So I went to the game and quite frankly hated it.
This is not an analysis of the game in any way and I’m just talking about the experience.
As per usual (and I’ve been to Anfield a few times), it’s generally a very good ground to go to. The stands are massive and it’s basically a different version of Villa park. The big difference is it’s seen a lot more achievements in it’s time, which adds to the feeling of it being somewhat sacred.
I always like the experience of Anfield.
Consider that I’m currently staying about 3-4 miles from the ground.
I spoke to many a red fan asking the best options and the replies were all similar. It used to be not so bad getting in/out, but since they increased the capacity, it’s a nightmare.
And this time was different. Since my previous torrid time, which I don’t want to discuss any more, I can’t stand the cold. It really annoys me, as I’ve worked in the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter many times and it’s never been a problem. But the weight loss, which I just can’t put back on is probably the cause and I was already a skinny wretch beforehand.
But that’s how it is and the truth is, with the weather suddenly turning nippy, I really didn’t fancy going at all.
On arriving at the ground, I was already cold and stood in the stand where things just got worse. I was so cold by half time, I decided to leave, having not been able to concentrate on the game at all.
So basically, it was an hour trip each way and more involving a short drive, a train and a walk, as I decided to quickly walk to Lime St, in a vain attempt to warm myself up. Add in waiting time, it was more like an hour, 15 minutes.
I concluded that leaving the digs at 5.15pm, arriving back at around 11.50pm and spending about £100 just isn’t worth the hassle to me anymore. Particularly when I can just pay a sub or whatever and watch it on telly, with a far superior view and all the comforts of home.
So what did I think of the result?
Well, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but the performance was poor and if it offered something, I’d have struggled, but stayed to watch more.
More of a concern is that we’re now 15th in the current form league. That probably won’t stay like that.
But it’s obvious that the Champion’s league is too much for the squad. The players just can’t handle the mental requirements in my opinion and swapping players out too much is detrimental to the team.
Which leads me to a question that’s very controversial, but nagging away at me.
What do we do now? Concentrate on doing our best in the CL?
Or prioritise the Premier League, to make sure we qualify again next year?
I know what Emery will want, because it’s best for him and his ambitions.
But I have said previously that the way forward for the club is to consistently keep qualifying for the very top table.
There’s absolutely no point getting to, say the quarters or semis if we’re not there next year.
And anyway, if we’re not playing in warmer climes, how am I ever going to see an away game again?
I called a draw but we have to stop giving goals away.
Better than a loss but only just with Chelsea away next.
If we need a CB we should make a big bid for Gheui?
Or Lacriox?
The spine/quality in that side are Smithy’s signings, the rest of the dross, Emery.
If we finish above 9th I’ll eat my hat.
I’m on a cruise and in St Lucia. Just managed to get free wi-fi to check result and wish I hadn’t bothered. Typical Villa! What’s with the injuries and crap defending? This season is going to be a massive anti climax once we go out the Champions League. Has Emery’s tactics taken us as far as we can? Grrrrrrrrrr
Emery not a tactical genius.
Starts with 2 full-backs who are not as good as those benched. Learns nothing from being out-run from half way by several teams before today, and imagines Palace cannot do likewise. Well they did. Brings on Jaden who is not now a premiership player, he did not win a single duel.
Calling for the team to improve is eventually wishful thinking. When the are not improving any more then you have to start covering the holes and disguising the weaknesses – such as a slow defence.
Has anyone seen Glasner’s comments about Villa’s spaces and how he told his players to exploit them? Worrying. Very worrying.
Mate we were bubbled against Lille last season, they kept hitting a diagonal ball either left to right or right to left into the space behind the defender and it killed us.
High back line, no pace.
It’s not too hard to work out.
(It’s not too hard to work out.)
I mean for the opposition.
I, sadly, think that Emery’s star may be waning.
We’re too easy to score against and Emery seems to be oblivious to the facts although we are our own worst enemy giving the ball away in crucial areas.
It wouldn’t surprise me though if he takes us deep into the CL this season.
Did Arsenal recognise his limitations? Have no doubts if NWSE doubt his ability to take us any further forward he will be gone.
Trying to keep an open mind.
UTMV
I honestly think he overthinks it, some manager of yesteryear (Cloughie I think) was asked about the secret of good management, his reply…
“Good players!”
I don’t think that’s too far from the truth.
The players we’ve bought are a downgrade on what we had.
Rogers better than Diaby?
Onana than kamara?
Tielmans better than Luiz?
Duran better then Ollie?
Mattson better than Moreno?
I think unfortunately emery has been found out.
The defence is crap Rogers seems to have lost his way Bailey back to square one,Carlos to slow.
