Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: PeterWithesShin on August 16, 2025, 02:24:47 PM
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At least it will be 12 months unbeaten at home in the league for the first time in my lifetime.
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Bizot did well I suppose.
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fantastic point considering how shite we were going forward and a man down.
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Better start than last year
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A lot to work on, still. Bizot looks a good pair of hands but some individuals had a worrying performance.
We deserved absolutely nothing and got a point, onwards and upwards.
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Better start than last year
We won last year.
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Well done lads. A poor performance but taking a point with 10 men against a good side is impressive. Happy with the point, clean sheet and protects our home record
Biz motm for me
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We're up to second on alphabetical order, I'll take that.
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Awful performance. Awful game. Good point.
The main positive aside from Bizot (how nice to have a competent number 2 again) is we now are unbeaten for over a year in home games in the prem.
Thought Cash stood up well after the red card but we look very stale in forward positions.
Badly need more pace in the team from the start, we have it on the bench and they need to be used more.
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Better start than last year
We beat Spam 2-1.
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In 2023 we started the season with Newcastle, had a goal diff of -4, lost a key defender for the majority of the season and went on to make Champions League. This year, we started at Newcastle, drew with them, lost a key defender for just a game, so we should be on for League Championship. Marked improvement
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Bizot good. The rest pretty dreadful.
At least we dug in after the red card and didn’t lose. But bloody hell we look miles off it. That starting 11 is far too one paced and lacking in invention.
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We were poor throughout. Somehow got away with a point. Need massive improvements.
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Poor first half, much better second until the sending off.
Looked sloppy and disjointed in midfield but worked hard for the point. Bizot MOTM for us.
Absolutely take a point from that.
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In 2023 we started the season with Newcastle, had a goal diff of -4, lost a key defender for the majority of the season and went on to make Champions League. This year, we started at Newcastle, drew with them, lost a key defender for just a game, so we should be on for League Championship. Marked improvement
We were at home mate.
Shite btw.
Watkins was especially shit.
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As poor as we may think we were we'd be livid if we'd done as little as Newcastle did against 10 men.
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
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Blaming Cash for the red card is peak confirmation bias as well. It was a misplaced pass into the box - although why no one was there I’m not sure. There was so much to happen after that and Konsa got it horronly wrong. He let Gordon run off him and then put his hand on his shoulder, it was an inevitable red.
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I think we were poor for the first 20 but then there wasn't much between the teams for the rest of it, even after the red card. No one played particularly well (keeper aside) but the only truly poor performances were McGinn and Rogers, who were both too narrow and struggled to retain possession, which was why we weren't creating anything.
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I said before the game I thought the set up was wrong - setting up to battle Newcastle in midfield is daft. It is really apparent we need a centre-half, a winger, and Asensio in. We were so plodding and lacking in invention.
At least we didn’t lose.
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
I was about to point out that what support did the front line actually have, then realised it was smirker who would be moaning about the chances Watkins missed even if he scored a brace.
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Better in the 2nd half. Konsa was poor for the red. Bizot our best by a country mile. Cash gets a special mention for his 2nd half defending too.
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I hope we have a plan B with our tactics as it all seemed a bit aimless
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Blaming Cash for the red card is peak confirmation bias as well. It was a misplaced pass into the box - although why no one was there I’m not sure. There was so much to happen after that and Konsa got it horronly wrong. He let Gordon run off him and then put his hand on his shoulder, it was an inevitable red.
Especially as it wasn't the only misplaced pass from the team.
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A point more than we deserved, that'll do in the circumstances.
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Blaming Cash for the red card is peak confirmation bias as well. It was a misplaced pass into the box - although why no one was there I’m not sure. There was so much to happen after that and Konsa got it horronly wrong. He let Gordon run off him and then put his hand on his shoulder, it was an inevitable red.
both to blame for me .
did cash actually look up , we was just starting to get on top too I thought.
anyway Bizot MOM and Kamara did ok dropping into the back 4 so he gets a tick too .
But we was really under par and couldnt even pass the ball and roger needs to stop falling over on his runs.
New signings please .
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Cash’s inch perfect ball in for Elanga basically took every Villa player out of the game. The only decent thing Elanga did all game was play the fairly simple ball through for Gordon to run on to.
I like Cash but he dropped us in it there. We got away with it though.
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Are we allowed to criticize Emery here? I'm not sure he got the game plan right here as we struggled to make anything happen. He subbed in an attacker after we went to 10 men, and honestly we looked more threatening than we did the whole game before that. Then he never made another sub in a game where we were trying to kill off time.
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New signings please .
They would be left on the bench like Guessand anyway.
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1st games are often not an indicator for the rest of the season.
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Are we allowed to criticize Emery here? I'm not sure he got the game plan right here as we struggled to make anything happen. He subbed in an attacker after we went to 10 men, and honestly we looked more threatening than we did the whole game before that. Then he never made another sub in a game where we were trying to kill off time.
I think he got it wrong - he tried to set up to battle Newcastle in midfield which is exactly what they wanted.
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Only Mcginn and Bizot come out with much credit. The 1st half was appalling. The second half until the red, a bit better but not by much.
Rogers looks unfit and, sorry to say it, we were crying out for Ramsey’s drive.
Special mention to the referee who was shocking.
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I thought both sides looked toothless. They were better first half, we were better second half but even after that twat Konsa went off, the barcodes still looked toothless. 0-0 was a fair and accurate result. Villa defended ok, sloppy passing let us down. I'm ok with a point.
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Blaming Cash for the red card is peak confirmation bias as well. It was a misplaced pass into the box - although why no one was there I’m not sure. There was so much to happen after that and Konsa got it horronly wrong. He let Gordon run off him and then put his hand on his shoulder, it was an inevitable red.
