It’s been two games and two points in five days for Villa, with game three of the week coming today against visiting Chelsea. Villa likely would’ve wanted at least four from those two fixtures, but a draw with Liverpool was good for the club’s sense of themselves and might be well be considered a bonus. With Chelsea, there’s an opportunity to make it five from nine on offer, which would go some way to redeeming the week and the perhaps salvaging the campaign.

While it’s not been terrible, it’s been terribly uneven, with Villa’s post-European struggles well documented. Minutes, travel, occasion, injuries, and mental resilience have all played a part. Villa aren’t the first team to struggle with the dueling demands of the Premier and Champions Leagues, nor will they be the last.

Obviously, the side have gotten a bit stronger and potentially more dangerous in January with Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio joining in January, but there’s basically only a third of a season for them to make a deciding impression. What we’ve seen so far is encouraging and the additions will likely be vital in the knockout rounds of the CL given their European experience. They’ll also allow a bit more rotation and freshness in attack. Garcia and Disasi will also provide more depth and have also helped address immediate injury gaps.

Players who’ve been out (or in and out) are looking at their returns, and Villa will likely be the healthiest they’ve been in quite some time as they try to make up ground during the run-in.

In short, it’s been a frustrating ride but it might just get better down the stretch. With the CL returning, though, it could also remain maddeningly uneven.

Three points today, which Villa might feel good about given their performance midweek, could really kick-start things. If, and that’s a big if, they can build on it. And, as usual, Villa will face a side that also really would like a result themselves. With Maresca under pressure and Chelsea’s early aura of dominance having dimmed, this isn’t the kind of fixture that will sneak up on them the way it might’ve a month ago.

And even this far out, Villa will be looking for results around them to go their way. You can’t make up ground on someone that isn’t losing, and the added pressure on all the sides vying for a European spot will hopefully start to tell a bit.

One thing I’ve seen said, and that we’ve all said ourselves, is that more goals wouldn’t hurt anything. Seemingly unable to keep clean sheets outside of Europe this season, Villa simply need to take more of their chances. They were more clinical against Liverpool, but even then, just taking one more chance would’ve made a massive difference in many ways. Given what Rashford and Asensio can bring to the attack, it might well be that we see Villa finally able to weather the inevitable goal they’ll concede and respond with two, three or four. Chance creation, if nothing else, should go up. And it wasn’t catastrophic before. But it might well be the case we simply have to create more to convert more.

And that’s probably what it will all come down to: creating and taking more chances. Which, surprisingly, is the fundamental difference between winning and losing football.

In the middle zone, while all the draws have been frustrating, they have been better than loses even when they’ve felt like losses. Those single points do add up, and it’s long been the case that Villa’s tendency to scrap for fewer draws than the teams above has been what’s limited them in the past. Emery got Villa winning far more games, but in the end, through all the struggles this season, if Villa are to claw their way back into the coveted spots, it will likely be those points that get them just over the line.

Has Ollie finally clicked? Will Rashford begin netting? What about Malen? You’d like to think that with so much potential (never mind Rogers and even JJ) a goal explosion is almost statistically inevitable. I’d like to think so, anyway.

So, as Emery and most every other manager will say, it’s one game at a time, and today it’s a wounded Chelsea at home. As good a time as any to get over on a side we’ve struggled to match up against. And instead of focusing on Villa’s defensive frailties, it’s probably time to start thinking more about Villa scoring their way back into Europe.

Over to you.

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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 289

  1. James Gill

    Quiet today,team 4 changes
    Martinez Konsa mings matasen cash mcginn ramsay tielmens asenio watkins rogers bench getting stronger still no midfielder back plus 2 Keepers
    Olsen zach garcia digne bogarde Bailey rashford malen jimjim

  13. John Clark

    Apart from the obvious, I’d just like to see players be a bit more decisive. There were some fine moments, the chances for Ollie were tough, but I think it should be level, overall.

    But again, just quicker out to the flanks, getting up the pitch, go ahead and shoot, etc.

  14. John Clark

    I would like to complain again about the officiating, as well. SJM might be lucky not to have seen yellow, but Oliver’s falling for far too many theatrics and has missed two big and clear ones against us instead.

  15. jbd656

    We are beating ourselves. We keep making tight little patterns and passing to heavily marked players who then fall over the ball or get beaten to the ball. Really fed up with fighting to get the ball back to Martinez so that we can indulge in a bunch of suicide balls in the defense to try and tease chelski out of position. They just play one long ball to a player in space and fuck us over. We are playing complicated football and I just don’t like it. Has Emery got anything else? Is this what stuffed him at the arse?

  16. r0bb0

    Just going back to Cucerella upending Cash, it shows yet again how poor and unfocussed the FA are. Duran was sent off for stepping on a player, possibly/probably accidentally, but inflicting minor, or no harm to the opposing player, whereas Cucurella runs into a player in the air, deliberately causing the player to fall in such a way that he risks very serious injury and yet there is no sanction at all.

  17. James Gill

    Rashford malen digne at half time,
    Matasen asenio ramsay maybe harsh on him but hasn’t done anywhere near enough, cash only survives because I don’t like that many subs at one time

  18. John Clark

    At least we’ve got some ways to change it up. Though again, I’m thinking having neither Kamara nor Onana hurts the setup.

    Not that we’d look to either Bouba or Onana to really provide the kinds of balls McGinn is capable of, but SJM just isn’t producing them, seems one of the prime hesitators to me, and a bit more pace and steel letting Youri play further up would be welcome.

  19. r0bb0

    Cash certainly isn’t flavour of the month, and I sense that I’m in a minority of one in thinking that he is a useful player for us. He’s not world beating, but I’ve seen far worse.

  21. John Clark

    jbd…

    It’s a reasonable question. I don’t think Emery tells them not to play quickly or to overcomplicate things. I think that’s decision-making from the players, like, “I see someone ahead of me, get it to them,” instead of doing something else.

    I’ve been yelling about a number of those passes and what anyone expects the receiver to do with them. They’re also telegraphed because they’re not releasing it quickly enough.

  33. r0bb0

    I hadn’t seen it in real time, so I suppose we can’t blame the referee, but you might have hoped that someone would have nudged the referee that it should have been a penalty

  38. jbd656

    Fabulous result considering what we had to do against red scouse and also considering that chelski were a punchy little team with a fully functioning and devastating right winger. They did us a big favour pulling him off the wing in the second half. Bailey was not fully functioning or very devastating. Sensio should be POTM but I’m going for SJM just for scrapping them all.

  41. John Clark

    And yeah…enjoying football, playing key roles and hearing VP in full voice as a result, r0bb0.

    I’ve really wanted them to have early success for just that reason.