Why not put Rogers out wide left mcginn behind Watkins or even put Watkins left with Duran in middle, maybe go with 3 cb pau,mings,konsa and either 1fb or both further forward.
Start from the back solid.
I think biggest miss maybe diaby although Luis controlled the tempo of play I think. Baean may make a big difference instead of Bailey perhaps buy Luis back in January plus rb,cb. Also think martines needs a good kick up the backside he’s not best in world right now.
But all this just my opinion what does everyone else think should be done???
☹️
Mind you Citeh have now lost five on the trot – Rodri is a massive loss for them!
I don’t think that’s the issue.
Arsenal, after they had the man sent off just sat back with two banks of four and the genius that is Pep ( Yawn) couldn’t find a way to break them down.
Hence everyone is doing the same, two banks of four hit them on the counter.
I love it if I’m honest 🤣
Hang on dudes, we’re seeing problems here that are far from unsurmountable.
Some of the reactions here are shocking! It’s close to some sort of ‘Emery Out’ brigade! Verging on O’Leary’s comments of yesteryear..
I’ve gently suggested that Emery isn’t the great messiah for months at least.
I had a very strong feeling that we wouldn’t win today and it’s why I haven’t posted before or after.
Emery is incredibly naive in his “we’ll score one more than you” approach and many are saying he can’t carry on with his gung ho tactics which I’ve slated Spurs for.
We are great to watch for a neutral, but that defence is bloody awful and totally ill-disciplined.
What happened to the high line that caught out attackers for fun?
And mostly because the fact that we needed a RB was poking us in the eyes like a sharp stick, yet not acted on.
It’s nuts because I keep hearing Pool fans saying how we’re a good side, yet I keep telling them I don’t expect a result.
Don’t expect to hear much from me because I think we’re going to seriously struggle in the Prem this season.
We are frankly dogshit and couldn’t beat a bottom 3 team at home. Again.
And if I keep posting about it, I’ll only keep repeating that.
Sod the CL this season and concentrate on qualifying for it again next season, imo.
We have absolutely no chance of doing that, are we better than Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal or Chelsea?
Man U could possibly be back in the running with a change of stewardship and to be totally honest I simply don’t think we are good enough neither management or personal wise.
As posted earlier, we finish higher than 9th, then I’ll eat my hat.
“We are frankly dogshit”
Harsh, but not too wide of the mark.
Not long ago we beat Bayern Munich at home. We were the best thing since sliced bread at that point and now Emery isn’t good enough.
The reality is probably that Emery is a victim of achieving too much too soon.
Managing CL football whist trying to keep a top 4 position in the Prem and keep within the financial parameters dictated to us is hugely difficult.
People need to be a bit more realistic. Let’s see how the season pans out. We need a few players to regain form and a couple of decent results and we are back on track.
UTV
Well said. And it’s probably more impossible than difficult.
No, don’t agree with that RSS but I do think we’ve been weakened in terms of player quality – partly through injury and partly through a transfer policy that may well be dictated to by PSR rules (or whatever the current acronym is).
I find it interesting that Villa generally vote with Citeh against proposals on changes to EPL rules to further restrict funding / investment.
What worries me more than our current form is NSWE getting so frustrated by the restriction on their ability to invest that they put the club up for sale. This is driven by teams with much lower opportunities to raise funds (and also those that want to retain the status quo) and their jealousy of teams with the ability (for instance)/to leverage Sponsorship through related companies.
Just my view of course.
Don’t agree with (A) dog shit
Or
(B) We won’t finish above 9th.
?
The politics?
Well, what control do we have over that?
It is what it is and they’ll do what they’re going to do.
Or (C) Quality for the CL?
Absolutely no chance Hitch.
(Qualify)
Apologies RSS – I didn’t agree with the dog shit.
The stats were interesting – Palace over performed their XG and we massively under performed our XG; which is a recurring theme.
We’ve now conceded four goals from turnovers where our defenders have been poorly positioned (too high) and out paced.
Emery said we ‘deserved to win’ – I don’t agree with that – but on the balance of play and had we taken our chances we should have won.
Top coaches need to find a way to break down the parked bus whilst defending against fast transitions. I would suggest at present we don’t have enough quality players to do that.
Well that’s it – close the club down. Sack Emery and sell off all the players, as they are a bunch of losers!
Really! Clubs lose football matches and most clubs lose regularly. Remember we have had a history of this for multiple years.
Along comes Emery and our defacto has been winning. I’m amazed at the fickleness of some fans.
There are a few factors at work impacting on Villa:
1: Injuries – Konsa, Onana, Ramsey etc all out yesterday. Before Cash came on there were 5 missing regular starters.
2: PSR – NSWE would fund Emery on required purchases. For example, Villa wanted a right back last year but were not able to do so due to the financial restrictions. Further, watching the match yesterday I was wandering if the team has less quality than last year. Selling of Luiz and Diaby have not improved the squad.
