Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: PeterWithesShin on April 05, 2025, 07:23:07 PM
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7 in a row.
Never in doubt.
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Gave them some chances, we had ours as well though. Difference between this match and at theirs is we took our chances and they didn't have a ref on their side.
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Superb. There's a true gritty belief in this squad. It deserves a trophy.
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Massive 3 points . Enormous . Don't care how poor we were it's the points that matter .
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Hard fought win. That's could be massive for us. Shame we conceded to leave our GD on 0 though.
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Phew - weird second half where we really ceded control. It was a bit like the game at Villa Park last year. But vital win.
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If Nuno hadn't done a stupid by starting with five at the back (which never works, you'd think they'd learn), I suspect we wouldn't have won that.
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A sexy result.
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Comfortable
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My thoughts go out to BC at this difficult time.
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Brilliant win. To be honest it a game I never thought we’d win. I had a bad feeling about it as they have really impressed me this season. Fantastic!
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Frustrating thing is, if the ref at their place had given the clear penalty on Rogers we'd almost certainly be level on points with this lot.
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My thoughts go out to BC at this difficult time.
Ha!
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My thoughts go out to BC at this difficult time.
Yes, he stopped posting so I hope nothing happened to him.
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Just keep winning. Fingers crossed for a Deano-esque ten-in-a-row.
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Fucking hell. My poor ticker.
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Just keep winning
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Just keep winning. Fingers crossed for a Deano-esque ten-in-a-row.
Plus about 7.
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We're great, aren't we?
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We normally have a shit first half and a good second. Today we switched it up for more neutral excitement. (Coping)
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Why did he take Garcia off?
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Even in the second half we had better chances at their goal. They had one on target the whole of the half they "dominated"* us.
*I know you didn't say that, others have though.
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Just keep winning. Fingers crossed for a Deano-esque ten-in-a-row.
Plus about 7.
Draw in Paris to take the "consecutive victories" pressure off.
Win all the rest.
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Made far harder work of that than we should have.
A more ruthless team pumps them 3 to 4 zip in that first half when they were all over the place.
Instead, Forest are coming out of this one thinking they should've got at least a point.
Kamara helped when he came on but still way too nervy for the last 25-30 mins.
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:(
We're great, aren't we?
We are..
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Forest are a good side, we had to match them in the second half and we sort of did. We didn't have the control we like to have but fucking well done Villa!!! Seven in a row is obscene! Keep going boys. We found a way to win today.
I thought we kept going long but the ball didn't stick with Watkins or Rashford, really. One thing we could work on is downing tools when winning, but then really struggling to pick it back up when required.
This was a big game to win - well done Villa.
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Outclassed in the second half, we should really have lost that game. Every single restart from Emi seemed to result in the ball coming back at us.
They pressed us too well for us to play out from the back and when we went long, Forest won the 50/50s.
I've dismissed Forest as counter-attacking merchants but they kept us pinned in our third for most of the second half and we kept coughing-up chances. I worry for us in Paris after that, to be honest.
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Why did he take Garcia off?
Maybe he could see Malen wasn't helping back enough so wanted a defender there, but wanted to keep Malen's speed on the attack. Luckily took more control when Rogers moved over and Kamara came on.
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Why did he take Garcia off?
Unless he was injured it is a strange decision.
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Outclassed in the second half, we should really have lost that game. Every single restart from Emi seemed to result in the ball coming back at us.
They pressed us too well for us to play out from the back and when we went long, Forest won the 50/50s.
I've dismissed Forest as counter-attacking merchants but they kept us pinned in our third for most of the second half and we kept coughing-up chances. I worry for us in Paris after that, to be honest.
I think should have lost is over stretching it. We let them get on top and they had their chances, but so did we - Rogers and Rashford both should have probably scored.
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We're great, aren't we?
Only for 20 minutes a game. It's usually enough to win but I'm not sure it'll be enough against PSG and some of our other remaining opponents.
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Massive result, keeps them in the mix too although they have some decent fixtures.
We've kept ourselves in there for now.
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My thoughts go out to BC at this difficult time.
When you have a 6-2 win and a 2-1 loss on the same day, you don't know whether to laugh or cry.
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Horrible to watch that second half but substitutes did their job on suring things up. Forest are a tough, horrible side and I lost count of how many times our outball was being manhandled and nothing given.
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Outclassed in the second half, we should really have lost that game. Every single restart from Emi seemed to result in the ball coming back at us.
They pressed us too well for us to play out from the back and when we went long, Forest won the 50/50s.
I've dismissed Forest as counter-attacking merchants but they kept us pinned in our third for most of the second half and we kept coughing-up chances. I worry for us in Paris after that, to be honest.
I didn't see it myself. The change to strengthen the right didn't work out until Malen was hooked, and I think Elanga off for Jota took the team some getting used to, but once we made out 60min changes, either team had chances but ours were alot better.
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Outclassed in the second half, we should really have lost that game. Every single restart from Emi seemed to result in the ball coming back at us.
They pressed us too well for us to play out from the back and when we went long, Forest won the 50/50s.
I've dismissed Forest as counter-attacking merchants but they kept us pinned in our third for most of the second half and we kept coughing-up chances. I worry for us in Paris after that, to be honest.
I think should have lost is over stretching it. We let them get on top and they had their chances, but so did we - Rogers and Rashford both should have probably scored.
Our chances were on the break. They kept winning possession from our own restarts. Can't believe how bad we were at retaining possession, swapping Onana for Kamara and Asensio for McGinn didn't make a huge difference.
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Had to pop out with 15 mins left. Came back fully expecting it to be 2-2 at full-time. Big win.
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Should have lost? After 17 shots and 8 on target and they had 3 on target?
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Should have lost? After 17 shots and 8 on target and they had 3 on target?
And two of them were the tame efforts in the first half.
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Good subs today. Other than the HT one.
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We rode our luck in the second half, but a great win nonetheless.
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Should have lost? After 17 shots and 8 on target and they had 3 on target?
Hitting the bar and a couple of very narrowly wide-efforts from Gibbs-White and Williams which were gilt-edged may not be on-target but they were still damn close.
They managed to get in behind our defence way too often for comfort. And the recent clean-sheets shouldn't hide that we have a lot to improve in terms of defending as a team.
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3 points. Happy with that.
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So not on target then. If they keep missing they don't deserve to win. Meanwhile their keeper was a contender for their MOTM.
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We should have been better second half, but to say we should have lost is just overdoing it. It doesn’t matter if our chances were on the break, they were still chances that forced saves.
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We should've lost is over the top. It could've gone either way though.
Forest are third in the league. It's a good result. Players had some rest. That's 4 in 5 in the league. Do that again and we'll be in a good position.
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Outclassed in the second half, we should really have lost that game. Every single restart from Emi seemed to result in the ball coming back at us.
They pressed us too well for us to play out from the back and when we went long, Forest won the 50/50s.
I've dismissed Forest as counter-attacking merchants but they kept us pinned in our third for most of the second half and we kept coughing-up chances. I worry for us in Paris after that, to be honest.
I think should have lost is over stretching it. We let them get on top and they had their chances, but so did we - Rogers and Rashford both should have probably scored.
Furthermore we could have been well out of sight before they even started to make a game of it
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Great three points, In the second half we didn't play as well but they were always going to try and get back into the game. We still had the better chances in the second half though.
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We rode our luck today.
Lucky to get the three points, draw probably a fair result.
Eight starting changes and 5 substitutions against a top 3 team might be too much. Thankfully, Unai knows a lot more than me.
Well done lads. Onwards and upwards.
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So not on target then. If they keep missing they don't deserve to win. Meanwhile their keeper was a contender for their MOTM.
