ferguson1 Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 (edited) Newcastle have unfortunately improved over the last 4/5 weeks and the crowd are now behind them, but their frailties are still there for all to see. Targett will be a big miss for them and if Trippier doesn’t make it either, then I can’t see them shutting us out all game. Even if Burn is now fit, they’ll struggle to contain us. Gerrard has a couple of big decisions to make this weekend. Chambers will likely get his first start for the suspended Konsa but Hause is surely the better match up against a low on confidence Chris Wood? I would probably go Hause myself because his aerial ability against the likes of Wood, Joelinton, Lascelles, Burn etc will be crucial I think. I also think Buendia will be ok to start. The other big decision at this point is do we go with Watkins or Ings? Watkins certainly suits our style/shape better but appears to be out of sorts. I think I’d stick with Watkins again to start but I’m kinda in a last chance to impress scenario now with him. If he can’t ruffle up this Newcastle defence and have a good game, then Ings deserves to start the next match. Probably obvious to say but if we can keep ASM quiet, I’m confident of a positive result. We surely can’t defend as badly as we did against Leeds. Going to say 1-3 win. Martinez Cash Hause Mings Digne McGinn Luiz Ramsey Buendia Coutinho Watkins Subs: Olsen, Chambers, Chrisene, Young, Iroegbunam, Sanson Chukwuemeka, Bailey, Ings Edited February 11, 2022 by ferguson1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaFaninLondon Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 2 hours ago, TRO said: I'd take 11th or 12th now. Those teams down there are going scrap for their lives.....I hope you are right, that we have too much going forward, but even our strikers have dried up. Leeds are a very good team at showing up our shortfalls/weaknesses......I hope SG et al, has a clear view of what we need in the summer. Leeds always outrun and outfight us, they're not better quality-wise but fitter and more aggressive than us. Even so, we would have won that game had it not been for awful defending. IMO we should not be finishing below any of the following teams: Norwich, Watford, Burnley (probably the bottom 3), Newcastle, Leeds, Everton, Southampton, Palace, Brentford. That puts us 11th. I also think we should be finishing above Brighton which puts us 10th but 50-50 whether we will. I could begrudgingly accept finishing below Leicester, Wolves, Spurs, Arsenal, Manure, City, Plop and Chelsea as they're all strong teams with a lot of quality all over the park. Although given Leicester's issues defensively (much like us) we could quite easily finish above them too. But I'm with you, I like entertaining, attacking football but if we can't defend we're never going to show any consistency to get up the table. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post theboyangel Posted February 11, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 11, 2022 If Buendia is a doubt, I’d play Sanson and push Ramsey or McGinn into Buendia’s position. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted February 11, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 11, 2022 16 minutes ago, theboyangel said: If Buendia is a doubt, I’d play Sanson and push Ramsey or McGinn into Buendia’s position. I've seen a lot of people suggesting pushing Ramsey forward but I'm not convinced - he's doing so well running from a deeper position and I think we'd lose some of that if he played higher and with his back to goal. McGinn might be a good shout though. Personally I'd just put Chukwuemeka in there as a (stylistically different) like for like. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villa87 Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 12 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: I've seen a lot of people suggesting pushing Ramsey forward but I'm not convinced - he's doing so well running from a deeper position and I think we'd lose some of that if he played higher and with his back to goal. McGinn might be a good shout though. Personally I'd just put Chukwuemeka in there as a (stylistically different) like for like. The more I think of it I think McGinn further forward. I was originally saying Ramsey but agree he is dangerous running from deep and very athletic. I don’t think Chuk is quite ready to start and would rather Sanson come into the midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adman Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 2 hours ago, Villa87 said: The more I think of it I think McGinn further forward. I was originally saying Ramsey but agree he is dangerous running from deep and very athletic. I don’t think Chuk is quite ready to start and would rather Sanson come into the midfield. I'd go with that too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwi1890 Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 (edited) Think Young starts as one of the 10’s Edited February 11, 2022 by gwi1890 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Feels like Young would be a deflating selection, but we can't be trusted still to have composure on the ball, he does bring that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWARLEY2 Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Really worried Gerrard will go with Watkins as a wide player and Watkins up front with his thinking being that Coutinho will be able to create chances for Ings and Ollie will stretch and occupy their defence. On paper yes, but it has been tried and just does not work . At all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaslash Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 