That’s why I don’t talk about it even though I’m commenting about it
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We need some consistency in our line up it's been changing constantly.
We wasn't awful just took longer than we would have liked to break them down
Good time to play them as they are away to Ajax (improved but nowhere near good anymore) on Thursday, so play us 3 days later.
I thought we were much the better side when they came to The Lane and should have been at least 2 up in the first 10 mins despite the result. The only time we looked shit was dealing with high balls into the box (Davies & Emmerson were our CB's) and we did fade quite alarmingly in the last 10mins. So, we were without Romero & VdV at the back, without Sarr, Bissuma & Madders in midfield, we lost Bentancur after 30mins too. Our bench after we subbed PEH for Bentancur was Dier, Dorrington, Skipp, Veliz and Donley (whilst I want to see Sonny as our striker I also would welcome Richy as an option off the bench).
Make no mistake Villa are a good side and has a couple of players who can cause us some trouble like Bailey (who was on the bench for the first half when they came to the Lane) and Watkins (I like McGinn and Douglas Luiz too), their 'keepers handy too and was their MoTM.
They, the whole Club (fans and team) will see this as a massive game and we will have to deal with that aspect too, remember when we started to compete for 4th and 6 pointers like this made for some epic atmospheres.
But hopefully, they will be playing with tired legs and maybe the players will be fatigued from hearing 2 multi-hour pre-match lectures in a week leading up to the game that fries their brains.
We absolutely have the players to unpick their high line, which I think is the best drilled in the league especially as they don't rely on pace to mop up the ball played behind. I think Biss could be key, he's clearly a confidence player and is making some small improvements (I thought he played well vs Palace), if he can get to the levels of confidence where he picks up the ball on the half-turn when we play out from the back (as he did at the beginning of the season) then Ange-Ball gets ignited again.
I thought we were much the better side when they came to The Lane and should have been at least 2 up in the first 10 mins despite the result. The only time we looked shit was dealing with high balls into the box (Davies & Emmerson were our CB's) and we did fade quite alarmingly in the last 10mins. So, we were without Romero & VdV at the back, without Sarr, Bissuma & Madders in midfield, we lost Bentancur after 30mins too. Our bench after we subbed PEH for Bentancur was Dier, Dorrington, Skipp, Veliz and Donley (whilst I want to see Sonny as our striker I also would welcome Richy as an option off the bench).
Make no mistake Villa are a good side and has a couple of players who can cause us some trouble like Bailey (who was on the bench for the first half when they came to the Lane) and Watkins (I like McGinn and Douglas Luiz too), their 'keepers handy too and was their MoTM.
They, the whole Club (fans and team) will see this as a massive game and we will have to deal with that aspect too, remember when we started to compete for 4th and 6 pointers like this made for some epic atmospheres.
But hopefully, they will be playing with tired legs and maybe the players will be fatigued from hearing 2 multi-hour pre-match lectures in a week leading up to the game that fries their brains.
We absolutely have the players to unpick their high line, which I think is the best drilled in the league especially as they don't rely on pace to mop up the ball played behind. I think Biss could be key, he's clearly a confidence player and is making some small improvements (I thought he played well vs Palace), if he can get to the levels of confidence where he picks up the ball on the half-turn when we play out from the back (as he did at the beginning of the season) then Ange-Ball gets ignited again.
Yeah I've always liked him too. Good player
Yeah it is just a shame we arent playing them at home. I would be confident of beating them had that been the case.
I didn't see their game last week vs Luton (where most teams that have gone there have had to work very hard for a win), were they struggling when they got pulled back to 2-2? Or were they Mourinho'd or Moyes'd?
Was checking on BBC on the train back home, it looked like Villa were hanging on at 2-2
"Luton the most likely to score" etc
I don't think they've been anywhere near as good in 2024 as they were earlier in the season, drew 1-1 vs Sheffield Utd, lost to Utd twice, last min penalty to beat Burnley at home (conceded 2), 0-0 vs Everton (but I think they are tough to beat), lost to Newcastle, fairly even game against Fulham if I remember but won. Can't profess to have a good handle on them now as most of their games I have watched recently have been only the highlights but just get the feeling they are there to be beaten if we turn up.
Biggest game of the year for us? Away game. Good shot at seeing what we’re made of!
This is an absolute MUST WIN!
It's the biggest MUST WIN game since . . . er . . . last week, and until . . . er . . . next week.
It's the biggest MUST WIN game since . . . er . . . last week, and until . . . er . . . next week.
The rest of this week is going to drag like hell. So damn stoked and fired up for this game!
We mostly dropped these kind of games in the past years....
If we win this we are going to CL if we lose ... Europa....
Lets see if Ange and Sonny can change the damn cursed culture of this club..
We are a long way ahead of where I thought we would be at the beginning of the season.
Genuinely don’t see anything wrong with the mentality of this group of players, regardless of result they’ve not stopped running. In terms of performance I can think of only 3 or 4 games this season where we were outplayed (Brighton 4-2, Wolves 2-1 FA Cup vs City both games vs Everton we struggled but didn’t lose to them).
We’ve qualified for CL 5 out of the last 8yrs so I don’t think that’s cursed culture at all. Prior to 15/16 we had qualified for it just once in our entire history (should have been twice when we finished 4th when Chavs fluked it), and once back in ‘61 when it was European Cup.
It appears the better and more consistent we have become the greater the expectation. I saw this year as a massive foundation year, whilst I was hugely encouraged by Ange’s appointment I didn’t know how his game/ability would translate. I am amazed we have a very realistic chance of finishing 4th and qualifying for CL again.
I watched..... AV hit Luton with a brace by 38 mins but after that, save for the 89th minute winner Luton were the better team and could have easily made it 3-2 before the late death-blow.
Not entirely unlike their game v Forest the week before when they went in at HT comfortable only to let NF right back in the game and could have easily gone 3-2 down before they eventually turned the tide back for the win.
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Hopefully Porro back and we have our full strength defence. Then its a question of Sarr or Bents to start in the middle, with either Johnson or Kulu on the left. Personally hope its Sarr and Johnson, think there will be a bit more room for Johnson in this game, with Villa at home and pressing us.
Until we hear press conferences, this is the lineup I'm hoping for:
1
Vicario2
Porro3
Romero4
VDV5
Udogie6
Bissouma7
Bentancur8
Maddison9
Deki10
Son11
Wernerlineup code
[lineup] Vicario Porro Romero VDV Udogie Bissouma Bentancur Maddison Deki Son Werner [/lineup]
I love Sarr but he's carrying a back injury and he's young. No need to force it. I'm also expecting Bentancur to cause them as many problems as he did last time, especially with Maddison there this time that they need to focus on.
Johnson deserves a start but the super sub role suits him and us. Everyone else picks themselves.
Aston Villa play on Thursday and will have less than 72 hours to recover.
It's in our hands. They are decent but they're not brilliant .
We need to go for them,t to be resilient, to take our chances and to defend well.
No excuses can be given and none can be accepted.
It's in our hands. They are decent but they're not brilliant .
We need to go for them,t to be resilient, to take our chances and to defend well.
No excuses can be given and none can be accepted.
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