By that logic a daisy-cutter from 40 yards that a goalkeeper can throw his cap on is more impressive than the attacking team getting in behind a defence only let-down by a close miss and a keeper not knowing much about it.
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Wow!! What a win, 8 changes and still win. Beautiful.
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Should have lost? After 17 shots and 8 on target and they had 3 on target?
Hitting the bar and a couple of very narrowly wide-efforts from Gibbs-White and Williams which were gilt-edged may not be on-target but they were still damn close.
They managed to get in behind our defence way too often for comfort. And the recent clean-sheets shouldn't hide that we have a lot to improve in terms of defending as a team.
The top of the bar is still not on target. A telling stat is even though we were under the cosh, they had 17 touches in our box and we had 29 in theirs, seems to point that the a significant number of shots were outside the box which is not a great scoring area and needs a real great finish to score from, especially with Martinez in goal.
Their goal even had the misfortune to catch Konsa as it went through his legs so it spun wide of Martinez otherwise that shot would have been saved.
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Outclassed in the second half, we should really have lost that game. Every single restart from Emi seemed to result in the ball coming back at us.
They pressed us too well for us to play out from the back and when we went long, Forest won the 50/50s.
I've dismissed Forest as counter-attacking merchants but they kept us pinned in our third for most of the second half and we kept coughing-up chances. I worry for us in Paris after that, to be honest.
We beat them in pretty much every single metric. Could and should have scored 3 ourselves second half. They might argue they should have got a point, I don’t think we should have lost it at all.
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And Elliot Anderson, their midfielder, was the best player on the pitch, I thought.
Delighted/relieved we won but I'm just surprised at how we were bullied for a lot of the second half.
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Mission accomplished. And that’s all that matters at this point. Beating those teams around us and sucking them in to the run is invaluable. Rodgers a threat throughout. Maatsen was largely really good.
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Mission accomplished. And that’s all that matters at this point.
Yup, we deserved at least a point at their place, they might have got one today. Take the win and move on.
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We rode our luck today.
Lucky to get the three points, draw probably a fair result.
Eight starting changes and 5 substitutions against a top 3 team might be too much. Thankfully, Unai knows a lot more than me.
Well done lads. Onwards and upwards.
Not sure what luck we rode when they had their goal come from a deflection of Konsa wide of Martinez and we didn't get that and just had to play really good football to get ours. Rogers when through and Sels sat on the ball to save his. But the rear of his arse sat on it which should have been forced out behind him but instead it stopped dead.
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And Elliot Anderson, their midfielder, was the best player on the pitch, I thought.
Delighted/relieved we won but I'm just surprised at how we were bullied for a lot of the second half.
They are third in the league, what do you expect?
They're also a tough, physical side who are that high in the league largely because they've got taking their chances and defending for their lives when needed down to a tee - as we did.
We're going to have to dig in and grind out results against good sides - we did that all the time last season, but not so much in the league this time (until recently).
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Felt like a pretty straightforward win over a lower league side. Which is what Notts Forest are.
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Well they’re demonstrably not.
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We were nowhere near as good as we were in the first half, but we grind results out now when other teams are getting on top. We had the best chances. We had more possession. We had a higher xG (soz). We had more touches in their box.
They’re a very good team. We needed to battle when not at our free-flowing best but I enjoyed it. Thought it was a cracking match.
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https://www.skysports.com/football/aston-villa-vs-n-forest/report/506107
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And Elliot Anderson, their midfielder, was the best player on the pitch, I thought.
Delighted/relieved we won but I'm just surprised at how we were bullied for a lot of the second half.
They are third in the league, what do you expect?
Hmm...not to be bullied at home? Our record at VP is strong and very few teams have come here and put us under sustained pressure for long periods.
And the consensus on Forest's form seems to be that it's built on soaking-up pressure and hitting teams on the counter as well as using Chris Wood's hold-up play. But they couldn't rely on either of those tactics today and still caused us a lot of problems.
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Outclassed in the second half, we should really have lost that game. Every single restart from Emi seemed to result in the ball coming back at us.
They pressed us too well for us to play out from the back and when we went long, Forest won the 50/50s.
I've dismissed Forest as counter-attacking merchants but they kept us pinned in our third for most of the second half and we kept coughing-up chances. I worry for us in Paris after that, to be honest.
I didn't see it myself. The change to strengthen the right didn't work out until Malen was hooked, and I think Elanga off for Jota took the team some getting used to, but once we made out 60min changes, either team had chances but ours were alot better.
Agreed. "Outclassed in the second" half is a gross exaggeration. After we made the substitutions it was still nervy but far more even and as has been mentioned Villa also had chances to kill the game.
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They had three shots on target all game. It's not that you have the ball, it's what you do with it and I honestly don't recall Emi making a tough, legitimate, save. We had a couple of one on ones and eight shots on target, we started strongly and finished strongly other than the last couple of minutes. Their manager got it wrong but then again, we also relaxed after going two up and should have gone for their jugular to get the third. Two massive wins this week. Really pleased.
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We should've lost is over the top. It could've gone either way though.
That level-headed way of looking at things wasn't very common after the away game against Forest, even though it was even more correct after that one.
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Yeah, outclassed is way off the mark. We did give them too many cracks on goal in the second half and the midfield needed beefing up but we were never outclassed.
Great win. We could really catch Forest at this rate. I can see them having a wobble now.
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Yeah, that was the same in reverse. Both us and Forest are better off with a win each than two draws, anyway.
My nerves are still shredded. Can usually shake a game off pretty quickly. PSG is going to ruin me 🫣
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Hard won but very professional 3 points onwards!
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I was strangely confident right up until we went 2-0 up and then knew they would come back at us. Thought we showed guts and spirit which was just what was needed. Excellent win IMHO
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And Elliot Anderson, their midfielder, was the best player on the pitch, I thought.
Delighted/relieved we won but I'm just surprised at how we were bullied for a lot of the second half.
They are third in the league, what do you expect?
Hmm...not to be bullied at home? Our record at VP is strong and very few teams have come here and put us under sustained pressure for long periods.
And the consensus on Forest's form seems to be that it's built on soaking-up pressure and hitting teams on the counter as well as using Chris Wood's hold-up play. But they couldn't rely on either of those tactics today and still caused us a lot of problems.
I’ve watched Forest more than any other side this season after Villa and they have really impressed me. They dig in, win second balls, defend well and can attack at pace. They are also the one of the most physical teams in the league.
Considering how many changes we made I was surprised how well we managed the first half. If Ollie would have played the one two and released Asensio when he made that great tackle we’d have gone in three up.
It’s about time we rode our luck, we’ve dipped out for the most part of this season. Overall I think we deserved the win.
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All bar a few times I think we negated the way they like to suck teams in and then hit them on the break. Garcia coming off unsettled us but then we coped after a while.
Ring able to make that many changes and beat the 3rd placed team shows we have a great squad and a manager who’s world class.
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Our chances were on the break. They kept winning possession from our own restarts. Can't believe how bad we were at retaining possession, swapping Onana for Kamara and Asensio for McGinn didn't make a huge difference.
It seems to be a tactical choice - several games recently while defending leads we’ve taken to hitting it long more often than not.
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I agree with Eamonn. If I were a Forest fan, I'd be aggrieved at losing that game.
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The result was the main thing.
I was worried about both our full backs. Far too much room behind them.
Onana and Tielemans didn’t compete in midfield.
We took our chances well. The subs settled things down for us.
Rogers and Rashford could easily have made things more comfortable.
Hopefully resting the players will really help on Wednesday.
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I agree with Eamonn. If I were a Forest fan, I'd be aggrieved at losing that game.
Thought we were worthy winners personally, but each to their own.
Fuck Nottingham Forest.