  42. Plug

    An extremely pleasing result. Always very happy when we roll over a Laandaan outfit. Makes for a perfect weekend!!

    But I was pissed off big time at HT. With our non-existent defence of course. Giving opponents a goal start in the opening minutes is a hanging offence. But Asensio got his first Villa goals and lit the blue touch paper. And VP was rocking.

  43. Plug

    The media have the knives out for their keeper. He’s cost them the points they say. FFS there’s no mention of a stirring fightback and bagging the points. All this after jousting with scouse table toppers just 3 days ago. Maybe that fact has upset them. Cheers journo’s, mine’s another pint.

  44. Plug

    I fear that Tyro may need to be rested for a period. He is obviously playing lame. Bogey did OK when he replaced him. Think Rogers might need a rest too.

    My HT take on events was how noticeable it was to see Chelsea mark tight when out of possession. Our guys were harried and outnumbered each time in possession. Once Chelsea had the ball our pressing was very passive and gave their players freedom to manipulate the play.

    So you can imagine how stoked I was when we beat them.

  45. Plug

    And yep, the officials are so poor. I thought our first goal must have been down to a gnats whisker for offside before it was awarded due to the delay in clearing it. But once I got home and saw it again….it’s not even close. Rashford is miles onside. What is going on? Are they deliberately trying to rub out goals against Laandaan clubs?

  50. John Clark

    Plug,

    Why I hate playing Chelsea, lots of high pressing, very athletic, young, relentless in chasing down. We don’t match up that well with them or other sides like that.

    Told the wife after, “watch, it’s all going to be about the keeper making a mistake.”

  51. James Gill

    Completely missed 2nd half ,going by 1st half I was content enough and as usual emery knows best,great turn around along with weekend result along with forest having arsenal and man city up next 3 4 and 5th places are up for grabs
    Please god torres kamara onana and barclay are back soon
    Mings looks like he is really struggling with injuries but he is willing to put his body through the pain barrier for us
    As for cash maybe he should use his left foot more often

  52. James Gill

    Our January signings since emery has come are unbelievable
    Duran moreno
    Rogers
    Rashford asenio malen garcia and dissai
    When you think arsenal couldn’t get anyone in this past January

  54. Plug

    I think our CB pairing tonight will be Konsa and Disasi. Which 2 MF players are protecting them? Hopefully we’ll have enough to beat Palace. Need the win. As James says, we owe them one. COYVB.

  55. r0bb0

    Tonight is one of those games where you can’t help looking at the table in advance and thinking. . . .’oh, if only we could win, we could leap into 4th!’
    It is actually quite possible to imagine Bournemouth, Newcastle and City all losing, although extending that to Chelsea losing at Southampton would be a bit of a stretch.
    Trouble is . . . . this season we seem to be ‘just’ short of taking advantage of situations like this.
    We ‘could’ however be right back in contention for a top 5 slot after the next set of games, but this season is so competitive from 3rd to 11th, and then teams like Everton and Crystal Palace have upped their games recently, and it’s still hard not to imagine Spurs and United winning games!
    Over the past 10 years, a 5th place spot has needed anything between 59 and 70 points and it feels more likely this year to be towards the bottom end of that range rather than the top end. . . . I think!
    To achieve the lowest 5th place target over the past 10 years, if we won tonight, we’d need 14 points from our last 10 games (it could have been 13 if our goal difference was better) so that feels like the minimum target for us. More realistically, we’d need something like 19/20 points, which is still not beyond the realms of possibility. In a worst case scenario, we’d need a further 25 points from the final 10 games, which is asking a bit much . . . .although remember our promotion season. . . . and we have new faces from the January window, and other faces, returning from injury.

    In summary. . . .it wouldn’t half help if we won tonight. . . .but it still wouldn’t ‘quite’ be all over if we didn’t.

  56. r0bb0

    I see there are still people on other forums (fora?) looking for a chance to criticise Watkins. There’s one called ‘The Villa Warrior’ who we speculated might be frem a while back, because he actively looks for opportunities to be critical.
    Watkins has certainly missed more chances than we (and certainly he) would have liked, but despite that , he’s ranked as the 5th most productive ‘forward’ in the Fantasy leagues, after ranking 2nd last season. It’s fair enough to question why he isn’t converting more of the chances which ‘he’ is creating, but it’d be sensible to at least try and sprinkle a little realism over the negativity.
    Of the 4 players currently ranked above Watkins, I’d suggest that Isaak and Haaland are the only 2 that you’d feel confident could probably enhance our squad over several seasons, and of those 2, I’m far from convinced that Haaland would work for us (quite apart form the fact that there’s zero chance of him choosing to come to us.)
    If people really feel the need to criticise Watkins, then they should at least be honest, and accept that whilst they may not like him, the alternatives will be worse and we’ll be worse off overall, as a squad, and probably financially too.

  57. r0bb0

    JG. . .your;e right, Monchi and Emery (and our owners) seem to have done ok in recent transfer windows don’t they.
    The proof of the pudding will be in the end of season table of course!

  58. John Clark

    Think that’s a pretty fair assessment of Ollie, r0bb0.

    He has missed some he probably shouldn’t have, but he’s also working with a lot of half-chances the rest of the time. You see them converted in other games, but overall they’re not regular occurrences. May seem like it, but not from the same player in the same team week after week.

    There are a couple who’ve been in better form, obviously, but again, you have to look at the whole set-up. Isak’s got the sort of multi-threat attack we didn’t have until recently (dangerous wingers), and most teams set their back line a bit deeper (against us, anyway) making it hard to put players in with a bit more space and time and better angles.

    And some of it’s down to the way we play, final third getting congested and chances necessarily falling to others.

    You could look at a lot of our attackers and think they could also do a bit better. Youri, for example, hasn’t been good from further out even though it’s in his locker. He’s obvs been outstanding in every other way.

  59. John Clark

    JG,

    Will also agree, the business has been good. I really like the pragmatism around Rashford and Asensio, and I’d like to think once Marcus and Donyell break their ducks we can have a good run-in.

    Hope today’s the day. Palace like Chelsea are always a tough side for us.

  60. John Clark

    Also wouldn’t hurt if we had more than one (Youri) who can play a good long ball with regularity.

    Don’t know if Emery wants to see that, but teams who counter us generally get the ball to someone around 30-35 yards out who very often turn right around and set it in front of a runner splitting the CBs.

    And of course we leave the flanks pretty open in our system.

