capable of in the Championship. Emery wouldn’t have given him the minutes he has, if he wasn’t a good footballer who he believed in, but it just hasn’t paid off and the fee we’ve been offered was clearly just too tempting to pass up right now, with other potential targets in mind.
Good luck to him, and I sincerely hope he rediscovers the confidence he had when playing for Hull and helps keep Ipswich up this year
JG, Someone’s probably already said it, but it’s a shame that Potter didn’t come in ‘after’ we have to play them.
Jbd. . . . there’s no suggestion that United want to cash in on Mainoo is there? Like you, I’d love to see him in a Villa shirt.
JC, yes, it is nice to have the opposition worrying about the ball over the top, splitting the centre backs. wasn’t that what happened for Jhon Durn against Bayern? I can’t remember who played the pass, but it’d certainly keep opposition’s wary if they knew we had someone who could regularly do that.
r0bb0, definately no suggestion whatsover – just me rambling aloud. Dwight Yorke and Ashley Young come to mind. How good would it be to turn the table and rip away one of their prized assets. Mainoo reminds me of Steve Davis. He was a natural footballer whose face just didn’t fit.
Woopee! Clickbait latest. PSG fancy Morgan Rogers. Who are we to stand in their way?
Jbd, yes, it seems that Morgan Rogers is off to PSG and Dembele is coming the other way in part exchange plus £50m.
Really strong side only martinez rested
Olsen cash konsa mings(C) matasen kamara tielmens barclay Bailey Rogers and watkins
With all transfer rumours, only I think jaden has left,nobody in yet ,few seem close malen and celto vigo defender and young lad from cannes to come in carlos look like he is going to Turkey not involved tonight either
Poor start again,none of our players know how to mark an opponent
What an awful 40 minutes of football, not one attempt on goal,on or off target,even commentators on about watkins poor showing
Don’t know what emery can do at half time, can’t sub them all
Absolute shambles, no effort, no ideas nothing, front 3 an embarrassment, Watkins hasn’t touched the ball,Bailey has been on the ground its not even funny now and Rogers is having one his games ball just bouncing straight off him
Our shocking fa cup looks to continue
Roy keane agrees with me,he said villa are shocking, then he said they are playing like a team that want out
No half time subs from emery
There does seem to be a little more intent from Villa at the start of this half (there couldn’t be much less eh?)
Kamara continues to impress. . . .probably my favourite player just now, but Rogers sadly having an off day
Robbo
Kamara matasen and cash only player really showing
53 mins we get a shot high and wide but a shot
JG. . .we’ve been saying the same about Ollie. . . he just doesn’t seem ‘sharp’ tonight
Need changes ,Rogers tielmens for me
Onana scores from a horrible decision by ref to give us a corner
Matasen had decent effort before that,
Thank god no var
Cash kamara Bailey off,ned beundi and ramsay on
Let’s win this now
No it shouldn’t have been a corner JG, but we would have scored from the one that he didn’t give from Tieleman’s shot 🙂
Robbo
They say it evens itself out,yeah tielmens should been a corner, suppose ref didn’t think onana would missed by that much
Rogers scores from an ollie assist
Great pass from emi beundi, now get a 3rd
He’s a good player, but there’s something very dislikeable about Paqueta
Pathetic from West ham goalscorer
Unlucky from ramsay, hits the post
Such a shame about the Ramsey shot, they wouldn’t have come back from 3-1
Would love a 3rd goal
Poor judgement from Rogers there. Two on one he should have committed the defender
Will half excuse him thoigh because of the goal
Beundi and ramsay have been decent as has young ned with a good block there
Olsen flaps at another cross and ings blasted over
All over
Really poor 1st hour ,in fairness West ham hadn’t a real chance from early after they scored
Barclay injury a worry,thought onana grew into game
Well we just about deserved that. We were clearly the better side once we upped the tempo a bit, but it was a tough watch prior to that.
I suppose the saving grace is that we didn’t exert too much energy in that first half!
I’m glad Paqueta is coming in for some stick for staying crying on the ground, pretending he’d been hit in the face (again) rather than helping his team to defend the corner.
Monchi in Spain tonight ,defensive options would be nice
Robbo
Wright annoying me,keep on about corner, never mentioned tielmens effort just before it
Paqueta is ratfink mk2 after the slime at manure. Kamara my POTM. Was the only player we had that was even quarter decent in the first half. Did a passable imitation of SJM – he was getting stuck in everywhere. Kept us in the game.
Pleased for all the FA cup fans but I wish it was 3 points.
Haha, jbd, I know exactly what you mean about preferring 3 points (even though it’s seen as sacrilege in some quarters to say so!)
I do believe there’s something in the adage about winning being habit forming though, so I’m glad we came out on top
Friday night for a cup game. FFS. Friday night in sub zero temperatures. FFS twice. Parity lasted 10 minutes before we binned another clean sheet. FFS thrice. Just about found my nuts again.
