Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Everton

[SimplyTheBez]

On 14/09/2024 at 19:33, HalfTimePost said:

Inject it  

Cc: @bobzy

First thing I did when their second goal went in was put a tenner on a Villa win. Just saying...and 9/2 since you ask. Never in doubt for me 

[OutByEaster?]

23 hours ago, TRO said:

Once again defensive vulnerabilities over shadowed the good work.

The good work overshadowed the defensive vulnerabilities, no?

 

[sheepyvillian]

12 hours ago, FLVillan said:

Agreed.  Calvert Lewin got lucky as he moved into that space well ahead of everyone else.   The amount of shirt pulling, pushing and grabbing that goes on in the build up to set pieces in the modern game is mind blowing.  Given the multitude of cameras you'd think it would be less prevalent and easy to stamp out, but it's far worse now than ever.  

Growing up you marked a player by standing goal side -  if someone pulled your shirt they could fully expect to get booked and/or a right hand to the jaw... Shirt pulling was the ultimate cheap-shot and a studs-up slide tackle was good honest hard tackle as long as you made contact with the ball 

The game back then was full of thugs intent on harming people. It would take me an age to list them all.

[catanzaro]

I wasn't at the game and just watching on TV... but I got the impression that no-one celebrated Ollie's goals with him... It worried me that there was a bit of a problem with him and the other forward players... Am i really over thinking this?

[TDR V2]

2 hours ago, catanzaro said:

I wasn't at the game and just watching on TV... but I got the impression that no-one celebrated Ollie's goals with him... It worried me that there was a bit of a problem with him and the other forward players... Am i really over thinking this?

Yes you are..... he didn't really celebrate himself, just wanted the ball back in the middle

[TRO]

9 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

The good work overshadowed the defensive vulnerabilities, no?

 

It did for me.

I am looking forward to a clean Sheet, I think I have an Ally in Emi Martinez too.

Edited Monday at 17:48 by TRO

[TRO]

On 15/09/2024 at 18:19, allani said:

And yet we're fourth in the league in points won since Emery joined.  It's nearly two whole years of Emeryball now.  We had the best record of results against the other CL challengers last season.  We've the best record of any team in the PL over the last 13 months in terms of fewest points dropped having taken the lead.  If we were that easy to play against and that benevolent then how comes this is the case? 

We're a WIP for sure and there's definitely room for improvement - but we've yet to start our best XI this season and have already opened up a decent points gap to teams like Spurs, West Ham, Palace and Utd - all teams that some posters claimed had better summer transfer windows than us.  Our goals against last season was in line with our nearest rivals with only Utd and Everton being notably better than us from the teams below us (both of whom had a significantly worse goals for record).  Whilst I agree that a few more clean sheets would be nice - we do need to be careful that that doesn't come at the cost of being a threat ourselves.  7th, 4th and 4th (early in the season I know) suggests we are doing more right than wrong.  Yes there is a big gap to the Top 3 to close but I wasn't that impressed with Liverpool yesterday - they also have plenty of defensive frailties to target.

Shows how good the offensive side of our game is.

If you are happy with conceding as many as we are scoring so far this season, that's fine. I am looking for improvement.

I want us to improve in that area......Overall you are right, we have had some impressive, league finishes, mainly borne out of our Offensive play.

Our immediate competitors like Spurs, finished 2 points behind us, and had a similar goals against column, but if we want to improve, defence is probably the most likely place....Many folk mention in it in passing, while indulging in match reports, I think it's worth dialogue. I don't want it to be nip and tuck, for the Euro places this season, I want us to be well fancied to do so, I want us to be more miserly, meaning more convincing in our wins.

You are right we are only WIP and the top 3 do have a distinct lower goals against column, so good place to work on eh?

I think a fit Mings and Kamara, will help with that...looking forward to them returning to fitness and knocking on the door.

I am never going to apologise, for being a clean sheet fan, because ultimately, it plays a huge part in trophies.

I am not complaining about where we have come from, to where we have got....just interested in seeking out the next phase of improvement.

I'll bet Unai is already planning it.

Edited Monday at 18:23 by TRO

[sidcow]

On 14/09/2024 at 23:28, FLVillan said:

Have to disagree.  The first replay they showed (which conveniently hasn't been shown since) McNeil kicks his leg away causing him to lose balance, then as he's falling, McNeil kicks through his other leg to get the faintest touch on the ball. It's a foul all day long (actually two fouls).  Poor decision by the referee in real-time and the expected non-reversal by VAR under their "new guidelines" that seem to direct them that only an act of documentable GBH will result in reversing such a decision.

Absolutely this. Straight through the back of him then a tackle between the legs. Foul play from start to finish.

[allani]

21 hours ago, TRO said:

Shows how good the offensive side of our game is.

If you are happy with conceding as many as we are scoring so far this season, that's fine. I am looking for improvement.

I want us to improve in that area......Overall you are right, we have had some impressive, league finishes, mainly borne out of our Offensive play.

Our immediate competitors like Spurs, finished 2 points behind us, and had a similar goals against column, but if we want to improve, defence is probably the most likely place....Many folk mention in it in passing, while indulging in match reports, I think it's worth dialogue. I don't want it to be nip and tuck, for the Euro places this season, I want us to be well fancied to do so, I want us to be more miserly, meaning more convincing in our wins.

You are right we are only WIP and the top 3 do have a distinct lower goals against column, so good place to work on eh?

I think a fit Mings and Kamara, will help with that...looking forward to them returning to fitness and knocking on the door.

I am never going to apologise, for being a clean sheet fan, because ultimately, it plays a huge part in trophies.

I am not complaining about where we have come from, to where we have got....just interested in seeking out the next phase of improvement.

I'll bet Unai is already planning it.

Don't get me wrong - I'd love a few more clean sheets and a few more comfortable 2-0 or 3-0 wins too.  However, we need to be careful that strengthening our defence doesn't also weaken our attack.  What looks like a small change could have a bigger impact on other parts of the field.  This was my concern about losing Dougie but so far Tielemans has been just as good and just as influential (although it has helped that he's played with someone who can pick up more of the "dirty" defensive workload).  For me - the price of having Konsa and Pau at CB is more than made up for by the way that they help us control the ball when we have it - not just by bringing the ball out of defence but also by giving our midfielders / attackers an outlet and allowing us to recycle the ball and try again from a different angle of attack.

Mings and Kamara being back will be a huge plus and (IMO) will help us defensively without impacting the way we play and the way we build our attacks.  I'm not sure about moving Konsa to RB and playing Pau and Mings centrally (although it is something I would be keen to see).  My worry is that with McGinn at RM - Konsa means that we're quite unbalanced between the threat down the left (or through the middle) and the threat from the right.  It's a bit better with Bailey - but the danger is that it becomes easier for teams to double tag him.  A midfield trio of Kamara, Onana and Tielemans is something that I would like to see.  Lots more height for set pieces (at both ends) and I think it will be much harder for teams to impose themselves on our CMs.

Sorry - I could have posted my response to any number of other people but I knew that you'd engage in an open discussion and not take my comments as a criticism of / attack on your point of view. 

[allani]

Weirdly I think we defended better against West Ham than we did tonight (Young Boys) - and yet we get a clean sheet this evening and conceded against the Hammers (to a soft but probably correctly given penalty).

Edited Tuesday at 19:43 by allani

[TRO]

I don’t see improving the defence as an offensive trade off….that’s not a vision I have of where unai wants to be.

The better teams do both.

That’s the WIP I am looking for.

Great start tonight in the champions league….and the clean sheet.

Edited Tuesday at 19:45 by TRO