Agreed, only watching it back there. A poor cross from Cash gets cleared but our two holding midfielders are miles out of position to start with. No pressure on pass as a result but our two centre halves are woeful to leave a gap that size between them to start with. At least force their midfielder to play the ball down the wing. I think Konsa initially thinks he can play offside but realises he's in their half so panics. It's always going to be a red card and an early test of what our depth at RCB is like.
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and Asensio in.
agree , at least he gets us under a bit of control with his experience and quality as he dont lose the ball much and keeps possession , kind of player I thought we needed to today plus he does the odd bit of magic to get you a goal.
I think it will happen.
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I thought both sides looked toothless. They were better first half, we were better second half but even after that twat Konsa went off, the barcodes still looked toothless. 0-0 was a fair and accurate result. Villa defended ok, sloppy passing let us down. I'm ok with a point.
If they had Isak or had actually gotten Sesko though..
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
Other than get caught offside, lose the ball and have one shot straight at the keeper what did he do?
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Are we allowed to criticize Emery here? I'm not sure he got the game plan right here as we struggled to make anything happen. He subbed in an attacker after we went to 10 men, and honestly we looked more threatening than we did the whole game before that. Then he never made another sub in a game where we were trying to kill off time.
The whole decision making was weird. It looked like he thought, lets play the same team as won 4-1 last season. But we didn't have Asensio so he moved Tielemans into that position. The down side is we then had no one who could play the ball through Newcastle from further back.
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A lot to work on, still. Bizot looks a good pair of hands but some individuals had a worrying performance.
We deserved absolutely nothing and got a point, onwards and upwards.
I'd give Bizot a 7/10, took care of pretty much everything without much fuss.
The defence 6/10 plenty of low blocks but lucky Newcastle couldn't finish their chances.
Midfield and attack 2/10 - could rarely string two passes together.
Sub: Malen 7/10. Still makes things happen
Unai: 1/10. Only one team out there looked like they'd been coached and it wasn't us.
After that display I'm delighted with a point. Sad thing is Newcastle are nothing special but at least they can pass a ball.
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I thought both sides looked toothless. They were better first half, we were better second half but even after that twat Konsa went off, the barcodes still looked toothless. 0-0 was a fair and accurate result. Villa defended ok, sloppy passing let us down. I'm ok with a point.
If they had Isak or had actually gotten Sesko though..
If my aunt had.......
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
Other than get caught offside, lose the ball and have one shot straight at the keeper what did he do?
Not a lot. Nor did any of them. He wasn’t “especially shit”.
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But bloody hell we look miles off it. That starting 11 is far too one paced and lacking in invention.
To be expected today when we weren't allowed to use 'Multiiball'.
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Two years running we haven’t lost the opening game of the season. I’ll take that!
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
Other than get caught offside, lose the ball and have one shot straight at the keeper what did he do?
A lot more than Rogers
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Didn't see the game, how did our 50m man get on in midfield? Making only one sub seems odd.
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I thought both sides looked toothless. They were better first half, we were better second half but even after that twat Konsa went off, the barcodes still looked toothless. 0-0 was a fair and accurate result. Villa defended ok, sloppy passing let us down. I'm ok with a point.
If they had Isak or had actually gotten Sesko though..
If my aunt had.......
Well, he’s saying they’re toothless but they don’t have a striker. I get it, you play who’s in front of you, but their situation has to be considered. Getting away with a cleansheet today was a blessing.
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Decent point given the context. Another clean sheet with Mings leading the backline .
Bizot Mings and Cash did well. As did Kamara when he dropped back.
Too many loose balls from the midfielders and Watkins was dire.
We lack pace and goals in that team .
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Didn't see the game, how did our 50m man get on in midfield?
He was brilliant, ran the show.
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Didn't see the game, how did our 50m man get on in midfield? Making only one sub seems odd.
Much like everyone else (other than Bizot) looked entirely off it. I include Unai in that, as I think our game plan was just wrong.
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Watkins wasn’t dire and none of the defence were that great either.
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
Other than get caught offside, lose the ball and have one shot straight at the keeper what did he do?
A lot more than Rogers
Rogers had a few dangerous runs and was fouled.
Rogers was also not far off Ollie's goal return last season btw. Despite not being a striker.
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Watkins wasn’t dire and none of the defence were that great either.
Burn got away with a lot against Ollie today. Ref gave him no protection. The two hand shove to the back while he was in the air toward the end of the second half was a wild no call.
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Another game tyrone mings doesnt lose when he starts 😁
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Pay JJ the extra 40k a week he wants. We look so lumpen.
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We improved a lot in the second half, until the sending off.
We'll be fine, but we need to sign a tricky winger or two.
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Pay JJ the extra 40k a week he wants. We look so lumped.
He has already gone and not sure if he would have made any difference anyway.
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Another game tyrone mings doesnt lose when he starts 😁
Struggle to get the ball out of defence quickly though. Which possibly contributed to our lack of a win.
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At least it looks like we have a very capable backup keeper now.
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We improved a lot in the second half, until the sending off.
We'll be fine, but we need to sign a tricky winger or two.
We had two on the bench, one was given all of 8 mins plus stoppages and did as much in those 8 as the rest did in 90 odd.
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Another game tyrone mings doesnt lose when he starts 😁
Struggle to get the ball out of defence quickly though. Which possibly contributed to our lack of a win.
Maybe it was due to Bizot’s limitations, I don’t know, but we certainly didn’t mess around at the back today.
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Didn't see the game, how did our 50m man get on in midfield? Making only one sub seems odd.
Much like everyone else (other than Bizot) looked entirely off it. I include Unai in that, as I think our game plan was just wrong.
