Aston Villa (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[JTFactsPlz]

[Snip] And Foden, I have no clue what is Pep doing with him, but nothing good is coming out of it. That LW position and how Pep is playing it, it is just destroying players, Raheem, Grealish and now Phil. Oleks is gone, but when we had him as a pivot on the line on the left side, helped us a lot, particularly in this kind of the games.

THIS.

 

[sir baconface]

Any sensible City fan should factor in a few matches each season where we expect to win but don't. It's the nature of the beast and it happensto every title hopeful.

True. Fortunately, our slips are generally against sides who aren’t competing for the title. That makes them less costly when the points are all added up.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Watching foden constantly pass backwards was beyond frustrating, Ashley Young had him on toast, can’t remember a good game from foden it’s been that long.
Walker can not pass so why is he been asked to, how can the management collectively think gundogan has 90 mins in his legs. Strange decisions today.

Foden has not been near his best this season , hes had four years of exceptional form and like most young players he is bound to have a rough spell , he still does a lot of good things in games but he has set a very high bar he is making poor decisions at the moment which is unusual for him.
Fully expect him to be back to his best maybe ater a good world cup with England in the mean time we have a few players who can step up , wouldnt mind Palmer being given some games he is showing great potential when he gets his chance.

 

[dickie davies]

Disappointing performance, not often we go ahead and end up dropping points.

Played six
gone ahead in five
Dropped points in two
A 40% record is "often"

 

[Stoned Rose]

We were poor. Walker not crossing to Haaland seemed to be the catalyst for the rest of the first half, just like Rodri being easily dispossessed in the 2nd - which appeared to spoil our rhythm.

Overall it's one to forget barring another great goal from Haaland.

That was very 1st season Rodri and needs to stop asap.

 

[Phil1]

Punishing him for scoring twice and playing well against Forest

Dickhead.

 

[Stoned Rose]

It was a very frustrating game, one we could see coming but at least we're unbeaten.

One thing I can never understand with us under Pep is that we rarely have 1 player who has a bad game, it's the whole team. It's as if the players just don't understand what they've been told to do. Surely the pre match talk should've been "play like you did against forest. Don't worry about the opposition".

The first half was poor and although we had the ball we didn't look like we'd win. I always felt we would be suckered with the usual "1 shot 1 goal". Pep HAS to figure this out as it's our only weak spot but we're as open to it now as we were 5 years ago.

Haaland showed brilliant anticipation to score and the move that led.up to it was superb. The cross from KdB was world class.

As for their goal, it was another example of the left back just not being aware of who is around him. Cancelo might be a good attacker but he is a useless defender - he doesn't bother defending to be honest and again better teams in Europe will exploit that. It's not like Villa pushed loads of players forward so why not just look who's around and close the space?

Strangely I think it might help the balance of the team with Walker getting a knock. He's a great defender and would be one of the first names on my teamsheet but if he is playing in midfield he's no Cancelo. Maybe we will move Cancelo to right back, Gomes to left and maybe bring in Phillips if he is fit to help shield the defence.

Overall a frustrating game but one I've seen plenty of times. These results give every team in the league hope and belief that a couple of fast counter attackers will cause us problems. Pep needs to understand that being vulnerable to the counter is THE single obstacle to us winning everything.

Overall one to forget.

Quality post.

 

[ancoats]

Right after the villa game, I sat thinking GOALS ? Where are the goals other than Haaland coming from this season
Sterling, Jesus, 20 plus goals a season between them could be a very big miss this season, also, are we trying too hard to find Haaland and should alvarez stay in the team,

yes, it's early doors and still unbeaten, but take Haaland goals away, and it could be a different story,

 

[blueparrot]

Played six
gone ahead in five
Dropped points in two
A 40% record is "often"

If you select a small sample size I suppose, used to be when we lost we had long threads of reactionary bollocks now even dropping 2 points away we get it. Unless we win score a handful and didn’t concede then we are shit , no account of the opposition carrying out a plan well, to be taken into consideration.

 

[Bluearmy]

Grealish hasn't flourished there either because neither Jack nor Phil are natural wide wingers and making that use of them doesn't enable either of them to shine. They're both more effective playing more centrally and with more freedom, but clearly Pep wants that wide LW job done by someone in many matches and one or the other of them gets lumbered with it. That Phil is now getting criticised for exactly the same things Jack was criticised for last season (playing too safe, passing back) surely implies when they're playing like this it's as instructed. Stick either of them more centrally and you see a different player. If people don't like how they're used when Pep sticks them on the touchline, maybe criticise Pep, not the players following their coach's orders.

