Wow. I find myself stunned after watching that utter, utter load of rubbish.
It was that bad that I honestly can’t find a single redeeming feature.
Looking at that, combined with last week’s non-showing, we have serious problems.
I’ll start at the back. Pau. He is never a defender as long as he has a hole in his proverbial. I reckon I’m probably faster than him and I’m old enough to be his grandad.
We pushed up far too much against a side that has oodles of pace, where we have none.
It was all quite simple and incredibly basic. Sit back, wait for us to give the ball away again and then batter us with pace. I’m sorry, but how Emery allowed this is totally beyond me.
Then Komara gets injured so we put Buendia on. Again, I’m sorry, but I don’t see that as the right move at all. I’d agree that we needed creativity, but it was more on the wings. He can go for me. He’s just not productive enough and never has been for the Villa. Don’t agree? Look at his stats.
Watkins never had a look in, Rogers didn’t look anything like getting into the game and McGinn did nothing.
It was so obvious there was something seriously wrong and Emery did nothing to change it until it was far too late.
So what was going on? I believe Emery likes to give players every chance to hit form. It’s how it works. Players just cannot be at the top of their game all the time. I get that.
But we have too many who look frankly awful and need changing out.
But then, you have to question the tactics too. We played the first half so slowly I nearly fell asleep. Yet we upped the pace in the second half, which is something I’ve noticed is a regular thing. Why is that? Why do we let teams get in first, then have to try to haul things back?
It’s poor, in my opinion.
And even though we picked up the pace, it still looked to me like we wouldn’t score in a month of Sundays.
We look totally toothless and I find that seriously concerning.
We had how many corners? And didn’t get close to scoring.
Brentford must have thought all their birthdays had come at once, while I thought it was that bad, I didn’t even watch the last 10 minutes.
I don’t remember the last time I finished watching a game on the telly early.
I can see it happening more and more too, because what was on show today was nothing like entertaining.
Stunned.
It was that poor.
I agree badger i nearly fell asleep too in fact watched utupe a bloke cutting and splitting firewood, it was definitely more entertaining than watching villa.
What’s happened they slow in build up play last season but this is unbelievable 😳
I think if carried on playing till next month they wouldn’t score.
Keeping Rogers on when he plays like this is madness what does malen have to do to play..
They say doing the same thing everytime with same results is a sign of madness well emery is driving me mad 😠
This type of football has gone its all about pace and direct attacking play nowadays
We’re to late again and playing a style that’s in the passed, maybe if had emery 5 or more years ago.
But who can we get to replace him that’s the problem 🤔
The premier league and uefa have succeeded in putting us back in our place mid table obscurity.
Very sad days ahead I think.
I’m not calling to replace him Roy.
Yet.
I do wonder if there was a bit of trying to prove a point though???
To what aim? is how I would reply to that one though. I don’t think it’s like the hierarchy are holding funds back, is it?
Badger, The word is Complacent, it’s in the manager and the team and needs to be addressed. BFR might be right in saying players that’s been sold and loans out might and could be a factor. That game had us all guessing in the substitutes he brought on, you yourself commented Beundia ? What , Unai has to stop pointing to his head indicating think !! because he obviously gave his defence problems. No I’m not saying he must go because he’s the best in twenty years at Villa, that game was the worse I’ve witnessed for a long time it must have shortened the waiting list with people saying no thank you. He’s got to listen to us fans and players when looking back to what was wrong.
I’ve been complaining about Emery’s tactics for 18 months. His results flatter him. You could read a book waiting for Villa to do something exciting. Football is supposed to be entertaining not just grinding out results by wearing opponents down. (And fans.) As another comment on here says, this style of football has had its day. Keep ball – tippy tippy – playing out from the back – endless backwards/sideways passing = boring. Today we had 77% possession. What’s the point if you do nothing with it ? I want a return to blood & thunder, devil may care football. If we are going to lose, at least give us some excitement.
Correct, John. But Unai likes control; blood and thunder = chaos. Unai doesn’t fo chaos. But Lambert also used to claim we controlled the game after every defeat, pointing to the possession stats. Glasner has already said: “we let them have possession and wait for the mistake.” Then the pace kills you. So who’s actually in control? Clue: “we let them…”
Yes, keep possession by all means, but there has to be a happy medium. For me, that happy medium is the transition. When we win the ball we should be looking to get a shot off within 20 seconds. But we dilly and dally, the opposition organise and no chance is created, never mind getting a shot off.
We need younger, faster players. Jackson for Watkins makes sense age wise but I worry about his injury record as opposed to Ollie’s flawless appearance record for 4 years, which is remarkably. Ramsey is what we need; he’d run at players like Gascoigne. But we were forced to sell. Where’s this all going? Are we f***** and all wasting our time? Have the powers that be pummelled the Villa into submission? Big balls are needed in the coming days (not footballs), from the board down to the players…
‘Big balls are needed in the coming days’ – spot on BFR.
