Well, it’s now bindingly obvious as to what Emery wants.
The intention is to play, play, play short range passing at fast pace, even when we’re under pressure at the back.
I don’t like it normally, especially when it involves Konsa and Mings, but I felt it actually worked today and the players are starting to be able to do it.
Don’t get me wrong. It scares the proverbial out of me, but there were times around the hour mark, where I thought our rapid one touch football was outstanding.
Given that we’ve seen signs of it being tried over the last year or so, I’m wondering what we’re doing different now that makes us look at least a bit better than totally useless at it.
It was interesting to read comments not just here, but also elsewhere about how poor we were for the first half. While our early goal aside (which massively helped us) we were conceding all the decent play to Leeds, I was loving it just for the much improved pace in our game.
We knew Leeds would play fast and we at least stepped it up to match it, in my opinion.
While I didn’t think it was particularly good, I was happy.
Play poorly and slow and you’re bound to lose, I thought.
I have to give a mention first to Gnonto. I thought he was outstanding for them and a serious threat every time he got the ball.
But sod him. Ash Young did a superb job of stifling and even winding him up. Matty Cash would have had his proverbial well and truly kicked today.
Moreno looked as bad as you’d expect given his lack of Premier league experience when he came on for Digne, who has a dislocated shoulder by the looks of it, but he soon got into it and made a very good debut.
Kamara looks excellent and his eye for a pass is superb.
I know it was not an ideal performance overall, but I thought Mings and Konsa didn’t look too out of place either. Yes, there are the usual faux pas and Mings slipping looked like it could be costly, but ultimately it came to nothing.
I’m still not convinced by Bailey, but can’t deny when it’s on his left foot he can be good.
No doubt I’ve forgotten someone, but it’s academic.
I’ve a feeling many will say we were abysmal tonight. And they’ll probably be right.
But I massively enjoyed that game, as it represented more about what the game is supposed to be, in playing with intent.
Which is quite strange, given that I spent much of the game complaining about how we were passing it back too much.
I said in the preview that I could maybe have taken a defeat as long as I felt entertained.
I suppose the moral of all this is that if we play fast, keep passing back, yet still win, I can live with it and be happy.
But if we do all the above and lose, I’ll hate it.
I suspect we might have to get used to this type of performance as my understanding is that it’s this type of play that got Emery results.
I’m happy with that win, yet I feel many will say we were terrible.
Fair right Badger and only 10 points of a champions League place.
Onwards and upwards
Write up
Have to mention the commentary on sky – Neville how Villa didn’t play well, didn’t deserve all 3 points.
How many time did manure play shite and fluke 3 points?
Only then to hear not playing so well and come away with 3 points was what champions were made of?
Get a grip
This is exactly what I mean, RSS.
The most effective teams are not always the best.
The important part is “effective”.
Being average or mediocre does nothing at all for me, particularly if we’re not winning either.
Play a half decent game and keep winning and it’s all good.
Yep, some severe sucking of the Leeds Utd’s thingy tonight by the comms.
But that’s nothing new. Man U player harks back to when Leeds were fleetingly a competitor in the distant past.
Yawn.
Spot on Badger, how many times have we done what Leeds did tonight?
Play well only to get undone by as you say a more effective, clinical team?
Nice to be on the other side.
I’d say just get used to biased commentary at this point, even though Neville is a Man United fan backing Leeds over Villa in a biased way for some reason. Anyways, everyone seems to hate us these days, that’s how it is when they see us climbing higher and higher. UTV.
I get where you are are coming from Bradders but you have to admit the hypocrisy of Neville and the likes is more than a little grating?
Very pleased with the team’s application, and Moreno’s debut. Ramsey looked a bit off the pace on his return but he was the subject of a reducing foul. Our shooting still needs work and the poncing about at the back always looks like an accident waiting to happen.