Think YT at 10 is a better option away from home or in a game where we won't have much possession. Don't think Emery rates Malen all that much and no run for Buendia suggests his pre season form doesn't count for much.
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Happy enough with a draw playing with ten men against twelve. A year unbeaten at home in a fantastic achievement. We used to have a civic reception if we made a week.
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Another game tyrone mings doesnt lose when he starts 😁
Struggle to get the ball out of defence quickly though. Which possibly contributed to our lack of a win.
Yup, that played a major part in why we struggled. I don’t think any of the defence were great, just that Newcastle lacked a focus point.
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Struggle to get the ball out of defence quickly though. Which possibly contributed to our lack of a win.
Not stating Torres would have stopped them scoring, OR improved the attack, but he might have at least threaded some balls to the forward four, especially with Tielemans not being back to take the ball off Mings and do that.
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Another game tyrone mings doesnt lose when he starts 😁
Struggle to get the ball out of defence quickly though. Which possibly contributed to our lack of a win.
I do agree with your first point but not your second. We didnt get it forward quick enough but mings was solid. I dont think we would have kept a clean sheet if pau started.
The main reason we didnt win is because our passing was generally poor especially in that 1st half. It did seem we were set up abit negatively. Add that with no pace at all in the team. Malen should have started.
I think we actually missed ramseys energy today
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We’re going to see Mings Torres for at least one game now. Konsa will have earn his place back if we keep it tight at the back.
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Who knows but Newcastle didn’t offer much, certainly not physically up top so not really the type of challenge Pau struggles with.
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We’re going to see Mings Torres for at least one game now. Konsa will have earn his place back if we keep it tight at the back.
I wouldn't be so sure. I can see Emery deciding Kamara or Bogarde could go there.
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Who knows but Newcastle didn’t offer much, certainly not physically up top so not really the type of challenge Pau struggles with.
I suppose their set pieces would have had some physicality in the box with Burn or Schar.
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Defence was ok, distribution going forward possibly not helped by new goalie understandably being less confident with the ball at his feet than Emi.
Poor distribution from attacking midfielders. Rogers had a bit of a stinker. Tielemans didn’t really get into the game going forward.
Better to come hopefully.
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
Other than get caught offside, lose the ball and have one shot straight at the keeper what did he do?
A lot more than Rogers
Rogers had a few dangerous runs and was fouled.
Rogers was also not far off Ollie's goal return last season btw. Despite not being a striker.
and tripped over his own feet and gave away posession on several occassions. to me, he always tries to take on just that one too many before passing
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Hard to drop Bizot after today and hope he gets to continue.
Mings solid as always and interesting that Emery didn’t bring on Torres.
I wouldn’t mind Kamara continuing with Mings if that is what Emery chooses to do.
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Given the circumstances, take that point all day long and move on - work to do.
A year unbeaten at home is quite remarkable.
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Poor first half. The better side in the second half up to the red card. Maybe Konsa saved us a point with that, we'll never know. Newcastle did little after it anyway.
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Given the circumstances, take that point all day long and move on - work to do.
A year unbeaten at home is quite remarkable.
This is the best i think ive seen at as a farm in terms of home record. Excellent work.
Im proud that teams acknowledge villa park isnt a place to come anymore
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Hard to drop Bizot after today and hope he gets to continue.
Very easy to drop him. He was better then Olsen but his saves would have also been expected from Emi. He did anticpate well but distribution-wise, was part of the problem getting forward.
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
Other than get caught offside, lose the ball and have one shot straight at the keeper what did he do?
A lot more than Rogers
Rogers had a few dangerous runs and was fouled.
Rogers was also not far off Ollie's goal return last season btw. Despite not being a striker.
and tripped over his own feet and gave away posession on several occassions. to me, he always tries to take on just that one too many before passing
I agree but he has time to improve in this aspect.
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Yeah i wouldnt drop emi either tbh. But its reassuring we can trust to use him for europa and domestic cups
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I think that snide Gordon waited for contact and flung himself to the ground the fucking cheat.
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I think that snide Gordon waited for contact and flung himself to the ground the fucking cheat.
Of course he did, but Konsa put his arm on his shoulder. It was daft.
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I think that snide Gordon waited for contact and flung himself to the ground the fucking cheat.
He did but Konsa duly obliged
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Yeah, none of ours would ever do that.
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Having bizot will make Emi better in my opinion.
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Pretty much every player will go to ground as soon as they feel the contact.
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Nobody beats the biz.
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Forgot Bunedia was on the bench, thought he might've come on for McGinn just to press a bit more.
Going forward we need to work out some sort of formation that will get Maatsen, Malen AND Guessand out from the start against selected opposition. Do that and we might actually score a goal inside the first 20 minutes which we didn't do much of last season.
What I don't want to see is Asensio coming back and just exiling Rogers out wide while those above remain on the bench.
It was way too pedestrian first half today and not good to watch at all.
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Thought we got psyched out today although it’s a good point in the end.
Unai packed the central midfield which meant we had no balance and no width. We badly missed Bailey so need a replacement if he isn’t going to use Malen and Guessand.
Newcastle pressed us first half and we didn’t seem to know what to do so went long. Second half they seemed to run out of steam and we were getting on top.
Unai doesn’t seem to trust his subs so we didn’t have the usual 60 minute changes before the sending off.
We need to get a couple of players in now.
Thought the ref was awful and Newcastle wearing white shorts didn’t make viewing easy where I was.
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How long is Martinez out for?
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How long is Martinez out for?
He's available for the next game.
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I thought Newcastle had run out of ideas and we were starting to get on top in the second half and then the red card happened and it was damage limitation after that.
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I thought Newcastle had run out of ideas and we were starting to get on top in the second half and then the red card happened and it was damage limitation after that.
