Aston Villa (A) - Sat 21st Dec, 12:30 | PL | Pre-Match Thread

[Damocles]

Well with Dias out, Pep has got the excuse to play both Lewis and Walker again, Gundo probably in midfield again too, good luck boys.

 

[Blu1]

How about we play our defenders in defence rather than in the opponents half,worth a try?

100% imagine how many goals we would not of conceded if we did

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Días out? Our single most dependable defender — sorry, our only dependable defender — out?
This is the Book of Job, football style!
So ok, Stones maybe rushed back, Akanji maybe rushed back. Gvardiol starting to make terrible mistakes, the likes of which he hadn't been making. Ederson too. In any case he's apparently out, so that simplifies things. Unless Ortega trips over a rug getting up tomorrow and smacks his head on the angle of a table. Then we're into Carson. Apparently, he's good in the dressing room, reputedly, so that's one thing. Aké apparently not an option.

Sorry, guys, strap in. It's going to get worse before it gets better. Grin and bear it. Washout season. It will get better. Just not tomorrow.

 

[Bluekiwi]

Días out? Our single most dependable defender — sorry, our only dependable defender — out?
This is the Book of Job, football style!
So ok, Stones maybe rushed back, Akanji maybe rushed back. Gvardiol starting to make terrible mistakes, the likes of which he hadn't been making. Ederson too. In any case he's apparently out, so that simplifies things. Unless Ortega trips over a rug getting up tomorrow and smacks his head on the angle of a table. Then we're into Carson. Apparently, he's good in the dressing room, reputedly, so that's one thing. Aké apparently not an option.

Sorry, guys, strap in. It's going to get worse before it gets better. Grin and bear it. Washout season. It will get better. Just not tomorrow.

Looks like an opportunity for the EDS back four!

 

[Bluekiwi]

Have we ever had such a terrible run with injuries?? What are they doing in training and conditioning?

Remember the good old days when the players were bussed to Blackpool to wade in the good old salt water to ease their muscle problems. Southport was closer to Manchester, but the sea was closer to Ireland

 

[sarcastico]

Not that it matters but they need something new.

---------Ortega
Akanji Stones Gvardiol
---------Kovacic
Bernardo Foden Grealish
---Kev Haaland Doku

Kev in that RM role that he played a couple of years ago just occupying that space and playing crosses to a speedy Doku who can cut back to Erling.

Play the defensive line a little deeper to combat the running of Watkins and Rogers.

Kova, Bernardo, Foden and Grealish to occupy a larger space in midfield. They are all brilliant dribblers and good at ball retention. Just need to show that fight again and wake up. Jack should be up for this?

 

[Scottish Cityzen]

Given our recent run it’s hard to be positive ahead of this game.

So many out, so many coming back that are at risk of breaking down that we can ill afford.

We just need to dig in but Villa away is a tough one. I’m hoping that a full week of prep might be enough for us to find a performance.

At some point in this run surely we are going to stop gifting the opposition two goals per game?

Come 1230 tomorrow I’ll still get the feeling that we’ll pull a result out of the bag, come on to fuck City!

 

[Manchester_lalala]

Imagine if they surprised us with three points?

 

[Clivespate]

Villa fans all think we gonna beat them, theory being City just toooo good to keep losing forever. I agree, come good tomorrow 3-1 City

In Pep we trust
Keep the faith

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

Looks like an opportunity for the EDS back four!

The worst part, they have to look after their own league and it’s hard to intersperse them at short notice. The key word, ‘Development’.