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I agree with Eamonn. If I were a Forest fan, I'd be aggrieved at losing that game.
But they had fewer chances, fewer shots and fewer goals than us?
We were a bit of a mess for about 25 minutes, but they're good and have a style that wins them lots of matches. There was always going to be tricky parts.
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I reckon I watched a completely different game to some people because I definitely didn't see one where Emi kept us in it and we managed 1 shot on target in our 'good' half.
Some of you really need to learn how to celebrate a win without ruining it for yourselves.
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I agree with Eamonn. If I were a Forest fan, I'd be aggrieved at losing that game.
Villa had eight shots on target to Forests three, to be aggrieved is stretching it in my opinion.
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Just got home. Sublimely good first half and a proper buttock clencher in the second. Subs came at the right time as we managed to get some semblance of control back but fair play to Forest really had a go at us second half but we stuck in there. Onwards to Paris….
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Strong echoes of the end to Unai Emerys first season - we even beat Forest around this time then too. If we don't win a trophy then at the very least should hopefully finish top 5 or 6 again.
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I reckon I watched a completely different game to some people because I definitely didn't see one where Emi kept us in it and we managed 1 shot on target in our 'good' half.
Some of you really need to learn how to celebrate a win without ruining it for yourselves.
It's a difference of opinion, there's really no need to be like that about it.
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Hanging on at the end a bit against a very good side but that shouldn’t detract from a superb first half - we really were quite brilliant.
Three more big hurdles cleared in the last week - onto the next one.
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I reckon I watched a completely different game to some people because I definitely didn't see one where Emi kept us in it and we managed 1 shot on target in our 'good' half.
Some of you really need to learn how to celebrate a win without ruining it for yourselves.
It's a difference of opinion, there's really no need to be like that about it.
Honestly I think there is, the match threads are full of moaning and most people accept that but when you have people saying we deserved a lose a game where the opposition only had 1 decent chance on target and their keeper was man of the match I think it's fair to point out people are going too far with the complaints. As I said at the end of the match thread, flip the teams in that match and none of the people who always moan would be saying we deserved to win, they'd be talking about we were lucky to keep it to 2-1. It's relentless and normally has absolutely no bearing on the actual game.
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My take on the match. I thought we were absolutely outstanding in the first half hour and could easily have been 3 or 4 up. Second half, Forest pressed us much higher up the pitch and we were lucky in as much as a draw would possibly have been a true outcome. Their very poor finishing cost them the chance of a draw but, I’m not complaining with us getting all 3 points.
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Outclassed in the second half, we should really have lost that game. Every single restart from Emi seemed to result in the ball coming back at us.
They pressed us too well for us to play out from the back and when we went long, Forest won the 50/50s.
I've dismissed Forest as counter-attacking merchants but they kept us pinned in our third for most of the second half and we kept coughing-up chances. I worry for us in Paris after that, to be honest.
Yeah, I was thinking that after the game. If we play like that we’ll get smashed. Maybe the changes we make will help though.
Still optimistic about all other games.
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My take on the match. I thought we were absolutely outstanding in the first half hour and could easily have been 3 or 4 up. Second half, Forest pressed us much higher up the pitch and we were lucky in as much as a draw would possibly have been a true outcome.
Maybe. But only in the sense that a Villa win would have been a "true outcomes" of the away fixture.
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Haven't Forest skanked loads of results this season? They can hardly feel aggrieved.
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Even PWS on the match thread said they were "battering" us at times and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one having palpitations in that second half.
Anyhoo, we won, so UTV and bring on Qatar St Germain!
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I thought Unai took Garcia off because Elanga was playing in the space he was leaving behind him when went forward but didn't bank on Forest taking Elanga off at the same time.
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Not every win is going to be a 3-0. Some are going to be tough and hard work and today was. There's nothing wrong with that at all, they're 3rd for a reason. If anything, this kind of win should be as satisfying as a 3-0 win would be.
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It was a really good game between two very good sides. We out played them the first 30 or so, they came back into it before half time and then dominated the first say 20 mins of the second half. Im not really sure why we wouldn’t expect a team comfortably in third place for most of the season, not to have some periods of control in the game?
There was no luck about our win though. They created some openings, and so did we, probably more clear cut ones. I thought as lovely a player as Asensio is, McGinn wrestled back some control for us and Ramsey made a real difference as well. Rashford also posed a bigger threat than Ollie.
Really important win.
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Not every win is going to be a 3-0. Some are going to be tough and hard work and today was. There's nothing wrong with that at all, they're 3rd for a reason. If anything, this kind of win should be as satisfying as a 3-0 win would be.
Absolutely. We’ve had a few comfortable wins, doesn’t hurt to grind one out and have a little bit of luck now and again.
And Rambo’s right, SJM and JJ did really well and turned the tide.
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This is beautiful payback for the undeserved loss at their place . Karma .
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I don't think the win was especially fortuitous or undeserved. We were much better than them for much of the first half. Also we still had some great chances in the second half.
They improved a lot in the 2nd half and they do have some good players. We let their wide players have too much influence and should have been better at cutting out the diagonals to them. Nevertheless it was a good win
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I agree with Eamonn. If I were a Forest fan, I'd be aggrieved at losing that game.
But they had fewer chances, fewer shots and fewer goals than us?
We were a bit of a mess for about 25 minutes, but they're good and have a style that wins them lots of matches. There was always going to be tricky parts.
Is exactly how I’d see it. I can’t see how they should feel aggrieved. They did well for a phase of the game but we did plenty as well.
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I don't think the win was especially fortuitous or undeserved. We were much better than them for much of the first half. Also we still had some great chances in the second half.
They improved a lot in the 2nd half and they do have some good players. We let their wide players have too much influence and should have been better at cutting out the diagonals to them. Nevertheless it was a good win
We’ve been choosing to be narrow centrally and leaving space out wide lately. It’s partly responsible for our improved defence and results.
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It's better to win ugly than lose pretty.
Regardless of whether you think we deserved to win or not, I don't see the point in trying to find negatives when we've just won 7 in a row and are now off to Paris for a CL QF.
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Excellent 3 points vs one of the form teams, v good first half, nervy second half.
Happy
Not gonna make any excuses for winning a good game…job done
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By design I suspect we played very much in eco mode for much of the game hence letting them have the ball . Emery will want everyone as fresh as for Paris .
Effectively after a fast start we won in 2nd gear .
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By design I suspect we played very much in eco mode for much of the game hence letting them have the ball . Emery will want everyone as fresh as for Paris .
Effectively after a fast start we won in 2nd gear .
I reckon only Rogers, Martinez and Tielemans are definite starters in Paris though. With Watkins a probable, Asensio and Mings possibles.
Anyone else would be quite surprising, so a lot of the "staying fresh" was happening off-pitch.
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First 30 mins were as good as anything we have seen all season. We were brilliant.
Onana, Maatsen, Mings and Garcia were excellent in that period.
Whoever is doing player ratings, if they give Ollie a 4, it will be too much.
He looks absolutely devoid of everything.
His final pass, his final effort, his ability to hold off the defenders and fight to hold the ball, were all lacking today.
I love Ollie, I desperately hope he finds his mojo again.
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When you're playing champions league rivals you'd be naive to expect us to stroll it. It's nice to be able to say champions league rivals though. Even nicer to say we won.
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By design I suspect we played very much in eco mode for much of the game hence letting them have the ball . Emery will want everyone as fresh as for Paris .
Effectively after a fast start we won in 2nd gear .
I reckon only Rogers, Martinez and Tielemans are definite starters in Paris though. With Watkins a probable, Asensio and Mings possibles.
Anyone else would be quite surprising, so a lot of the "staying fresh" was happening off-pitch.