3: Form – too many players are off the pace at the moment and injuries / lack of quality to replace comes to the forefront. Who would have thought Bailey would regress to the level he has – rendering the entire right hand side of the team’s attacking potential as useless.
Finally all this rubbish about Emery not being good at it. Look at the multiple trophies he has won with multiple clubs. Then compare them with the trophies all the other managers in the league have won. Yep that’s right, it’s only Pep who has done better and he has lost 5 on the trot. Perhaps City should sack him.
Apart from your opening sentence, all very fair points Sid.
I think perhaps we’re all asking similar questions – maybe some of us in a more ‘outspoken’ way. There’s no denying that we’re not playing at the same level as last season on a consistent basis.
However, we all want the same for our club and that’s success.
👏👏👏
Spot on Sid. Changes are needed but Emery will sort it. He seems to be going mental on the touchline. I’m looking forward to the Juve game!
The defence is a worry, though. Way too high. Deeper with a strong offside trap is what’s needed. He needs to react. He can’t keep doing that. When we get a corner, it’s a goalscoring opportunity for the opposition. That’s wrong. And embarrassing. And it has to change or the problems and pressure will mount. I don’t think we were catching teams offside by playing on the halfway line last season. Why has the system been changed?
Totally agree Sid. So many players off their game at the same time. Most people say we are in desperate need of a RB and CB but we have players growing into those positions. What we really need is a goal scorer, the guy that knows where to position himself for the easy chances. We cannot depend on Watkins or Duran to convert the great chances we make for them. Rogers isn’t a goalscorer he is a tank. Bailey is just off. There were still moments of magic yesterday but they are getting fewer and further apart. Crazy talk about Emery. Total shite comments about his coaching. Although I do wonder why we send everyone forward for corners. At times yesterday it was chaos with more Villa players protecting the Palace net than Palace defenders. No panic by a long way. I really enjoyed the game and like the real supporters looking forward to Juventus. I bet they are not looking forward to Villa Park.
Heard all this ‘Real Supporters’ BS on here before when Randy decided to throw the towel in, support your club, the 12th man blah blah blah.
That ended well didn’t it?
Relegation, The Doc, 24 hours from going to the wall?
People have a right to criticise, to tell it how they see it. By towing the line doesn’t give you the morale high ground or the right to Real Supporter moniker.
Also true.
I bet they (Juve) are, Gerry.
If my sums are correct, after 12 games last season, we had 6 more points. That would put us on 25 and comfortable in second. Those 6 points are Ipswich away, Bournemouth home, and yesterday. All fine margins, but we should have won all 3 of those games. The problem is the defence. Both players and the tactics. Put that right and we should be OK. But it’s not happening at the moment. We need a fast, powerful CB to partner Konsa. Then you could even play Pau holding with one other defensive mid. And a RB of note is obviously needed.
Sid & Gerry.
My complaint about Emery’s decisions is like the difference between the approach of an engineer and mechanic to a machine fault. The engineer wants to know why the fault occurred, the mechanic wants to know how to fix it.
After the Palace game the mechanic can view two Palace goals where their attacker outpaced all Villa defenders from the half-way line, and one missed penalty taken by a strange choice of player. We cannot increase the speed of the 4 defenders starting, so either they should not have started – if somebody faster was available – or they needed to stay further back and not all push forward at our corner kicks.
Tielemans takes and misses penalties for Belgium – why him then? Watkins did not miss his last penalty – and in case it is news to Emery, Barclay smashes his spot kicks.
Now over to the Engineer: if the high line is built in, then the attack needs shooting practice, and delivery into the box practice.
OLL – which is it that Unai requires?
Emery is definitely an ‘engineer’. He improved the performance of most of our players last year with better passing skills and tactical changes, the most controversial being the high line. He won’t adopt a mechanic’s solution and change the way we play i.e. abandon the high line, even in the face of evidence his defence without Konsa and a fit Mings is too slow.
So, Villa will continue to give cheap goals away to break-outs, therefore the engineering answer is to increase the number of goals we score. Plenty of room for improvement: rushing shooting chances, cutting inside instead of rounding the defender and dithering.
Thanks OLL.
I absolutely agree that we need the speed of Konsa at CB – not at RB – and if he’s not fit and, importantly, in my view, neither is Kamara then the defence has to sit deeper even at the expense of possession. We need to substantially increase the number of clean sheets.
I don’t buy the ‘Martinez is not as good as is made out’ narrative. Too many times he’s left exposed by the defence, His save in the second half to divert the ball onto the post was outstanding and was probably instrumental in us taking a point.
