You know how it is. You just get a feeling and that’s simply what I’ve got for this game.
It seems I’m not alone either, as having read around it seems quite a few Villa fans agree; Arsenal look very vulnerable at the back, with even Watford, who have had a poor start, coming back against them.
I’ve got a £5 bet on with an Arsenal supporting workmate of mine. I don’t like betting, especially with workmates, so I kept it small. It was his suggestion and he even gave me the draw, so I couldn’t resist.
The same chap is very confident about their attack and midfield, but when I asked him about their defence he went very quiet.
To which I offered that we simply aren’t clicking up front, so he might not have to worry too much.
And this is where I find this game interesting.
You’d suspect Arsenal have the quality to breach our defence, but do we have enough to breach theirs?
I have to be honest and say I doubt it, or certainly not more than once, if we keep Wesley so isolated.
We quite simply have to get either McGinn or Grealish further forward to bring Wesley into the game more
Either would make sense, as although Grealish is obviously the better creater, it’s McGinn who has looked our most likely player to score over the last few games, because he actually has that shot and ability to get in where it hurts the opposition.
Given that McGinn has by far the better engine to get back, it has to be Grealish who moves forward, in my opinion.
I’ve been busy at work, so have only scanned the headlines, which suggest that Dean Smith isn’t going to change formation, but has hinted that Wesley is too remote.
At least it seems that Smith knows the problem and that’s a good thing.
I still think we need to get Grealish in the hole mostly, but he could swap out with Jota or El Ghazi, to mix it up and try and confuse their dodgy defence.
Either way, playing too deep will only play into Arsenal’s hands.
There’s a strange, to my mind, stat that’s been thrown out there, where Arsenal have conceded the most shots aginst them, in the whole of Europe.
To which I say, “who cares? have they conceded the most goals?”
I think West Ham had one shot against us on target, but they still got a point.
It’s a meaningless stat, but it does suggest we should get plenty of chances.
We just need to take them and that’s frankly not looking likely if nothing changes.
Dean Smith needs to work out how we can get Wesley into the game more.
It’s easy to slate the striker, but he’s getting very few touches and is hardly getting chance to hone his game in a new league.
Which is where I find it strange that Wesley is getting so much stick for not looking good enough.
Or is it more that it’s not actually Villa fans that have concerns about him, but other football sites?
I’m quite happy to give Wesley a few months more yet, before I totally condemn him as not good enough.
Squad news is that we have a fully fit squad, Kodjia apart and even he’s lightly training.
I can’t be arsed to see how Arsenal stand.
My prediction?
It all depends on if we get Wesley into the game or not, as I think he could easily make their defence suffer.
If we do, it’s a 2-1 win and Wesley gets one.
If not, it’s a 1-0 loss.
I’d take the draw, as that would be a really good result.
We need to attack, simple as, but it’s risky against a very good Arsenal side.
Yet that’s what Smith said we will do overall.
He is yet to prove it, to me.
Try to mess about at the back and we will be caught out, simple.
Go long, when it’s needed and play clever in their half.
No doubt easier said than done.
As much as I want Wesley to come good, I fear there isn’t enough in his locker to make it in the premier league. It’s true that he gets isolated but in my mind, for a striker of his stature, he gets knocked off the ball too easily. I’m surprised that we bought him considering the big lone striker is proving a thing of the past. Look at Benteke and Lukaku, both struggling when defenders get wise to them. Man City and Liverpool are both playing a mobile front three, and for me this is the way forward.
Tomorrow against Arsenal I will be delighted with a draw. Realistically though I think it will be about keeping the score line respectable.
Apologies for all the negativity but we are in for a scrap to stay in this league. I think a few of us think we are better than we are but fact is that play off winners don’t have a good record of survival. I would take 17th now if offered it.
Holte, I’ve always said I’d take 17th.
Wesley, to my mind, is much more than “a lump it up to him” type payer.
Smith would never have bought him, if we look at his logic in the way we play the game under him, if you think about it.
I think the bloke has enough skills, but if you don’t get him on the ball, it really doesn’t matter.
I’d guess he’s had maybe 10 chances in this season?
Probably less, in a new season, new league.
That said, he is a bit of a fanny and needs to man up.
Which I’m sure he will. He just hasn’t seen enough play in the Prem, to my mind.
There’s a suggestion that we might spend £20 mill on another striker in the winter window.
What’s that going to get you? It’s a lot of money, but frankly, not even a Maupay.
I don’t believe for one minute that Arsenal will thrash us at all.
If they do, it’s because we’ll have attacked too much.
And I’d rather that, than sitting back, in hope.
The chances are we lose this game, either way. It’s Arsenal away, after all.
Smith has consistently said we’ll attack and my bigger concern is that he has not shown it yet.
Have to agree, Badger. The lack of attacking football can be down to a number of things: tactics, inadequacy of players at this level; or just plain fear that if we attack, we’ll get caught on the counter. Or its all 3, and Smith is playing these tactics because he doesn’t believe that we’ll score if we commit men forward. If Smith is scared and playing ‘safe’ tactics, it’s pointless because we’re already in the relegation zone, so nothing to lose by attacking. Finally, if the players really aren’t good enough, well, we’re f*****.