  61. r0bb0

    JC, good point about the long ball. I can’t remember which game it was, but in one of them, we were putting the long balls through and Ollie was winning them every time and creating chances. I understand Emery wanting the players to have the confidence to play out from the back, but I’ve particularly enjoyed games where there’s been a bit more of a mix of quick, quick, slow, with the occasional quick break via a long pass from the back or middle of our own half

  64. jbd656

    r0bb0 – I’ve just checked out your Villa Warrior.

    Believe me, f**m caused me more head problems than he/she caused you. This VW person in my opinion is not f**m. They are way more articulate than f**m and also participate in conversations in a reasonable (but obssesive) way. Relax r0bb0, f**m still seems to be inactive, I will recognise him/her before you. Let’s enjoy tonight’s delicious agony w/o the shadow of the demented obsessive.

  74. r0bb0

    I’m a big fan of VAR, but I’ve also said that it should only be used when it doesn’t involve human ‘opinion’ , and that second offside did involve the official’s judgement of exactly where to draw his lines

  90. James Gill

    Really disappointed tonight ,thought after last 2 games we had turned the corner but teams heat had me worried ,mcginn and tielmens in midfield haven’t had break for weeks ,yet emery decided to play wingback strange then dropped heroes from Saturday, played ramsay who hasn’t showed any energy all season, put Bailey on at half time and he was invisible, no attacking threat at all,re
    To cap it off Palace score again they love playing us

  91. jbd656

    Can’t remember the last time when Villa got less things going right for them. Seems Villa have given yet another team a leg up after a bad spell. I do think Emery has been too clever for himself in the name of team rotation. Seems logical to me that we should have started with the finishing side from Saturday and rotated that team on 60 odd minutes. I’ve said it before (boring), this is what screwed Emery at Arsenal. KISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  93. James Gill

    What must malen be thinking, bit part player dropped from champions league squad ,and watch Bailey get on in front of him,I didn’t see 2nd half v chelsea Bailey got decent reviews but tonight ,was poo putting it mildly,

  94. James Gill

    Thought bogarde played as well as anyone in our shirt,
    Just seen only 6 sides have a worse goal difference plus we are down to 10,champions league is starting to fade away,cup match dissai can’t play,no options in midfield to rest mcginn and tielmens

  95. jbd656

    It’s often written that Emery is a total football obsessive, first one in, light burning all night, last one out. Seems that he has surrounded himself with enabling “yes” men. Think he needs someone to argue with him now and again and make him think twice. I’m worried that he is hitting his glass ceiling in this league. Suggest he needs to lighten up a bit, get a dog, take a regular long stroll and let some air into his head.

  96. James Gill

    Just watching the goals again,it’s shocking that we have no leaders in our team,konsa an international but no leader, olsen an absolute joke of a keeper don’t know if he has kept a clean sheet for us
    bogarde only played a handful of games,garcia even less,

  97. jbd656

    I’m horrified to find out that I’m in general agreement with another Villa blog – with the exception of the personal attacks on the players.

    OK, Bailey was in waste of space mode.

  98. Plug

    Have to say, I have no complaints about the result. We were lucky to be just 1 goal down at HT. And 4-1 is a battering by any yardstick. But fucking hell, they got the rub of the green from VAR. Ramsey’s 2nd goal was no more offside than their 1st goal. And it was a clear penalty on Ramsey in the box. No doubt at all that VAR stitched us us again. It will always be viewed as yet another tool to influence a result when it’s deployed like tonight.

  100. Plug

    Thought our “defence” was non-existent again. They stand in space like cones and the opposition move around them. Not occasionally but regularly. This is where we need a complete rebuild otherwise it will kill everything else.

  101. James Gill

    Plug
    Didn’t think we should been behind at half time,tielmens header should been on target,and there opening goal was never a corner,but 2nd half was unbelievable bad players looking at one another wondering where they should be

  102. Plug

    SJM was a disaster in the pivot. Too often given the ball when he had no options available and played himself into trouble. Digne and Ramsey not very productive down the left. By the end, the team had that resignation look about them.

  103. James Gill

    Why did emery think he needed to change formation away to Palace, he didn’t at home to bayern Munich juventus man city arsenal pool and we did look them or concede 4

  104. Plug

    James, Palace missed a couple of great chances at 1-0 during the 1st half. Sure, I thought Ramsey’s 2nd goal was good but it might have been 3-1. After that VAR knocked thew stuffing out of them. But I agree that Unai’s selection and set up wasn’t right. We were solid 1st half and too loose and passive 2nd half.

  105. Plug

    We are stuck with this defence until the season ends and therefore highly unlikely to go on a run of results. The close season needs to address the problem. A few players are going to see their noses put out of joint.

  106. John Clark

    Got pulled away, thank god, and missed the second half.

    But first half, we started well, gave away the usual sucker punch, still should’ve been level. Don’t think there was much wrong from that starting point.

    Second? I’ll admit I’m puzzled Bailey got on ahead of Malen, the rest I can’t really comment on.

    Is Emery outsmarting himself with rotation? Maybe so. Don’t know that I’ll go back and watch the second half, which might yield some answers.

  107. James Gill

    Its funny people wanted carlos gone but we had our best defensive displays with him
    Digne getting slaughtered yet he is not a wingback, garcia was twice player Bailey was,everything emery did went wrong along with officials
    Pal 1st goal wasn’t corner then looked offside,
    Ramsay goalwas diabolical decision along with tackle in 2nd half which clearly showed Palace lad kicking his foot,

  108. John Clark

    Plug,

    I do think we have to account for not having Kamara and Onana. It is forcing some midfield constructions that aren’t optimal in giving cover to the back line.

    Not saying the back line is a victim, but when I’m hearing complaints about SJM, etc., I have to wonder if either of those two would help a bit.

  109. Plug

    John, there is no doubt Kamara is a huge miss. He’s been our glue. Onana has been absent for so long this season, I’ve been unable to form an opinion about him.

  110. jbd656

    If I was working out how to stop Villa, one of the first things I would do would be to stop SJM from turning with the ball, That would be done by crowding him out or by subtly clogging him before he turned. I believe a lot of teams have started doing that and Will Hughes certainly did that tonight. Yes, SJM needs a minder!

  111. Plug

    656, agreed about clogging SJM to stop him turning. Of course, SJM can easily counter that by having his brain wired to who he can hit a first time pass to without taking a touch. Or is that too much to expect?