Yeah possible , hard to read Emery sometimes but I think he wanted some energy conservation across the pack. Probably didn't want to bring Kamara on today but Onana wasn't doing enough .
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Playing a team above us that are bang in form and beating them relatively comfortably despite resting half a dozen players ahead of a European Cup quarter final in midweek is... nice?
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Truly outstanding win!
I am supremely happy I was jumping up and down with joy at FT.
Two top teams going at it for 90 mins and Villa came out on top. We played some outstanding football during the game, rode our luck and had some close shaves, missed some glorious chances but our overall performance deserved the victory.
We made 8 changes which took brass balls from SUE and I got a bit worried about it 4.30pm - 15mins in - WTF do I know !
In the context of the season it was a monumental win at the right time during the run in against a very good team.
7 on the spin going into the biggest match for 42 years - what a time to be a Villan!
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Playing a team above us that are bang in form and beating them relatively comfortably despite resting half a dozen players ahead of a European Cup quarter final in midweek is... nice?
It's in Paris, not Nice.
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By design I suspect we played very much in eco mode for much of the game hence letting them have the ball . Emery will want everyone as fresh as for Paris .
Effectively after a fast start we won in 2nd gear .
I reckon only Rogers, Martinez and Tielemans are definite starters in Paris though. With Watkins a probable, Asensio and Mings possibles.
Anyone else would be quite surprising, so a lot of the "staying fresh" was happening off-pitch.
Yeah possible , hard to read Emery sometimes but I think he wanted some energy conservation across the pack.
No, I think you're definitely right - but I don't think that's unique to this match. Most games we have a period where we're clearly deliberately dropping our intensity levels.
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We just needed to find a way to hold on there. Heart in mouth when Murillo was shooting. Honestly thought from where I was sitting it was going top corner.
Little bit disappointed we've again dominated a game for a half and still only won by a goal. Thought with how we were playing, Forest not at full strength and what we had to come off the bench we could've won that 3 or 4 nil just to get the GD up before Southampton away. The story of the season in a way but the league season is looking promising again at least and I'd expect us to comfortably get over 60 points now which looked a big ask after the Ipswich draw.
Rogers now at 13 goals in league and cup. His all round game can veer dramatically but there is no question he's going to be an exceptional player in two years time when he matures more. We will command a bigger fee than Grealish.
Great to see Malen score again, should've played more than he has so hopefully he fully has Unai's trust as think he'll be a good option for the SF.
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Even PWS on the match thread said they were "battering" us at times and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one having palpitations in that second half.
Anyhoo, we won, so UTV and bring on Qatar St Germain!
There was a 15minute spell at the start of the 2nd half where we let them have too many chances and they scored with the only one they got on target. For the rest of the half we had more chances and better chances and their keeper kept them in the game. First half we were well on top for the majority of it, so we were the better team for about 75minutes.
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Why did he take Garcia off?
Worried about Elanga I reckon. But Disasi wasn't great at centre back and I'll be kind and say he didn't improve at right back.
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By design I suspect we played very much in eco mode for much of the game hence letting them have the ball . Emery will want everyone as fresh as for Paris .
Effectively after a fast start we won in 2nd gear .
I reckon only Rogers, Martinez and Tielemans are definite starters in Paris though. With Watkins a probable, Asensio and Mings possibles.
Anyone else would be quite surprising, so a lot of the "staying fresh" was happening off-pitch.
Yeah possible , hard to read Emery sometimes but I think he wanted some energy conservation across the pack.
No, I think you're definitely right - but I don't think that's unique to this match. Most games we have a period where we're clearly deliberately dropping our intensity levels.
It's not unique , we seem to do it in game on a weekly basis . The possible genius of SUE is he has employed the same concept on a macro-season level and we are hopefully peaking now for the last part of it.
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Why did he take Garcia off?
Worried about Elanga I reckon. But Disasi wasn't great at centre back and I'll be kind and say he didn't improve at right back.
I reckon you watch games with blinkers on
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First 30 mins were as good as anything we have seen all season. We were brilliant.
Onana, Maatsen, Mings and Garcia were excellent in that period.
Whoever is doing player ratings, if they give Ollie a 4, it will be too much.
He looks absolutely devoid of everything.
His final pass, his final effort, his ability to hold off the defenders and fight to hold the ball, were all lacking today.
I love Ollie, I desperately hope he finds his mojo again.
Ollie was awful. We had a three on two at one stage in the first half when Forest were on ropes. Think it was Rogers on left and Malen on right. He duffed a pass to Rogers and the defender cut it out. That was shocking really. His all round game was poor.
Rashford's inability to even challenge for the ball in the air was piss poor too. We had no out ball when under the cosh late on, or at least until McGinn came on. Back to goal he offers very little.
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Why did he take Garcia off?
Worried about Elanga I reckon. But Disasi wasn't great at centre back and I'll be kind and say he didn't improve at right back.
I thought that change made us worse, The problem in the first half which got worse in the second half was more about how we gave up possession so easily in attacking positions.
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Our xG was 2.5 to their 1.2.
The correct team won the game
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First 30 mins were as good as anything we have seen all season. We were brilliant.
Onana, Maatsen, Mings and Garcia were excellent in that period.
Whoever is doing player ratings, if they give Ollie a 4, it will be too much.
He looks absolutely devoid of everything.
His final pass, his final effort, his ability to hold off the defenders and fight to hold the ball, were all lacking today.
I love Ollie, I desperately hope he finds his mojo again.
Ollie was awful. We had a three on two at one stage in the first half when Forest were on ropes. Think it was Rogers on left and Malen on right. He duffed a pass to Rogers and the defender cut it out. That was shocking really. His all round game was poor.
Rashford's inability to even challenge for the ball in the air was piss poor too. We had no out ball when under the cosh late on, or at least until McGinn came on. Back to goal he offers very little.
I'm hoping Watkins hasn't checked out already . Thought he was awful today .
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And Elliot Anderson, their midfielder, was the best player on the pitch, I thought.
Delighted/relieved we won but I'm just surprised at how we were bullied for a lot of the second half.
I'm not sure about being bullied. But we lost control of the game, it even started before half time. Anderson and Gibbs-White really started getting into it and we got very sloppy on the ball. Taking stupid shots on etc. We had our foot on their throat at 2-0. Fair play to Forest for getting back into it. The half time change at right back really didn't help matters.
Kamara and Tielemans were disappointing I thought in second half. That's three PL games on the spin Tielemans has struggled. He kept getting caught ahead of the ball. Right side of our defence poor all second half, Watkins awful.
Ramsey and McGinn particularly helped turned the tide at a sticky time. I don't like Rogers on the right but he was always a threat today no matter his position. Outstanding goal. Mings was solid and Maatsen after an outstanding first half I thought battled well in second too.
That first 30 mins was glorious after an incredibly brave team selection from Emery.
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Our xG was 2.5 to their 1.2.
The correct team won the game
Yep, for me those numbers are a fair reflection of the game. They had plenty of shots but very few were from areas where you'd expect to beat a keeper as good as Emi, even if they'd been better at hitting the target.
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Very good first half, but thought them dropping off allowed us to play. They changed it in the 2nd half, pressed us at goal kicks and we just continued to pump balls up for their centre halves to win. We just couldn't get a foothold in until late on in the 2nd half, but had a few chances to make it 3 late on.
Great win though overall and keeps us right in it.
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I'd probably say Maatsen was our MOTM today .
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Strange game really. So dominant first half then a very worrying 20 minutes second half when we lost control. More even once we made the 3 changes. Considering we made 8 changes it’s a great result for us. Only concern for me today was Ollie, he had a very poor game.
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It’s kind of crazy we could change 8 and have such a strong team.