Agree. We were starting to dominate but the red card changed the objective completely. It was quite comfortable in the end and we even had a few breaks ourselves.
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Frustrating performance. Feel for Malen not starting as he was our best player preseason.
My biggest concern is the form of Rogers…. Looks to have carried on from where he left off end of last season. Slow to read the ball, knocked off it constantly and managed to tackle himself on a few occasions today. Needs dropping to show he has to earn his spot.
Positives - Bizot and Cash. Thought both were impervious today.
Ref was god awful too!
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We're only 37 wins away from winning the league.
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Needs dropping to show he has to earn his spot.
Controversial, but I think you might be right. Plus Malen/Guessand, even Buendia, need to be given chances to play so they remain fully committed.
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We look a bit stale. Very much same old, same old.
Firstly the ref was a fecking disgrace. I hope there is not some sort of ‘let’s shaft the villa’ as they rally round their colleague who fucked us over at Man U.
What has happened to Rogers ?
He continued today as he finished last season, shocking.
Watkins worked hard but in reality, Burn had him in his pocket.
Cash, Ginny and Mings were very good and we have a very good second goalie.
I’m not sure that Emi is an automatic choice next week.
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Controversial i know, as much as I love SJM he was blowing out of his arse in the second half and offered very threat. I said to my son at half time Malen needs to come on to provide width and some sort of threat going forward.
Thought Biscuit did well nice to have a good back up to Emi
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Livramento motm, ref woeful second half, we didn't have enough forward ambition.Pleased with a point and actually enjoyed the occasion after a season hiatus.
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A typical opener between 2 clubs that will have stronger and fitter squads in a few weeks.
Not the best first half and we took time to bed in defensively. I’m sure we’d have won it with 11 but the way we managed the game after that was fantastic.
McGinn superb as always, leading by example with his commitment and effort.
Another very poor performance by the officials, including the linesman on the Trinity side who I thought was going to wet himself when Burn shouted at him and made him change his mind. I have no confidence in any of these, they are all miles off it.
Emery giving it to the smarmy TalkSPORT top 6 lover Matterface was a joy to listen to.
We will be fine with Emery in charge so all in app not the worst day.
UTV
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Struggle to get the ball out of defence quickly though. Which possibly contributed to our lack of a win.
Not stating Torres would have stopped them scoring, OR improved the attack, but he might have at least threaded some balls to the forward four, especially with Tielemans not being back to take the ball off Mings and do that.
We score more when Torres plays and we concede more.
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The positives:
Clean Sheet
Bizot
Stuck at it when down to 10 men and restricted Newcastle to nothing.
1pt
Unbeaten at Fortress VP for a year.
The negatives:
We looked rusty and there was no flow to our game
Sloppy passing
Rogers and Watkins - dear oh dear
Referee was a clown.
Onwards…..
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Good to hear Emery slap that pompous big six arse licker Sam Matterface back into his box.
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Malen should have been on a half time.
Tielemans struggled to get in the game.
Rogers looks unfit.
Keeper was OK.
Referee was a clown.
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Cagey really from us with the set up. McGinn and Digne instead of Maatsen and Malen left us with no pace and a midfielder too many for me. Really struggled first half to keep hold of it and build anything.
Second half was better and we were on balance the better side until Cash abysmal cross set them loose for Konsa's red card.
After that I was happy with a point, given they were able to make that man advantage count Boxing Day. They didn't create much mind and look pretty toothless without Isak.
Given it went down to goal difference last season, not giving anything away in the six pointers is going to be key. A couple of additions needed.
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Good to hear Emery slap that pompous big six arse licker Sam Matterface back into his box.
Emery admitted Konsa should have got sent off and Matterface then asked if Konsa would have done the same if it was a match later on in the season. FFS - you can ask a thousand more insightful questions than a nonsense what if like that.
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Good to hear Emery slap that pompous big six arse licker Sam Matterface back into his box.
Emery admitted Konsa should have got sent off and Matterface then asked if Konsa would have done the same if it was a match later on in the season. FFS - you can ask a thousand more insightful questions than a nonsense what if like that.
I think what got under his skin the most was him saying they’d had loads of chances to win it. It was downhill from there with Emery asking him if he wanted his assessment of the game or his own. He stuck him straight back into his little hole after that.
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
as one news outlet said "Ollie Watkins, who had opened the scoring inside 40 seconds when Newcastle were dismissed 4-1 here in April, gave an outstanding display of forward running down the channels but Villa, apart from Morgan Rogers, simply could not get enough men supporting him"
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I said at halftime that Guessand and Malen should have replaced Rogers (clearly not fully fit) and Onana so that we could have offered more on the wings against 2 fullbacks who were there to be bullied. I think we did the opposite of our last home game against the Jawdies: have them too much respect, failed to wrest the initiative and gave over possession easily.
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A really drab game. The bright spots were the performances of Bizot, McGinn and maybe Kamara after he dropped into the back four. Newcastle were poor after we went down to 10 with loads of over-hit crosses.
Also, when were walking back to the car there was a guy with and easel doing a sketch of the (closed) Bartons.
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Have we now had 2 sendings off in consecutive games instigated by sheer crapness from Cash ?
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People are both praising McGinn and slating him.
Also red card apart what did the ref do which was so bad.
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Two sides cancelled each out and a draw was the fair result, they did very little attacking king wise either.
Positives - Bizot performance and we appear to have survived a game against that hopeless tackling thug Joelinton
Anyone else get frustrated with the subs? Not just the face only one made but also 6 of them just stood at the corner flag watching and gossiping…warm up properly or sit down ffs
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People are both praising McGinn and slating him.
Also red card apart what did the ref do which was so bad.
