After a restful couple of weeks for the lads, the games are coming thick and fast again.
Chelsea on Friday, the Barcodes tonight and Sheffield on Saturday. I love it, as much as we know it’s not great for the players.
So it’s as per the headline really and I have a feeling this game could define our season. Win it and the wagon keeps on rolling. Lose it and I think it might be fair to say it’s probably indicative that the wheels are in the process of falling off.
I’ve been reading around and I’ve just seen the dreaded “Newcastle haven’t won since mid December”. You can guess what my immediate thought was. But we’re not the same team that we have been over the last few years.
I really ought to move away from that negative thinking, but I don’t feel we’re quite in that position yet. The draws at home to Sheffield and Bournemouth have ensured that loss of 100% confidence.
Squad news then and there’s nothing new. Pau Torres, Lucas Digne and Jhon Duran are all out, the young striker possibly until April, having done his hamstring. Why was I under the impression that he’d only tweaked it and it wouldn’t be for long? Unai has said we’re okay, because we have Zaniolo as a back up striker should Watkins get injured. I wish I was equally as convinced.
Still, I’ve consistently said we can score from all over the pitch, yet we haven’t been doing lately. It seems like we could do with someone to take the lead in helping us get our shooting boots on again and if Ollie was to get injured, you wonder who that might be. Then again, he needs to get his on first.
I’ve seen talk that Jacob Ramsay (the 100% definite target for Newcastle until Eddie Howe told them they were miles off) might be involved but I don’t think they’ll risk him yet. I can see this being a bit of a tough game and we don’t want him to aggravate the injury, which has already happened once.
Traore is still at the Afcon, I believe. Oh and Olsen is fit. Not that that matters much, as he won’t be getting on unless Martinez is in serious trouble.
As for Newcastle, they have quite the injury list.
Pope, Wilson, Barnes, Willock, Anderson, Joelinton, and Targett are all out. There’s some very decent players there and looking at that I can see why they haven’t reached the heights of last season.
And then to cap it all, Trippier, Lascelles, Almiron are all doubtful and Tonali is suspended.
Oh dear, how sad, never mind, to coin a phrase.
In all seriousness though, that is some list and hopefully it will be good for us.
What do I think then?
Well, this might be a bit controversial, but I’d actually drop Matty Cash and put Konsa in at Right back.
There. I’ve said it.
It’s just that his one decent effort on goal apart, I thought he was poor against Chelsea, as much as I saw he’d got good ratings in a couple of papers I read after the game. That and I just think he’s been off it for a few months now. I suspect the manager thinks it too, which is why he’s rested him previously. Why we haven’t signed a new RB or at least given one of the kids a proper go is something I find perplexing.
Which all of course, means Diego Carlos comes back in. I think that’s not a bad idea for this game, as he’ll help cover the back, which should let Luiz maraud forward a bit more.
I’d also be inclined to drop Diaby too, but I think Emery is trying to play him back into form, so doubt that will happen. He should though, be hooked at half time if he’s proving ineffective again, to be replaced by Bailey, in my opinion.
But what do I know? Emery often does things that surprise me and I’m sure he’ll do similar tonight.
Right, I’m sticking my betting hat on, as much as I don’t really bet and am going for a 2-1 win.
Losing this is unthinkable and I’m not even sure I’ll be at all happy if we draw it either.
In fact, I know I won’t.
I know you can’t expect to just keep winning games, but it’s this sort of game that sorts the wheat from the chaff and if we want to stay with the big boys, well, we just need to get the result somehow, as much as I see it being a bit of a bruising game, which will be played out in the midfield.
2-1 it is then.
UTV!
Watkins gets his 50th.
Bailey does more in 10 mins than Diaby has in about five games.
Sometimes you just need to do the obvious.
3-1
“That is a proper goal” says McCoist. If you mean the type that aren’t scrubbed out for offside by bent VAR decisions, Ally, yes.
Watkins nets again, after another great ball by Bailey.
It’s ruled off.
Why did Emery not see this?
And just as I was saying, we get shafted again.
As I was saying before Bailey interrupted us with his goal, shame about the 2nd too, Kamara and Luiz haven’t been the same since their suspensions.
Why didn’t Bailey start?
Maybe Unai is trying to get some value for the 50 XL…
Agree totally, much better than Diarby who imo lacks the physicality for this league.
FUCKING COME OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!
Bailey must’ve been Googling Chesty Morgan before he came on!
Is Ramsay on? Haven’t seen him
He just got megged, DS…
He’s miles off it DS.
And I suspect given how long it took him to get going when he first started for us, I think it’ll be similar again.
Luiz has been well below par recently.
Zaniolio is just mental. He just runs anywhere.
Barcodes just playing for time now.
Oh look, Bailey puts it where it matters yet again.
I would expect Emery to be having nightmares tonight.
I don’t want to decry what he’s done since he came, but I really don’t understand him playing Diaby over Bailey.
To be fair, Badger, he probably will.
There’s always one team that has the measure of you and our case that team appears to be Newcastle.
I’m really not convinced by Diarby and if I was in Emery’s shoes I’d off load him in the summer.
I don’t want to see Diaby in a Villa shirt again , Newcastle wanted this game we didn’t,
Zaniolo has been a disappointment since coming on. I was hoping for more.