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It’s also really good to see Malen making an impact now and I’m sure he feels more part of it all.
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I don't think the win was especially fortuitous or undeserved. We were much better than them for much of the first half. Also we still had some great chances in the second half.
They improved a lot in the 2nd half and they do have some good players. We let their wide players have too much influence and should have been better at cutting out the diagonals to them. Nevertheless it was a good win
We’ve been choosing to be narrow centrally and leaving space out wide lately. It’s partly responsible for our improved defence and results.
From what I saw, they made a definite change in the 2nd half and went from a pretty narrow 5-3-2 in the first half to more of a 3-4-3 and it caused us problems.
Our wide players went up against their outside centre halves, which meant their wing-backs were free and our full-backs were 2 on 1 a lot.
One to remember if we meet them again in a certain game at the end of the season.
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It’s also really good to see Malen making an impact now and I’m sure he feels more part of it all.
Also good to see Rogers' interaction with him after he scored today, and the way he was pushed towards the away fans at Brighton to take some plaudits. Already seems to be a popular guy within the squad.
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Great to see a big smile on Malens face.
Think he will be important next season .
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Great to see a big smile on Malens face.
Think he will be important next season .
Yep, delighted for him. He's a classy player.
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It’s also really good to see Malen making an impact now and I’m sure he feels more part of it all.
Also good to see Rogers' interaction with him after he scored today, and the way he was pushed towards the away fans at Brighton to take some plaudits. Already seems to be a popular guy within the squad.
Rogers is good at that. Saw it with Duran too.
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After going 2-0 up and completely overrunning them we eased off. That was deliberate, personally I would have preferred to keep going but understand the tactics.
Second half they overloaded our right hand side and looked dangerous and in control for the first 25 minutes of the second half and when they scored it was a bit nervy.
But the subs did make a difference and we were not outclassed we should have wrapped it up because we had the better chances.
Forest are now a very competitive side at this level and in a rich vein of form.
Today is an excellent result the third in 6 days we should all enjoy it.
UTV
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Not quite sure how we got away with that to be honest. Pretty dreadful performance from about 20 mins onwards, notwithstanding some decent chances for us. They missed a hatful though.
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I'd probably say Maatsen was our MOTM today .
Can’t agree with this at all. He was a defensive liability. It was crying out for Digne but presume he’s played so much he’s close to the red zone.
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I agree with Coopers, I also think Maatsen was one of our best players.
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And Elliot Anderson, their midfielder, was the best player on the pitch, I thought.
Delighted/relieved we won but I'm just surprised at how we were bullied for a lot of the second half.
They are third in the league, what do you expect?
They're also a tough, physical side who are that high in the league largely because they've got taking their chances and defending for their lives when needed down to a tee - as we did.
We're going to have to dig in and grind out results against good sides - we did that all the time last season, but not so much in the league this time (until recently).
Perfectly described. Anyone thinking we were just going to roll over this lot.
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What’s the matter with everyone? If we were Forest we’d simply bemoan out lack of ability to finish our chances. We go on like there’s not 2 teams trying to win the game. Why can’t we ever be happy?
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I agree with Eamonn. If I were a Forest fan, I'd be aggrieved at losing that game.
Eamonn's obviously been on the sauce so what's your excuse?
I was confident before the match that we will beat them and beat them we did with all stats in our favour and EMI hardly had a save to make.
Champions League? They are having a laugh.
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Not quite sure how we got away with that to be honest.
We scored one more than they did. It's usually the way to win a game of football😊
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What’s the matter with everyone? If we were Forest we’d simply bemoan out lack of ability to finish our chances. We go on like there’s not 2 teams trying to win the game. Why can’t we ever be happy?
This. If we'd lost today, this post match thread would be 20 pages long.
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Eamonn's obviously been on the sauce so what's your excuse?
I was confident before the match that we will beat them and beat them we did with all stats in our favour and EMI hardly had a save to make.
Champions League? They are having a laugh.
Erm
Just parked up seen this [teamsheet]. Should I just drive back home?
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What’s the matter with everyone? If we were Forest we’d simply bemoan out lack of ability to finish our chances. We go on like there’s not 2 teams trying to win the game. Why can’t we ever be happy?
This. If we'd lost today, this post match thread would be 20 pages long.
There are some miserable bastards about.
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What’s the matter with everyone? If we were Forest we’d simply bemoan out lack of ability to finish our chances. We go on like there’s not 2 teams trying to win the game. Why can’t we ever be happy?
I agree with amfy.
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What’s the matter with everyone? If we were Forest we’d simply bemoan out lack of ability to finish our chances. We go on like there’s not 2 teams trying to win the game. Why can’t we ever be happy?
I agree amfy. There is a sense of entitlement creeping in. If you have been part of the journey we have been on, just the past decade let alone any longer, every single minute should be appreciated. We have a manager obsessed with our success. Players but a few short years back we could only dream of having. Our bench and squad players not involved good enough to give the first team a proper game. We’ve not had that ever. So while there are aspects of every that might be better we won yet again. 7 straight which is incredibly hard to do at the top level of this sport. Enjoy it. Every minute of it. Because when it ends, and it will eventually we might not get it back.
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Here's a Idea,put the ball in the back of the net, don't go ah just missed again,we hit the bar etc, you don't get any extra house points for doing that, missing that is
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:o
I'd probably say Maatsen was our MOTM today .
Not a fan of his, but recently am impressed,I got to give him credit
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What’s the matter with everyone? If we were Forest we’d simply bemoan out lack of ability to finish our chances. We go on like there’s not 2 teams trying to win the game. Why can’t we ever be happy?
I agree amfy. There is a sense of entitlement creeping in. If you have been part of the journey we have been on, just the past decade let alone any longer, every single minute should be appreciated. We have a manager obsessed with our success. Players but a few short years back we could only dream of having. Our bench and squad players not involved good enough to give the first team a proper game. We’ve not had that ever. So while there are aspects of every that might be better we won yet again. 7 straight which is incredibly hard to do at the top level of this sport. Enjoy it. Every minute of it. Because when it ends, and it will eventually we might not get it back.
Eh ?
I think the very last thing you can accuse Villa fans of is ‘entitlement’.
It seems to me that most opinions on the post match thread are being honest and realistic rather than entitled.
Most acknowledge we played well, but so did Forest and we did well to hold on.
Not sure how that can be considered entitled.
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First half Emery masterclass. Second half tactically not so good. At the end three more points in the bag. Onwards and upwards !!!
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The first half was as easy a 45 minutes as you will ever see in the premier league. Forest pushed their full backs up further in the 2nd half and penned us back. This is normal when they are chasing the game and we have a lead to protect. Emi launching it was pointless though. Their centre halfs won every header and the extra men in midfield meant they picked up all the 2nd ball. Not sure how Unai expected us to control the game with those tactics. 7 wins is terrific form at this stage. 7 more please.
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What’s the matter with everyone? If we were Forest we’d simply bemoan out lack of ability to finish our chances. We go on like there’s not 2 teams trying to win the game. Why can’t we ever be happy?
We scored two early wonderful goals, could have had more. We beat a team rightfully in third place who are having a brilliant season. Superb result!
How many time this season have we been wasteful and if we’d taken our chances the outcome might have been different. It’s football, we rode our luck but held our.
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I think people find it very difficult to give credit to the opposition and supporters would rather criticise their own team.
It will happen on Wednesday.
It won't be anything to do with the quality of PSG, it will mostly be about the mistakes we make.
I just enjoy the fact we beat a very tough side yesterday.
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:oI'd probably say Maatsen was our MOTM today .
Not a fan of his, but recently am impressed,I got to give him credit
Toss up between Maatsen and Rogers
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Really enjoyed that one, I thought 1st half we were superb, with Garcia galloping into the space that Forest left for us, and I just love watching Asensio play, he just pops up into all sorts of areas.