I thought he favoured Newcastle all second half.Rogers especially was fouled with no redress
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We have to add at least two more players to this squad. Certainly cover at right centre back, plus another wide player now Ramsey gone and Bailey likely to go. I'd imagine they'd have to be loan signings due to these ridiculous rules and restrictions.
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What does Emery have against Malen? To my untrained eye he looks more than useful but Emery is clearly not convinced by him.
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I said at halftime that Guessand and Malen should have replaced Rogers (clearly not fully fit) and Onana so that we could have offered more on the wings against 2 fullbacks who were there to be bullied. I think we did the opposite of our last home game against the Jawdies: have them too much respect, failed to wrest the initiative and gave over possession easily.
Forgetting the enforced Emi change, we had Asensio and Maatsen in last seasons game rather then Onana and Digne. Obviously that enforced a position change for Youri as well which I think was the main key issue.
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We have to add at least two more players to this squad. Certainly cover at right centre back, plus anothe wide player now Ramsey gone and Bailey likely to go. I'd imagine they'd have to be loan signings due to these ridiculous rules and restrictions.
I know what you're saying but I'd like to see Malen and Guessand actually given some gametime before bringing others in (other than at RCB, obviously).
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We had little width or true outlet ball to bring the attack to Newcastle. We need variety and adventure added in the next couple of weeks of the window
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Rogers i agree wasnt fit. He had a very bad game. Not sure why unai didnt take him off sooner that was a wierd one
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Yard slower all over the pitch. Bizot sound enough debut for sure. Pope had the quietest first half in his career i should think. Couldnt keep the ball up front. Decent point against a champions league club and a clean sheet with twenty minutes+ with ten men - i'll take it - albeit reluctantly.
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Have we now had 2 sendings off in consecutive games instigated by sheer crapness from Cash ?
Both players who were sent off in those incidents are culpable themselves.
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Rogers was terrible and should have been pulled in the 60th at the latest. He either is up for it or he is not and you can tell after about 15 minutes.
It was a “safe,” defensive lineup from Emery which paid off because we went down a man, but I do wish he would be more courageous and attacking against these types of teams. I would have said that the plan was to soak up pressure in the first half and then to make subs (Malen, Guessand) in the second around 60 minutes, but that did not materialize.
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I do hope the red card refocuses Konsa’s mind a bit. He’s a very good player, but he’s let bad habits slip into his game. Today is a good example, use your brain if you put an arm on the shoulder the player will go down. It’s like his thing of always going down expecting a foul. He needs to sharpen up.
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The timing of the sending off was crucial. Its about that time when Emery usually makes changes which have so often got us a result in a game that was heading for stalemate. The biggest issue for me was our wayward passing in the first half. Time and again our attacks broke down before we even got going. Work to do and some new recruits hopefully coming in will put a different outlook on things. Its certainly not as doom and gloom as some posters are making out. Onwards and upwards.
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When we went down to 10, we were better defensively and Kamara improved a lot when he moved back which was a surprise. Their forwards are quick but had no end product, but our midfield was disappointing today.
We could really do with some pace to transition up the field more quickly as Rogers was mostly off it today.
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
as one news outlet said "Ollie Watkins, who had opened the scoring inside 40 seconds when Newcastle were dismissed 4-1 here in April, gave an outstanding display of forward running down the channels but Villa, apart from Morgan Rogers, simply could not get enough men supporting him"
Well done to him for running around.
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Not ideal but under the circumstances a decent point. Bizot and Onana were impressive. Onwards and upwards!!!
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As many have said I think the game was ready for Malen, Guessand and co. to come on and win it for us but the red card put paid to any chance of that happening, so we did well in the end to restrict Newcastle to very little after we went down to 10.
The first half was poor but I was impressed by the first 20 minutes of the second half before the sending off - upped the tempo. We are evenly matched with Newcastle and I wouldn't be surprised to see us in that 4-6th place battle again come the end of the season.
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Have we now had 2 sendings off in consecutive games instigated by sheer crapness from Cash ?
Both players who were sent off in those incidents are culpable themselves.
and the common denominator is Matthew Cash.
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Watkins was especially shit.
Of course he was
as one news outlet said "Ollie Watkins, who had opened the scoring inside 40 seconds when Newcastle were dismissed 4-1 here in April, gave an outstanding display of forward running down the channels but Villa, apart from Morgan Rogers, simply could not get enough men supporting him"
Well done to him for running around.
Unlike quite a few of the others ...
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Have we now had 2 sendings off in consecutive games instigated by sheer crapness from Cash ?
Both players who were sent off in those incidents are culpable themselves.
and the common denominator is Matthew Cash.
It doesn't matter how shit the passes were, Emi and Konsa were both massively at fault and had no need to do what they did. Plenty of time to think about it before rising their man down.
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I do hope the red card refocuses Konsa’s mind a bit. He’s a very good player, but he’s let bad habits slip into his game. Today is a good example, use your brain if you put an arm on the shoulder the player will go down. It’s like his thing of always going down expecting a foul. He needs to sharpen up.
Good job he has strong competition for his place to sharpen him up
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If thats the highlights , shows what a dire match.
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I think in the fullness of time, we will look back on today as a useful and important point.
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I think in the fullness of time, we will look back on today as a useful and important point.
That's what Dion said on Final Score.
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Did anyone listen to Unai been interviewed by Sam Matterface?
Sorry if it was mentioned earlier and I’ve missed it.
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Just home. Seemed a very rusty performance despite all the pre season games. First half poor all round. I thought we were in control second half until the sending off. Crucially about the time that I'm sure Malen and maybe the new lad would come on. A good point in the end and very comfortable down to 10 men. I was really surprised to hear pundits say how good they thought Newcastle were.
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Did anyone listen to Unai been interviewed by Sam Matterface?