  112. James Gill

    It’s a crazy season,and champions league is still not out of reach, I honestly believe if we get torres onana and kamara back we can go on a run of winning games as long as martinez is OK,Cardiff match I would go with 3rd choice keeper because olsen is worse than guzan and that is saying something

  114. James Gill

    The morning after,doesn’t feel any better but it could be worse I could be a poster on another blog,ready to sack emery ,sell all players,
    Emery probably needs a break to be honest ,games thick and fast pressure all time,transfer window just closed,none players we signed had been playing regularly so not match fit,last summer it was all about not getting point deducted, would say onana and barclay were his choices, matasen was just a deal to swap money about
    Emery trust in players is maybe too loyal Bailey has had 1 reasonable 20 mins all season, should never had got on last night in wingback position, then look at martinez konsa mcginn and watkins all way below last year form,it sure is a head scratcher
    Cardiff on Friday we have to go for it,definitely a trophy chance

  115. James Gill

    Var
    We have been on the wrong end of so many decisions this season
    Rogers goal last night,ramsay penalty appeal, bogarde pull v chelsea,malen goal v wolves could fill a notepad,
    Emery going to have to complain in a subtle way till he is heard

  116. Plug

    My take on the events of last night. Not sure Unai got his team selection/set up correct. It worked well during the 1st half and fell apart during the 2nd half. This is all in hindsight and some idiots on the other blog want him hung, drawn and quartered for it.

    The other noticeable feature was the dereliction of duty by Jarred Gillett the Aussie VAR who inexplicably ignored the clear penalty foul on Ramsey in the 2nd half. The replays showed the foul and he should have sent the ref to the monitor. I wouldn’t even have done that, just inform the ref that it was a penalty decision. His card gets a black mark for such a display of incompetence.

  117. Plug

    But the real problem, as it has been all season is the defence. When last summers window closed, I believe Unai’s preferred back 4 was Cash, Konsa, Pau and Digne. The back ups were Ned, Carlos, Tyro and Maatsen. Then it all went tits up.

    Think that preferred back 4 have managed about 5 starts together all season and 3 of those have been subject to an early substitution. Cash twice and Konsa. So the back 4 has suffered more changes than Karren Brady’s wardrobe. Disasi and Garcia have been recruited to replace Ned and Carlos in the last window.

    Tyro is obviously still lame. Bogey has needed to fill in when desperation called. And the result is 45 goals shipped during 28 league games, an average of 1.6 per game. There is no way we can expect to compete for a top 5 place given those stats.

    Whilst I wouldn’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water, the defence does need a total overall and replacements sourced that know how to tackle without committing fouls. Defenders with pace and guile. These are lacking in our squad. Even Pau, who has wonderful vision and accurate passing is slow and not solid in defence. The debate on this topic will continue for the remainder of the season.

    John has suggested that the lack of Kamara and Onana on a consistent availability in the pivot has contributed to our woes. This is without doubt true. Onana especially has been a poor buy at £55 million given his constant injuries. And we saw last night that SJM struggled in the pivot. There is much then to ponder for Unai.

  118. r0bb0

    Pleased to see Phillogene scoring twice for Ipswich. He seemed somewhat overawed when playing for us but it would be nice for the lad if he was re-discovering his confidence as a bigger fish in an East Anglian pool.

  119. r0bb0

    Last night certainly was an odd one. We were indeed unlucky with a couple of decisions, but despite that, I felt the referee actually had a decent game. . . . his supporting officials however. . . . . not so
    much.
    On the Ramsey penalty, I was certain that it was a clear penalty, whereas my wife felt that Ramsey kicked the ground . . . which of us was right?
    As for the Watkins offside, I e said before, when it takes that long, in the absence of reliable technical evidence then it HAS to be left with the onfield decision. We get to see how tightly the final lines are drawn, but of course there’s an earlier decision, deciding the exact moment when the ball is passed towards the ‘offside’ player. Both of those decisions are subject to pktentially unreliable human intervention, so if it’s that tight, VAR CANNOT give a definitive answer, so the onfield decision should stand.
    My biggest gripe is with the FA. It is easy to tell officials that if it’s really tight, don’t change the original decision, but the FA officials simply aren’t fit for purpose. . . they seem incapable of making simple and clear decisions.

  120. r0bb0

    With games coming thick and fast (once again, thanks to the incompetence of the FA), we all worry about the potential for injuries to players, but as JG suggested, we should also spare a thought for Emery. Particularly for someone as meticulous as him, the pressures of researching, planning and then instructing and preparing players for a series of games every two and a half days must be absolutely mentally exhausting.
    It doesn’t matter how strong or committed an individual you are, it’s hard to stay on absolutely top form when you just have no break from the intense pressure for weeks on end.

  121. r0bb0

    I’m not trying to lay all the blame for last night at Emery’s door by the way. If the VAR decisions had been properly applied, I firmly believe we’d have won last night, and the mood, and comments today would have been completely different.
    He ‘may’ have been guilty of overthinking a bit last night, but at the same time, he’s having to adapt to a succession of injuries to our backline, and defensive midfielders.

  122. James Gill

    I see our var friend from last night just had another howler at city disallowing a haaland goal even tho his var told him there was no handball and then spurs nearly equalised,pep was going mental
    By the look of tonight last night result hasn’t been punished forest drawing Newcastle 2 down Brentford drawing,even way arsenal are playing they could be swallowed up by chasing group

  123. Plug

    It seems Riza the Cardiff manager is thinking about fielding a changed side against us tomorrow night. He says they have some big relegation survival games coming up. They will park the bus so we could do with an early goal.

  124. r0bb0

    I see some of the children on the other blog are already getting their knickers in a twist about the weakened side we’re putting out against Cardiff based on comments from Emery. Presumably, they’d have preferred us to play a weakend side against Liverpool. . . . . or against Brugge?
    No. . . . of course they wouldn’t, they’d complain just as much if he was to do that. You know why. . . . . . .because it’s so easy to sit back and whinge when you don’t have to make any real world decisions yourself.
    Emery shouldn’t be totally immune from criticism, but the constant carping from some quarters is embarrassingly self indulgent.

  125. r0bb0

    As if to prove the point that the manager can’t do right for doing wrong, now we have put a strong side out tonight, I see there are complaints from some, that we put out a weakened side against Palace to save players for tonight.
    Aaaiieee.

  129. James Gill

    Hard to tell yet ,a third match gone we haven’t created much,Bailey won’t have many better games to get a bit form from,strong side out,yet mings cash out again still no barclay either

  133. James Gill

    Not a great half to be honest,need to speed up our passing, far to slow laboured,Bailey has a big 15 mins coming up or try the young sub,Bailey is infuriating

  134. r0bb0

    Nit many clear cha ces, but it was a good save from Bailey, and an unfortunate miss from Rashford that’s kept it goalless so far.
    If its stays like this, I’d rather see us chance our arm more and risk losing, than see us having to play an extra 30 minutes on top of the 90.