2nd half, Forest pushed on and we couldn’t keep the ball, it was a thankless task for Watkins & Rashford leading the line against their 3 big defenders. It helped when McGinn came on to add a bit of physicality and another option for Emi to hit.
I was in the North Stand and how some of those Forest efforts stayed the other side of the post I’ll never know, it looked to me and a few around us that Emi touched that Murillo shot onto the bar, but not seen it again.
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The first half was as easy a 45 minutes as you will ever see in the premier league. Forest pushed their full backs up further in the 2nd half and penned us back. This is normal when they are chasing the game and we have a lead to protect. Emi launching it was pointless though. Their centre halfs won every header and the extra men in midfield meant they picked up all the 2nd ball. Not sure how Unai expected us to control the game with those tactics. 7 wins is terrific form at this stage. 7 more please.
The last time we won 7 in a row in all competitions (as a top flight side) was 1981.
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The first half was as easy a 45 minutes as you will ever see in the premier league. Forest pushed their full backs up further in the 2nd half and penned us back. This is normal when they are chasing the game and we have a lead to protect. Emi launching it was pointless though. Their centre halfs won every header and the extra men in midfield meant they picked up all the 2nd ball. Not sure how Unai expected us to control the game with those tactics. 7 wins is terrific form at this stage. 7 more please.
The last time we won 7 in a row in all competitions (as a top flight side) was 1981.
That's not right is it? I remember winning 7 in a row in 89-90.
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I was in the North Stand and how some of those Forest efforts stayed the other side of the post I’ll never know, it looked to me and a few around us that Emi touched that Murillo shot onto the bar, but not seen it again.
He didn't touch it but if it had been going in, he had it. The same could be said with all their shots going just wide of the post. I reckon Emi had them all covered.
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I was in the North Stand and how some of those Forest efforts stayed the other side of the post I’ll never know, it looked to me and a few around us that Emi touched that Murillo shot onto the bar, but not seen it again.
He didn't touch it but if it had been going in, he had it. The same could be said with all their shots going just wide of the post. I reckon Emi had them all covered.
I also saw it that way. That Murillo shot he would have JUST reached though. What a fantastic keeper he is in every possible way, also superb reaictions for such a big man.
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Forest can fuck off moaning about having more chances, the better ones were still ours and it's probably the first time they've managed that this season.
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The first half was as easy a 45 minutes as you will ever see in the premier league. Forest pushed their full backs up further in the 2nd half and penned us back. This is normal when they are chasing the game and we have a lead to protect. Emi launching it was pointless though. Their centre halfs won every header and the extra men in midfield meant they picked up all the 2nd ball. Not sure how Unai expected us to control the game with those tactics. 7 wins is terrific form at this stage. 7 more please.
The last time we won 7 in a row in all competitions (as a top flight side) was 1981.
That's not right is it? I remember winning 7 in a row in 89-90.
Depends what you do or do not include.
https://www.11v11.com/teams/aston-villa/tab/matches/season/1990/
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Brilliant first half. Totally dominated Forest. We need to be more ruthless when on top. We were so much in control in the first half that we could/should have scored a couple more, then there's no panic in the second half.
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Haven't read the thread so apologies if I'm repeating stuff already said. Great first half, we looked like we could create chances at will and we scored at a great time as we were well on top and they were always going to get better at some point.
Maatsen I think needs to bulk up a bit, he did brilliantly for the second goal but seems to get outmuscled a bit too often in duels. Onana looked good first half and Ascensio was again a joy to watch.
Second half turned completely on its head, they were aggressive in committing players forward into a press to stop us playing out from the back and then going man for man on Youri and Onana, we had no option but to go long and their centre backs coped easily, if anything Rashford was even worse than Olly in trying to hold the ball up, and Ascenio seemed to get frustrated with the lack of space and action. I thought McGinn should have come on much, much earlier to give us someone to aim the long ball to, a la Newcastle at home last season. Maybe for the first time, we missed Duran coming from the bench to give us some physicality.
Although that said, Forest aren't used to having so much possession and we still created clear chances, even when seemingly under the cosh. A very nervy win but a win nonetheless.
Very impressed with their No5 and if their No8 could shoot, we might not have got any points, but he cant, so we did.
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There is no such thing as luck, karma, fate or god.
So we did not “ride our luck”.
We beat them through having a better quality side.
Nottingham Forest are a very resilient side, though.
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I was in the North Stand and how some of those Forest efforts stayed the other side of the post I’ll never know, it looked to me and a few around us that Emi touched that Murillo shot onto the bar, but not seen it again.
He didn't touch it but if it had been going in, he had it. The same could be said with all their shots going just wide of the post. I reckon Emi had them all covered.
I agree. They had some decent efforts in the second half that had Emi diving around but none of them were actually on target. If they were Emi was getting to them. Close but no cigar for Forest.
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I'd have that Murillo if they fancy doing a bit of PSR hokey cokey in the summer.
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I'd have that Murillo if they fancy doing a bit of PSR hokey cokey in the summer.
He did very well, although he seems very similar in style to Carlos-Diego-Carlo ( I never could remember which way round it was), very strong, not particularly quick, decent on the ball but always seems to be on the same postcode as a clanger.
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Eamonn's obviously been on the sauce so what's your excuse?
I was confident before the match that we will beat them and beat them we did with all stats in our favour and EMI hardly had a save to make.
Champions League? They are having a laugh.
Erm
Just parked up seen this [teamsheet]. Should I just drive back home?
And that absolutely makes my point. Thank you for reposting.
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Superb start to the match, Forest couldn't handle us, we should have put the match to bed, then Forest gradually got into the match and Elanga and Hudson Odoi both had good chances before half time. The 2nd half was a hard watch with Forest controlling the match, Williams twice, Hudson Odoi, Anderson, all had very decent chances to score and the match finished with a super strike from Murillo, which clipped the bar.
It's now 7 wins on the bounce, which is great and also 15 matches home leagues matches without defeat. We are going into one of our biggest matches for decades, with everyone at the club feeling very positive.
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I'd have that Murillo if they fancy doing a bit of PSR hokey cokey in the summer.
He did very well, although he seems very similar in style to Carlos-Diego-Carlo ( I never could remember which way round it was), very strong, not particularly quick, decent on the ball but always seems to be on the same postcode as a clanger.
I've seen him a bit and I'd say whilst the Carlos comparison is fair, to me he looks like the player you'd hope Carlos would've been, the best version of him.
I like Disasi, and I think we need to add a physical centre half in the summer but I like this guy too.
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Really enjoyed that one, I thought 1st half we were superb, with Garcia galloping into the space that Forest left for us, and I just love watching Asensio play, he just pops up into all sorts of areas.
2nd half, Forest pushed on and we couldn’t keep the ball, it was a thankless task for Watkins & Rashford leading the line against their 3 big defenders. It helped when McGinn came on to add a bit of physicality and another option for Emi to hit.
I was in the North Stand and how some of those Forest efforts stayed the other side of the post I’ll never know, it looked to me and a few around us that Emi touched that Murillo shot onto the bar, but not seen it again.
I was there as well and the reason those shots didn't go in is because they were shit. Helter skelter under pressure no composure shooting. Despite their overwhelming number of shots in the second half we still had the clearest chances to score more.
I agree with all else you said. I thought taking Andi off denied us an outlet through which we were dominating them in the first half.
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The wait for a complete, 90 minute performance goes on but brilliant win. Much like the West Ham game a couple of months back, we started like a train but this time we got ourselves a cushion. They stood off us first half, Onana and Tielemans had the run of the midfield and our full backs had acres of space.