The first half was totally unacceptable. A complete lack of effort and not for the first time I might add. Bailey was embarrassing. Rogers, didn’t notice him or Tielemans. No service whatsoever to Ollie. 656, I thought Maatsen was our best player as he showed a willingness to move forward. Unfortunately Tyro refused to release him time and again.
At half time Bailey was clearly on the end of a bollocking. He showed some effort after the restart. But we never mounted any real effort until around the hour mark.
There seems to be some discussion about our first goal coming from a wrongly awarded corner. Oh well, corners, goal kicks and throw ins are routinely wrongly awarded in every game so the cockneys can just carry on moaning. Fact remains, a corner has to be defended and it wasn’t.
I thought the subs made a difference. Ramsey looked bright and he was unlucky with the cracker against the bar. Emi gave us another dimension and Ned does provide much needed pace.
The bottom line for a cup game is reaching the next round. We’ve made the draw on Sunday. Job done. Unai selected a strong starting line up showing some intent to the fans who piled into the ground on a shit awful night.
JG, the incoming Malen is not so straight forward. Reports this morning suggesting Dortmund are trying to rinse us over his transfer fee.
Plug, yes, so many articles today from London luvvies, headlining that we scored from a corner that shouldn’t have been a corner. You would have thought that just one of them might have added the line “and it wasn’t the first miatake over awarding a corner by the officials” or “maybe subconsciously, the referee was balancing out the corner that he wrongly denied Villa earlier”
I did think that Potter deserved some credit for the way he handled it, when given a chance to whinge, when he just said “it’s one of those things”
So I’ve just seen a replay of the goal kick that was awarded as a corner by the ref. Kamara is clearly pulled over by his arm as he tries to get his shot way. It’s why the shot was way off target. Clear penalty you whingers.
I keep hearing criticism of our slow build up play (not on here) and you can understand it after the first 60 minutes yesterday, but I’m not sure how well placed such comments are in the overall sscheme of things.
It has to be a question of balance of course. There’s slow and deliberate, and then at the other end of the spectrum, you have the Postcoglue/Bielsa, up and at ’em, until your legs fall off approach.
Spurs fans are getting what they’d been crying out for, as they’ve been screaming for a manager who’ll play exciting football, and that’s what they now have, but despite that, there are now Spurs forum threads asking how long the manager has got left.
It’s going to be extra tough for us this year to compete in the Champion’s league and achieve European football next year (oh, and win the FA cup of course), so we surely have to pace ourselves to some extent. I was surprised however to see this table, which suggests that Villa players as a whole covered the least distance of all clubs in the Premier league last season: https://www.squawka.com/en/features/premier-league-hardest-working-players-teams-distance-sprints/
Surprisingly, Burnley were top, and look where it got them! This is only in the Premier league mind you, so you can pretty much guarantee that our players covered more ground across ALL games played, including the Conference league.
Having said all that, I’m pretty sure that Emery hadn’t intended for us to be quite so turgid last night and both Onana and Rodgers pretty much said as much in their (really impressive) post match interviews.
Been a bit busy, but did squeeze in the match, barely. Had to watch most of the second half in the car while the cat was having a checkup.
So yeah, very lethargic first half, terrible goal to concede, then they didn’t do much after. Once Villa found second gear, looked a lot better. And tbh, if it only takes 25 minutes of actual effort to win, I’m fine with that. Risky, but job done even if it wasn’t memorable.
Couldn’t give a toss about the corner. Paqueta was such an embarrassment to the game they deserved nothing less. Shame, fine footballer, but he’s cheap and dirty, too.
On the pace of play, as several mentioned, Emery was talking about how he wants to be able to do both: score quickly with a couple passes, or camp out like City. And obviously, that’s the ideal, take what’s there and be able to convert either way.
I know he’s not happy with the sloppy early goals, and I’m sure the players are hearing it. I know I’m not happy. Been a while since we’ve had the bright starts that used to mark our play. Wish I knew what’s changed, but they do need to sort it.
Then all the links. Whoever the real targets are, the pattern is interesting: mainly right side focus, then a CB, and maybe just down to best player(s) available who fill a need. Like what I’m hearing, you know how I feel about our right side.
Oh, and Jaden. Yeah, wish him all the best, no need to run him down. He might fit a different role better elsewhere, so we’ll see how he gets on. But £6.5m profit on a player looking in from very far outside is decent business.
I’m glad Villa were willing to pull the trigger, and like I say, I’m glad there seems to be recognition that the right flank needs beefing up.
JC, maybe the Jaden deal will fall through because Ipswich fans read a Villa blog and came to the conclusion that if his own fans talk about him like that, then he can’t be worth the money!
r0BBo, I suspect the Bidace deal is being held up until Malen is signed as a replacement. Dortmund are trying to squeeze every penny out of us and negotiations may have further legs to run.