  146. James Gill

    When you look at who is missing tonight
    Cash mings torres dissai
    Kamara barclay onana
    And our 5 game in 13 days
    Emery is doing decent work ,rest tomorrow, train Sunday and Monday morning travel to Belgium Monday afternoon, match Tuesday travel home Wednesday off mental schedule

  149. jbd656

    In the end, it turned out to be not much more than a training session designed (?) to give the players a stretch out without knackering anyone for Tuesday. I concur about Bogarde. Seems to be quietly getting on with business and accumulating pitch time. Could he turn out to be a mini Kamara?

  150. Plug

    Expectations are a powerful driver. They can also be heavy baggage. When I saw the line ups and Cardiff making 6 changes, I expected to win at a canter. After all, there was only about half a billion quid between the value of the two. But as everyone knows, it’s 11 against 11 and anything can happen.

  151. Plug

    I was just beginning to get uncomfortable when Asensio finally prised them open. The clean sheet? Still can’t believe it. But it’s job done. There are no extras for winning a cup tie by many goals, one more than the opposition does the trick. We’re in the hat for the next round. Happy days.

  152. Plug

    Of the game itself, I thought we were too slow in passing around the parked bus. That side of our game could be speeded up. The player who caught my eye the most was Colwill who had an excellent match. Agree with the comments above about Bogey, he’s looking more comfortable by the day although he wasn’t stretched by any means last night. Tielemans seemed below par, Bailey as usual and since he played the entire 90 minutes, I assume he’ll be rested against Bruges. I was also pleased to see Rogers benched. The low block teams negate his strengths of running at them so it was a good selection move by Unai.

  154. Plug

    I see Taylor is at it again, waving red cards around like it’s Chinese New Year. He’s determined to take centre stage and make it all about him rather than the players.

  156. Plug

    PNE it is then at Deepdale. Freddie Flintoff’s outfit. Kesler should be unavailable against his parent club. We have a chance but they’ll be a difficult opponent.

  157. James Gill

    Martinez cash mings torres digne kamara barclay onana rogers malen ramsay
    A side we could put out v Preston in 1/4 finals of cup,bar martinez only 3 used as sub v Cardiff rest were unavailable

  158. Plug

    Team news for Bruges tomorrow night will be interesting. Cash at RB, Konsa and Disasi at CB and Digne at LB? Kamara should be back and calls need to be made on Rashford and Asensio who may come off the bench together. Should have a strong line up to choose from.

  162. James Gill

    Going to moan about Bailey starting and then he goes and scores after brilliant header by mings
    Martinez Konsa mings dissai digne mcginn tielmens Rogers rashford Bailey and watkins
    On bench
    Cash torres matasen ramsay bogarde and asenio olsen zech

  171. jbd656

    I’ve been hanging on for a while now but yes, Watkins isn’ t really on it at the moment. No obvious alternative w/o the melon.

  187. James Gill

    So pleased for mings redemption for himself because he has plenty credit in bank as villa player
    Matasen torres malen garcia barclay and onana not even used going g to be fun when emery picking his panel for league matches
    Our u18 put up good show this afternoon losing 3 1 to barcelona

  188. r0bb0

    We qere away from home, had more shots on target,and double their xg, so whatever Ferdinand might think, we deserved to win.

  189. Plug

    WHAT A RESULT. Get in. I’m stoked. Thought Brugge missed a couple of great chances and we got a bit of luck with the peno, but if Cash wasn’t there, we wouldn’t have got it. One foot in the quarters dare I say.

  190. James Gill

    Robbo
    Think ferdinand is bad I am watching on irish tv brian kerry ex ireland manager is on so disrespectful to emery and villa
    All ex utd pundits are wnakers bar g neville

  191. Plug

    RObb0, Tyro was excellent tonight. He owed us that after his last visit to Belgium. Bailey….what a player…I’ve always said it!! Can’t get my tongue out of my cheek. Asensio made a difference. Such a reward for the travelling support.

  192. James Gill

    I might have been a bit harsh on Bailey for there goal,tielmens really should have stepped across but the again he is not natural holding mid and has played every game bar 2 carabao cup games,

  193. jbd656

    Does Digne take penalties. Wasn’t paying attention – why was Watkins subbed off? Was he injured or being saved for Saturday. Yes Mings more or less locked up our defense. My shout out is for Disasi. He just looks effortlessly calm and smooth. Reckon he is a better right back than Konsa. Also not far behind Konsa as a RCH. All this with a good first leg lead, no obvious injuries and gas left in the tank for next Saturday. Top 4 anyone?

    Something changed when Asensio came on. We just looked more composed with his presense. My POTM for the second half.

  194. Plug

    Just didn’t see this result coming. But it was fabulous to see Kamara back on the pitch. In fact, with him and Asensio on the pitch together I felt quite confident. And it’s 2 more points towards our coefficient total so England should be grateful. No doubt Heck will be delighted with a few more million quid in prize money.

  199. r0bb0

    JG. . . .I’d not made the Man United Link with Ferdinand. That explains his attitude tonight. United fans are finding it very difficult to accept that their club might have been the problem with Rashford . . . and Garnacho, and Sancho, and. .

  200. r0bb0

    United have a little whiff of Villa a decade ago, dressing room discontent, financial difficulties, initially enthusiastic owners learning on the job.

  201. r0bb0

    Jbd, I’m not sure there’s been too much difference between our levels of performance in the premier league and champions league. I do think that the margins are fine though, and the ball just hasn’t been dropping kindly for us in the PL

  202. r0bb0

    Emery appreciated Ming’s performance last night too, and referenced his cock up in the last game in Brugge. Maybe we should actually be thanking Tyrone twice though, because without him picking up the ball in the penalty area in our previous game against Brugge, we’d have gained an extra point, moved two places up the table, and I reckon we’d have been playing Bayern Munich home and away now instead of Brugge.
    I was reading a quote from Mings where he said (not in quite these words), that if someone was going to cock up and pick the ball up in the area, he’s glad it was him. It says a lot about the man that he’d prefer to take the responsibility on his shoulders, than have anyone else go through it.
    When you also consider the injuries he’s had to come back from in his career, I think it’s safe to say that when times are tough, he’s exactly the sort of person you’d want beside you.

  203. r0bb0

    jbd. . . . going back to your comment about our Champion’s league and Premier league form, I wonder where the teams we’ve played in the CL would end up in the Premier league, and how many of them we’d expect to be in the top 4/6. Having said that, if we slip up against Brentford this weekend, then I’m going to be a bit more inclined to agree with you. Brentford have only lost 4 out of their 14 games at home, so are no pushovers, although 3 of those 4 losses have come in their last 6 home games, so if we’re going to get an away win after a Champion’s league midweek game, now should be a good time to do it!

