Delphinho123 Posted August 11 Author Share Posted August 11 4 minutes ago, macandally said: I believe you have the memory span of a goldfish, or you’re just fishing for laughing emojis’s Maybe it’s both… Sorry, where am I again? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macandally Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 13 hours ago, Delphinho123 said: Well we failed the exercise badly. It’s only a failure if you learn nothing from it. I swear there are people on here who lurch from one extreme to the other. Think of the mantra of “train hard play easy”, then for one minute consider it in the context of Pre-Season. I share an opinion that we may start slowly this year due to integrating new players, but for sure I have more faith that Unai will get it right than I have on the amateur pundits on here that are only happy when self flagellating! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post M_Afro Posted August 11 Popular Post Share Posted August 11 We play high risk football that has proven to be very successful. This guy is central to that. He takes on so much pressure by accepting the ball in precarious positions where other players would simply hide. He then launches most of our attacks. Without him we would have to completely change the way we play and would likely be the poorer for it. He is possibly the bravest defender I’ve ever seen in a Villa shirt. He’s always available. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macandally Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 I think I have said this before, when teams give us space our patterns are awesome. However, most of our spankings and turnarounds from winning positions last year were when teams decided to get into our faces as a full court press. That’s the bit we have to fix for me and one of the reasons Onana has been brought in, a bit more steel in that middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macandally Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 8 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said: Maybe it’s both… Sorry, where am I again? Cuckoo land 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AV82 Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 (edited) Isn't that what friendlies are for? Ironing out the kinks. We played a very competitive team at their place with 80,000 fans behind them. It is what it is. We're all very aware of Pau's qualities and the match yesterday, while not inspiring, will have supplemented the player's fitness and given the staff even more to think about and work with. It shouldn't be a question of ability. At times it's going to be difficult for a CB in our setup to play out from the back. It's the nature of the high risk system we play and there are a lot of factors to consider. If it were easy we'd bypass every press and win every match 4-1. Edited August 11 by AV82 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 I don't blame Pau for the first goal, Philogene doesn't react quick enough to his pass and he does great to collect the ball. Second goal, there's shouts for a foul, but BVB got lucky with the bounce of the ball, and Pau could have reacted a little quicker, but I don't think he could do much with Aedeyemi breathing down his neck like that. He's a crucial player for us still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 (edited) On 10/08/2024 at 16:42, Delphinho123 said: Mings is a much better player. He can defend for a start. Torres is by far and away the most overrated player in our squad. People scratching their head as to why we concede so many goals yet refuse to even question the bloke sitting in the middle of our defence. “But, but, but he’s so integral to how we play” Yeh he is, integral to us conceding so many f***** goals. I have just been in to the pub and spoke to a villa fan, who said to me, what a poor pre-season he has had. I said yeah.......but its a conversation, not many will encourage. The general consensus is a myth.....He has been piss poor, both in defending and playing out, he allows himself to be shut down, far too easily...and this was evident last season too. I was over the moon, when we signed him.....He needs to show the form, that had everybody, pleased with his arrival....He is better than this, and he needs to show it. Right now, he is short changing us, the manager, and himself. I don't give a shiny whatsaname, what reputations players have....they need to be called out, when their performances are crap. That does not mean, players need to be written off, that's entirely different, but some of his play, right now, is pants. Imo....a fit and functional Mings, would walk back in to this team.....will he come back as he was, yes I think he will, he has done this injury, before, and come back fine. This team needs a Tyrone Mings. Edited August 13 by TRO 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 24 minutes ago, TRO said: I have just been in to the pub and spoke to a villa fan, who said to me, what a poor pre-season he has had. I said yeah.......but its a conversation, not may will encourage. The general consensus is a myth.....He has been piss poor, both in defending and playing out, he allows himself to be shut down, far too easily...and this was evident last season too. I was over the moon, when we signed him.....He needs to show the form, that had everybody, pleased with his arrival....He is better than this, and he needs to show it. Right now, he is short changing us, the manager, and himself. I don't give a shiny whatsaname, what reputations players have....they need to be called out, when their performances are crap. That does not mean, players need to be written off, that's entirely different, but some of his play, right now, is pants. Imo....a fit and functional Mings, would walk back in to this team.....will he come back as he was, yes I think he will, he has done this injury, before, and come back fine. This team needs a Tyrone Mings. Pau was key to our change in play from the defensive side of 22/23 to the attacking side of 23/24. He was critical to us getting Champions League and when he was injured our form dropped. I think Emery wants a 3rd CB as RB with Konsa beside Pau as that will make the defence the right balance. