Aston Villa (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

colorado blue said:
We’re a one man team and awful without Rodri. I can’t believe Philips would have been any worse than that today. We let Villa overrun us and they won every dual. They were lucky with the goal but not the win. Two decent efforts on goal and none in second half. Shocking.
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PEP SAID BEFORE THE GAME THAT PHILLIPS W AS TRAINING WELL, BUT STILL CANT GET A GAME, PISS POOR PEP.
 
Painful as it was I re-watched the game this morning. Interesting that Pep made a few tweaks at the start of the second - mainly dropping John to play alongside Ruben and for 15 mins we looked more solid at the back. Ruben looked more like his old self - then we reverted back to John having to dive into the space in midfield, Akanji moving to completely the wrong position and Rico caught in a space too high up without pressing anyone and we lost all balance and they basically ran us ragged, eventually getting the winner.

I hope they see that on the analysis today and think we need to return to having the same back four we had during the last third of last season. One thing is clear though without Kev, Rodri, Jack we have a very ordinary midfield that is easy to bypass and press. Shape and balance in the midfield is our key and having the extra body being able to move easily into the middle either from fullback or centre has been our ace for the last few years.

Oh and I truly believe we would benefit from Kyle being rested for a short spell- he looked lost last night and when they got on top looked like a rabbit in the headlights.
 
Gordyola said:
How he didn’t get booked for the assault on Stones I’ll never know ridiculous
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I know …. As do most Blues, we are reffed completely differently to all other teams…!!
That foul on any other team player and it’s a yellow all day long…! It fuckin sucks but it ain’t gonna change anytime soon..
 
Churchlawtonblue said:
So the wrong signing then.
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Not necessarily. Many other players have taken time to settle in under Pep. The benefit they had though was that with players like KDB, Gundo, Silva, Rodri all present and in good form, they could be eased in. The issue now is that we either don't have those players, or they're injured or not in great form. Putting players on occasions like yesterday and expecting them to change games isn't realistic
 
We may be making a rod (no pun intended) for our own back with midfield signings. We are saying to players in their prime ' come to us and let your season stall for a year or two and we'll see if you fit'. I know quite rightly Txiki is lauded for his recruitment but there is a disconnect between what Pep thinks he needs and what Txiki is signing. Kalvin, Nunes and Kova are all really good players - leave them where they are if they aren't a fit. Then you have players who go past their sell buy date with us, early lime Marez, Laporte, Raz etc.
I would think other players should start to consider this before they sign for us.
 
22 shots against 2 in favour of Villa

Depsite everything that's already been said, about tiredness, the treble, our form

That stat above is actually embarrassing

No matter how bad we are, we shouldn't never have our opponents hit 11 TIMES the amount of shots we had
 
csnewton said:
Outfought, outplayed in every aspect. Most of the team looked knackered and they pressed so high. I can’t remember a game under Pep where we’ve made so many individual errors. Fair play to Villa because they put us under so much pressure and forced the mistakes
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1st half against Leipzig comes to mind
 
Hats of to Villa. I looked at their team sheet beforehand and was concerned. They have quality in every position and McGinn is so
Underrated . They brought their A game and with us being out of sorts and missing players it was no surprise.
I’m still quite relaxed, let’s see where we are after 25 games. Just need to get back to winning ways starting with Luton and start to get some momentum. I trust Pep but I do think we’re very light weight regarding our squad size. We need KDB back and firing and with a little luck no adverse reaction from his operation.
Phil looked shattered last night, over reliance on him at the moment. Dias had a solid game . Lewis got overran last night which is going to happen whilst learning his trade in this team. Gvardial has not impressed me so far , I know he’s young and we need to give him time but he looks cumbersome and error prone in that left back position . Alvarez form and confidence has dropped and clearly not a midfielder.
We need to get some balance again and I’m sure we’ll be fine . We need to gain some perspective and realise there’s always going to be a dip after what we’ve done. Could be a step too far for the league this year but we know Pep and City won’t go down without a fight .
 
Couple of points on the game last night - We WEREN'T shit, and Villa are a VERY good side under Emery.

Their style of play (very compact out of possession, and quick to press) forced errors, and we struggled to deal with it. I thought we actually defended well at times. Had it not been for the deflection I think Ederson had that shot covered.

Referee was okay last night, although I though a couple of Villa players could have/should have been booked.
 
Pezzer2 said:
Hats of to Villa. I looked at their team sheet beforehand and was concerned. They have quality in every position and McGinn is so
Underrated . They brought their A game and with us being out of sorts and missing players it was no surprise.
I’m still quite relaxed, let’s see where we are after 25 games. Just need to get back to winning ways starting with Luton and start to get some momentum. I trust Pep but I do think we’re very light weight regarding our squad size. We need KDB back and firing and with a little luck no adverse reaction from his operation.
Phil looked shattered last night, over reliance on him at the moment. Dias had a solid game . Lewis got overran last night which is going to happen whilst learning his trade in this team. Gvardial has not impressed me so far , I know he’s young and we need to give him time but he looks cumbersome and error prone in that left back position . Alvarez form and confidence has dropped and clearly not a midfielder.
We need to get some balance again and I’m sure we’ll be fine . We need to gain some perspective and realise there’s always going to be a dip after what we’ve done. Could be a step too far for the league this year but we know Pep and City won’t go down without a fight .
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Just from the other side of the glass, I agree with a lot of this. I believe football is often about timing & everything was in place for us last night. City without Rodri is a different proposition and him alone would have probably changed the dynamics of the game last night - he is that good.

But we were brilliant, it sounds a bit extreme but I'm genuinely not sure the last time I have seen a Villa team play that well. Maybe even in my lifetime. I know watching City you've seen some ridiculous heights of late (and it's often been a pleasure to watch as a neutral), but I couldn't have envisaged seeing a Villa team play at that sort of level. There is no point getting too giddy, we will inevitably drop off and there is a long way to go, but I'm not sure there is a more difficult away game right at this minute.

I don't see any great panic at city, I'm convinced they'll still be title contenders (if not winners) once the squad settles again and Pep finds a way again (he always does). Let's be honest, you should have been 5 up v half time against Spurs & Liverpool hung on 2nd half. Last night was different, but like I said a few things fell into place for that to happen.
 
hoped I wake up and this turns into just a bad dream.

Villa really ripped us apart last night. not sure how we prepared tactically for this game.

not killing off quite few games followed up by this, the rot needs to stop asap.
 
b6_brum said:
Just from the other side of the glass, I agree with a lot of this. I believe football is often about timing & everything was in place for us last night. City without Rodri is a different proposition and him alone would have probably changed the dynamics of the game last night - he is that good.

But we were brilliant, it sounds a bit extreme but I'm genuinely not sure the last time I have seen a Villa team play that well. Maybe even in my lifetime. I know watching City you've seen some ridiculous heights of late (and it's often been a pleasure to watch as a neutral), but I couldn't have envisaged seeing a Villa team play at that sort of level. There is no point getting too giddy, we will inevitably drop off and there is a long way to go, but I'm not sure there is a more difficult away game right at this minute.

I don't see any great panic at city, I'm convinced they'll still be title contenders (if not winners) once the squad settles again and Pep finds a way again (he always does). Let's be honest, you should have been 5 up v half time against Spurs & Liverpool hung on 2nd half. Last night was different, but like I said a few things fell into place for that to happen.
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Just hope you play as well on Saturday then, no point taking the scalp of us then blowing it v them tossers Saturday
 
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