Aston Villa (A) | Pre-Match Thread

Result Prediction

  • Total voters
    452
Status
Not open for further replies.
We need some perspective going into this game , Villa are mid table team who play open football and will suit our game , we lost against Leeds and Chelski with a virtual second team , resting half a dozen of our goto players. The game we were desperate to win Dortmund we played our strongest team and won, we are not out of form Pep is tinkering , he knows his best team and formation and it will return for this game.
Any way the inbreds will beat the Rags tomorrow , so worry not :)
 
chesterbells said:
Yep, 100%.
If some supporters would rather prioritise a League Cup final (which we have won plenty recently) over a Champions League semi final, then yep, we are agreed on that, there really is no point in us discussing it, cos I can’t see either of us changing each other’s view.
Click to expand...
Agreed on that
 
My, the bedwetters are really out in force tonight. All too predictable.

I feared the worst when I saw the team for today. The balance wasn’t right and it showed. I don’t think City have the resources to fight on four fronts. No one has!

This might explain why it has never been done before. This season is a particular challenge given the compressed nature of the fixture list.

Maybe Pep realised this and selected a team that would possibly be eliminated?

The focus is now on the Villa match which will go a long way to settling the PL title and winning the League Cup.

The next three matches are critical. Strongish team against Villa and Spurs, strongest team against PSG.
 
MAG said:
View attachment 14405




Premier League Stats

We have a pretty decent record against them in the Premier League era; even going back to pre-takeover days. Since their latest return to the top flight and while Pep has been at the helm, we have totally dominated them. The Head-to-Head record between the two sides shows us winning 25 (and drawing 9) of the total 41 times that we have faced them. The Recent Meetings shows five wins out of the last five for us (and sixth being a draw) in the league.

​


Aston Villa have somewhat lost their way half-way through the season. The current Form Guide shows them winning just one of their last five in the league which is very different than where they were in the first half of this season. Despite the downturn in form, the Season So Far stats still put them in good stead which only reaffirms how good they were early on.

​



Before & After

I remember writing this exact line in quite a few Pre-Match Threads lately that if you look at when the opposition last kicked a ball, we have gone on and played two more games since ... and it's true again this time. When they last played was a very long time ago and it'd be eleven days between their last kick off and this game.


Here are their before and after games:

Aston Villa
Sat 10 - 3:00pm - Liverpool (A) - PL
Wed 21 - 8:15pm - Manchester City (H) - PL
Sun 25 - 7:00pm - West Brom (H) - PL


Our two games since the last league game were just a small matter of a Quarter Final of the Champions League and the Semi Final of the FA Cup. These are our before and after games; but I am going to deliberately put two games on either side for us:

Manchester City
Wed 14 - 8:00pm - Dortmund (A) - CL QF
Sat 17 - 5:30pm - Chelsea (N) - FAC SF
Wed 21 - 8:15pm - Aston Villa (A) - PL
Sun 25 - 4:30pm - Spurs (N) - EFL Cup Final
Wed 28 - 8:00pm - PSG (A) - CL SF
​



Pre-Match Thoughts

Before you read any further ... please just scroll back a little to the last section and have a good look once again at those before and after games for us ...

Now if you are one of those flappers (and there are many on here) who have been "worrying" about the league since that Leeds loss decreased our lead at the top from 14 points to a "mere" 11 ... then please skip the rest of this post because it isn't for the faint-hearted.

If that 14 points gap going down to 11 sent you shivers with only 6 games to go (7 for the team occupying the second place) then that going further down to 8 points is probably going to cause you a heart-attack ... That is exactly what I think of this game ... in my very humble opinion, we can absolutely afford to lose this game as well, just like I said for the Leeds game and Pep was right in resting all the key and in-form players then and that Dortmund win proved it. I'm drafting this before the Chelsea game today so can't say if Pep plays the same/similar team that faced Dortmund or puts his faith in those who started against Leeds and gives them a chance to redeem themselves and make way into the first choice XI for the bigger games ahead.

Suggesting though that we rest our key players against Villa is not saying I don't want us to win this game ... I am simply saying that any result in this game will not derail us winning the Premier League. And there is no chance whatsoever that any players who started last two games for us (Dotrmund and Chelsea) will start this one as well ... not because they're tired of having played those two but because of the two that lie ahead ...

Those still considering this to be more important than the cup games around and interested in finding out how we'd match up against Villa would be right in thinking we've had a hold over them from that Recent Meetings record above. It's not just those last five in the league that we've won against them but if you go further back, we are actually undefeated in last ten against them (in all competitions) and nine of those are wins for us ... with just a single draw, which too was almost six years ago.

​


Villa was absolutely flying in the first half of the season and I won't give up on a chance to remind every one of the 7-2 hiding they dished out the "Champions" that included Van Dijk in their backline. They were right up there challenging for the European places till their long enforced break at the start of this year due to COVID broke their rhythm. Since their return from that their form has been very patchy, in fact poor, and no co-incidence that it has also coincided with the absence of Jack Grealish due to injury.

