Aston Villa (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[Moss Side's Finest]

They weren't lucky though.

A proper team would have put 3 or 4 past us tonight, maybe even more. They're not a proper team, though they played well for their standards

 

[levets]

There’s no chance of that happening

Some people may think this competition is shite but the club probably think becoming champions of the world in Saudi is absolutely huge

Of course they do. So do I, because we may never get the chance again.

 

[Matt Diablo]

Not a conspiracy. He was booked for kicking a ball away.

He would have known that would get him booked.

Was a thick as shit yellow

 

[argyle]

Lol. I see right through your game!

You see nothing.

 

[skillman]

Struggling to comprehend that tonight. I’m not even pissed off, it was just numbingly shit.

Players not running, losing the ball then walking back, arms being thrown about, shit body language, panicking on the ball, no forward movement, no evident game plan, nothing. Passing the ball around the back and wait to either be dispossessed or play a hopeful long pass for it to inevitably be cut out.

Players out of position, Gvardiol isn’t a left back while you have Akanji bottling out of 50/50s in midfield. Gvardiol‘s main strength is his ability to pick a pass yet he’s shoved out wide limited to cul-de-sac passes down the line. Fuck Akanji off out the midfield role, out Gvardiol there and we won’t turnover cheap possession every 5 minutes.

Every time we were defending too it was panic stations, our treble win was built of being comfortable at the back and allowing teams onto us. Stones was doing cryuff turns in his box in the Champions League fucking final 6 months ago now we have Akanji battering rebounds out to the edge of the box so Ederson has another shot to save.

Walker seems to gone into poser mode too, rather than actually defending and circulating the ball he’s standing 5 yards players to show his speed off or he’s doing dreadful 6-point turns with the ball in stupid areas. He needs to get back to the basics of his strengths. Nothing intricate.

We should be shooting on sight too, we’ve got the deadliest striker in world football up front collecting dust and feeding off scraps. Have a shot, let him follow in and get a rebound. Or play the ball to him when he makes a run. Must be so frustrating for him to play without anybody behind him willing to take risks on the ball.

Alvarez is being shoehorned into the team and we’re forsaking control by doing it. Start of the season? Fine. He was delivering. Now he’s a passenger in most games and the benefits of his role are far from outweighing the negatives. He needs to be left out and fucking asap.

Foden had a stormer playing centrally against Newcastle early in the season and hasn’t been played there since. He has the right to be pissed off IMO. Same with Haaland. They have an understanding up there but it’s not being unleashed. KDB being out should’ve seen Foden stepping up but Pep isn’t letting him and is instead sticking with Alvarez. Why? On the off chance we get a free kick in a dangerous area? Do me a favour.

And this isn’t a spoilt post - by no means is it - it’s that we have a team out there with Haaland (best forward in the world), Foden (fabulous player), Walker (best right back in the world), Gvardiol (second most expensive defender in history) to name a few and none of them are being asked to play to their strengths.

It’s just poor. All these players but without two - Rodri and Kev - they’re rabbits in headlights. Baffling really.

Then you have Pep making more negative comments about fan performance than his own team - who have no league win in 4 games. He needs to look closer to home and sort it out rather than asking for a few extra decibels inside the ground. Pissing me right off. He did it last season too after the Spurs game, making digs about money-paying fans rather than igniting a fire in the players.

A poor window from Txiki too. I like Nunes but he was about fifth choice and so obviously a panic buy which is something we’ve avoided in recent times and benefited from it. Doku was a good buy. Gvardiol too. Kovacic is solid. But letting Gundo go (who has admitted he lost patience waiting for a new offer!) was a mistake in itself but to replace him with nothing was criminal. He was captain! You’re not just replacing a footballer but a mentality too. Should’ve been told to name his price and we should’ve bowed down to the fucker to make him stay.

Ederson the only player who can come out of tonight with any credit. Been fantastic all season amongst a sea of relative, panicky shite in front of him.

Onwards and upwards.

 

[Semper aggressus]

Need to find a midfielder or two that are better than Nunes and Kovacic.

 

[Bluefen]

In this current system we are frequently asking Akanji and Diaz to be the first creative out ball - that is simply not in their locker

I’m not convinced that we are accommodating Kyle walker who whilst defensively is quick and strong is extremely limited

Finally Alverez, Foden simply give too many balls away in a system that is setup to try and control possession and is fundamentally exposed to a counter-attack

None of this is criticisms of the players above but at the moment there are far too many square pegs in round holes

 

[argyle]

Absolute fucking nonsense

3 years been here and not played at Villa.

He knew he was on 4 yellows and still kicked the ball away for a yellow.

 

[Eccles Blue]

I think now is the toughest challenge that ever faced Pep at City. Hope he finds a way.

In Pep I trust. :-)

 

[Tolmie scores]

We really haven’t played well all season and the result was not a surprise…..no control mainly to do with playing two up top….and we have far less technical players than a couple of seasons ago which shows because we no longer dominate possession like we have always done in the past.

Today there was hardly any press and with the amount of tackles we lost we did not deserve anything from the game…..really no excuse for this and the main culprits were Alvarez, Akanji (who although brilliant last season now seems to think he is the new Franz Beckenbaeur), Walker and Foden who is starting to show shades of Rashford I’m afraid !…..he’s no longer a youngster and is no better now than 2 years ago…he’s approaching the age that Silva and Aguero were when they first signed for City.

We have had three great seasons but I’m afraid the team requires a rebuild….easy with hindsight but Nunes and Kovacic are a downgrade on what we let go……..and we definitely dropped a ricket with Palmer.

In Pep we trust….but it doesn’t mean he gets everything right and although Grealish Rodri and 33 year old De Bruyne would have definitely improved the team tonight….its going to take some turnaround to make the current squad anything near title challengers.

He didn't like Palmer it seemed ..always a bit cold. Pep is the best ever but can come across as a bit stubborn...Palmer being let go so easily is one..ok he wants to play but you do your best to re assure him, especially when he would have made the squad better for a year