Ratings & Reactions: Leicester v Villa

[Zero7]

18 minutes ago, Pez1974 said:

Positives:

• A win and 3 points
• Duran is a goal scorer, and is improving rapidly
• Tielemans is the Luiz replacement (I've said this loads of times this summer); MOTM
• Ramsey is getting back to his best
• Onana is a beast - and a very well rounded player
• Exactly the sort of game for 30 mins of Barkley - an asute signing on today's evidence, allowing us to rotate players
• McPhee has been busy this summer
• Bogarde got some game time - this will stand him in good stead
• The players really can play to a plan - look at the average positions first half; they clearly supported Bogarde to settle in
• We've a few out injured - and the bench still looks very good and the subs made a huge difference

What a beautiful, positive post, love it 

[allani]

10 minutes ago, TRO said:

That’s true.

but it also follows without the ball, you can’t hurt anybody.

Except we did twice and had three other more than decent chances as well.

[allani]

My pre-match prediction was a 2-1 win.  So spot on.  Still leaves us +2 points ahead of where I thought we would be for the season.

[one_ian_taylor]

I'm  sure I won't  be the first to predict our away record by the end of the season will be:

P 19

W 19

L 0

D 0

F 38 (Onana 19, Duran 19)

A 19

It would be acceptable.

[sheepyvillian]

24 minutes ago, TRO said:

Clean sheets are hard to come by, but they are a hallmark of a very good side….reason why the top 3 teams are markedly better at keeping them, despite claiming the best offensive stats too.

We need to pick up players better in our area, and keep closer contact….it’s all about defending better.

We kept out the 2 best teams last season at home, so we can do it.

We have games where we are just not focused enough mentally, and don’ t close down with assertion….much of it, is being committed to the challenge, and not ball watching.

Clean sheets for me is a barometer, to so much in the status of a team.

And those "Top 3 sides" are a fairway ahead of us, in terms of evolution. Man City conceded to Ipswich last weekend, which is a great indicator, of just how difficult this league can be in terms of stopping your opponents. Looking at it another way, if we had taken more of our chances, the goal against wouldn't seem so much of a problem. The whole team has to take responsibility for whatever errors occur in a match. That's why, I highlighted "Rogers" in a previous comment because, for me, he needs to be just as aware of his defensive duties, as he does to the offensive duties. Who knows, maybe that's what Lee Carsley took into consideration when deciding not to pick him for the England squad. 

Edited August 31 by sheepyvillian

[Lochheads twin]

A good result even if we were not firing on all cylinders.

Ollie still not there & Rogers was very quiet today. The good news is we have 2 weeks to get a few fit again.

We do need to kill off games when we are on top. We had 3 or 4 good chances that were not taken in the first half.

A very polished performance from Tielemans today. Also nice to see that Barclay can come on and help us see over the line.

Good goals from the big lads and it was a great header from Duran. Ollie will probably get another couple of  starts but Jhon is really putting some pressure on.

The ref was not great and seems to be officiating from the centre of the park and was a long way from some of the action. I did fear that someone would go for 2 yellows but Unai used the subs well. To be fair, Coote did get the call right for Youris' excellent challenge. Thought Buendia may have taken over for Rogers but maybe he is still being cosseted.

Again, we played some really nice stuff at their end of the pitch, creating very good chances.

6 point from 9 is a good start. Lets recharge the batteries over the next 2 weeks and then push on in a crucial Spetember.

Onwards!

Edited August 31 by Lochheads twin

[TRO]

36 minutes ago, allani said:

Some of it was silky smooth too.

In patches, yeah….but overall I thought it was untidy in comparison, to our 2 first games.

[allani]

29 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

But if we had the ball and made them chase it we would be more in control of the game. A better team than Leicester will be more ruthless in that situation at 2-1 and it will cost us. I thought Unai liked keeping the ball tbh.

I suggest looking at our results over the last 2 seasons.  I'll give you a hint - we are doing pretty well and Emery's plans work a lot more often than not.  Also have a look at the cost last season when we played the best teams - pretty sure we finished top of the Top 6 league.  You don't have to play the same way against every team.  You can let teams like Leicester have lots of the ball in their own half (when you are winning) because they're not hurting you when they attack.  When you're playing better teams then you can close them down more. 