We let them get a bit of a foothold at the end of the first half so I thought Unai would get into the players at the break. But Nuno did a bit of a number on us, had them press Martinez and forced us to hoof it long, where their big, ugly centre backs won every header and their midfield picked up every second ball. Anderson and Gibbs-White starter to run the show and the half ended up feeling like it went on for about three hours.
I'd have had McGinn on in the first batch of subs to fight for those second balls. That said, the changes we did make helped us stem to flow a bit so it became more of a basketball match. If Forest had a striker fit, there's a good chance we don't win that. But they didn't and we did so balls to it.
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I'd have that Murillo if they fancy doing a bit of PSR hokey cokey in the summer.
He did very well, although he seems very similar in style to Carlos-Diego-Carlo ( I never could remember which way round it was), very strong, not particularly quick, decent on the ball but always seems to be on the same postcode as a clanger.
I've seen him a bit and I'd say whilst the Carlos comparison is fair, to me he looks like the player you'd hope Carlos would've been, the best version of him.
I like Disasi, and I think we need to add a physical centre half in the summer but I like this guy too.
I agree Lee, he’s what we hoped and wished Carlos would have been. Disasi has been a real quality addition. Our January window was incredible.
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Just watched MOTD and was reminded of the Temu Grealish shoving Martinez, twice, and not getting any kind of punishment. They've been getting away with that shit all season.
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Just watched MOTD and was reminded of the Temu Grealish shoving Martinez, twice, and not getting any kind of punishment. They've been getting away with that shit all season.
Teams that have a reputation for being ‘physical’ seem to be allowed to get away with more than teams that don’t, for reasons I’ve never understood.
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Just watched MOTD and was reminded of the Temu Grealish shoving Martinez, twice, and not getting any kind of punishment. They've been getting away with that shit all season.
Unbelievably Alan Smith on commentary just kept saying that Emi had taken the ball outside of the area.
He's being fouled Alan, you chest.
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Just watched MOTD and was reminded of the Temu Grealish shoving Martinez, twice, and not getting any kind of punishment. They've been getting away with that shit all season.
Teams that have a reputation for being ‘physical’ seem to be allowed to get away with more than teams that don’t, for reasons I’ve never understood.
Stoke under Pulis were the arch-examples. There was one match here where they committed so many fouls the ref gave up then whenever Delap took a throw-in the officials would make sure our players were where he wanted them
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Their keeper made two brilliant saves. Don’t really remember any from Emi, other than a few regulation catches.
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Just watched MOTD and was reminded of the Temu Grealish shoving Martinez, twice, and not getting any kind of punishment. They've been getting away with that shit all season.
Unbelievably Alan Smith on commentary just kept saying that Emi had taken the ball outside of the area.
He's being fouled Alan, you chest.
Ref has blown when Emi was 2 feet inside the area still.
Wasn't he also arguing Forest should have had a penalty as well? An incident that was so controversial it hasn't appeared in any highlights packets or match reports.
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I'm so pleased we got another three points.
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I'd have that Murillo if they fancy doing a bit of PSR hokey cokey in the summer.
He did very well, although he seems very similar in style to Carlos-Diego-Carlo ( I never could remember which way round it was), very strong, not particularly quick, decent on the ball but always seems to be on the same postcode as a clanger.
I've seen him a bit and I'd say whilst the Carlos comparison is fair, to me he looks like the player you'd hope Carlos would've been, the best version of him.
I like Disasi, and I think we need to add a physical centre half in the summer but I like this guy too.
I agree Lee, he’s what we hoped and wished Carlos would have been. Disasi has been a real quality addition. Our January window was incredible.
Yep, would definitely be looking to make that a permanent deal in the summer if possible.
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Their keeper made two brilliant saves. Don’t really remember any from Emi, other than a few regulation catches.
That’s because forest only got three shots on target in the whole match
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Excellent and dominant fiest half. Garcia created an availability for us to play out, assisted by their limp mid-block.
Second half, them pushing higher, us reverting to playing long led to at least 11 balls in the air that we lost. Play came back, territory was ceded and we failed to control the game.
Ollie was poor, but it was brainless to consistently expect him to win in the air when he was clearly mismatched.
Fortunately Emi didn't really make a save and we ought to have scored two more with Rogers and Rashford.
There was no protection from the referee for their over physical play, so we ought to have adapted. They got in dangerous positions and were wasteful. It was an exasperating 2nd 45, but fortunately we held out.
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(https://scontent.fbhx4-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/487730117_122170343756294107_1354717678180964958_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=833d8c&_nc_ohc=QL-TDH_MfFcQ7kNvwFcH8mF&_nc_oc=AdlWO2f1y3lT_B3S3M0lhHS6vITyXX5eCgeJVC7wCUBC0jwaneQB1OvkZyiNW2gN1Lg&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fbhx4-2.fna&_nc_gid=jrdGHbNdwu1RhFj7IENxJQ&oh=00_AfGwRqhvaqONHMW-Xym6o7710ptg94a4FOIZ6Im7lGeBSw&oe=67F83E06)
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By design I suspect we played very much in eco mode for much of the game hence letting them have the ball . Emery will want everyone as fresh as for Paris .
Effectively after a fast start we won in 2nd gear .
I reckon only Rogers, Martinez and Tielemans are definite starters in Paris though. With Watkins a probable, Asensio and Mings possibles.
Anyone else would be quite surprising, so a lot of the "staying fresh" was happening off-pitch.
Yeah possible , hard to read Emery sometimes but I think he wanted some energy conservation across the pack. Probably didn't want to bring Kamara on today but Onana wasn't doing enough .
Onana was good in the first half but is just coming back from injury so it was inevitable that he’d tire.
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I dont think Emery will have been impressed with our inability to break their man to man press in the second half. Don’t know if we were surprised by the tactical change but we gave it away constantly until we got McGinn’s backside into the game. Not many teams can combat it when done very well.
Expect the same on Wednesday, but probably another level again. No doubt Unai will have a plan.
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Yeah as stressed, the fact we could make so many changes and still create the best chances, scoring 2 as well, 2nd half chaos notwithstanding, that's an excellent achievement.
With this squad all season, we'd still be in the hunt in 3 competitions, we'd just be maybe creating more of a jitter on Merseyside.
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Ramsey made a difference as well when he came on.
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Only Grealish should have that hairstyle, it's horrid.
A couple of observations on the Malen goal. One, did it bounce up just before he hit it? From the reply it looked like a tricky, more composed finish than it initially appeared.
Also on the replay, you can see Watkins at the edge of the box being held from making a run into a goalscoring position by one of their two bouncers at CB. When the goal goes in, Ollie turns to his aggressor to taunt him quickly.
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I dont think Emery will have been impressed with our inability to break their man to man press in the second half. Don’t know if we were surprised by the tactical change but we gave it away constantly until we got McGinn’s backside into the game. Not many teams can combat it when done very well.
Expect the same on Wednesday, but probably another level again. No doubt Unai will have a plan.
Problem was we just couldn't get out. Them pressing us high meant that Emi had to kick it long every time and their centre halves just won it every time. Winning battles for second balls suits their two central midfielders to a tee and they had overloads in the wide areas, so always had options out there. We worked out how to counter it in the latter stages though and got back into the game.
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re-watched the Malen goal. The dark arts fully evident if you watch Watkins trying to make his run .
horrible team and approach to the game .
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Only Grealish should have that hairstyle, it's horrid.
A couple of observations on the Malen goal. One, did it bounce up just before he hit it? From the reply it looked like a tricky, more composed finish than it initially appeared.
Also on the replay, you can see Watkins at the edge of the box being held from making a run into a goalscoring position by one of their two bouncers at CB. When the goal goes in, Ollie turns to his aggressor to taunt him quickly.