Luiz and Kamara need to wind their necks in, as their disciplne has disappeared of late.
Something doesn’t seem right and I suspect it’s a mental issue.
Probably the pressure or maybe just believing the hype.
Or in Luiz’s case just too long on the nest
That £100m looks pretty tempting for a player that’s been bang average for half his time at VP.
Has the transfer talk affected Luiz?
McCoist confirms, Bum Bum. “Daft” he calls Zaniolo. Daft. Shit. It’s all the same really…
Can Diaby come good in the same way Bailey has? Maybe the first season is a massive learning curve. One thing he can’t change is his physicality. Emery needs to take him out the team because we can’t keep playing him in the hope he comes good.
I don’t think so, you could see there was a player in Bailey -hot and cold maybe but always a spark.
Diarby? I don’t see it, gets out muscled and constantly makes poor decisions.
You can probably guess that I won’t be doing a write up tonight.
I need to learn some more expletives first.
Utter crap.
A lack of pace, desire and even a decent ball into the box.
Bailey showed us exactly what we missed.
Wheels fallen off? I seriously suspect they have and top 6 is the aim now, because I’ve now got doubts about us beating Sheffield.
Wow, how things change so quickly.
I honestly think the lack of an injection of players will cost us for the rest of the season, because the momentum has gone.
I honestly hope I’m wrong, but doubt it.
Thanks for the entertainment, lads. Final comment on the Villa:
I’m off to Google Chesty Morgan…
Make sure you’re viewing on a big screen, is all I can say. You’ll need it
Not be confused with Lieutenant General Chesty Puller, the most decorated U.S. Marine in American History.
I think Emery needs to reflect on the style he wants to play and who he asks to execute the plan.
With Lenglet playing the killer pass to midfield or attack by Torres is no longer there. This in turn makes Diaby ineffective. Further, Tilesman is not finding space to help the ball out from the back. More over it allows the opposition to close down and we lose the ball.
I must admit to being surprised with Bailey playing so well before the international break with him being in the subs bench. Diaby must be outstanding in training!
I’d like to see Ramsey in for Tilesman so he can link up with Moreno on the left like last season and Bailey in the right allowing us to attack down the other flank.
Funny how Watkins becomes effective with balls being played in with pace.
Time for a rethink Unai.
Since Tielemans has been getting a shirt both our form and discipline have gone south.
Never liked him at Leicester, didn’t see what all the fuss was about.
Squad player at best.
If Spurs beat Brentford tomorrow at home then we will be 5th! Right now I would take 6th if offered it.
Emery now has to turn things round. At Arsenal he started great and then the wheels fell off and the fans got noisy before he was dismissed. We need to keep faith even though it’s not fun watching performances like that. My concern is our high line and high percentage possession is being exploited more frequently. Is it Torres being out that’s causing this issue or are we not giving the opposition enough credit?
Holte the same thought about Emery at Arsenal crossed my mind but one swallow doesn’t a summer make or in this case one defeat.
I don’t doubt his coaching ability but is he too one dimensional? The EPL requires the best managers to adapt their tactics to suit the challenges of any one game but have we seen that enough with Emery?
Accepting I only watched the first 35 minutes it seemed to me that he had not learned from the manner of our defeat in the opening game of the season.
Spot on Hitch.
No, it’s not just Pau, imo.
We do miss him spraying the ball about, but we’re lacking in midfield even when we get the ball. It’s all too slow and it just isn’t working.
Our balls into the box consistently go to their defenders , which gives Watkins nothing to work with.
Add in that they were quicker and worked harder and I honestly think we’re rubbish all over the pitch, Martinez apart.
One player out does not cause this.
It’s like watching practically a whole team that’s just out of form.
Unai’s interview hasn’t inspired me much. He just said we weren’t very good first half and he’d told them how good they’d been all season, at half time.
Hmm.
I guess the teacups and a football boot in the face don’t work any more.
Otherwise, he said he hopes we sign Rogers tomorrow and he’s a good “prospective” player.
Another loan back, I wonder? Surely not.
Badger, it’s not ‘like’ watching a whole team out of form; the whole team IS out of form. They reasons are varied: January blues (no, really); Cup games staggering the momentum; a very intense December; players coming back from injury and suspension; other players still out injured; talk of selling a key player (a big mistake – this should be kept in-house until it actually happens). None of these are excuses, but they are valid reasons. Not to mention percentages; would Newcastle lose four in a row? Unlikely. Would the Villa lose a game at home. Increasingly likely.
I’d like to think of last night, like opening day in August, as the first day of the season and now we’ve got it out of the system. The manager and the players need to regroup, refocus, and find some form; that will happen IF the intensity of our play returns to levels shown against Newcastle at VP last April. I was there and from the first minute we were creating chances and putting them under pressure. Last night, from the first minute, we were comatose, inviting pressure which led to the inevitable. I can’t believe Unai told them to play that way, especially after a month away from VP.
Anyway, a cup and top 4 remains the target for me. But A LOT of work needs to be done and the goals need to start flowing again, as in the first half of the season when we were the league’s top scorers. What happened to the 4s vs Everton and West Ham? The 6 against Brighton? 3 against Luton etc… We need that back ASAP. If not, the season will fizzle out, Gregory ’99 style. I hope not.