I like watching Postecoglou’s Spurs side. They’re even more gung ho than we are and frankly, it seems the manager doesn’t care. I’ve said a few times that while it’s entertaining, I don’t believe it’s a strategy that will win you anything and you have to be able to defend as well as you attack.
Given that both sides here attack better than they defend, I expect a few goals and a game that could go either way. It’s just a case of which defence proves worse.
Which is a good time to look at squad news and quite aptly, the big point for Spurs is that their apparently best central defender, Micky Van de Ven, is definitely out. Add in that Cristian Romero is also doubtful, their already dodgy defence looks even worse.
Which means that Ange might well go for it even more. Where a player I really rate, in Heung-min Son, who might make it, isn’t fully fit either, having had a hamstring issue. Wilson Odobert is out, with a hamstring injury and Djed Spence will be out because of a groin issue.
Even Timo Werner is looking doubtful.
So Spurs are not really in a good place, although in fairness, I’ve never heard of some of those players.
As for Villa, Ross Barkley is the only player out.
So what to think?
If our defence was even just a bit better they have been, I’d say this should be in the bag and I’d predict a win by a couple of goals.
But it’s awful and quite frankly, I don’t think I like that fact. That’s probably down to the modern game and the way it’s played and also a hint of me having witnessed some stonkingly great Villa defenders over the years.
I see goals; more than 3.
And I think a 2-2 draw looks favourite.
That’s my prediction.
So watch it be a 1-0 game and I guess totally wrongly again.
UTV!
Shower of shit.
Only Liverpool next! At least with the rotation we will be ready for them 🤔
Sir Ron had 14 players and 10 of them played unless injured with Gibson and Williams rotating. Too many changes are costing us IMO.
Martinez was MOTM for us and that says it all.
Agree. Just play the best team and when they start to drop, make the enforced changes.
Good call from TNT presenter! Arsenal’s Gabriel got away with the same shit against Bayern last season. Ref told Tuchel (Bayern manager) that he wasn’t giving a pen for a kid’s mistake, apparently. 🤷
Doesn’t excuse Mings, though! The conspiracy theorist in me is now kicking in. Why would you handle the ball there? Why?????
Refereeing consistency BFR. Gabriel got away with it and Mings doesn’t.
It was a schoolboy error from a player paid thousands of pounds a week.
Ref has to give it, though. The Arsenal ref should’ve given it.
And the winner of the understatement of the year is Mr Peter Crouch with “there’s a little drop in tempo.”
Bravo, Peter. Bra-f******-vo. 👏👏🙌
Well we got exactly what we deserved out of that pathetic performance….absolutely sod all.
There are two things that make me want to reach in to the television, grab hold of the person in question and put right what really annoys me and that is bloody Claudia Winkelman’s fringe and Mings chewing gum with his laid back, lazy, complacent attitude to match.
Let’s look at the evidence, as Lloyd Grossman used to say on ‘Through the Keyhole’.
He played a few minutes of a 5-1 hammering against the Barcodes on the opening day of last season. Consequently, we played the rest of the campaign without him and finish fourth.
Low and behold, he is on the bench or plays in the last few games which coincides with a massive downturn in effort and performance levels by the whole team. Emery made too many changes for the Palace Carabao Cup game which has killed our momentum. Not much to hope for at Anfield on Saturday if we play like that.
Apparently, Claudia Winkleman’s eyesight is really bad. Hmm.
5-0 Liverpool on Saturday. Minimum. Unless something drastically changes.
How long left on Mings’ and Carlos’ contracts? Defence needs an overhaul. Two CBs and a RB. As was the case in the summer.
Emery completely lost it on the touchline. He often gets animated, but tonight he risked a seizure. Mind you his team selection was the start of it all, because Mings and Kamara were incapable of zipping the ball quickly out of defence into attack.
To modify slightly the description of Gerald Ford, ‘Mings is incapable of chewing gum and thinking at the same time.’ There is a Scots word, Minger, which has not made it past Hadrian’s wall, and means something particularly ugly, often a woman. I think we can re-purpose it in B6, to mean the sort of gaffe to which the mop-top is prone while trying to look nonchalant.
By the time the match at Anfield ends Villa should be really good at kicking-off.
We used the word ‘minger’ (noun) and ‘mingin’ (adjective) all the time, OLL.
At school.
I don’t know how old you are BFR, but I remember Billy Connolly having to explain Minger to his English audience in the middle of his ‘wear the fox hat’ tale.
I don’t want to go too hard on Mings. Yes it was beyond dumb and he is still a long way off getting back to the form in the second half of Emery’s first season. He might never do that because of the significance of the injury he had, but he deserves time to see.
I agree with BFR in us needing two CB’s and one RB. Carlos is far too slow for the premier league and I would be interested to know our win ratio with and without him.
Even Konsa has been average recently and Torres has dropped a few clangers. Cash isn’t good enough for the level we want to be at. I like his energy and enthusiasm but that’s his only strengths. It’s ironic that Digne has been probably the best of our defence considering we were thinking it might be best for him to go in the summer.
Unfortunately we look ineffective in midfield and attack now, so conceding goals which has always been the issue hasn’t been out weighed with goals at the other end. Watkins is woefully off his game and looks almost disinterested. Duran the impact sub no longer has an impact and teams seem to have gotten wise to Rogers. Bailey and Philogene have offered practically nothing and McGinn is constantly played out of position when he’s clearly best as a number 10. Talking of number 10’s, Buendia isn’t having an impact that I hoped he would. I think Kamara will get better and better with more game time and also Tielemans and Onana need to play when both are fit.
I’m beginning to see the wheels coming off a bit like the barcodes last season, although to be fair to them, they had horrendous injuries.
Unai looked as angry as I can remember and I don’t think the Liverpool game will improve his mood. It’s a bad spell we are in but let’s not panic just yet!
Since Emery took over we have been on an accelerated upward curve. Whatever obstacles have come our way Emery has overcome. He now has a new one.
Our problems at right back are negating the whole team effectiveness. Konsa at right back weakens the team. Removing him from centre half makes us poorer in defence. I hope Emery started the shoots of recovery late tonight. He brought on Nedeljković. Who promptly injected energy and a desire to get forward. I know he is not the finished article but he’s unlikely to give away as many penalties as Cash. He’s certainly is quicker than Konsa and Cash. It also means a bit like Carl Walker, he’s excess speed give him a better recovery chan Enid he makes a mistake.
Watkins is evolving back into the Ings version. When he shared striking duties with Ings he was mediocre. Now he’s sharing time with Duran, he’s reverting to the ineffectual version of himself.
I really rate Rogers. But there needs to be an improvement in his end product from his surging runs. These are currently One of the few attacking outlets we seems to have.
Mental toughness. Too many are not switched on at the moment. Mings picking up the ball. Carlos the gift that keeps giving by giving the ball away in dangerous areas. Tonight Tielesman had the Midas touch in reverse. His free kicks were pathetic.
The only other positive from tonight after Nedeljković was Kamara. Considering this was his first full match since an ACL in February, I thought he was really good and the future will look better with him back in the team.
I have total faith that Emery will sort this sooner rather than later. Although I expect a loss at the weekend.
I said we had overachieved and we have – didn’t see the game but it’s clear there’s a lot more work to be done.
I had the dubious pleasure of watching England being truly shafted by the Windies.
So three Villa defeats in a week, a duck for Jacob Bethell and a shellacking for England,
Not a great week other than we are ‘suffering’ in Barbados!