Sorry if it was mentioned earlier and I’ve missed it.
Yes it was. I thought he was uncharacteristically a bit tetchy, as usually he is very calm and collected. However, I think he is frustrated at how the club is being hamstrung by PSR, as reflected in his programme notes.
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Was today the biggest attendance since 1994 against Liverpool?
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I did think we would lose today after ezris red so thats a point gained which i am very happy about. Newcastle blew it today as i think we were there for the taking
We desperately lacked any form of pace today. Before the red i really do think we could have made won it if he we bought on malen at half time. Guessard didnt get minutes, you would imagine because of the red. Im sure the plan would have been to get him on. But he has ezri to thank for that due to his foolish red card
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I was really surprised to hear pundits say how good they thought Newcastle were.
VP has become one of the toughest grounds to go to so i can see why NUFC got praise for their performance and getting a point .
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Did anyone listen to Unai been interviewed by Sam Matterface?
Sorry if it was mentioned earlier and I’ve missed it.
Yes it was. I thought he was uncharacteristically a bit tetchy, as usually he is very calm and collected. However, I think he is frustrated at how the club is being hamstrung by PSR, as reflected in his programme notes.
Would you or someone please summarize his notes? Thanks in advance.
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Thought Biscuit did well nice to have a good back up to Emi
It was a Nice performance.
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Did anyone listen to Unai been interviewed by Sam Matterface?
Sorry if it was mentioned earlier and I’ve missed it.
Yes it was. I thought he was uncharacteristically a bit tetchy, as usually he is very calm and collected. However, I think he is frustrated at how the club is being hamstrung by PSR, as reflected in his programme notes.
Who can blame him? He's got big ambitions as have the owners but they're being totally hamstrung by PSR. Add that to the agonising way we missed out on CL qualification and it's understandble if he's a bit "tetchy" He's probably raging inside. I didn't think i could hate anything more than VAR but PSR is worse. Both are designed to favour the Greedy6.
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We were awful in the first half. Really disjointed, like we’d never played together - perfectly illustrated by at least two occasions where our players collided or got in each others way.
Improved a bit after the break until the sending off. Fortunate that Newcastle deteriorated as the second half went on - so many poor passes/crosses from them, I was never really worried they were going to score.
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Thing is how long will Emery want to stay around for this and us not being able to realise his ambitions. I don’t know why I just feel as flat as I’ve been for a few seasons. Ironic really when we’ve had the best time the last three.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/aug/15/youri-tielemans-aston-villa-unai-emery-interview?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
"Don't lose those stupid points"
Today was a prime example of putting this into practice.
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I hope two things really, and they’re interlinked - a. we get some additional players b. we don’t set up like that again. Whatever style we want to play we have to have an outlet and out ball.
We set up worrying about what Newcastle would do to us, rather than thinking how we best threaten them. It resulted is a very stilted and unthreatening side. Even without additions we could have put out a better balanced side. Unai will hopefully reflect on that.
Result was ok with the red card, but how we set up from the start was horrible.
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We played badly. They had 2/3 half chances, not loads. Bizot made couple of routine saves. We played 30 mins with 10 and in that period matched Newcastle. Newcastle would have been more or less sorted if we had not lost Konsa.
Rogers...what's going on?
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We set up worrying about what Newcastle would do to us, rather than thinking how we best threaten them. It resulted is a very stilted and unthreatening side. Even without additions we could have put out a better balanced side. Unai will hopefully reflect on that.
Result was ok with the red card, but how we set up from the start was horrible.
Spot on. Problem is, this is not the first time. It almost seems like Emery does not trust the team to defend if we get expansive or press.
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We played badly. They had 2/3 half chances, not loads. Bizot made couple of routine saves. We played 30 mins with 10 and in that period matched Newcastle. Newcastle would have been more or less sorted if we had not lost Konsa.
Rogers...what's going on?
I think Rogers is best in a more central position and then running with the ball - he is wasted on the wings.
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I'm surprised by some the moaning on here. The first game of the season which sometimes can always be a bit scrappy, neither side were great (to say the least) and we got a draw with ten men. Lacked pace but i think he would have changed that had Konsa not gone off. First game people.
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We played badly. They had 2/3 half chances, not loads. Bizot made couple of routine saves. We played 30 mins with 10 and in that period matched Newcastle. Newcastle would have been more or less sorted if we had not lost Konsa.
Rogers...what's going on?
I think Rogers is best in a more central position and then running with the ball - he is wasted on the wings.
Was Rogers fully fit?
Clattered v AS Roma and missed the last friendly and most of the last 10 days of training which are the sessions in which the fine tuning is done.
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I'm surprised by some the moaning on here. The first game of the season which sometimes can always be a bit scrappy, neither side were great (to say the least) and we got a draw with ten men. Lacked pace but i think he would have changed that had Konsa not gone off. First game people.
I think you might need a bit of perspective - it's hardly a moan-fest is it?
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We didn't play well, had 10 men for a quarter of the game against a CL side and still didn't lose. Not an ideal result but far from a bad point.
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The manager will be gone by this time next year, and it's precisely what they want. I won't blame him, he has ambitions that he will achieve with some other club.
We will be angry, upset etc etc but no one notices and Sky will crack on.
Ever feel like you've been cheated?
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I'm surprised by some the moaning on here. The first game of the season which sometimes can always be a bit scrappy, neither side were great (to say the least) and we got a draw with ten men. Lacked pace but i think he would have changed that had Konsa not gone off. First game people.
I think you might need a bit of perspective - it's hardly a moan-fest is it?
That's why I said 'some'. No-one mentioned moan-fest, only you.
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The manager will be gone by this time next year, and it's precisely what they want. I won't blame him, he has ambitions that he will achieve with some other club.