Seems it’s the usual dominoes. Dortmund want Elliott from Liverpool to replace Malen. Everyone wants £30m, as of the last thing I read.
r0bb0,
Trying to think back…I’m guessing we’d have avoided a couple errors if we’d read all the blogs and listened.
It is a shame, though. Kid in no way deserves to be trashed. We may not be PSG or Barca, but we are a CL-adjacent team with hopes of sticking. It’s a high level we need at every position. I’m sure it didn’t help his case that Leon is struggling so much. Might’ve gotten more development time otherwise. But I guess for what we paid he did need to be able to come in right away.
I suspect you’re both right that it’s going g to take a while for all the dominoes to be lined up before any deals get done. There’re been few deals completed for any teams so far, and you imagine that FFP rules have raised the stakes for most teams and are making negotiations even more sensitive than usual.
Watching this arsena, United game and there have been a few occasions when it would have been helpful to have VAR.
I do think that its absence encourages players to try it on, and play act, even more than usual.
Well. . . . . It would have been nice to get an easier round 4 draw, but at least we’re at home. . . . has the potential to be a good game.
Good to see Arsenal having a tough game today as we’re playing them soon .
Look like malen is done,been announced just waiting on medical, turkey lads another to be done tomorrow he is starting on loan to summer,think because he is young different psr rules apply, plenty talk of a young striker from France gomis I think same deal applies to him as well,
Monchi building a war chest of young players
Also a lot of noise from Spain were monchi is at minute, couple different defensive targets on the hook
On other clubs ,good read on Newcastle they have another 70m loss on the books to clear up,they loose 1 year of 70m loss this season but still not enough wiggle room which is good for us
I was looking at the table and wondering how high we could climb if we beat Everton on Wednesday. It’s easy to assume that Everton should be there for the taking, but took a look at our recent away form had me thinking that maybe I should be checking how far we could fall instead.
Only Leicester can match us for having lost all of our last 5 away games, and then you have to consider that Everton are likely to also be buoyed up by the return of the prodigal son to the dugout.
We know we’re well capable of beating Everton, but it’s going to need a real injection of belief, and change of attitude amongst the players if we’re to get anything out of this game.
If we’re to be in with a chance of Champion’s league football again next season, then our away form will have to improve, and there’s no better time to start that than Wednesday.
It’d be nice to deflate a second ‘new manager bounce’ in the last 10 days too.
JG, so Newcastle still have PSR worries? It seems to be par for the course these days, and it emphasises how tough it is for teams below the usual top 6 income earners to really break through.
Having said that, it does seem right to me that clubs should be inhibited from just ‘buying’ success, and the more open nature of the Premier league these days is presumably, at least in part, down to the PSR rules?
It does seem bizarre that the maximum £105m loss has remained unchanged for so long, and that fact has clearly irked our owners, but there seems ti be little sign that the majority of clubs want to change that so it looks as if we’re going to have to keep boxing clever, and the signing of promising youngsters may turn out to be at least as important to us in the long run, as the signing of players who can make a difference right now.
JG, I just watched a series of clips of goals and assists from Malen last season, and I’m still unclear what his favoured position is as they seems to come from him playing down the middle, going in from the left, and coming in from the right. I guess that flexibility is part of his attraction to Emery?
r0bb0,
Bit rich, West Ham then Spurs when we could’ve gotten Dagenham & Redbridge. Don’t have much luck in these draws, just more PL matches.
It’s great to progress, naturally, but I feel the same as whoever said they’d rather have three points from the game at the end of the day.
Clickbait is really thriving on spam and Duran. Now we’ve got Malen, we will let spam have Duran for 60M. Last time they wouldn’t pay the extra 5/10M. Now they won’t pay the extra 20/40M. Are spam doing a PT on themselves?
Yes, JC, successive premier league opponents in the cup is a bit rough, and to those who say ‘you have to meet the top sides at some point. . . . . maybe. . . but the later the better!
(except we didn’t do too well against Stevenage last time did we?)
PSR’s a funny one…I think yeah, it probably does help spread balance to the Other 14. Wish it had more effect on the usual suspects. Happy to see it keep Newcastle from pulling a City, unhappy that Villa are having trouble building to the next level (which is probably the real point).
So, it comes down to the staff getting the scouting right. Others find ‘bargains’ and we’ll have to as well. They got it right with Duran and Rogers, so here’s hoping.
Haha…Stevenage are a tough draw for anyone, r0bb0.
Yeah, you do have to meet one or two top sides sooner or later, but me, I’d rather just have one PL rematch in a final. Don’t like needing to play all these starters to progress when facing a return to CL action, etc.
Speaking of cup ties, Niclas Fullkrug. Did his achilles playing for Germany, gets back, has a 3-month hamstring in a 3rd round cup tie.
There really are too many games.
Not often I say it but beundi deserves a start v Everton,hope emery changes it about ,would rest Bailey and tielmens for beundi and ramsay
Don’t know what I would want with duran and ollie, 3 big matches in a week plenty opportunities for both strikers