  204. James Gill

    Brentford at weekend, it must be first time in weeks that we have options all over the pitch,only barclay and onana missing, onana has been open and honest about his injury hit season, rushing back nearly every time because of other injuries,
    Kamara gives some strength to team

  205. James Gill

    Brentford
    Team A
    Martinez Garcia konsa mings digne
    Mcginn tielmens
    Ramsay rogers Bailey
    Watkins
    TeamB
    Martinez cash dissai torres matasen
    Bogarde kamara
    Rashford asenio ?????
    Malen
    some options

  206. Plug

    Still glowing from last night’s result. But I saw enough from Brugge to worry me next week. I’d be interested in acquiring Vanhakan if he wasn’t 33 next birthday. At 6’5″ he’s very skilful and a threat in the air. Still can’t work out why Digne was marking him at corners and free kicks rather than Tyro. But we still have work to do.

    Unai will have some fresh legs available for Brentford. Kamara only got half hour last night and Garcia plus Malen had a night off. Can’t second guess what options will be selected but it must now be full focus on the Bees.

  213. Plug

    Red scouse got absolutely battered. Konate avoids a red card, dunno how. And they win, dunno how. I also wonder what PSG are on. Producing what I’ve just witnessed, they need drugs testing. Didn’t think it was possible to deliver a performance like that over 90 minutes.

  214. r0bb0

    Plug, I kept thinking the same. . . .’PSG must tire soon’, but they just kept going!
    JG, Liverpool’s ‘lucky streak’ went into over-drive last night. I have yet to find one single person (including Liverpool fans) who thought that Konate should stay on the pitch. It reminded me of our Carling cup final defeat when the referee decided not to send Vidic off as he was afraid it would spoil the game. Even Ferguson agreed it was a sending off offence and walking away from the ground, hearing the Man United fans celebrating their (undeserved) win was even more bitters a result.

  215. John Clark

    Heyo…been away, always helpful to read rational insight, so thanks all.

    Did catch 2nd half of Brugge. They’re a tidy side. Well set up, great structure, know exactly what they’re about. To the point about the CL teams in the Prem, I’d think of Brugge as a Brighton or Brentford (at varying points). Well managed, players who suit the system.

    Trick for the English clubs is that I think the PL grind is that bit more difficult. Fine margins, as everyone says: think of our draws, and we’re basically 4-5 goals off it.

    Fabulous to have a bit of cushion at Villa Park.

  216. James Gill

    Preston in cup on Sunday, Brighton moved to Wednesday, suppose it gives international players a day longer to get back
    Hopefully our injuries are coming to an end with Hopefully barclay and onana back for Preston game
    What an exciting end of season to come

  217. Plug

    Although our 23/24 (Conference League season) financial results are yet to be published, UEFA have published their financial statistics of all associated clubs in Euros. Revenue for Villa was 322 million euros (think we already knew this) which is about £266 million depending on exchange rates at the various times of income receipt. It also shows we have again run up a loss of about £85 million although not all of that amount will contribute to PSR calcs. Our wage bill was around 90% of revenue, so we can expect a hefty fine from UEFA over that matter. But remember, it covers 13 months as Villa extended the reporting period to end June from end May.

    Heck, in an interview by Sportico has revealed that he expects revenue for the current year to be between £350 and £360 million. Guessing the £10 million band is in case we reach the Champions League Quarters and we become £10 million richer in prize cash. His interview was prior to the win in Bruges. In any case, the lower number is healthy and it illustrates just how important Champions League football is to us. Happily, England’s association coefficient is way out in front and only 3 countries can catch us, Italy, Germany and Spain. It means we are much better placed for the 5th UCL place this year. We can’t rely on winning the UCL so this weekend’s game at Brentford needs to break the mould of our piss poor performances after European games.

  219. James Gill

    Team news onana back training but barclay still not,everyone else fit great position to be in,preferably onana doesn’t get minutes between now and Wednesday match so can vry off international duty,head to dubai ro warm weather training

  220. Plug

    Very true James, about our owners. It’s not just about the massive losses incurred over the last 3 years, it’s more important how that money is used. Moshiri poured similar amounts into blue scouse but was just wasted. Our owners have demonstrated the smart way to do it and for me, that’s where we owe them big time.

    In the same Sportico interview, Heck said they thought AVFC was now valued at £1 billion. It means the huge losses are not losses at all, merely sprats to catch a mackerel. Not a bad return on their original £65 million investment eh? But Heck says they won’t be stopping at £1 billion. They have plans to increase the value multiple times and turn Villa into a powerhouse.

    As always, I’ll ignore the speak and instead watch what they do. Big game for us today. Need a win.

  221. Plug

    Team news for Brentford:

    Aston Villa XI: Olsen, Disasi, Konsa, Mings, Digne, McGinn,Tielemans, Bailey, Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins.

    Subs: Zych, Cash, Rashford, Garcia, Torres, Malen, Maatsen, Bogarde, Kamara.

    No Emi! No Asensio”!! What’s going on?

  222. James Gill

    Must win match tonight, made harder with no martinez, looking at team and bench we have enough attacking players to make up for asenio missing
    As for team not really sure if there is a team that would satisfy all fans
    Up the villa

  224. r0bb0

    I was going to ask if I was the only Villa fan who still thought Bailey had an important part to play for us and then he gave the ball away and then demanded to take a free kick which he promptly put into the wall. I admire him wanting to put himself forwards,
    but the subsequent shot didn’t do him any favours.

  225. r0bb0

    JG, I reckon Morgan Rogers actually needs a rest. . . . not sure he’s been quite the player in the last few games, that he can be

  228. Plug

    Yep, Bailey seems back to normal. Rogers is currently below form too. Watkins getting no supply. We seem happy to control the game and keep the crowd quiet. And yep, I’m getting through some soiled underwear again with our poor attempts to beat the press.

  229. jbd656

    Well at least we haven’t gifted our usual sloppy dozy early goal. Agreed on Bailey, just not happening for him at all. Not happening for Ollie either with Rogers also not getting antwhere. Still don’t know why Malen isn’t getting a look in. My conspiracy theory is that not getting into the chumpions league squad has caused an issue.

  248. r0bb0

    Lovely to see the players pushing Olsen forwards to take the praise of the travelling fans. . . . can’t help wo during if it’s because they’re aware of how much unjustified vitriol he comes in for from Vile supporters.

  249. James Gill

    Phew my fingernails are gone,great to win after Europe
    Pleased for oslen clean sheet ,2 French fullbacks outstanding, mings konsa never put front wrong,tielmens supreme, Watkins got his goal and should have sealed near end but it’s rosy in villa garden now
    Mings pushing olsen to villa fans for applause

  250. jbd656

    That was a tough guy performance by Villa for a very worthy win against one of our bogey teams. Seems like the spirit of ben mee has now latched on to nathan collins. My POTM for the first half was Tielemans and for the second half was Disasi.

