Villa – Everton; Carabou cup should win, but will we?

This should be pretty straightforward you would think, but nothing is when it comes to the Villa, is it?
We recently played Everton, beating them 4-0 at home, where I thought the Toffees looked terrible and definite relegation candidates, but I watched them at Brentford on Saturday and they looked much improved, well deserving their 3-1 victory, in my opinion.
That said, I didn’t think much of Brentford, so it wasn’t saying a lot.

Hence I think we should have more than enough to beat Everton, yet much depends on the side that Unai Emery puts out. He’s proven that we just aren’t good enough to totally reshuffle the side, particularly in defence, where against Legia he just plonked a new back four in, that hadn’t played together before.
So basically, I’m saying we need to stick with pretty much our best defence. I actually think Emery won’t consider making the same mistake for this game. So that’s all right then.

But we do need to rest players and use our squad where possible.
Which is fine, if you do it in a sensible balanced fashion.
I’ve said previously that we should go with a full strength side from the off, get into a well advantageous position and only then change it up. But the problem is that it might well take us an hour or even more to get into that leading position, which probably defeats the aim of trying to rest your players.
I’ve said many times that I can’t see what the problem is with going flat out for 90ish mins two or even three times a week for men in their 20’s, but the reality is that all clubs rest the players these days and if everyone else is doing it and gaining even the slightest advantage from it, (not that I believe they do), we have to do the same. I’m old fashioned, but sensible enough to know that you have to try and gain every positive.

And this is exactly how I believe Emery will see things.
So while I’m assuming he won’t totally change the defence, I do think he will change it up in the middle, with maybe McGinn being rested and Bailey starting. Other changes wouldn’t surprise me, but I don’t believe we can afford to make too many. I don’t rate Everton, but even a poor Prem side offers a big threat, particularly if they put their best side out.

I fully expect Watkins to be rested with Duran coming in from the start. I wouldn’t have a problem with this, personally. As much as I think Watkins is the better player by far at this stage, so Duran looks confident and probably is more dangerous at the moment. I would however have concerns that Everton will basically just outdo the young lad.

Whatever I think, Emery will make the changes from the off which means that anything is likely to happen.

Squad news then and Sean Dyche has a full squad to choose from, with Calvert-Lewin pretty much back to being fully fit. It’s a pretty good position for them to be in, but much will depend on how much importance the manager will place on this competition. You’d think he won’t be interested and survival is by far the bigger priority, but I’m sure their fans would have something to say about that.

Villa have the same players out, who just as a reminder, are Emi Buendía, Diego Carlos, Tim Iroegbunam, Tyrone Mings, Alex Moreno and Bertrand Traoré.

So given that I don’t have a clue which players either club will put out, I can only make a pure guess as to what the result will be and I have to go with the odds of what ought to happen.

And I’m going for a 2-1 victory, hopefully in the usual 90 minutes.

As a slight aside, I note the story about how our shirts are retaining sweat and making the players look like wet shirt contest entries. I find it unbelievable that this hasn’t been spotted before the start of the season. Surely the manufacturing company actually tests them before making them available? It would seem not. And then I read that Gerrard is an investor in Castore, the shirt company. That figures.
Anyway, the women’s team are quite rightly very nervous about having to wear these shirts for obvious reasons and I don’t blame them. It’s disgusting that they might have to play the game against Man U on Sunday at 12.30, while wearing them and leaves them open to being ogled by dirty old men.
I’m putting the game time out there so you can totally avoid it, of course.
Ahem.

UTV!

70 Comments

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  1. Holte
    Holte September 27, 2023 at 9:17 pm . Reply

    Everton players are bigger and stronger than ours. It’s literally men v boys.

  2. Bum Bum
    Bum Bum September 27, 2023 at 9:20 pm . Reply

    Why are we being pushed off the ball so easily????

  3. DSVilla
    DSVilla September 27, 2023 at 9:28 pm . Reply

    It’s disappointing to be playing so poorly but the reality is that we don’t have the strength in depth having lost key players to compete on multiple fronts. We need to finish high enough for more European football next season and also try and progress in this seasons competition . The EFL cup is a luxury we can’t afford

  4. Bill Pearson
    Bill Pearson September 27, 2023 at 9:29 pm . Reply

    Goal

  5. Bill Pearson
    Bill Pearson September 27, 2023 at 9:30 pm . Reply

    Kamara outside the box

  6. Bum Bum
    Bum Bum September 27, 2023 at 9:30 pm . Reply

    Fucking YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!

  7. Bill Pearson
    Bill Pearson September 27, 2023 at 9:43 pm . Reply

    We’re out lost the game . Very very disappointed and shows we are not even a contender in any game with that showing.