I’ll say it again: switch to 3,4,3 formation and see what happens:
Heaton
Engles, Mings, Hause
Guilbert, Luiz, McGinn, Hourihane
Grealish
El Ghazi, Wesley
That’s an extremely flexible line-up that can easily change to a 4,3,2, a 5,3,2, 4,3,3, 4,1,3,2, or the current 4,1,4,1 (among others)
F****** go for it!
Or will he set up with two defensive mids – Nakamba and Luiz?
I’d be disappointed if he did, Hitch. Marco Silva got slated for doing that yesterday, and rightly so.
first off i never gave my response to hammers game was busy. before game i would have taken a point, so having got the point in the end, i have to be happy with that. but some fans seem to be less so, i feel some fans don’t understand, that we are not the great team they think we are. but we are potentially building towards somewhere towards that goal.
we wasn’t bad against hammers, we restricted them to little to nothing most of game, but this is where i see the problems, i feel new players need more time to settle, especially those new to England. also our balance is not quite there. we conceded two early goals against Bournemouth, so over compensated lately on being more water tight at the back, but smith knows this and its just tweaking things slightly. in his summoning up he was unhappy we drew and wanted to be more creative and scoring goals or even goal.
on wesley i don’t recall him having too many chances,just a near post header which was driven in from the right, that was not a golden chance, but one you might think he would have done better with. i like him, think he will improve once settled, needs to learn his team mates strengths and what they like to do and they need to learn what he likes. then hard work is creating these situations on the field on match days, with the opposition standing in your way.
on arsenal its a tough one, cause they are also off form and looking to put that right, as are we. i want us to be more comfortable on the ball. its my only real criticism this season, i feel we will score goals and create enough. but we are sloppy with the ball unlike smiths teams. its like most of the players are nervous and this is also unlike smith players. the individuals of our team need to each look at themselves and believe. then we will see the collective team improve performances and results will come too
i would take a draw 1 1 but hope for better.
ps London again means we play today against 12 men and the crowd
I really don’t expect anything from this one. Routine win for Arsenal. We really need to click soon and it’s hard to see where the inspiration is going to come from.
Hopefully the team will prove me wrong.
Is Luiz injured? Not even on the bench…
Trezeguet back in. He offers nothing, in my opinion. Hourihane should get in ahead of him all day long.
If you got, Bein sports HD 11. UTV. Man U are losing 1-0 ..to West Ham 13 mins to go.
Cracking shot bt Maginn ,we areplayingwell ,Arsenal are nothingto worryoerfro whatican see. Free kick villa saved.
Goal Mcginn
Going at Asenal now, free kick outside the box cleared. Attacking again that was close nearly our second goal.
that sending off for arsenal was deserved, no different to trazeguet against palace. arsenal players tried their upmost to change the referee minds. i thought they managed it too but for once the referee didnt favour the cocknys.
thought villa were going well all first half, attacking well and defending well. we also kept the ball well. we finally look like we know we belong back in the premiership.
got to finish off arsenal now, be brave and go for the second, while being savy and not give this referee a chance to even up the numbers.
When will our players shoot at the lower and not at the head at a goal keeper, still 2-1 us.
Mcginn has run himself into the ground 2-2 now, he needed to be replaced but to late.
Were going down. 2 games on the bounce against 10 men and we fucked it up. I dont care its Arsenal we should have been 2 goals ahead by now and now were 3-2 down. Absolute joke.
No, we’re not going down at all.
Not on today’s performance, imo.
Mcginn has a heart of gold but he’s fuck and has been for 30 minutes, why hasn’t the coach seen it. It’s over we lost.
We have 1 good half in us thats it. 2nd half was sloppy, tired, poor use of subs, dont really look like scoring, Wesley wont get us 20 goals. There are not 3 worse teams than us at present. We have a very very tough run of fixtures coming up that on performances this season will see us lose all of them. Not good times at all. I am not optimistic and i see exactly whats coming. Back in the relegation zone. Its points that matter at the end of the day not performances.
3-2 Arsenal, they want the ball more, Lansbury on for Elgarzi. T minutes to go.
It’s going to be a very long hard season. Why can we never profit from a man advantage yet always concede when we go down to 10 men. Another defeat on the road and another defeat in London.
My optimism has all but evaporated – how can we not make the most of a man advantage?
We’ve equalled yet another unwanted club record of 10 straight defeats on the road in the top flight (1924 – 25 season) and now gone 18 away games in the PL without a win – that’s depressing in the extreme.
As at Spurs, it seems we collapsed In the last 10 minutes.
Now we cannot afford anything but a win against Burnley.
second half started well, but villa in truth bottled this game. we are still having self belief issues, having conceded the first equaliser. scored straight away to lead again, we stopped playing again once in front, retreated deep back into our half. arsenal got out of jail, by villa fearing to win the game, we already had won.