  252. Plug

    A huge win. Seeing as it’s our only league game this month. And right after a massive night in Bruges, who I see have had their game postponed this weekend.

  254. John Clark

    Been on the wrong end of some really tight offsides…the second would’ve made such a difference.

    Then we kept chasing the second, fair play, but I didn’t think it was the best game management from the players.

    Disasi, wouldn’t mind seeing him stay.

  255. Plug

    But I do have questions for Unai. Why ignore Maatsen and Malen who were fresh from not playing? Why no Garcia instead of Cash? The end justifies the means and we got the 3 points so job done and end of argument but I hope we’re not now knackered on Weds.

  257. John Clark

    Collins defo should’ve seen red…Youri very lucky his foot swung free from the turf.

    And while I can certainly find fault with the ref elsewhere, he did well not to gift them a peno. The one Brighton got at the end was a bit soft, he’d have easily given one in our match.

  258. Plug

    A real shame Rogers goal never stood. It would have been a perfect left then right hook. So we’ll just have to gloat at Ollie scoring the winner and pissing off the home team boo boys.

  259. John Clark

    Some interesting choices, Plug, agreed.

    Whoever suggested there might be some fallout with Malen (you?) may well be right. Can’t see how he doesn’t start ahead of Bailey.

    With Rashford and Asensio, I can see that given they’re loanees who didn’t have a lot of minutes in their legs that you’d keep your permanent players happy, then turn to them in the second half. But Malen’s a bit puzzling.

    Had it not been for Mings going down and seemingly an inch away from being lost again (meaning Disasi is a must), I’m guessing he’d have been in the CL squad.

  260. John Clark

    Would’ve done us a world of good for that goal to stand, Plug.

    Nothing has really come easy, dominance hasn’t been rewarded, have never had the feeling of just flying and being loose.

  261. r0bb0

    Plug, interesting that Brugge had their game postponed. I wish our FA had a quarter the sense that the Belgians do.
    We’ve played more Premier league games than any other team, have only one game in March, but they can’t find a way to postpone our game this weekend. . . . . indeed, they squeezed an extra game in for us earlier in the month.

  262. r0bb0

    You’ve summed up the Collins red card nicely JC, but I’m still cross about it. Yes, the referee did well overall, to try and keep the game moving, but that was ‘exactly’ the type of tackle that they’re supposed to be trying to stamp out. As you say, Youri was lucky, as it could so easily have been a season, or even career ending challenge.

  263. Plug

    The ref was Jarred Gillett, the Aussie VAR who refused to flag up the penalty tackle on Ramsey at Palace last time out. So it’s not surprising he ignored Brentford’s claims for a penalty when things reached desperation status for them and only gave Collins a yellow card. Things would have been different under Taylor.

  264. jbd656

    Got more conspiracy theory. I was watching Rashford and trying to read his body language. Bear in mind the goals Asensio has scored and an arguable MOTM performance from Disasi today, Rashford has so far been the least effective of the three loan players. I can see shades of Stan Colleymore’s fragile mentality in Rashford. Really hope I am wrong.

  265. r0bb0

    VAR is supposed to be used to overturn obvious mistakes, so it’s always felt wrong that goals can be ruled offside when it’s taken several minutes to decide exactly where the lines should be drawn.
    However. . . .
    I have only just discovered, that the officials are using camera technology that only runs at 25 frames a second.
    You might think that’s more than fast enough, until you realise that in that 25th of a second, a player running at speed (as Watkins was yesterday for example) will cover around 30cm in that 25th of a second!
    When you then consider that they have to also judge when the ball was kicked, if the passing player is also running at speed (as Ramsey was, yesterday for example) you have a combined ‘grey area’ of over half a metre!
    Despite this, I remain a strong advocate for the use of VAR, but for goodness sake, why don’t they live by their own rules, use it only when ‘clear and obvious’, and if the officials have to fanny around for minutes, trying to find the ‘exact’ positions, just accept, that it isn’t exact enough to over-rule marginal calls.

  266. Plug

    roBbo, my take on the use of technology in football is simple (as I’m a simple bloke). Keep the goal line technology. It may have room for micro errors in it but it’s better than the human eye from distance or not 90 degrees. The immediate response to the ref’s wrist is excellent. Keep the offside technology but change the way it’s used. Wherever it is so tight that lines are required to determine the outcome, stay with the on field decision. As you say, this particular technology has room for significant flaws and ruling out goals is killing the life blood of football. Bin all other VAR involvements.

    By the way, I’m still buzzing at yesterday’s result. I’ll be in attendance again on Weds. COYVB.

  267. r0bb0

    Plug,
    Apparently, the goal line technology uses the equivalent of 500 frames per second rather than the 25 fps, currently used for offsides, so it’s twenty times more accurate. As you say, we need to improve the technology for offsides, but in the meantime, it’s ludicrous to employ the current pseudo technological accuracy of drawing really fine lines for offsides, when the current technology just doesn’t support it. The football authorities must have known of the inherent shortcomings so really should have said to stick with the infield decisions where it’s as close as it was yesterday for example.

  268. James Gill

    Plug
    You mentioned matasen not been used,for me defensively he is poor,too tight a match to use him
    Looking to next few matches Preston if we are up for it any of 20 man squad yesterday along with onana barclay and asenio should win,Brighton few days later are not what I call a physical team compared to forest coming next
    Cash konsa torres matasen should be ample for Preston then dissai konsa mings digne with kamara and onana in front for forest,but then who among us would have used cash at half time yesterday.
    Top 5 is still achievable with a good run in

  269. r0bb0

    As for the use of VAR for other decisions, some players (most?) will cheat if given the chance. You suspect that for teams like Arsenal, it’s actively encouraged, or even coached. Under those circumstances, the job of the referee has become harder than ever, so I am still in favour of using VAR to identify clear mistakes, or to pick up and things that the referee just wasn’t able to see. Schade yesterday clearly dragged his left leg to try and get a penalty, but it would have been so easy for the referee to miss that, and then the cheat would have won.

  270. Plug

    RObb0, “some players (most?) will cheat”…….I would say all players do it including the coaches. Some are more aggressive than others. Thomas Frank was whinging about 2 penalties they should have been given?? At the same time he’s silent about Collins going over the ball when tackling Tielemans which might have broken his leg. Clearly taking a leaf out of team mate Ben Mee’s book on thuggery. We saw their MO last season down there when it kicked off and Kamera got a red card for trying to prevent a fracas.