Yeah, kina agree with all that. They’re the best option we probably have right now. Albeit it’s not either of their best position

 

[Tolmie scores]

Villa didnt deserve a point they created f*ck all and set out to get a draw with Slippy's ten behind the ball tactics , we were rubbish in comparison to some of our football this season ,but we still did more than enough to win today , the cheer from the Villa fans at the end spoke volumes , are they expecting a trophy for avoiding defeat ? , small time club with small time mentality manager and supporters , they belong in the Championship.

Mate when we were struggling in the bottom three and got an unexpected point from a top side at Maine Road i cheered to the rafters. Lets not forget where we have been

 

[Benarbia’s Backheel]

I’m probably wrong in saying this, but to me Pep seems way more likely to change things and bring subs on when things are going well, than when they’re going badly.

If we’re going to play this system of bringing both fullbacks into midfield, then Walker needs to be taken out of the firing line. He should play when we use a flat back four, but his ball work is just not up to the standard of a midfielder. I would personally try Phillips there when he’s fit. Alternatively Akanji, or even play Cancelo on the right side and Gomez on the left.

It’s just little tweaks that are needed as it was really just a bad day at the office. Shit happens

 

[Sir peace frog]

Well well well we as fans have become united fans ,entitled wankers bluemoon has been going downhill steadily for a while,the amount of wums that are allowed to post, it's more quantity over quality,on bluemoon these days i suppose we were always going to attract the glory hunters and this place is full of them ,a draw away has every fucker calling every player shite and the usual wankers saying pep doesn't have a clue ,fucking shocking

 

[Tolmie scores]

If you select a small sample size I suppose, used to be when we lost we had long threads of reactionary bollocks now even dropping 2 points away we get it. Unless we win score a handful and didn’t concede then we are shit , no account of the opposition carrying out a plan well, to be taken into consideration.

Its ridiculous, an away point should be considered a fair point. Play really well then you hope and possibly deserve all tgree. Yesterday a point each was fair..its a football match not a processikn for superstars

 

[herrock]

That was the type of that we bought Phillips for, we need him fit soon .

 

[Tolmie scores]

Frustrating game to watch, partly due to sloppy passing in the first half but mainly due to the ref giving free reign to Villa, Martinez in particula, to waste huge amounts of time as well as nicking 10 - 15 from throw ins and free kicks. How the fuck only six minutes of injury time was played all game is beyond me. Five subs, two goals (it was around 90 seconds to restart after they scored) an injury to Cash which was three and half minutes alone plus the fake injury to Martinez. i reckon Martinez alone wasted around seven or eight minutes in just the second half. Weak ref who let them get away will all sorts. Sooner the game has two half’s of 35 minutes each with independent time keepers as they do in rugby the better and if a game takes two hours to finish then so be it. Pissed off with teams taking the puss and refs doing fuck all.

Would we have scored with another 5 mins on the clock....a few of us roubd me in the upper tier were kinda hoping for the whistle...and an away point. They looked like they could score aswell!

 

[Citizen in Pakistan]

Well well well we as fans have become united fans ,entitled wankers bluemoon has been going downhill steadily for a while,the amount of wums that are allowed to post, it's more quantity over quality,on bluemoon these days i suppose we were always going to attract the glory hunters and this place is full of them ,a draw away has every fucker calling every player shite and the usual wankers saying pep doesn't have a clue ,fucking shocking

Bluemoon is a democracy and everyone is allowed to have a opinion regardless of its quality

 

[Phil1]

Right after the villa game, I sat thinking GOALS ? Where are the goals other than Haaland coming from this season
Sterling, Jesus, 20 plus goals a season between them could be a very big miss this season, also, are we trying too hard to find Haaland and should alvarez stay in the team,

yes, it's early doors and still unbeaten, but take Haaland goals away, and it could be a different story,

It wouldn’t be a different story though because if you took Haaland away we would adapt like we’ve always done and still find ways to score like we’ve always done.

The overreaction to this game is odd.
Bear in mind this is Peps best start to a season with us so far.

 

[Phil1]

Bluemoon is a democracy and everyone is allowed to have a opinion regardless of its quality

Great stuff. Fortunately as a democracy we can call out the shit posts and let people know when they are talking fucking shite - which is quite often nowadays.

 

[Tolmie scores]

Yeah, kina agree with all that. They’re the best option we probably have right now. Albeit it’s not either of their best position

Pep's sysrem needs one touch only in central positions. Risky ball carrying centrally. As you have your full backs often level with play. Bombing on..lose the ball centrally you are fked. Messi is a freak of a player and rightly the exception to the rule