We will be angry, upset etc etc but no one notices and Sky will crack on.
Ever feel like you've been cheated?
Who's "they"
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The old adage, If you can't win it don't lose it . Clean sheet , defence marshalled well , it's a valuable point .
Emery i think has had time to reflect on last season's defensive frailties especially in the big games and that is welcomed . Shame Konsa will miss a game but i think we will see Kamara / Mings at the back next week.
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Bizot looked really good and looks a smart pickup. McGinn played well.
Our team is slowing down. We need more pace.
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The issue today is primarily that we were set up wrong and played into Newcastle’s hands. It’s a tough balancing act clearly, but we went far too much towards, “stop what they do” rather than “let’s enable what we do best”. That coupled with the fact we played ropey as well made it pretty poor. But ultimately the result was ok.
Unai does need to get that balance right that moving forward otherwise we will really struggle to score. I’m sure he will.
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Important thing here is we've started with a point, poor first half better second and with 10 men, for the football pundits and aficionados willing a Newcastle victory, they didn't get it and they didn't impress either and a massive what if.
Good point Villa, we do need to get into the last 15 days of the transfer window, you can clearly see where we need to strengthen.
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Yep, the keeper looked very good. He seemed alert to everything.
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we need at least 1 possibly 2 pacey wide players . Asensio isn't the answer .
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He absolutely is part of the answer - we need someone who is good at finding pockets of space and is exceptional on the ball. He does both those things. We do need a pacy winger as well.
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we need at least 1 possibly 2 pacey wide players . Asensio isn't the answer .
This is it, not convinced about Asensio either he dropped of sharply towards the end of last season, we have to get a striker in, it is imperative, we depend far to much on Ollie, last year we was bringing Duran on and he was hammering them home in just this kind of game, we don't have that now, we need a top striker regardless of budget or PSR.
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I can’t believe people are blaming the sending off on Cash. Whether you like him or not, Konsa could have not grabbed the back of the player.
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we need at least 1 possibly 2 pacey wide players . Asensio isn't the answer .
This is it, not convinced about Asensio either he dropped of sharply towards the end of last season, we have to get a striker in, it is imperative, we depend far to much on Ollie, last year we was bringing Duran on and he was hammering them home in just this kind of game, we don't have that now, we need a top striker regardless of budget or PSR.
when watkins plays as poorly as he did today there is limited out ball, Watkins hold up play was poor today , looked like he'd been on annual leave for 4 weeks and just fired up his laptop again couldn't remember his password or what job he does .
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I will gurantee that if olsen was in goal today we lose that. He wouldnt have saved that elanga effort 1st half. Bizot was really impressive. I was actually shocked how comfortable he looked today. Hopefully he can continue this as its key to have a good number 2. Really impressive debut.
I still dont understand why unai opted for so little pace in the side today knowing how pacy newcastle are. We had a lot on the bench and didnt use any of it. Malen should ahve came on straight aftee half time in my opinion. That was a mistake by unai in my opinion.
Have to say malens been treated horribly here. Left out of CL squad, has scored goals and looked good but doesnt get any starts. Yet rogers can have a absolute stinker today and stoll play next game. Same with mcginn.
Hoping malen gets a start next week
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I do find it crazy in the context of the position we’re in who look at a player with Asensio’s pedigree, and who scored 8 goals for us, and go, “yeah he’s not good enough for us”. He tailed off a bit, let’s not forget though he was the best player on the pitch against Spurs in the penultimate game. He won’t consistently deliver week in week out, but he will win us games with his brilliance. We need that, and would be fortunate to have it.
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Feels weird when were not thrashing each other.
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Feels weird when were not thrashing each other.
I would happily take a 0-0 at their place as well!
One of the funniest moments today was when those two newcastle defenders went into each other when attacking us. They did our defending for us. I was pissing myself laughing as it was so embarrassing
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I do find it crazy in the context of the position we’re in who look at a player with Asensio’s pedigree, and who scored 8 goals for us, and go, “yeah he’s not good enough for us”. He tailed off a bit, let’s not forget though he was the best player on the pitch against Spurs in the penultimate game. He won’t consistently deliver week in week out, but he will win us games with his brilliance. We need that, and would be fortunate to have it.
Last season a few times I heard people say Tielemans should be further forward but today showed he has more influence deeper. Asensio is much better in that role. We really could do with some pace, especially if we haven’t got Bailey or even Ramsey charging forward.
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I do find it crazy in the context of the position we’re in who look at a player with Asensio’s pedigree, and who scored 8 goals for us, and go, “yeah he’s not good enough for us”. He tailed off a bit, let’s not forget though he was the best player on the pitch against Spurs in the penultimate game. He won’t consistently deliver week in week out, but he will win us games with his brilliance. We need that, and would be fortunate to have it.
Last season a few times I heard people say Tielemans should be further forward but today showed he has more influence deeper. Asensio is much better in that role. We really could do with some pace, especially if we haven’t got Bailey or even Ramsey charging forward.
Yep we absolutely need pace out wide, but we need Asensio as an option as well if there’s any chance of it.
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I do find it crazy in the context of the position we’re in who look at a player with Asensio’s pedigree, and who scored 8 goals for us, and go, “yeah he’s not good enough for us”. He tailed off a bit, let’s not forget though he was the best player on the pitch against Spurs in the penultimate game. He won’t consistently deliver week in week out, but he will win us games with his brilliance. We need that, and would be fortunate to have it.
Last season a few times I heard people say Tielemans should be further forward but today showed he has more influence deeper. Asensio is much better in that role. We really could do with some pace, especially
if we haven’t got Bailey or even Ramsey charging forward.
It felt a bit like to today we wanted to pack our midfield with all our best midfielders. But i don’t think Mcginn benefits playing that wide , Tielemans. that further forward and Rogers certainly doesn’t like being wide .