First half was as bad as first half against Wolves. The difference was we scored and Leeds didn’t. Second half we improved and got the second goal which settled us down. I think the Coutinho and Sanson substitutions affected us initially but thankfully their equaliser didn’t lead to 2-3 capitulation which I feared at the time.
The playing out from the back scares the shit out of me but that’s Emery’s style of play so I guess we need to embrace the many heart palpitations we will suffer going forward.
great write up…….I was going to comment at 1/2 time but didnt want to put the kybosh on them.
I loved the game but was shouting ” why does the ball always fall to them” …the law of averages went out of the window. All action match and cant see why Leeds are so low in table….if we played like that every match it would be brilliant.
Can see Martinez getting a red soon…no need to go to that extent to waste some time…the officials will add it back on so STOP IT…
He can’t mate, love him to bits but it’s in his DNA.
While Neville seemed biased towards Leeds and Gnonto particularly, Having said that If I was a Leeds fan I would be fuming about his comment linking Gnonto to Citeh. The surprise was he didn’t suggest Man Ure! Dublin on the other hand was a bit claret and blue tinted glasses about our performance.
Good result today, take anything you can get out of a game like this. The football is improving and being at the game the scare when we play it round the back against a pressing team like Leeds is even worse! But it is very entertaining and the passing football is excellent – I see it only getting better under Unai Emery. Moreno looked good as well clearly grown into it and his nerves settled, eased into it definitely after the second goal. Onto Southampton away who we should no doubt be beating with our quality facing theirs. Hoping to see a similar style of football played at St. Mary’s too. UTV!
Badger
You have summed the game up perfectly. Like you the passing within our penalty area scares me, but as you say we are becoming more comfortable at it.
I am going to sound like a broken record, but Emery is a winner. Plus I like the fact he has been control of buying who he wants. I really believe we are going in the right direction.
Been reading the full transcript of Emery’s post match comments for Villa TV which are interesting.
One thing that strikes me about him is how he publicly supports all the players in the squad but, at the same time, can quite subtly indicate where they can improve.
Also starting to get used to his use of certain words like ‘confused’ when referring to the players / play. Not literally confused but rather ‘it’s not working properly’ so he needed to make changes.
No denying that overall he’s dramatically improved our performances and, as the ‘sample size’ increases, we appear to be finding a better level of consistency. Like most on here though this playing out from the back gives me the heebie jeebies 🙂
But one happy bunny this morning.
Good win today for the ladies – beating Spurs 2-1.
Daley again – what a signing that has been.
With Daley joining and now Nobbs and Staniforth should start attracting some morecof the top names in women’s football to VP.
Off topic but with Man Ure beating Pep’s globe trotters
It seems weird how teams buy a top forward and it doesn’t pan out as expected.
Going back to the sixties Spurs won the title in 61 bought Greaves, yes he was prolific but they never won the title again.
Arsenal bought Wighty and again prolific but never won the title until his last season.
Perhaps history could be repeating itself with Haaland?
🤞
See Southampton are coming into form just before playing Villa!
Going to be a very difficult game so interesting to see how Emery approaches it.
Nah. 3 points mate (I hope)!!!!!
Chuckie playing for Chelsea at 2 o’clock ko , now to see if we should have kept him ..
Chumbawamba’s been pretty anonymous for the first half hour.
Looks heavy as well , not as quick also .
They scored within minutes of him being subbed.
What’s that say?
😁
Bill it must be all those whelks and jellied eels down south.
🙂
My favourite food shellfish, they say it helps your love life.😂
👍😂
Just watched Martinez Worldie save from Harrison. Hadn’t noticed before but Martinez was diving across the goal before the ball had even reached Harrison. It was like he was tracking the flight of the ball with his body in a horizontal dive. Quite outstanding.
Now don’t get excited but we’ve agreed a second deal.
Jhon Duran from Chicago Fire!!!
19 year old Colombian centre forward who has already won 3 caps for the national side – but it doesn’t really get the juices going – does it!