The Ollie wrestling partner was so blatant in holding him, but there’s never a consequence, refs just turn a blind eye.
It just encourages this grappling, something needs to be done for next season.
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I'm sure our opposition fans have a lot to say about our time wasting, which is rank and sometimes embarrassing. Win some, lose some. Fortunately we won some. Up and at 'em for Wednesday.
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I'm sure our opposition fans have a lot to say about our time wasting, which is rank and sometimes embarrassing. Win some, lose some. Fortunately we won some. Up and at 'em for Wednesday.
Bizarre
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The idea that we are worse for time wasting than anyone else is a myth.
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I was actually watching the clock as Emi was holding the ball and the Forest fans booing. He never had it for more than 10 seconds. I know it's only supposed to be 6, but 10 is hardly exceptional in the game generally.
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Emi is a marked man for "timewasting". Forest were doing it from the kick-off!
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Every team time wastes when needed. Every set of fans moan when it's against them and approve when their team does it.
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I'm sure our opposition fans have a lot to say about our time wasting, which is rank and sometimes embarrassing. Win some, lose some. Fortunately we won some. Up and at 'em for Wednesday.
That's a really weird post.
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I'm sure our opposition fans have a lot to say about our time wasting, which is rank and sometimes embarrassing. Win some, lose some. Fortunately we won some. Up and at 'em for Wednesday.
We play Newcastle in a few weeks. They are gold medalists when it comes to time wasting.
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Given that they didn't have a big stump available up front, I thought maybe Torres might have got on to give us a better opportunity to play from deeper in the 2nd half. Fully understand him not starting if we thought they'd play they usually do.
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That foul throw they did is one of the worst I've ever seen . Clowns .
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I think the accusations of time wasting are fair enough, I was nervously looking at the scoreboard clock in the last section and Emi took 40 seconds to take a goal kick, God bless him.
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Martinez booked last 2 games now , he's on 4.
Is he one off a ban ?
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I think the accusations of time wasting are fair enough, I was nervously looking at the scoreboard clock in the last section and Emi took 40 seconds to take a goal kick, God bless him.
At one stage I thought the ball boy was going to get booked.
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Martinez booked last 2 games now , he's on 4.
Is he one off a ban ?
I think the cut off for 5 bookings passed - think its 10 now. I guess in his last 7 games on the season - if he is time wasting in 6 of them well be doing ok!
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Martinez booked last 2 games now , he's on 4.
Is he one off a ban ?
No. It's a 1 game ban if you get 5 yellows in the first 19 games. After that 5 means nothing.
The next threshold is 10 yellows in 32 games for a 2 match ban. We don't have anyone at risk for that given it's only 1 more game and Rogers with 8 is our highest.
After that it's 3 games for 15 in the season and a panel hearing for 20.
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Martinez booked last 2 games now , he's on 4.
Is he one off a ban ?
I think the cut off for 5 bookings passed - think its 10 now. I guess in his last 7 games on the season - if he is time wasting in 6 of them well be doing ok!
All part of the master plan.
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I think the accusations of time wasting are fair enough, I was nervously looking at the scoreboard clock in the last section and Emi took 40 seconds to take a goal kick, God bless him.
Fair enough maybe, but in no way unique, pretty much every team in the league does it and has seen bookings for doing so. The last time they published the count of bookings for time wasting was in January and we were near the bottom of the list on 3. I think Arsenal were top with 8 or 9.
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The wait for a complete, 90 minute performance goes on
Really?
How about:
West Ham away
Brentford at home
Bayern Munich
Man City at home
Bologna
Celtic
Leipzig away
Brugge away
Brugge at home
Brighton away
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Martinez booked last 2 games now , he's on 4.
Is he one off a ban ?
No worries if he gets banned as we have the outstanding Olsen as back up.
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The wait for a complete, 90 minute performance goes on
Really?
How about:
West Ham away
Brentford at home
Bayern Munich
Man City at home
Bologna
Celtic
Leipzig away
Brugge away
Brugge at home
Brighton away
I always think of it like a boxing match (apologies to those who are not boxing fans, but I know Dave W is so I'm trying to earn brownie points with him).
We are not up against a heavy bag, throwing punches, trying to master power and timing, with nothing coming back. We are facing an opponent, in the ring, and they have their own mind, and skills and desire to win.
But unlike boxing, there are no knockouts. We go the full twelve rounds, no matter what.
Is there a fighter in history that has gone 12 rounds without being punched in the face? The closest I can think of is Joe Calzaghe vs Jeff Lacy, though Dave may be able to think of better examples.
A 'complete performance' simply isn't possible against opponents who are not only out to execute their game plan, but also to disrupt yours.
Within individual exchanges, statistically they are going to win some of the time - but your opponent throwing a left hook into thin air is not a point for him, and neither is a shot wide of the post. A glanced right cross is not a knockdown, just like hitting the bar is not a goal.
The win lies in landing your shots while your opponent does not land his/hers.
We landed 2, Forest landed 1. Tough titties.
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I'm sure our opposition fans have a lot to say about our time wasting, which is rank and sometimes embarrassing. Win some, lose some. Fortunately we won some. Up and at 'em for Wednesday.
We play Newcastle in a few weeks. They are gold medalists when it comes to time wasting.
They're no worse/better than us at it. All teams just do these things when it's required. One advantage Newcastle won't have when they come to VP is a 50,000 screaming fans who can influence the officials as in the case of Durans sending off. The crowd went ballistic and several players ran over, including the keeper flapping their arms around and the ref bottled it and sent him off because Scharr was holding himself "down there" which he definitely wasn't and no one including VAR thought he was. All that was a clear tactic to get at Duran due to his volatility. Hopefully Unai will use the video of that incident to get the players even more up for it than they would normally be. We owe 'em one.
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The thing is the teams that 'timewaste' are those that are usually winning, so of course we're going to look like one of the worst offenders.
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They're no worse/better than us at it. All teams just do these things when it's required. One advantage Newcastle won't have when they come to VP is a 50,000 screaming fans who can influence the officials as in the case of Durans sending off. The crowd went ballistic and several players ran over, including the keeper flapping their arms around and the ref bottled it and sent him off because Scharr was holding himself "down there" which he definitely wasn't and no one including VAR thought he was. All that was a clear tactic to get at Duran due to his volatility. Hopefully Unai will use the video of that incident to get the players even more up for it than they would normally be. We owe 'em one.
TBF to Scharr, he wasn't holding "between his legs", but the back of his thigh where Duran's left foot/studs made contact which is what stopped him avoiding the foot down the back. That can be a sensitive place so probably more painful then the lower back. However THAT shouldn't have been what made up the refs mind being as two different officials on the field were saying reckless (yellow) / accidental to the ref and his red decision stemmed solely from the players hand not being on his back.
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A bit of butterfly effect that just occured to me - Alex Moreno could end up being massive for our season.
If we hadn't loaned him to Forest, Forest would probably have got a difference reserve right-back, who would have played on Saturday. Their manager therefore wouldn't have needed to go with that terrible back five that we kept walking through.
Good work Alex.
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Ah, but he's a left-back Dave, which renders everything you've ever posted totally redundant, you fraud!
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Yeah, I've never been any good at remembering right and left.
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Some of the comments on here make me wonder about what people expect from a football match. The team who are currently 3rd and look odds on to qualify for the CL gave us a hard game at times and looked strong and threatening. No shit
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Martinez booked last 2 games now , he's on 4.
Is he one off a ban ?
No worries if he gets banned as we have the outstanding Olsen as back up.
Just not against Palace!!
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Yeah, I've never been any good at remembering right and left.
Try doing it left and right, you'll fare much better.