[TRO]

11 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

And those "Top 3 sides" are a fairway ahead of us, in terms of evolution. Man City conceded to Ipswich last weekend, which is a great indicator, of just how difficult this league can be in terms of stopping your opponents. Looking at it another way, if we had taken more of our chances, the goal against wouldn't seem so much of a problem. The whole team has to take responsibility for whatever errors occur in a match. That's why, I highlighted "Rogers" in a previous comment because, for me, he needs to be just as aware of his defensive duties, as he does to the offensive duties. Who knows, maybe that's what Lee Carsley took into consideration when deciding not to pick him for the England squad. 

I agree

[AVTuco]

Good to win, but we need big improvement going forward.

[macandally]

We are still a work in progress and haven’t really clicked yet.  Should still have been 3 up at half time, Ollie is a confidence player and once he gets a couple we will be away.  So 6 points from 9 I would have taken 3 weeks ago.

Leicester play like a Cooper side now, dirty tricks, cheap fouls and surrounding the referee arm waving.  Last season we lost to his Forest side like this, today we did not.

As for the referee, instead of being invisible, David Coote ruins games.  He has no real idea of football and his random yellows and constant stopping the game changes momentum.  He was played today and but for his linesman would have had these 3 points of us.  Whenever I see him down for our games it makes me nervous, he is that bad. Like a rabbit in headlights! 

[allani]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

In patches, yeah….but overall I thought it was untidy in comparison, to our 2 first games.

Leicester are untidy opponents and the ref let a lot of stuff go in terms of their defenders going through our players.  Agreed that it wasn't quite as good as West Ham - but Leicester will pick up some decent results and we're one of those teams they'd most like to get a result against.  So all things considered 3 more points and move on to the next.  Happy days. 

[TRO]

2 minutes ago, allani said:

I suggest looking at our results over the last 2 seasons.  I'll give you a hint - we are doing pretty well and Emery's plans work a lot more often than not.  Also have a look at the cost last season when we played the best teams - pretty sure we finished top of the Top 6 league.  You don't have to play the same way against every team.  You can let teams like Leicester have lots of the ball in their own half (when you are winning) because they're not hurting you when they attack.  When you're playing better teams then you can close them down more. 

But this reaction is to the Leicester game. Even the games so far we have a 2 pts aggregate which is fine, but we are talking about this game.

we all know how good our manager and his back room staff are.

[TRO]

48 minutes ago, allani said:

Away from home and to be fair we let Leicester dick around with the ball in the middle of their own half for long spells because we were in the lead and they were creating nothing.  Let them have the ball and do nothing with it.  It's not a problem.

It’s not a problem, until it is….and it was when bilal el khannous went around a tired, but well played Bogarde…and the cross, did us.

At 2-0 up we was in control, but we let them in, and it became nervy…..for me, anyway.

 

 

[mottaloo]

Win ugly at places like Leicester, Ipswich, Palarse, Southampton,  Bournemouth and Brentford and that'll do for me.

A good start points-wise (to lay the foundations) is all that matters to me. 

[Nigel]

I heard someone talking about Arsenals challenge for the title saying that the first few games are all about the results. Well we got 6 points from a difficult first 3 games.

Love the way we didnt break stride when we lost Bailey, something we wouldnt have done recently. To have a player the quality of Ramsey to take over bodes well.

Id love to see more clean sheets this season, but it has to be said we did cope well once they scored and the crowd got back behind them.

I think they call this a profesional performance!

 

[Don_Simon]

1 hour ago, wishywashy said:

The Villa of old would have 100% lost such a physical tie. Even today we were incredibly fortunate to get away with it. But 3 points is 3 points.

This is a ridiculous statement. 

[Jas10]

 

[Leeroy]

19 minutes ago, allani said:

I suggest looking at our results over the last 2 seasons.  I'll give you a hint - we are doing pretty well and Emery's plans work a lot more often than not.  Also have a look at the cost last season when we played the best teams - pretty sure we finished top of the Top 6 league.  You don't have to play the same way against every team.  You can let teams like Leicester have lots of the ball in their own half (when you are winning) because they're not hurting you when they attack.  When you're playing better teams then you can close them down more. 

Mate, chill, I'm happy we won. I didn't even see the game, I'm just going off what I saw on the stats. I prefer a controlled approach because the top teams play like that but you are entitled to your opinion.

 

Looking forward to seeing us against Everton and hoping we control the game because that's how I want us to play. My opinion.

[Jas10]