I can’t find it now but I read yesterday that our XG was around 3.5 so it would seem we do have a challenge converting goal opportunities.
Bailey looked much better second half (hardly could have looked worse) and was unlucky when he hit the post – that would have been a worldie! Watkins scored but he had other chances, one in particular in the second half when clean through and dallied over his shot allowing a defender to get back and tackle him.
And then there was that penalty.
Dallied is the key word. They’ve all been dallying for a couple of months now. If this lethargic, stagnant Villa go to Chelsea next week, we’ll be spanked. If the vibrant, energetic Villa returns,…
A lot of the vibrance and energy came from Diaby. He hasn’t been replaced. I was harsh on him last season; it was a very productive season and the team miss him. It’s all very well getting your 50 mil back, but the team has gone backwards. The club should’ve made a tidy profit btw; just getting their money back was an error, in my view.
The horrors of PSR – we were forced into two sales we probably didn’t want to make and it could happen again at the end f the season.
Think we might be restricted to loans in January.
Dibling at Southampton is exceptional; a fantastic ball-carrier with end product. Perfect replacement for Ramsey and dare I say better than Grealish at the same age. January – Get it done! Before someone else does!!! A real talent and I’ve seen enough to be sure he’s the real deal.
Ramsey or Bailey. Or Jaden. He’d be an upgrade on all of them.
I wonder if it’s worth bringing Enzo and Illing Jr back in January to shake things up and increase competition for places. Thoughts?
Are they any better than what we have?
I’m not so sure and the loan fees and getting their wages (or part thereof) off the books is all about the overly restrictive financial rules.
Can’t hurt can it?
I haven’t seen any of yesterday’s game so can only comment on match reports.
I heard their second goal came from our corner. That’s the definition of madness when you do the same things and expect different results. Our two quickest available defenders are Cash and Mings who didn’t start so common sense tells me that they need players to sit deeper to prevent the counter attack. Too many teams are taking the piss out of our set up and future teams we encounter will see that as a great opportunity to beat us.
Everyone agreed that our squad is much stronger than last season but four injuries made us look weak in defence and midfield. I haven’t checked but I’d wager that our results are much worse when Onana doesn’t play. Unfortunately it looks like he can’t play 90 minutes let alone a continuous run of games.
We were excellent last season with the Kamara and Luiz partnership and without them, despite Tielemans doing well, we look vulnerable to the counter attacks.
Criticism of Emery might be harsh but there is a definite drop off in terms of performances and he needs to kick not only the players arses but his coaching staffs arses. MacPhee I assume is the set piece coach and he needs to sort out the defensive side of set pieces or Emery needs a replacement coach.
PSR/FFP bullshit is frustrating but it’s not the total reason for our current problems.
It was supposed to be a run of the mill victory against a relegation threatened team with a terrible away record. Now though it has added pressure on getting results against Juventus and Chelsea.
I fear the worst but maybe that’s the part of me that has seen this story too many times in my lifetime.
Change of subject
During the first half at Portman Road, Ref Taylor called the skippers together and told them the fire alarm had gone off at Stockley Park so VAR was unavailable. [true]
Rumour has it “the Fire Brigade spent 4 minutes measuring with their hoses before deciding the fire was outside their area. Thus, the on-field decision to let the place burn would stand. The VAR was seen waving frantically from a first-floor window, but the brigade decided his arms were in a natural position for someone whose trousers were on fire, so they took no action.”
OLL – that’s truly very, very funny.
Hat’s off to you – you’re wit is excellent.
🙂
🤣
🙂
Spurs, Forest and Brighton all have relatively easy home matches on Saturday. And Newcastle at Palace. If we don’t beat Chelsea, we’ll be midtable and, while not necessarily in free fall, drifting aimlessly on a downward trajectory. Two massive games this week and I’m really not confident with either. In fact, I’m not sure if I want to watch.
Just having a gander at the Serie A standings, Juventus are unbeaten in 13, scored 21, conceded only 7 so I think we can take from that, this is going to be a very tricky tie.
Should Morgan Rogers be starting for Aston Villa?
The uncomfortable questions need to be asked of Rogers, not the fact that he isn’t an attacking threat for Villa, but how he doesn’t provide the control with the ball or the bite the team need without it.
https://www.astonvilla.news/analysis/unai-emery-now-needs-to-be-ruthless-and-has-to-make-unpopular-morgan-rogers-call/
So it’s not just me then?
Completely agree with all of that. Rogers or Bailey behind Ollie. McGinn, Barkley, Tielemans and one other in midfield. That’s what was about to beat City and Arsenal in 4 days this time last year. Remember how elated and stunned we all were? Time to get back to what works. The whole team needs tightening and stiffening up. And we need the skipper pulling strings and getting everything out of his men. I want last year’s Villa back.