What does this say about Archer? Point that Badger has been making – if our young players are good enough they’d be getting minutes with the first team. Instead, I suspect Emery sees them as Championship standard so may well see Archer goon a permanent in the summer.
Do they speak Spanish in Columbia? 🙂
B***dy hell – £15m possibly rising to £30m with add ons. Puts old Chukweumeka’s deal in the shade 🙂
He better be good for that sort of money
Apologies; mixing £ and $.
£15m rising to £23m – signing a 5 year contract subject to medical visa and work permit.
I love the way Villla for their transfer business. It’s announced!
Even better is none of us know anything about him. The blurb I have read is that he is the youngest scorer in Colombian league football at 15 and scored a few last year Chicago Fire.
I bet he won’t be destined for a long spell in the bench!
Let’s hope he follows in the footsteps of our last Colombian forward – one Juan Pablo Angel.
Jhon – welcome to Villa Park!
Sounds very interesting to me! 🙂
I’m with Sid, doing business the quiet way.
More updates on the Duran deal.
It seems he’s current with the Colombian U20 side and has been released for a medical and to sign a contract but locally, not in the UK. Then he has to return to the national side so not sure when he’ll actually arrive at BMH.
As you say, love the way Villa do these deals completely under the radar. On that basis we can probably discount all the media speculation 🙂
I’m reading elsewhere that he could be with the Colombia U-20’s until mid-February.
Looks like a long-term signing rather than someone who’s going to be playing in the 1st team anytime soon (barring any more injuries to our regulars…).
As for Archer, I think he needs to put in some spectacular performances at ‘Boro if he’s going to make it back into the reckoning at Villa for next season.
Ardent, it seems he’s playing in an U20’s tournament in Columbia which starts next week and he’s their star player. Strong tournament includes Brazil and Argentina and Columbia are keen to try and win it hence their reluctance to let him come to the UK for medical etc.
Had to chuckle reading Badger’s comments about Moreno not lookin good when he came on but made the team of the week for Garth Crooks. I didn’t see the game so can’t comment, personally.
I thought he looked the dogs. Let’s hope it’s maintained.
Hang on Tex, in my defence I did say he looked like someone who’d never played in the Prem and wasn’t ready (or words to that effect).
And I also said he got better and looked very decent by the end of the game. 🙂
Frederic Guilbert joins Strasbourg on free transfer
Aston Villa’s forgotten man Frederic Guilbert has joined Strasbourg on a free transfer.
The full-back had fallen out of favour at Villa Park and has today left the club six months before his contract was due to expire.
In a statement issued to Villa supporters, Guilbert said: “After more than three years spent here, it is with many shared feelings that I leave Aston Villa by mutual agreement.
“I would like to address you, supporters, to thank you for all the moments we have been able to share. Thank you for the support, thank you for your many messages, thank you for welcoming my family beautifully.
“Finally, I would also like to thank the people who have accompanied me during the last six months, especially all the young U23s as well as all the staff members. I wish the Aston Villa Football Club and all the teams a nice continuation for the future.”
Guilbert spent the second half of last season on loan at the Ligue 1 club who, this season, are fighting relegation.
I wish him well Bill.
Changes on the Duran transfer.
It seems the South American U20 competition does not fall under the control of FIFA and therefore clubs can recall their players – which Chicago Fire have done so Duran is now travelling to England for a medical and to complete all the legal paperwork for his Visa etc,
There is no obligation on Villa to release him for the U20 competition so he may well stay at BMH.
On balance I hope they don’t release him but start to work with him here; we don’t need him in SA risking injury on a low value tournament.
I simply don’t understand the Guilbert saga. The few games he was given, early on, he seemed to do nothing wrong at all – can’t say that he was any ‘worse’ than Cash.
And since then he seems to have behaved himself (at least in public), despite the rather harsh treatment of being demoted to the U21’s, etc.
Maybe there’s something we haven’t been told, but he seems to have been given rather a bad time at Villa Park – so I do wish him well.