    Eddie Howe is another one. His players are honed in to react to anything that their acting can generate. Like Big Jhon’s red card this season. Whilst Guimaraes and Joelinton scythe down anything that moves.

    This is what referees are up against. Player acting is way out of control.

  271. James Gill

    John mcginn booking yesterday wasn’t mentioned on any media outlets, cheating at its best
    Anyone catch merson on sky sports yesterday laughing at the var in Liverpool game for last penalty saying it would be at least 6 timed watched,he counted up to 6 all in studio laughing Dean with head in hands

  272. r0bb0

    Plug, yes, most coaches, Thomas Frank included (who I quite like btw, despite his overly demonstrative gum chewing) bemoan their bad luck from official’s decisions in games. Emery, is usually, a welcome exception to that rule. I actually thought that it would have been hard to argue against the referee giving a penalty for the Disasi/Cash sliding tackle, but happily he decided against it. I think he made the right call, but it was a close one.

  273. r0bb0

    Although 90% of fans seemed to have decided we’d missed our chances of 4th or 5th, weeks ago, it’s nice to see that it just takes one win for quite a few now to be thinking that maybe we still have a chance after all.
    I’ve seen suggestions that we need 66 points, which would need us to win 7 more games, although history would suggest that target is probably 1 win more than we’ll actually need. Even so, 6 wins out of nine would still be a tall order, particularly bearing in mind our mixed performances so far this season, and the pressures of still being in 2 other competitions too. (not that we’d want that any other way)
    In contrast to last year however, we have a strengthening squad due to January recruitment, plus players coming back from injury, as opposed to last year when we progressively felt as if we were struggling to keep our footing on a wet, muddy, steepening, uphill, slope.
    Champion’s league is still possible, but the margins for ever are getting very tight now.

  274. Plug

    robb0, below is a comparison of last season’s league points after Match Week 28 to this season. There is a caveat, this season red scouse and Villa have played 29 games and the Wai Ayes 27 ahead of their match tonight. Make of it what you will. Maybe 6 more wins might be enough for P5 and UCL participation.

    Position 23/24 24/25
    P1 64 70
    P2 64 55
    P3 63 51
    P4 55 49
    P5 53 47
    P6 47 46
    P7 43 45
    P8 42 44
    P9 42 44

  275. James Gill

    Football is going to have to get it’s house in order,between poor refs and crazy decisions by var,matches are been decided by fine margins we probably got lucky with dissai challenge which could been penalty, also the backpass from dissai on an other day it could have went against us
    But this grappling at corners and set pieces is a farce now,yesterday match think it was arsenal centre half Gabriel was hauled to ground, var said he went down to easy what a joke
    Then new rule for Keepers holding ball,what about throw ins,free kicks,goal kicks either stop clock or allow 30 seconds to get play going or reverse decision

  276. r0bb0

    Plug,
    Well that’s a very interesting table! I think we’d all felt that (apart from runaway Liverpool), this year’s league is more competitive, but that table shows it so clearly. Twice in the past 10 years, the 6th place team has ended up with fewer than 60 points (we probably only need to beat the 6th place team to qualify for CL next year), and at this stage, the odds have to be quite high that this season will be the third. If 60 points does end up being enough, then we’ll need 5 wins out of our last 9 games, and that starts to feel more achievable. Taking those wins from the teams around us would help a lot too, particularly if it started with our next game, against Brighton.
    Those lower point scores go some way to explaining why some fans have been so despondent one week and believing all is lost and then after one win, thinking, “well maybe we still have a chance after all!”
    Other than Liverpool, all teams seem to be having their ups and downs this year, so as you say, the target might just be a lower one this year. Here’s hoping!

  277. r0bb0

    JG, I’m totally with you in wanting the authorities need to get a grip of the rules that referees are expected to apply.
    As a small example, at the start of the season they gave a clear ruling about delaying free kicks and there were a couple of controversial yellow cards given. Arsenal were the biggest whingers (as ever), but I welcomed the authorities finally saying, “here is a clear law, and we’re going to enforce it”. Well how long did that last?
    Although I know I whinge about referees, they do have a really tough job, so the laws should be as clear as possible, and rigidly enforced. If we want free-flowing football, then stamp down hard on any shirt pulling for example. It’s only when laws are firmly, and consistently applied, that the fans and players will realise that the authorities really mean it this time.

  278. John Clark

    It really is all in the application, the rules.

    You send off Collins for that tackle. You give a couple penos for shirt pulling/tackling on corners, etc. Set the tone, much whinging, then the important part: You have to keep calling it like that.

  279. r0bb0

    Spot on JC, it’s the inconsistency that particularly drives fans nuts, and encourages rumours of corruption. There’s always going to be room for interpretation with some rules, for example, deciding when a tackle should be judged to be ‘violent’, but in other areas, for goodness sake, decide the rules and then apply them. . . . EVERY time!

  281. James Gill

    Poor management by slot letting nunez take a penalty
    Hopefully tomorrow night we finish off brugge we get another amazing night at villa Park,keeper saved 2 penalties but is horrendous in setplays

  284. r0bb0

    JG, I liked the way the ref performed last night too, although I think if I was a Liverpool fan, I’d have been a bit miffed about a couple of the decisions, particularly when Salah had his foot stamped on, just outside the area.

  285. r0bb0

    Plug, it’s going to be SUCH a big night tonight. . .I so wish I was there, but will be nervous as **** too!
    I’ve just had a call from a ticket agency which started “I don’t want to tempt fate by. . . .” at which point I interrupted him and said “well don’t tempt fate then, let’s just skip straight to what you’re offering”

  286. r0bb0

    JG, it is amazing that Liverpool only have the league to look foreword to now, and they’re so far ahead, that even that could very soon start to look like an anti-climax for them.
    It’s nice being still involved in 3 competitions, but of course, it does bring extra pressures too. Let’s hope that with a larger fit squad just now, we’re able to manage to perform in all 3 of them.
    I saw some sort of computer prediction yesterday, which put our chances of Champion’s league qualification for next year down around 2%. It feels a bit low to me, but you can imagine that a computer would predict us losing to all the teams above us, whereas in reality, those game provide us with our best opportunities for upsetting those odds.

  287. John Clark

    That was quite a match…Absolutely frenetic pace until they wore each other out. Liverpool did everything but score, and PSG’s was a fluke, in the end. It was really pretty criminal to let Nunez and then Jones take penos.

    And so we get PSG if all goes well tonight. I know we didn’t expect to win it all, but that’s a very very tall order over two legs.

  288. John Clark

    So, here’s what I’m hoping for tonight:

    A great night for the supporters
    Another £10m for the PSR balance sheet
    Coefficient boost that maybe lets us slip back in

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