Sorry for the terrible title, but it’s as good as anything else I can think of.
I’ve seen it said a few times over the last couple of months that we’re on the edge of hammering someone, but you could have fooled me and I don’t know what game they’re watching. In fact we look more like the team that could get hammered, with our defence, in my opinion.
Not today though and I’ll be watching this one with some interest. Firstly, because we only knocked the Irons out of the cup a couple of weeks ago. The big questions are was the reason they lost last time because Potter hadn’t had any time to work with them and has he managed to improve what wasn’t a great side?
And then there’s Donyell Malen, who, when you consider we got £20 million plus £3 million in add ons for Philogene, was a bargain at an initial fee of £21 million, rising to £27.7 million. That’s for a Dutch international and it seems to be a really excellent purchase and a great bit of business by Monchi and the Villa. Or is he just somewhat over-hyped and we’ve just got him at fair value? I suspect not.
Let’s hope playing on the right (which I’ve no doubt is where he will play) proves more fruitful for him than it has for a fair few players over the last few years. The position seems to destroy players for some reason and it’s a bit of a coincidence that I believe our biggest weakness is who will no doubt be playing behind him; IE the right back.
Regardless, Donyell has talked about how he wants to get goals and assists, but has recently talked about how training has involved defending. And this is the part I’m interested in. How well does he track back and help out? It took Bailey ages to learn to work back, after all and I hope it’s not the case here, because as much as we want that attacking part of the game, defence is equally important in my eyes.
I believe the Dutchman has decent pace too and that’s something we sorely need.
Squad news and nothing has changed. McGinn is training with the squad, but it doesn’t sound like he’s ready yet. Onana is still training on his own and is obviously miles away, as is Pau. Ross Barkley still isn’t ready either
As for West Ham, they have central defender Konstantinos Mavropanos out having been red carded last week for two yellows. Fellow central defender Jean-Clair Todibo is also a big doubt. Jared Bowen isn’t ready and it’s the same with Crysencio Summerville. Michail Antonio and Niclas Fullkrug are definitely out.
Am I the only one who’s never heard of most of those players? Whatever, it sounds good for us defensively and attack-wise.
After hearing of West Ham’s woes, I’m encouraged. They beat Fulham in their previous game but lost 2-0 to Crystal Palace at home in their last game. It doesn’t seem Potter’s had enough time to change much and given our home advantage, I have to go for a Villa win. I’m going to stick my neck out and say I think Malen will get a goal too. Perhaps that’s wishful thinking, but I do see goals. If we can’t take advantage of a West Ham side without their two best defenders and a weakened attack, well…….
So what do I think the score will be, then?
I’m tempted to say 3-1. But I think a repeat of that previous 2-1 win is more likely.
I’ll take either.
UTV!
Again from the left, bloody hell they’ve scored again 2-2
Down to 13th…
Wow! Why did Bogarde go to right back? I can’t understand why again we disrupt 2 positions , 3 if you want to count kamara
What is going on?
Bailey.
Why the heck did we name a RB on the bench if when our RB gets injured we don’t play him?
WTF! It should have been 4-0 but it’s 2-2. Bailey and McGinn contrived in messing up for the first goal.
Bailey contrives in messing everything up.
Despite having to play Kamara at CH we had good balance. We have disrupted that and didn’t need to.
Bailey. Someone please show him the exit. Please. Can’t bare it any more. And to think Buendia could be orchestrating all kinds of magic in the final third. But no. Bailey. (shakes head ruefully).
Bailey is a no lately, but Buendia, aka Mr non-productive isn’t the answer to anything, imo.
Buendia hasn’t had a run in the team. He’ll do fine in a decent team with time on the pitch. 100% player with attacking mentality who is prepared to work out of possession. Think you are being a bit harsh tbf.
Non productive? How can you produce anything if you don’t play? He scored in his first game back at Wycombe with a shit team around him. Then didn’t feature at all. Then played a huge part in Roger’s goal against West Ham in the cup. Then looks dynamic against Monaco and gets the plaudits from Unai. Then we f*** him off.
He was extremely productive before the injury in Unai’s first season. And when Gerrard played his comatose mate every week instead of him, we were all on here every week clamouring for him to play. Literally a fan favourite with his dynamism and creativity. Very rare skills needed at the highest level. How forgetful we are. Too late. But never fear. We’ve got Bailey.
We should have been out of sight. Got too casual as it was too easy Emery must be fuming but shares the blame for a poor choice of sub.
What does Nedeljković have to do?
I can’t believe he would have precipitated a 2 goal collapse!
Replace like for like. It failed at the weekend and Emery has made the same mistake again.
We seem to lack mentality. We were superior. Liverpool would have taken 2-0 to 4-0 in 10-15 mins and game over. We get cocky and casual and let them back in. We need to sort that out. Pull players out for not delivering and tell them what they need to do to be in the team.
It’s still our game if we approach it with the right mentality.
What a 45 minutes are lined up! Never known anything like it. Yep, Bailey better produce the winner or retire gracefully…This new format is really something though…
I’ve said time and again Unai makes big mistakes, I praise him for getting us where we are but his ideas are frustrating, look back at our games and all the goals against us come from the wings mainly left. I give us no hope in going anywhere as from now . Frustrated.
We have a new right back. That might help Bill. Cash isn’t what we need much as I like his commitment. Just not quite good enough at either end of the pitch.
I’m a fan of round pegs in round holes though. Put a RB on for a RB or why bother naming him a sub
Agree with you DSVilla. This looks like a mentality problem and it’s not a winner’s one.
The top teams go for the jugular.
We don’t know how to do that.
I honestly believe we’ll lose this game now.
Unbefuckinlievable celtic are an absolute bag of shite and we mess it up I’d sell barn door back it wide to arsenal and get some money in top 8 is in sight and we coede 2 really soul destroyed here we have to beat these
Wack
I blame Emery too for disrupting the balance of the team more than he needed to. Nedeljkovic for Cash would have been the obvious choice.
If we haven’t got a replacement on the bench for Bailey, we might as well play with 10 men. Pity we can’t clone Kamara as he looks capable of playing anywhere.
Unfortunately the momentum has shifted and I can’t see us scoring again although I can see Celtic winning now.
Message to the owners, hurry up and get some players in, instead of players going out. I’m getting pissed off with the Championship quality approach to getting quality signings through the door.
Rogers has had loads of play.
How come Watkins has hardly had a sniff?
Duran to Al Nassr for £77m? If he goes there we are well shot of him. Money over a proper football career where he would earn plenty anyway. Shocking for a player of that age if true
Is he allowed to say no? And if you know they’re happy to sell you, would you want to stay?
Come on lads! We are so close to a 3rd!!!!!