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anything11 Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 2 hours ago, TRO said: I have just been in to the pub and spoke to a villa fan, who said to me, what a poor pre-season he has had. I said yeah.......but its a conversation, not may will encourage. The general consensus is a myth.....He has been piss poor, both in defending and playing out, he allows himself to be shut down, far too easily...and this was evident last season too. I was over the moon, when we signed him.....He needs to show the form, that had everybody, pleased with his arrival....He is better than this, and he needs to show it. Right now, he is short changing us, the manager, and himself. I don't give a shiny whatsaname, what reputations players have....they need to be called out, when their performances are crap. That does not mean, players need to be written off, that's entirely different, but some of his play, right now, is pants. Imo....a fit and functional Mings, would walk back in to this team.....will he come back as he was, yes I think he will, he has done this injury, before, and come back fine. This team needs a Tyrone Mings. This salt-of-the-earth backs against the wall is getting tiresome now. Mings regularly makes monumental mistakes. We know Pau's limitations - we play a style of football to minimise them and maximise his strengths - which put him ahead of Ty as much as we love him. The team doesn't NEED Tyrone Mings. YOU need him to understand whats going on. Pau helped us get CL football and our win rate without him plummets. Show some respect. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grantholtgolazo Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 The win rate with/without a player thing is given too much weight; each match is played against different teams, played in different places & situations, with variations across both rosters and tactics. All things being literally equal sure we can say a change in win rate plus or minus a player is important data, but this is literally never the case. I’m not saying this to downgrade Pau but I don’t think it’s as useful a data point as it’s often made out to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 He will do what he does, regardless. That's good and bad. We're not helping him by going further and further back leaving him trapped in his own corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Monsieur Hazdazler Posted August 12 Popular Post Share Posted August 12 9 minutes ago, grantholtgolazo said: The win rate with/without a player thing is given too much weight; each match is played against different teams, played in different places & situations, with variations across both rosters and tactics. All things being literally equal sure we can say a change in win rate plus or minus a player is important data, but this is literally never the case. I’m not saying this to downgrade Pau but I don’t think it’s as useful a data point as it’s often made out to be. Any stats like that can twisted to suit a narrative, but in my opinion you only need to watch how much better we are in terms of exercising control when Pau is on the pitch compared to Lenglet last season. You could argue Lenglet offered some good aspects defensively, but Pau took on so much responsibility and sees so much of the ball when playing out. I think the eye test backs up the stats in this instance. Statistically Pau didn't make any mistakes in the premier league leading to a goal, but defensively we all know there's certain bits you wouldn't class as a mistake, but are instances someone like Mings would have defended differently/better. Also worth noting Pau does a lot of good defending too, but he's not a duals guy and it's clear from the stats and the eye test. Of course Pau isn't the heroic backs to the wall defender that Mings can be, and Mings has been a wonderful servant to the club - I bloody love that guy. Maybe we did concede more goals than we would have done with Pau in the team instead of Mings, but ultimately we scored a bucket load more as well and the trade off is probably worth it. He is unbelievably good at both passing out as well as progressing with the ball at his feet, dragging players out of position and finding the right pass to open up gaps for his team mates. In a world where we can't realistically afford a centre back who is both a top top tier defender, and a top top tier progressor of the ball (as those players are extremely expensive and thin on the ground), especially a left footed one, we have one who lacks a touch defensively, but does the other stuff to the highest possible level. Mings is absolutely miles off Pau in terms of quality on the ball, and that's no criticism of Mings... Pau is just very, very good at it. He's so good, he gets asked to do things we simply couldn't ask Lenglet to do (and Lenglet is no slouch on the ball either). Subsequently, because so much is asked of him, we take risks and occasionally make errors as a result. If opposition does a wonderful job of countering our set up with the right high press, Pau is the one who is exposed and put under pressure. I think Emery is happy to accept the risk in exchange for the benefits. I'm not worried about the odd mistake in pre season. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villaphan04 Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 Integral. that pass for the winner was sooooo good 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 We don't win this game without him. It always starts with him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexvilla4 Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 Thought he was class today. Very composed as well as good defending Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osirus Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 Quality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 He's crucial to our play. You earned that paella lad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMcGrath_5 Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 Very good today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 One of the first names on the team sheet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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