Ratings & Reactions: UCL3: Villa v Bologna

[TRO]

11 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

I thought we were very good. a little sloppy at the end, but the better side by a distance. 

Maatsen was superb in his ability to get forward, his covering pace, his positioning and his decision making, Rogers is a wrecking ball, Tielemans just has this lovely rhythm like a clock and the subs all did well - and of course the boy of destiny got his goal (and worked hard for it too).

What stood out for me though was that we looked so calm, so confident and so sure in our plan, there was a confident assurance in our play - they know their jobs, they know they're good, they trust and believe in each other and they get the results that justify that - all that comes from the man on the sideline.

Another brilliant night, three points, three wins, no goals conceded and top of the Champions league.

Extraordinary.

Surefooted

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 09:19 by TRO

[TRO]

11 hours ago, Nigel said:

Im going to say it...... Tielemens is better than Dougie!

I think Unai knew it too.

[TRO]

10 hours ago, Lochheads twin said:

MoTM, take your pick but the most memorable moment was the guy operation the scoreboard 

 

1-0,  2-0,  3-0,  2-0,  3-0,  2-0,  1-0 ,  2-0 , 1-0 

did they show it on TV, did anyone capture it? Classic.

 

 

I think he was trying to say.................The score can be anything it wants to be....it was coded.

Edited Wednesday at 09:25 by TRO

[TRO]

10 hours ago, TDR V2 said:

I've just seen that he wasn't happy about being subbed. I've seen worse

I don't want him to be happy to come off, and I think Unai felt the same.

I think it shows the passion, from the group. At the end he was smiling and hugging everyone.

I don't want a team of Lord Fauntleroy's.....I love his passion for scoring, and being amongst it.

Let the media, make of it what they like, we have a thriving group of musketeers...." all for one, one for all"

Edited Wednesday at 09:33 by TRO

[TRO]

I would like to make a special mention for Barclay.

When he comes on he looks assured and fits in like a hand in a glove.

his transitional play is impressive and looks sure footed on the ball....looks composed and ready to play the killer ball.

underrated player IMO.

Edited Wednesday at 10:34 by TRO

[AJG23]

Three games, nine points, scored six and conceded none. A few iffy moments here and there but Bologna are a decent side so they were always likely to cause a few problems. Overall another great European night.

[TRO]

29 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Honest I thought the majority of the stuff last night was vs bailey and I was more disappointed in him than the ref, especially cos it wasn't given in minute 1 why was bailey still looking for soft fouls in the second half? Didn't adapt at all

Any time a bologna player went near him he was looking for a foul rather than playing football, ref was having none of it, I've got no issue with that 

I saw it slightly different.

I understand your view on Bailey looking for soft fouls.....but when players are off it a bit, opponents can smell blood too, and go after you. I thought some was a bit predatory

Opponents are not daft, if our players give them a hard time, they steer clear and go after easy targets.....but I say again, playing the man ( talking generally, not specifically) is not tough tackling, its fouling. Shirt pulling and arm pulling is not being physical, its fouling.

Sorry, I saw him different to you.....and I love tough tackling.

[_AA_786]

Bit late to this but here's my player ratings having not watched it back yet..:

Martinez - Commanding and did what he needed to. 8/10
Konsa - Fairly solid but has this tendency to get to close and grabby to a player and this gave away a couple of unnecessary fouls. Still its not his position so 7.5/10
Carlos - Played well. Few decent blocks and generally seemed less of a liability  8/10
Torres - Made up for the Fulham mistake and played well 8/10
Maatsen - MOTM for me. Seemed a little nervous when with the ball up top in the initial 20mins but then really kicked on and offered a threat. His energy to overlap Ramsey at the end was brilliant and defensively was he excellent. 9.5/10
Onana - was decent for what he needed to do  7/10
Tielemans - Would've been MOTM if he stayed on for the full 90 but he was a class above anything they had. His passing, flicks and leadership make Dougie a very distant memory already  9/10
Bailey - Badly in need of some confidence so whilst he wasn't great, we need to keep playing him to get him out of this funk and into some form for when we have the bigger teams next month. Currently he either gets bumped off the ball or his head goes down and he then proceeds to go in circles before falling over. Keeps trying and nearly scored so 4.5/10 (sorry)
McGinn - He's not quite got back to the form where we was more productive with his end product but he does everything else so well. A crucial cog in the system we played last night and really happy he has a CL goal to his name now 9/10
Rogers - Great running power again and so close to having everything but his finishing and final pass can be frustrating considering his ability. It's almost like he gets tired by the time he gets closer to goal but a great touch and assist for Duran. 8.5/10
Duran - He needs games like this to continually work on his overall game as the closing down and general play is still not up to Ollie standards but he's so fun to have - especially when he just decides to crack it from outside the box. Also is getting better and better in the air but needed players around him more. 8/10

Barkley - Got a silly yellow but his intelligence on the pitch is excellent and a few times his clever passing or retention really helped us regain control of the midfield which we seemed to lose for a bit. For £4m he's proving a bargain 8/10
Ramsey - Strong driving runs but the end product needs a lot of work. 5.5/10
JPB - Keeps trying but a bit like Bailey, he seems to lack confidence so needs to just battle through this period. Also the shot he took that we all thought was blocked but turned out to be a shank... had us in stitches where we were sat  5.5/10
Watkins - Tried to spin his man a few times but it didn't quite go for him. Link up play was good though and helped us see out the game. 7/10

Kamara - almost didn't recognise him with the new hair/beard combo but then you see him on the pitch and it's the Kamara we know. Did hold my breath when he slid in to intercept a balll but he got back up and that will have done him good to know the body held up in a proper game. Look forward to him playing more.  7/10

Ref:  Dog**** as we've come to expect from the CL games. Seemed to overlook multiple times players were held or knocked over  3/10

[villa4europe]

18 minutes ago, TRO said:

I saw it slightly different.