  8. Holte
    Holte September 27, 2023 at 9:43 pm . Reply

    Too little too late! In the main a really disappointing performance and Everton got their tactics spot on and deserved to win.
    A massive improvement is required against Brighton otherwise it will be back to back defeats at home.

  9. Hitchens60
    Hitchens60 September 27, 2023 at 9:44 pm . Reply

    I had a feeling we’d lose this one after 9 wins on the spin and being unbeaten against Everton since we were promoted back to the Prem.

    I agree that we don’t have the squad depth to fight on all fronts and Saturday / Thursday games are far more important than the EFL.

    We can now see the problem of breaking into the top six and playing European football. With the FFP restrictions that seem to apply to everyone except sides funded by sovereign wealth or the favoured few how does a side build a squad capable of challenging teams that are protected by the regulators?

    Example – I just heard that the Government have recently become involved with the financial charges against ManC. It seems the Government want them to ‘go away’ as it’s causing difficulties with their ‘special relationship’ with Qatar.

  10. Badger123
    Badger123 September 27, 2023 at 9:49 pm . Reply

    I’m not doing a write up on that load of crap because it will only be a case of “I told you so”.
    Terrible performance and I believe poor tactics that again should have been changed way early on.
    I don’t suppose many will agree with the latter part of that, but it is what it is. I won’t harp on about it.

    All I will say is, show any physicality against us and we’re in trouble.
    We can’t afford to not play our best team.
    But we can’t play them week in, week out either.
    Some players need swapping out come the winter window and I’ve no doubt quite a few teams will out-perform us in a similar way again this season.
    Forget the FA cup and I now have serious doubts about the Conference too if we’re not going to take it seriously.

    1. Holte
      Holte September 27, 2023 at 9:58 pm . Reply

      We still have the same issues as we have for the last few years. We have a team of lightweights and against Everton we were bullied. Emery cocked up as you said with his selection and had to change it at half time. If Tielemans thinks he’s good enough to be starting then he is clearly deluded. I would have took him off instead of McGinn. Dendoncker too has the turning ability of a double decker bus.
      I don’t know why we haven’t managed to build a bigger squad over the past few years but we simply don’t have good enough players off the bench.

  11. Holte
    Holte September 27, 2023 at 9:50 pm . Reply

    One consolation is that we will have less games to endure with Olsen in goal.

  12. Petch
    Petch September 27, 2023 at 10:06 pm . Reply

    Agree Dendonkey , Tileman ( now we know why nobody wanted to pay big money for him )
    And Olsen oh my days he is seriously one hell of a bad goalkeeper

  13. Bum Bum
    Bum Bum September 27, 2023 at 10:10 pm . Reply

    Well I saw the last 30 minutes of that game and because I’m a contrary b*st*rd, i loved every bit of what I saw. Old schoolyard style of football.

    Notes: Pau looks knackered. Maybe his introduction to the EPL has been a bit of a baptism of fire having to jump in when Mings got injured.
    Teilmanns. You have to EARN your place.
    The Squad. It just isn’t big enough and outside our first 18, the rest are struggling. And we have a third of those first 18 injured.

    We all think we are tactically better than the Manager but the truth is, we aren’t. That’s why we aren’t Premier League Managers. I totally understand booing when it’s aimed at the owners or when the Manager is McLeish, Lambert or Gerrard etc, but considering what Emery has achieved it’s appalling. A sure-fire way to demoralise the players, especially after all they’ve done the past few months. It hasn’t even been a year since Unai arrived.

    Shame we’re out as Citeh went out too so we’d have had a serious run at the League Cup. My personal priorities are the Premier League, Europe, the FA Cup and last the League Cup, but it was a bummer to see us out tonight. I just hope we can limp on until January. And stay in the lowly position of 6th, highlight new bodies and get in several ‘decent’ players in the window.

    Yeah, there were mistakes but credit where it’s due, Everton were solid, and are the new Burnley. I wonder why??? Just please don’t let Chel$ea win it.

    Life’s a bitch…

    1. Bum Bum
      Bum Bum September 27, 2023 at 10:16 pm . Reply

      Oh yeah. Olsen. Sorry, but wow. He needs to move on.