Emery and Monchi have to take some really brave decisions in the light of the financial sanctions imposed on the club which compared to other clubs under EUFA sanctions (such as Chelsea and Barcelona) are brutal and designed to ‘keep us in our place’.
So the challenge is on – be brave – sell Rogers who at £100m is well overpriced (but some ‘big club’ will pay it) and Watkins (around £50m) and wave two fingers at the bean counters.
I trust NSWE to reinvest sensibly – we need a high class right sided CB and a quality understudy to Cash plus a good quality forward and I’d add Asensio to that list – quality and an ability to play through a low block. With Asensio we could also sell Buendia.
Let’s see some brave forward thinking.
Spot on Badger.
I just don’t like the current set up of the team. With Rogers / Tilesman (Buendia) / McGinn attacking set up there is no width or paste. With McGinn on the right linked to Cash this side if the pitch has no threat.
Rogers is either struggling with not being fully fit or needs to stop believing in his over hyped status.
Kamara and Onana double pivot is not working.
Why buy Malen £140,000k a week not to start. Ramsey, Rashford, Bailey & Asencio have all left and still he can’t start.
Torres has no pace as is exposed. I would go as far as saying Emery has scrambled thinking at the moment. He has always refused to play 2 sane footed centre halves together. Last week when Konsa was sent off Kamara was moved to right sided centre half. Today he starts with 2 left footed centre halves. For consistency, why was Kamara not there. Allowing Tilesman to go back into the pivot. In turn Rogers at 10 and Malen and Guessand out wide.
As someone has said Emery rewards loyalty. Unfortunately too many of these players are now consistently letting the side down.
Emery needs to get the right loan players in this week. If not, it will be a long and painful season.
I know this is going to cause a stir but what about nuno from forest exciting attacking football he was good at wolves and look at forest last season
He’s in tune with the modern way of playing.
I liked emery but its just getting very boring now.
Everyone is just too comfortable they need a rocket up the proverbial.
It’s not just the last 2 games he just keeps picking his favourites Rogers keeps losing the ball sell him while we still can get something for him.
Something drastic needs to happen and soon
Sorry if it upsets people but I can’t see how emery can change his ways its time he went.
I said pretty much the same thing on the E.Mail comments over a year ago and got slaughtered. Emery makes a simple game far too complicated – and boring. I wouldn’t be sorry to see him go but he’d probably be replaced by more of the same. I’m baffled by the obsession with foreign managers as though they are gods. And if I hear commentators say ‘you have to be ‘patient’ one more time !! I’m sick of being patient. I want to be entertained and excited. Something Emery doesn’t seem capable of.
John, you would be sorry if the equivalents of Big Feck and Lambert followed.
We’d all be very, very sorry.
The problem, I believe, is a combination of all the PSR talk, which has clearly affected the players, and the uncertainty of the still open window. Refocus, set targets, settle down…
But I do understand; the backwards passes and playing out from the back make me want to punch the person nearest to me.
BFR. Me too. And the one that has steam coming out of my ears is Martinez playing chicken with oncoming forwards with the ball at his feet, then has to do a rushed pass to a defender who is tightly marked and immediately in trouble. WHY ? Especially when one of our players is unmarked upfield screaming for the ball but ignored.
Absolutely correct. Totally agree.
I’d take anyone who plays exciting football instead of the sleep inducing tedium that Emery gives us.
There are a number of top managers around so Emery isn’t the b’all and end all. If he doesn’t sort it then I believe NSWE will move to replace him – they’ve given him the keys to the kingdom but it’s their money and they demand success.
However, he’s undoubtedly earned some slack and tbf Villa are having to operate under severe financial restrictions disproportionate to those imposed on Chelsea and Barcelona given their massively higher income and lucrative deals, like invitations to the Club World Cup.
For me the bigger risk is NSWE throwing their hands up and saying ‘we’ve had enough of this’ and putting the club up for sale. It doesn’t matter how rich the owners they’re all be hogtied by the same nonsense.
On Nuno – yes he’s proved he’s a good manager given the tools to work with but like Big Ange he never seems to last more than three years at any club!
Unai, it’s seems a manager you just don’t tell what to do. It’s his way or nothing, has anyone heard any comments from the club?, I hope he addresses he got it wrong but I don’t think he’ll admit it .I’m still pissed off over that game on holiday paid for Wi-Fi and got that rubbish.
Bill, you are right about Unai not apolgising, he isn’t the type. Better that he learns from his mistakes even if he won’t admit them. Torres up against Mateta next week: Torres slaughtered by Mateta at Wembley and at fault yesterday. He is too slow and too weak at centre half, but Unai bought him. Mings gets moved sideways so Torres can play left CB.