I understand your view on Bailey looking for soft fouls.....but when players are off it a bit, opponents can smell blood too, and go after you. I thought some was a bit predatory

Opponents are not daft, if our players give them a hard time, they steer clear and go after easy targets.....but I say again, playing the man ( talking generally, not specifically) is not tough tackling, its fouling. Shirt pulling and arm pulling is not being physical, its fouling.

Sorry, I saw him different to you.....and I love tough tackling.

100%, bologna swarmed him with multiple players tight to him

I thought bailey went looking for it too often

and again the disappointing thing for me is that bailey was looking for it all game, as soon as he didn't get the 2nd one - rightly or wrongly - he has to change his approach, he didn't, he was still looking for it the 7th and 8th time, they completely did a number on him last night and he didn't react at all, if you're not getting a thing out of ref then change how you play

[Mantis]

Not even surprised anymore tbh. We just win.

[Brumstopdogs]

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 14:49 by Brumstopdogs

[TRO]

1 hour ago, villa4europe said:

100%, bologna swarmed him with multiple players tight to him

I thought bailey went looking for it too often

and again the disappointing thing for me is that bailey was looking for it all game, as soon as he didn't get the 2nd one - rightly or wrongly - he has to change his approach, he didn't, he was still looking for it the 7th and 8th time, they completely did a number on him last night and he didn't react at all, if you're not getting a thing out of ref then change how you play

There is an element of what you are saying, I agree with and when he is off form, he his inclined to look to the ref, granted......But one incident was an arm pull and he let it go, that's cynical.

I accept some players play act and go to ground easy, and I am not in favour of that....but shirt pulling or arm pulling is not ambiguous for me, it's clear fouling. In such circumstances letting the game flow, is a dereliction of duty imo, it cannot and should not be condoned.

I saw the ref let things go, with other players, other than Bailey. I am not a fan of ignoring cynicism, in order to allow the spectacle of the game to flourish, and for me some of it was cynical.

I haven't watched the game back, but I seem to remember Konsa getting taken out robustly, as just one example.....they had 4 yellow cards to our 1 that in itself, shows the intent they had to foul.

I am a fan of hard fought football, but to me a distinction does exist between tough tackling ( playing the ball) and cynicism ( playing the man).....and in my opinion some refs have a jaundiced view of the difference.

Some will say, playing the man has crept in to the game....my point is it should be outlawed. I honestly don't think we do much of it, but maybe I'm inadvertently biased.

 

Edited Wednesday at 11:27 by TRO

[sidcow]

 

[ender4]

16 minutes ago, sidcow said:

 

Thanks that was really interesting to watch from a Bologna viewpoint.  I think he liked Villa Park and Aston, the only word i recognised was bellissima which is great or amazing or beautiful.

[El Segundo]

4 hours ago, Rob182 said:

Me and @lapal_fan said the same during the match. The one ‘mistake’ we picked out was Barkley’s booking, which felt incredibly harsh. Other than that the ref was decent.

I think he let himself down with letting them get away with several fouls against Bailey not given.  The one where the guy was holding Bailey by the arm for about 4 seconds before he went down was bizarrely given the other way.  There was another given against Rogers where he nicked the ball off the number 22's toe clean as a whistle but the ref fell for the guy going to ground.   Gave a foul against Carlos after their guy backed into him and he simply stood his ground.  Far from the worst ref we've had but I still thought there were several poor and inconsistent decisions, so gave him average. 

[sidcow]

4 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Thanks that was really interesting to watch from a Bologna viewpoint.  I think he liked Villa Park and Aston, the only word i recognised was bellissima which is great or amazing or beautiful.

Not tried it yet as not actually watched this but with the Bayern ones you could get English subtitles in YouTube settings 

[Zero7]

Got back quite late and still buzzing, this was my first visit to VP this season and I got tickets lower Holte in the standing area for me, the wife and my 13 year old daughter. We loved every minute and sang our hearts out. Hearing that CL music was a pinch me moment that will live with me forever. Stood next to a guy that is a ST holder from the south coast, comes to every single game, he said its the best football he's seen in 40 years. 

The performance was bloody excellent 

 

[479Villan]

2 hours ago, TRO said:

I would like to make a special mention for Barclay.

When he comes on he looks assured and fits in like a hand in a glove.

Would you say he is....safe as money in the bank?

[Rob182]

2 hours ago, El Segundo said:

I think he let himself down with letting them get away with several fouls against Bailey not given.  The one where the guy was holding Bailey by the arm for about 4 seconds before he went down was bizarrely given the other way.  There was another given against Rogers where he nicked the ball off the number 22's toe clean as a whistle but the ref fell for the guy going to ground.   Gave a foul against Carlos after their guy backed into him and he simply stood his ground.  Far from the worst ref we've had but I still thought there were several poor and inconsistent decisions, so gave him average. 

Have you watched the replays back of all of those to check? The Bailey holding one looked like they were both holding to me (albeit from up in the Upper Holte).

[Podster]

I say this because Martinez got no MOTM votes. Maybe it's because he is so good that it is easy to overlook just how good he is, I think his top class saves have almost become the norm. It could (not would, just could) have been a different story if they had scored first, but yet another clean sheet, his presence in the box is a massive influnce. I genuinely believe the opposion are intimidated by him. However I can understand why Rogers got the most votes, yet another outstanding performance from him.

 

Edited Wednesday at 13:56 by Podster