It is a bit weird the Guilbert fiasco. Wonder what went on…Hope he can resurrect his career.
Au revior Monseiur!
Villa are also being linked with a trio of players from his former side Villarreal, in the form of Dani Parejo, Arnaut Danjuma and Nicolas Jackson. Marseille’s Matteo Guendouzi is another whose name is continually linked with a move to Villa Park, having played under Unai Emry at Arsena
Could this be the start of a clear out..?
Bill, Villa being linked with loads of players in Spain, France and Italy including (in addition to your list) Ounahi, Henrique, Merino and McKennie. Villa are allegedly prepared to meet the €57m release clause for Merino and, it’s alleged that, Juventus are trying to persuade Mckennie to leave. However other reports are saying that neither McKennie nor Merino want to leave their clubs this month and neither ‘fancy’ Villa either but want to wait for a bigger club (splash the cash Chelsea?) in the summer. Similarly Guendouzi is reported as being ‘happy’ at Marseilles although they would also like to sell him – it seems that a number of European clubs are short of cash.
Believe what you will but the only certainty (if there is such a thing in football) is that Villa are looking for (at least) one midfielder and a winger in this window with Sanson and Nakamba on the way out.
Did Villa already have the Duran signing in the bag when they loaned out Archer?
“Did Villa already have the Duran signing in the bag when they loaned out Archer?” – maybe not actually in the bag, but I’d expect that any club would have potential in’s and out’s planned well in advance of when we see the announcements. If it wasn’t going to be Duran, then I imagine they had someone else firmly lined-up.
And what strikes me about the Duran signing is that as far as the rumour-mills are concerned, it came out of nowhere; don’t recall his name appearing on any of the sites I read (B’ham Live, BBC, Guardian, Independent, etc.) before the club announced that he’d been signed – which is why I think that many of the rumours linking us with dozens of players from Spain, France and Italy are simply noise.
Fair comment Ardent although in amongst all the noise they did pick up on the Moreno signing pretty early.
It’s sorting the wheat from the chaff that’s the challenge. Still makes for entertainment.
To be honest, I’d already forgotten about that one – happened so quickly!
Having done a bit of reading around I think the player I’m most like to see us sign is Danjuma from Villarreal.
He’s a natural striker who plays wide on the left (16 goals in 32 games last season under Emery) and also received very good reviews in the European Championship games.
Emery knows him well and it’s a position we need to fill that would definitely improve the team so ticks all the boxes Emery has listed.
It looks pretty definite he’s moving to to the Prem in this window and is rumoured to be in the UK talking to clubs so let’s wait and see.
Ings to West ham????
Looks a possibility Badger but surely not if Duran goes back to Columbia until the end of February leaving us short of striking options?
Ings cost £30m and signed a three year contract which has 18 months to run and has scored just 13 goals although that’s in only 30 starts. Not really sure we’ve ever played the type of football that suits his style but do West Spam?
A strange saga. I was pleased when we signed Ings although he functions best in a team which has players on both wings who can cross a ball in the air and on the ground accurately. Villa never attempted that style of play so we never got the best out of him. He was better without Watkins as the win a Brighton proved. When Watkins plays Ings does not see the ball enough.
Recently West Ham have played more like Villa with Bowen leading the line in the Watkins fashion – obviously not with success. They will need a revamp of tactics and the inclusion of Benrama, pushing Bowen to the right wing.
That seems a lot of changes in a panic.
We’ll it looks pretty certain Ings is off so maybe Moyes fancies the Everton job 🙂
Stupid decision to let him go this window! Why boost a team we are trying to get ahead of. With Archer sent on loan we are left with Watkins who isn’t a prolific scorer plus a Columbian kid who might prove a great signing eventually.
I hope Emery has a plan but it’s a concern to where goals are going to come from now.
It’s not so much ‘where goals are going to come from’ that bothers me (I reckon we must have someone lined-up apart from Duran); it’s more that I can see Ings scoring against us every time we play WHam!