43 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said: Really worried Gerrard will go with Watkins as a wide player and Watkins up front with his thinking being that Coutinho will be able to create chances for Ings and Ollie will stretch and occupy their defence. On paper yes, but it has been tried and just does not work . At all Double Watkins- nice do we get to play an extra player in the 2nd half Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GingerCollins29 Posted February 12, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 12, 2022 Good thing about winning tomorrow is that VT will be praising our top class players and the 'race for europe' thread will be bumped to the top, only for it to drop back down after our next draw/defeat, accompanied by how terrible most of our players are 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 1 hour ago, MWARLEY2 said: Really worried Gerrard will go with Watkins as a wide player and Watkins up front with his thinking being that Coutinho will be able to create chances for Ings and Ollie will stretch and occupy their defence. On paper yes, but it has been tried and just does not work . At all Watkins back to 10 would be the worst possible selection from those available. Be very frustrating if we see it again when we have so much evidence it doesn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted February 12, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted February 12, 2022 17 hours ago, TRO said: I'd take 11th or 12th now. Those teams down there are going scrap for their lives.....I hope you are right, that we have too much going forward, but even our strikers have dried up. Leeds are a very good team at showing up our shortfalls/weaknesses......I hope SG et al, has a clear view of what we need in the summer. Me too. I think it's our upside. Leeds reminded us once again how poor we are on the defensive side of the game and how mentally weak we still are. We need stronger players both physically and mentally, in key areas. Thankfully we got Coutinho, and if we can get Ings going even a bit, we'll be safely safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted February 12, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted February 12, 2022 9 hours ago, MWARLEY2 said: Really worried Gerrard will go with Watkins as a wide player and Watkins up front with his thinking being that Coutinho will be able to create chances for Ings and Ollie will stretch and occupy their defence. On paper yes, but it has been tried and just does not work . At all Just a question: how many times has it been tried with Coutinho in there? Don't you think Coutinho makes a difference in the equation? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robtaylor200 Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 8 hours ago, GingerCollins29 said: Good thing about winning tomorrow is that VT will be praising our top class players and the 'race for europe' thread will be bumped to the top, only for it to drop back down after our next draw/defeat, accompanied by how terrible most of our players are and ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 9 hours ago, GingerCollins29 said: Good thing about winning tomorrow is that VT will be praising our top class players and the 'race for europe' thread will be bumped to the top, only for it to drop back down after our next draw/defeat, accompanied by how terrible most of our players are Not really, if we won the Leeds game most, would still be saying Watkins contributes next to ***** all and Mings did not have his best game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 22 hours ago, OutByEaster? said: I think we can win this - I think Newcastle's style suits us a bit more than Leeds' does - I'm not sure we will win it, but I think we can. I agree but it wasn't Leeds style that cost us the 3 points. We had that game won and errors cost us. If we make silly mistakes we can lose to any team. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robtaylor200 Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) A well know book maker gave me a FREE £5 bet on any Premier league game. Well as its free money I have a fiver on Villa 4:1. at 40/1. If our midfield plays as it did Wednesday I can see goals a coming also Watkins will be desperate to join in and if our defence plays as it did Wednesday we will give them a goal too. easy money Edited February 12, 2022 by Robtaylor200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picicata Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Think we're a bit of a mess at the moment and lack balance so 2-1 win to Newcastle is my prediction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Watkins to make some good runs pulling defenders away freeing up space for our attacking midfielders to get in to space and goalscoring opportunities ie do **** all Chuk to play full of confidence for his age and look relaxed and amble around ie do **** all Mings to scramble around covering for bad positioning from the other 3 ie make mistakes It will be a full normal Sunday service on here Sounds obvious - The game will depend on us getting hold of ASM and who scores first, hope we start chuk or sanson so we can have another look at them and i hope chambers has a blinder, they'll be right up for it, hopefully after the round of **** from Gerrard after Wednesday we keep a bit of composure in the middle and keep the ball better (!! I say after Wednesday... When do we ever keep the ball in the middle better?) 2-1 but absolutely not a clue who to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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