      1. RSS
        RSS September 27, 2023 at 10:44 pm . Reply

        I was reminiscing a few days ago looking at old league tables and results from the 70’s and 80’s remembering games I attended, happy days.
        But even back then there were banana skins, I remember losing 2-0 in the league cup at home to Luton, Sir Ron getting the slow hand clap, he went on to do alright (:
        Tonight was just one of those games so as the song goes…
        Let it go 🎶

  14. 1874 was a good year
    1874 was a good year September 27, 2023 at 10:38 pm . Reply

    So, a home tie against Burnley to get into the quarters if we had beaten Everton. With 3 all PL fixtures in the next round then three less PL teams to contend with in the quarters.
    Can’t help feeling that it’s a big chance that we’ve let go by.

  15. OLL
    OLL September 27, 2023 at 10:40 pm . Reply

    Everton – No sweat.

    I didn’t know it was a ‘customers game’ until I saw the line-up, but the near empty centre section blue seats in the Trinity means somebody was told. I asked my mate who sits in one of them and he confirmed the Warsaw defeat means stronger teams in Europe required and sacrifices like this needed to be made, it was strongly hinted. Instructions seemed to be steer clear of Calvert Lewin’s elbows and head – and any part of Tarkowski.

    We can probably get away with one ‘stiff’ playing but we stated with 3.5. Olsen, Dendonkey and Tielemans started and McGinn at left back? I know we got Tielemans for nothing, but it looks like the right price.
    I didn’t like the cold shoulder from the big boys to the kid. Kellyman came on and none of his team-mates passed the ball to him once. His only two touches came in tackles he put in. I hope Emery gives them a hair-dryer for that.

    1. Hitchens60
      Hitchens60 September 27, 2023 at 11:14 pm . Reply

      Empty seats – I suggest mainly season holders because Villa overpriced the tickets to them by at least £10 a pop.

      There are other issues at Villa – which may spill over. Since Heck came in it appears there has been a move towards ‘rinsing’ the supporters and it’s been said that there is unrest amongst ST’s particularly following two consecutive hikes in the ST prices and with the introduction of The Terrace View and now The Lower Grounds – formerly the Holte Suite which was a facility provided to ST’s on match day.

      1. OLL
        OLL September 28, 2023 at 12:16 am . Reply

        You are right about Heck. Brief to maximize earnings and that starts with the mugs in the seats, not the kids in SE Asia buying a replica shirt. He is probably oblivious to the cultural differences between stadium fans of grid iron and soccer and what the far greater number of match-days the EPL has compared with NFL does to our entertainment spend.

        1. Hitchens60
          Hitchens60 September 28, 2023 at 6:42 am . Reply

          And he doesn’t understand the need to drive an hostile home atmosphere by making sure the stadium is full.

          Putting ‘prawn sandwich’ supporters in the Upper Holte through either Terrace View or Lower Grounds has already proved devisive and is detrimental to creating the right atmosphere.

          Interestingly, what Villa have done was tried at United but the supporters moved against it and it was abandoned.

          What does that say about the passiveness of the Villa fan base when faced with challenging decisions made by our owners?

          Mea culpa.

  16. DSVilla
    DSVilla September 27, 2023 at 11:23 pm . Reply

    If the fans can’t be bothered to turn up why should the team? Everyone on here didn’t go to the game. Me included.

    1. Bum Bum
      Bum Bum September 28, 2023 at 8:26 am . Reply

      Quite frankly I would have possibly gone but was under the misapprehension that all games sell out – I should pay more attention next time!

  17. 1874 was a good year
    1874 was a good year September 28, 2023 at 9:24 am . Reply

    Watched the Newcastle v Man City game last night and I must admit that Pep didn’t look all that upset at losing. In fact he said ‘I leave comfortable with how we played, no injuries and minutes for Mateo [Kovacic] and Jack [Grealish]’
    Is Pep just being pragmatic with all the fixtures that Man City have to play? It got me wondering whether Emery had the same approach in mind in not trying too hard to win. I certainly hope that it’s the case otherwise we just lost to a team that we tonked last time we played them and, if we were really trying, then that would be very worrying.

  18. OLL again
    OLL again September 28, 2023 at 11:16 am . Reply

    1874 – you are correct. A giveaway in The Times this morning was Charlotte Duncker who would have covered the match wrote nothing about it, but instead wrote about Villa Women’s concerns about the home shirts. I guess Duncker knew Villa were going to throw it unless Everton fielded a more hapless squad than we did. Dyche fielded their best available team, because he also knew the plot.

    Exactly the same appears to have happened to Citeh. Managers are prevented from telling the truth by CFOs who want bums on seats and the ‘strongest available team’ they sign up to.

