ozvillafan Posted August 10 VT Supporter Share Posted August 10 Saw the highlights - albeit from Dortmund, not AVFC. What I saw was this: The majority of their chances came from poor distribution and poor refereeing. Things that would be given as a foul in a premier league game were let go. Our passing, however, will likely improve. So there are still positives. Looking forward to next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 6 hours ago, Herman22 said: If we start with 3 point next Saturday afternoon I don’t think anyone will mention this game. If we lose I’m sure people will point to this as evidence. For me, preseason has been poor but it counts for nothing. I’ll see where we are by the end of August. August 2025? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders129 Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 11 hours ago, Delphinho123 said: Not sure where else to put this but we’ve been atrocious in pre season and our inability to defend at the back end of last season seems to have carried over into pre season. Quite frankly, we need two new centre halves if Carlos leaves to push Konsa and Torres. My feelings on Torres aside for a moment, we’re too weak at the back and we can’t seem to play out when pressed. When Emery first came in, teams pressed us and we’d hurt them, now we seem to crumble under any pressure on our back line. I don’t confess to know what the answer is, but we can’t go on conceding goals like we are. Hiding behind the excuse that it’s ok because it’s pre-season is foolish as we saw the same patterns play out in the last two months of last season. If I were Emery, I’d be worried. He either trusts who he has and tweaks something or he brings in new personnel to play the way he thinks we’re capable of playing. This is quite reactionary to a pre season game away at BVB! Away at Arsenal at the back end of last season and with no Luiz we toyed and passed our way through the best press in the league. This is a pre season training game. The boys will be ready this season. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJim Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 I read a lot of reactions before seeing the game and almost didn't want to watch it. Have to say I feel better after seeing it. While there were some disappointing bits, there was also a lot to like. My MOTM was Tielemans who played most of the game and was absolutely superb. Notable performances also from Ned, JJ and Rogers. I thought the rest did OK, perhaps apart from Torres who had a bit of a stinker, and Bailey who wasn't on for long and apparently couldn't be bothered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 29 minutes ago, BigJim said: I read a lot of reactions before seeing the game and almost didn't want to watch it. Have to say I feel better after seeing it. While there were some disappointing bits, there was also a lot to like. My MOTM was Tielemans who played most of the game and was absolutely superb. Notable performances also from Ned, JJ and Rogers. I thought the rest did OK, perhaps apart from Torres who had a bit of a stinker, and Bailey who wasn't on for long and apparently couldn't be bothered. Tielemans was class. Now that is someone who can beat the press. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 8 hours ago, ozvillafan said: and poor refereeing. Things that would be given as a foul in a premier league game were let go. Don't disagree, there were some real obvious things not given yesterday But said before I think we've got a CL learning curve coming in that I don't think our squad have that many CL games under their belt - us with the refs is going to be the same...hard to tell if they're poor or of that's just what they are and our players need to learn and adapt to it rather than us feel hard done by every CL game I think the PL has gone soft 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 It wasn’t a good performance from us, but we lost away to Champions League finalists who scored a goal that shouldn’t have counted, had the ref on their side, scored off of a terrible mistake from us, and had the fortune of us missing a sitter. Still plenty of work to do in the transfer market, but I’m sure it will get sorted. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAV1 Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 11 hours ago, Monkeypuzzle said: I'd rather just cheer my own team and let everyone enjoy a competitive GAME of football. Getting hostile and trying to intimidate rival fans and teams feels rather backward and unsophisticated to me. But as that is my view of most of the people in this world, my own countrymen included, I suggest everyone just ignore me and my grumpy outlook on life. Carry on! Grumpy, grumpy! How dare you be grumpy! Grump off! UTV! Carry on chearing mate!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Made In Aston Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 51 minutes ago, jacketspuds said: It wasn’t a good performance from us, but we lost away to Champions League finalists. I've heard a few people use this as an excuse. Yes Dortmund got to the final, but also finished 5th in the league and almost 30 points behind 1st. The league is a much better indicator of quality and Bourussia Dortmund was no world beater last season. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macandally Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 My only couple of worries, where was Ollie? Hoping not picked up a niggle after his couple of weeks off and we need him for West Ham. That ties into my second point, we are wasteful when we do create at the moment. The patterns of play were there across all of the friendlies, but we have not taken those chance’s. Finally, and I believe this is due to operating at pre-season tempo, but we are a yard off what is needed at the moment. We all saw how significant even a small performance drop off can be in a league as competitive as the Premier League. We need to be at match tempo from day one, there will be some big scores on the opening day based on some being “at it” whilst others are not. We need to be on the right side of that, not another Newcastle opening day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackbauer24 Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 82,000 for a friendly, but there was no 'yellow wall'. I was there and it was very quiet and 'family friendly', the fans were mingling and it was all very much a kick around in the park kind of vibe. Don't think we got intimidated at all Unfortunately, that translated to another lackluster performance on the pitch. We seem disjointed, slow and unsure what to do. We panic at the back and are indecisive going forward. The number of times we lost the ball due to poor communication/understanding was concerning. You could argue that the starting XI is at least mostly what we'd see on Saturday and, if that's the case, we look quite weak in application and squad depth. We've had a massive turnover this summer and I think it's very very hard to argue we're stronger either as a first XI or a squad. But Dortmund was nice, the sun was shining, the beers were flowing and the atmosphere was friendly... Just the performance that was lacking. Classic Villa weekend really! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 2 hours ago, Made In Aston said: I've heard a few people use this as an excuse. Yes Dortmund got to the final, but also finished 5th in the league and almost 30 points behind 1st. The league is a much better indicator of quality and Bourussia Dortmund was no world beater last season. It’s not an excuse. It’s providing a little bit of perspective to counteract some of the negativity. We finished 4th last season because we’re a very good team. Having a poor preseason doesn’t change that, especially when we have one of the best managers in the world in our dugout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 (edited) 4 hours ago, Delphinho123 said: Tielemans was class. Now that is someone who can beat the press. .......and he for me he is the luiz replacement. Edited August 11 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 My concern is, teams that engage or are organised at Gegen Pressing, nullify any creative intent we have. We don't see to have an antidote for it....so teams who study us, will know all this. many of our players, subject to this, simply can't stay on the ball....and if you can't do that, how can we create? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 5 hours ago, rodders129 said: This is quite reactionary to a pre season game away at BVB! Away at Arsenal at the back end of last season and with no Luiz we toyed and passed our way through the best press in the league. This is a pre season training game. The boys will be ready this season. I think we all hope you are right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 (edited) 2 hours ago, Made In Aston said: I've heard a few people use this as an excuse. Yes Dortmund got to the final, but also finished 5th in the league and almost 30 points behind 1st. The league is a much better indicator of quality and Bourussia Dortmund was no world beater last season. I thought man for man, we was on par with them, and at times, we played some neat football.....but the difference was pressing, and they was better organised than us, without the ball. They managed to steal the initiative, using it. The pressing is a real issue for me, because we simply have our game derailed by teams who engage in it well.....and in comparison, we stand off, and engage in token pressing or the semi press, at best. I am still waiting to be impressed with us defensively, I will cling to pre-season as a reason....but I am quietly unconvinced. We seem to change players, but the flaky defending still raises its ugly head. I wait in hope, that we manage to become more convincing in retreat. Edited August 11 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 Let's not forget we are still a team, under Emery, that is still in the early stages of evolution. We have come a very long way in a very short time. No - one would have predicted us being part of CL football this season, certainly not the owners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 4 hours ago, BigJim said: I read a lot of reactions before seeing the game and almost didn't want to watch it. Have to say I feel better after seeing it. While there were some disappointing bits, there was also a lot to like. My MOTM was Tielemans who played most of the game and was absolutely superb. Notable performances also from Ned, JJ and Rogers. I thought the rest did OK, perhaps apart from Torres who had a bit of a stinker, and Bailey who wasn't on for long and apparently couldn't be bothered. I too was heartened by some good signs, but the usual scapegoats got noticed, but Torres goes under the radar.....He looks flaky right now. I was particularly concerned, with his inability to stay on the ball and in fact succumb to the press so easily......The work that led to their goal, was poor, he should have cleared it out of play, but was intent to play his way out of trouble. Defending at times requires a snappy reaction, and no time to be overly fussy about the optics....."just clear the danger" I am still concerned with our inability to defend our goal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 First goal for is one Philogene, Pau collects the ball well, but he's not reacting in time and easily beaten off of the ball before the cross. Second goal I felt there was a foul on Pau, though he was slow to react to the ball falling between his and Ezri's feet. I thought first 15 minutes we kept our shape well and soaked up some pressure, playing it out from the back is always going to be risk-reward. I thought Dortmund were more physical and cynical in their play at times, certainly some fouls I would like to think would get yellows in league or cup games. Felt some of our finishing too let us down. Not too disheartened all in all. We'll learn from this pre-season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 (edited) 10 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said: Let's not forget we are still a team, under Emery, that is still in the early stages of evolution. We have come a very long way in a very short time. No - one would have predicted us being part of CL football this season, certainly not the owners. To be fair sheepy, we are all hoping, that there is not too much to read in to pre-season outside of fitness. This will be established in the forthcoming games of the Premier League season. I hear the constant ( understandable) reference to the champions league and the expected excitement that it will bring, but may I remind some, we have already won it.....and that team ( as much as it was years ago) had a durable overtone/backdrop to it....that was its basis. The Premier League is still our bread and butter, and still the yardstick, by which we will be judged...I hope we don't lose sight of that when we are eating our jelly and blancmange, of the Champions league. I have a suspicion, it will be a slow start, and we will build up to a good season.....but I think patience, this season, will be key. Edited August 11 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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