Buendia was not a Unai purchase so he was quickly hooked when he hadn’t improved us. Onana is a Unai buy so he retains a place, he scores the occasional goal but isn’t influencing the game the way his price tag suggested.
I do agree that Emery has earned the right to be able to turn results around. He took on a freefalling Gerard team and propelled us upwards to European football.
A couple of things have annoyed me though and one is the walking football, which is tolerated when results are going our way. The other thing that frustrates me is how poor is communication with reporters and fans are. I would have thought considering how long he has been in England now, that he would be able to speak English more fluently. When you compare him to other foreign coaches, he must be one of the worst.
I felt before yesterday’s game that we might not win although I didn’t expect us to lose. Palace up next Sunday and if we continue to play the same players and the same tactics, I’m convinced we will lose despite Eze going. Hell, we could easily be in a relegation battle if we don’t get something quickly.
My team would be Martinez, Cash, Maatsen, Konsa, Mings, Tielemans and Kamara or McGinn as holding midfielders with Rogers as a 10 and Guessand, Watkins and Malen up front.
Agree that looks a good a team as we could put out at least it has pace up top and maybe goals!anyway can’t be worse.
I think the players don’t know if their coming or going anymore.
The establishment has succeeded I’m afraid in getting rid of villa as a threat.
We had the chance to join back in 1992 when up with man u. But as usual didn’t push on then and spend to maintain or improve.
Very depressing watching villa now.
Knowing Emery, he will probably pick Torres who has been dominated by Mateta in the last few games and he will play Rogers out of position yet again.
When you look at Emery / Monchi signings, the likes of Onana, Maatsen and Malen at around £120m combined, you have to argue that the best players were signed prior to them arriving. Of course there is still time for them to become value for money but they need to be playing consistently or do they not rate their own signings?
One hope is that Palace have an away European game on Thursday night which they can’t take lightly.
After watching the football this week, I’m sure the league and the media feel like giving themselves a massive pat on the back. Spurs now seem to have all the pulling power and will be fine, big players leaving the likes of palace and ourselves, the hounding Nuno and blowing up a fall out between management and ownership at Forrest.
United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs have all been well looked after and the rest is an utter joke
It’s all becoming a circus act now, VAR, corners for 8 seconds on the ball and I’ve just seen the game play on for five minutes between United and Fulham before pulling back for a penalty. It’s like somebody mentioned before and compared to WWE, I think it is all heading that way. Congrats to everyone envolved for destroying the game. No team can dream anymore. If the season carry’s on like this , it will be the last one I follow. I don’t know why these teams like ourselves don’t walk away and start a new devision and just for giggles leave the “Big 6” out of it, I’m sure it would get enough supporters . FIFA don’t own football!
Tom, A combination of foreign managers and the ‘men in suits; have made a simple game complicated. Perfect example is the stupid offside situation with play continuing before the flag goes up. Are they waiting for a broken leg first ? And VAR taking 5 minutes to decide a toenail was offside. Stupid. And foreign managers – Emery incuded have turned the game into a computer programme needing slide rules and unversity degrees in gobbledgook. Give me the days when a manager didn’t worry about the opposition. The instructions were – attack and score more goals than the other lot. Where is Kevin Keegan ?
Clough literally had no tactics! 😆
I blame Pep.
Anyone see the banner the Palace fans made about Marinakis? Wow. Surprised they got away with that!
Didn’t but it’s being ‘investigated’.
He’d get on better with his fans if he wore a big white kaftan and dang a few Demis Rousos covers…!
It is a joke though which demonstrates how ‘stupid’ a number of regulations are within EUFA, EPL and FA and, once again, calls into question the way in which these organisations are run. The fans are entitled to be unhappy.
The joke around Forest’s owner (is joke the right expression?) is in regard to dual ownership when it seemed Forest might qualify for the Champions League he ‘reduces’ his involvement as an owner by establishing a blind trust. Hey Ho when they don’t qualify (so don’t clash with his other ownership(s) ) he dismantles the blind trust, sacks the Trustees and resumes control of Forest.
One can understand why the Palace fans are apoplectic.
On the transfer front, I now fully expect Villa to sell Rogers for between £80 and £100m to reinvest in the team which is obviously needed.
Buendia might still be out the door particularly if Rogers is sold and we get a decent offer for him.
That sort of money for Rogers would resolve many of our immediate PSR / EUFA problems and, imho, makes sense – after all he’s had just one good season and anyone paying that sort of money is taking a gamble.
As Sawiris said, (paraphrasing) it’s now all about the bean counters, not football
Not sure why you think that Hitch?
It seems even the media have given up on that rubbish.