  19. Badger123
    Badger123 September 28, 2023 at 1:07 pm . Reply

    There’s a slight difference here.
    Citeh are pretty much guaranteed to win silverware. That’s why they couldn’t care less about the Carabou cup.
    I don’t believe for one minute that Emery wasn’t bothered about this game.
    My opinion says though, that he doesn’t seem to understand what cup games involving English teams is all about.
    He may well have won with foreign teams, but their leagues are nowhere as competitive and “lesser” clubs are far less likely to beat the bigger ones in domestic cups.
    We all know that anything is possible in the English game and Stevenage should have been a massive lesson.

    On the other hand, if he did basically throw the game, we’re in for a pretty barren season again, it would seem.

    1. BFR
      BFR September 28, 2023 at 6:59 pm . Reply

      Badger, how many times have Citeh won the Carabao in the last 6 years? Are you sure they couldn’t care less? Pep cares as much as Emery.
      Personally, I’m delighted we’re out. Yes, really. There’s no doubt Unai wants to go as far as possible in the ECL and that improving last year’s league position is a priority. With the squad he has and the injuries to key players, not squad fillers, last night’s result is a blessing, not even in disguise. He didn’t throw the game. He has to use the squad but it’s not strong enough. In case anyone hadn’t noticed, Brighton are next and there quite good these days. Then the first home game in the ECL. Maybe not a must win but definitely a must not lose. Don’t forget this is the 5th season back after the club reset and reloaded. Massive progress has been made.

      To the dissenters, please keep it real and count blessings. Be pragmatic. It’s the only way this season.

      UTV

      1. Bum Bum
        Bum Bum September 28, 2023 at 7:17 pm . Reply

        BRF, I was a bit too embarrassed to say exactly what you said above. I fully respect what Badger and a few others are saying, but I think Emery is looking at the bigger picture. The once wonderful League Cup has been diminished over the years by cheap sponsorship deals (Rumbelows Cup anyone?) and has become the new Zenith Data Systems Cup. Whatever happened to that magnificent League Cup Trophy?
        The Europe game and last night brutally exposed our lack of strength in depth, and Emery wasn’t making a cheap point to the owners who have been pretty effing brilliant to date. These past 2 games just demonstrate the situation we find ourselves in, and these catastrophic injuries don’t help either, or their timing.

        It’s a sign of the time when clubs celebrate 4th place like they’ve won the World Cup, but that’s the way it is unfortunately.

        When even a club like the filthy Bluenoses can win the League Cup and the same season get relegated what does that tell you? Conversely, I guess every Bluenose will tell you that they wouldn’t have had it any other way, but I think the Villa are aiming higher than that. There is no reason why we can’t attain the same level of success that Arsenal have experienced over the past 2 decades, and we have a better manager.
        Bring on the Brighton game!!!!!

  20. Holte
    Holte September 28, 2023 at 9:18 pm . Reply

    I can understand both ways of looking at our league cup exit. There are those saying it’s a good thing because of our small squad size, mainly due to injuries and those (like myself) who are disappointed we are out of a cup competition that offers our best chance of silverware. Citeh are out and a few other teams who would have been considered contenders such as Brighton and Spurs are out too. When you look at the 4th round and see either Man Utd or Newcastle, Arsenal or West Ham going out and we would have had another home tie 😩
    Anyway it’s gone now so we have 3 more competitions to play for. For those who think we are going to walk it to ECL final, then I am far from certain. Legia proved that most of our players are lacking in experience playing in European away games. Emery obviously has loads of it but has managed at clubs playing regularly in Europe. Villa are his biggest test yet having not been involved for 13 years. There are a lot of teams who on paper we should beat but still have players with more European experience than ours.
    It’s been a really unlucky start with the injuries we have had. We should have kept Young and probably Revan too. If Digne or Cash pick up an injury then we are going to find ourselves in a really difficult situation.
    Already we are thinking of January for reinforcements and that shouldn’t be the case because Mings, Buendia, Ramsey and Moreno were all injured with a good chunk of the window open. Having qualified for Europe I expected more and find it strange that we are so FFP driven while teams like Chelsea and even Forest who aren’t even in Europe, seem to have a never ending pot of gold.
    Don’t get me wrong in thinking that overall we are making good progress. It’s just that feeling that we haven’t won any silverware since 1996 (play off trophy doesn’t count) and every season it starts to feel if only! The FA Cup is another competition where a lot of our fans will say they aren’t bothered if we go out but for me having never seen us win it, is the most important cup we can still win this season.
    One other point I want to make is the empty seats at Villa Park. The prices charged were obscene when sandwiched between the European game and Brighton. I read that Newcastle charged reduced prices to fill seats and I’m beginning to feel there is an increasing greed in taking as much as possible from our fan base during a cost of living crisis.
    Apologies for the long post 🙂 UTMV!

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