Going back to the importance of this game in the larger scheme of things ... in the build up to that Leeds game I wrote something to the effect that yes, we haven't yet won the title (mathematically) but we well and truly in control while the opposition is on that proverbial beach as far as the table is concerned (neither threatened with relegation, nor fighting to qualify for Europe) ... and all that is still valid for this game as well. Add to it the Cup Final ahead of this one and the first leg of the Champions League Semi Final and this game too has a very meaningless game feel to it.

Just everything has aligned yet again for ​
Ric said:
Strongest side possible for me. Assuming De Bruyne isn’t available:

Ederson
Walker
Stones
Dias
Zinchenko
Rodri
Gundogan
Bernardo
Foden
Mahrez
Jesus
Click to expand...

. so let's get this done and bring on the Spurs at Wembley ... and the Champions League Semi Finals. League can kind of wait till after that!
​



Match Prediction

I still think we'll win though ...

Aston Villa 0 - 2 Manchester City
​



Quick Post-Match (FA Cup Semi Final) Thoughts

Well that's the team that should have played against Villa, the one that just started today, minus KDB and Steffen ... EIGHT changes and playing Sterling, Torres and Mendy in a Semi Final? Especially after their shit show against Leeds earlier ... and a change of formation ... then that was expected right from the off. Absolutely gutted at dropping the chance of the Quadruple which I genuinely believed was very much on. And I maintain this game today was far more important than Villa (A). Pep got that wrong today I think, maybe to keep these fringe players happy ... but what's the point. That's one trophy gone ... Champions League is a hard one to win and that'd leave us with what a League and League Cup double? And if he plays a strong team against Villa and plays these fringe players again next weekend against Spurs then probably that Quad is going down to just One ... the one that we won long ago!
​
Click to expand...
So we lose this and you wouldn't be concerned?
I think your post is arrogant and quite frankly any Villa player looking at it will pick up a huge amount of confidence from it. Youve just given them them their pre match pep talk.
ballinio said:
Agreed, win v Villa & the league cup & i’m Happy ....I fear he’ll play a very weakened team v Spurs though
Click to expand...
The boys have 4 nights rest until Wednesday and 4 nights rest until Spurs . Full strength v Villa a must. Expect a reaction.

Then we can start talking about Spurs.
 
chesterbells said:
Yep, 100%.
If some supporters would rather prioritise a League Cup final (which we have won plenty recently) over a Champions League semi final, then yep, we are agreed on that, there really is no point in us discussing it, cos I can’t see either of us changing each other’s view.
Click to expand...

I agree with you , go strong in the league and CL , it's nice winning the league cup but it is essentially the 4th biggest trophy.
 
chesterbells said:
Yep, 100%.
If some supporters would rather prioritise a League Cup final (which we have won plenty recently) over a Champions League semi final, then yep, we are agreed on that, there really is no point in us discussing it, cos I can’t see either of us changing each other’s view.
Click to expand...
Under normal circumstances I’d rather prioritise the CL, whether there are guarantees or not. But....like many... I hate Spurs and Mourinho. Shove that Ricky Villa goal up their jacksie.
 
If Pep makes wholesale changes in this one as well, we are going to put ourselves under some serious pressure in the league, particularly as we will still have to face Chelsea again, a team who will have everything to play for. Can’t afford any more complacency
 
BamberBridgeBlue said:
Under normal circumstances I’d rather prioritise the CL, whether there are guarantees or not. But....like many... I hate Spurs and Mourinho. Shove that Ricky Villa goal up their jacksie.
Click to expand...
I agree in as much that I despise spurs 100x more than Chelsea, and I can still remember how I felt in 81 like it was yesterday, so I would be gutted to lose to them, er next weekend. And yep, we might throw our eggs in the CL basket and still not win it, or even make the final, but I just want us to fully commit to the tournament now we are at the semi final stage. No regrets and all that.
 
JGL07 said:
My, the bedwetters are really out in force tonight. All too predictable.

The next three matches are critical. Strongish team against Villa and Spurs, strongest team against PSG.
Click to expand...
Don't agree.
Strongest team against Villa and strongest team against PSG.
The league Cup we will have to play our weakest side now.
Stefan,Cancelo,Laporte,Ake,Mendy,Fern,Doyle,Garcia,Torres,Aguero,Delap.
 
Last edited:
balotellishaircut said:
Not bothered about performance just win, some on here we’re flippantly saying we can afford to lose to both Villa n Leeds last wk and still win the league, technically there right, but confidence and momentum play a huge part at the end of the season.
Click to expand...
Indeed, lost two out of our last three now which is not want you want at the business end of the season.
 
Best team available simple as. No more 7/8 player rotations. Make a few changes for the cup and then strong again PSG
 
After the Leeds defeat I think we always had to play our strongest team v Villa.
The question then was what to do today. Strong team win and then rest everyone v Spuds. The problem was that would be 3 games in 7 days for our best XI. So resting players today was obvious.

I think we will rest players in the Carabao so its a chance for those who underperformed today to redeem themselves.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top