On a brighter note, Kamara’s injury is not too bad. Still out for two or three weeks though.
Depends which bit of ‘rubbish’ you read 🙂
Plus we desperately need to freshen up the squad which would require funds from a major sale – that’s Rogers. The rest is just pennies in the sweetie jar – which is a very sobering thought!
Agreed, but you can’t keep just selling your gems.
As I’ve said previously, Ramsey was always favourite and the rest are pretty much deadwood, who wouldn’t have featured under Unai anyway, regardless of what we thought of them, so no loss whatsoever, imo.
I think we’ve done decent business up to now.
No big signings in, but I think we pretty much knew that anyway.
It’s why I’m somewhat concerned. The squad is nowhere near good enough because there are too many gaping holes.
And there’s nothing we can do about it.
I’dbe cheeky and ask Chelsea if they’d consider swapping Jackson, Nkunku and Disasi for Rogers. Sounds like a good deal to me and would fill 3 holes…
(don’t even try to make a joke about which holes)
Just no. Absolutely no way would I do that.
Nkunku isn’t all that, I thought the spelling was “Disaster” and I’m not turning cartwheels over Jackson either, tbh.
We can’t get Watkins into the game, but hey, what do I know?
Top creativity is what we need and it’s not Asensio either, imo. He’ll be okay for a short while then hmmmmmm
Was kidding, Badger. Chelsea would say we’re about 50 million short.
Everton have signed Dibling. Watch him go. Him and Jack will f*** us up in a couple of weeks. Visions of Villa fans chucking themselves into the river as we propnu thd league. Both he and Jack are exactly what Villa are currently missing. 🤦♂️
And someone please tell me how the giant F are Everton able to buy players after moving into a near billion pound spanking new stadium and have been toiling in the arse end of the PL for the last how many years yet we can’t. What the effing hell is going on?!
*prop up
piece of shit phone
Do we need Monchi BFR? It’s a bit like having a Ferrari and not being allowed to drive it. To be honest, I am far from impressed with the incoming signings under his watch so far.
I’m getting to the point where I would welcome a Super league. Let the Sky 6 go and join up with Real Madrid, PSG, Barcelona and the rest.
The other question is how long does Emery get to turn things round? Palace at home followed by Everton and Sunderland away. It’s not inconceivable to think we might still have one point after those games.
Don’t know what to say, Holte. I do know that when Ramsey was sold, the mood and vibe across the club completely plummeted, and it wasn’t helped by Mings’ and McGinn’s comments on social media, confirming fears that we’re being screwed (again).
Up to that point, we’d been reassuring ourselves that Villa were doing a Liverpool and saving a bigger pot for next summer. Unfortunately, that pot has been revealed to be fit for pissing in, and not much else. I don’t know why, though, after a CL run to the quarters and two strong PL seasons. Is it simply that there aren’t enough Villa fans in the world and those that do exist don’t buy enough merch? Surely, it can’t be that simple. Other than the size of VP, WHY is Villa’s revenue so low compared to our supposed competitors? What are we missing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUKirxF4KRY
If you’re bored and have a spare 10 minutes.
Prediction: Dibling will be worth more than Rogers within 5 years (he’s only 19).
Are refs now pulling play back and reviewing possible red cards in VAR now? I can’t keep up with this anymore
Premier League, corrupt as f***
when you think how pathetic spurs were last season in comparison to us. We provided some really entertaining and dramatic nights in that champions league, miles away from spurs and yet, here they are very much in for Morgan Roger’s . Nuts ! And again, the media and the league have done everything to put doom and gloom around the likes of Villa, Palace, Forrest and hyped up the likes of spurs and United . If something doesn’t change this season then I am totally and utterly done with it. I’ll save my time and money and do something better.
Certainly seems wrong, Tom, I agree.
Sorry everyone my wwf and premier league conspiracy theory showed itself again last night. Liverpools youngster just 16 comes of the bench for a fine last minute winner against a villainous Newcastle, totally against the run of play.
I had the same thought, Tom.
While pondering the Villa’s issues, consider: since the magnificent CL qualifying season 2023-24, the following players have departed:
Douglas Luiz, Moussa Diaby, Leon Bailey, Jhon Duran, and Jacob Ramsey. How many goals and assists there in the last two seasons? It’s probably close to 100. The first 3 on that list were outstanding in the 23-24 season, and we know what Duran did for half a season last year. How is that different to Young, Milner, Downing, and Carew over two seasons?
Emery HAS TO give Malen and Guessand a run of games. McGinn isn’t a wide forward, quite simply, and Watkins looks completely lost (again.)
EXCL: Crystal Palace enter the race for French centre back Jaydee Canvot after Aston Villa bid rejected last week.
Fabrizio Romano
If Palace want him, he must be good. What odds we miss out?