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I'd rather Diaby back than Asensio if i'm honest and i wasn't a Diaby fan, but he or someone like him is 100% the outball we need now .
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I do find it crazy in the context of the position we’re in who look at a player with Asensio’s pedigree, and who scored 8 goals for us, and go, “yeah he’s not good enough for us”. He tailed off a bit, let’s not forget though he was the best player on the pitch against Spurs in the penultimate game. He won’t consistently deliver week in week out, but he will win us games with his brilliance. We need that, and would be fortunate to have it.
Last season a few times I heard people say Tielemans should be further forward but today showed he has more influence deeper. Asensio is much better in that role. We really could do with some pace, especially
if we haven’t got Bailey or even Ramsey charging forward.
It felt a bit like to today we wanted to pack our midfield with all our best midfielders. But i don’t think Mcginn benefits playing that wide , Tielemans. that further forward and Rogers certainly doesn’t like being wide .
All the above make good points. Agree with you about McGinn too. The other day, can't remember against who but we started Kamara, Youri and Onana together in midfield and I was very pleasantly surprised how well they worked together. We don't have to play all our midfield together unless we are expecting to get slaughtered against top European competition away from home.
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Nope and it’s an especially flawed approach against Newcastle because a midfield battle is exactly what they want.
Use Malen, Evann, get Asensio and another wide forward (with pace) in and our options look a lot better.
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The manager will be gone by this time next year,
No, he won't! Now that I've cleared that up, you can relax and enjoy the rest of this season (and next).
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I do find it crazy in the context of the position we’re in who look at a player with Asensio’s pedigree, and who scored 8 goals for us, and go, “yeah he’s not good enough for us”. He tailed off a bit, let’s not forget though he was the best player on the pitch against Spurs in the penultimate game. He won’t consistently deliver week in week out, but he will win us games with his brilliance. We need that, and would be fortunate to have it.
Last season a few times I heard people say Tielemans should be further forward but today showed he has more influence deeper. Asensio is much better in that role. We really could do with some pace, especially if we haven’t got Bailey or even Ramsey charging forward.
I agree, Tielemans is a 30/40 yard driller or chipper , not 10 yard exchanger.
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I'd rather Diaby back than Asensio if i'm honest and i wasn't a Diaby fan, but he or someone like him is 100% the outball we need now .
I would take diaby back in a heart beat he was good and i still think it was a mistake letting him go. But we can't afford it now unfortunately
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I do find it crazy in the context of the position we’re in who look at a player with Asensio’s pedigree, and who scored 8 goals for us, and go, “yeah he’s not good enough for us”. He tailed off a bit, let’s not forget though he was the best player on the pitch against Spurs in the penultimate game. He won’t consistently deliver week in week out, but he will win us games with his brilliance. We need that, and would be fortunate to have it.
Last season a few times I heard people say Tielemans should be further forward but today showed he has more influence deeper. Asensio is much better in that role. We really could do with some pace, especially
if we haven’t got Bailey or even Ramsey charging forward.
It felt a bit like to today we wanted to pack our midfield with all our best midfielders. But i don’t think Mcginn benefits playing that wide , Tielemans. that further forward and Rogers certainly doesn’t like being wide .
All the above make good points. Agree with you about McGinn too. The other day, can't remember against who but we started Kamara, Youri and Onana together in midfield and I was very pleasantly surprised how well they worked together. We don't have to play all our midfield together unless we are expecting to get slaughtered against top European competition away from home.
I was fairly happy with the line up, however I did groan when I saw Malen on the bench. Other than him playing and maybe Torres for Mings I’d have been happy.
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The manager will be gone by this time next year, and it's precisely what they want. I won't blame him, he has ambitions that he will achieve with some other club.
We will be angry, upset etc etc but no one notices and Sky will crack on.
Ever feel like you've been cheated?
Who's "they"
Those that stand to gain the most from the strangulation of competition and meritocracy.
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Pace is a subcategory of movement. We need more and better movement of all kinds - pace is one type, but Asensio posseses another, and we're in no position to turn anything of high quality down.
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yes sometimes we have players isolated especially when playing out of the back. We manoeuvre out with 2-3 passes then become stuck
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Pace is a subcategory of movement. We need more and better movement of all kinds - pace is one type, but Asensio posseses another, and we're in no position to turn anything of high quality down.
Precisely - reality is we need both. But we need Asensio without doubt, he makes our squad much better.
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The manager will be gone by this time next year,
No, he won't! Now that I've cleared that up, you can relax and enjoy the rest of this season (and next).
And if it needs any extra I am more than willing to back that up with a matched contribution to Acorns if Unai is not here this time “next year.”
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A lot of things didn’t go well today.
Newcastle looked sharper and fitter and pretty much dominated the first half but did not have a clinical finisher.
Tielemens was played in a position to receive the ball but there wasn’t a Tielemans in a position to pass the ball. Onanas lack of ability with the ball slowed any chance of counter attack. Rogers was poor all round and we need to play him where he can be effective,it isn’t out wide and chasing the opposition attackers.
I thought Kamara was excellent and Mcginn showed why we need him.
Cash is a disaster waiting to happen and I am not sure how much more evidence people need to realise what a liability he is.
We got away with a point.
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Pace is a subcategory of movement. We need more and better movement of all kinds - pace is one type, but Asensio posseses another, and we're in no position to turn anything of high quality down.
Precisely - reality is we need both. But we need Asensio without doubt, he makes our squad much better.
He really didnt. Once the goals dried up he offered very little..one sure way to piss Rogers off if he's moved wide to accommodate him again. No tactical flexibility with Asensio, 10 or the bench. We can't afford that.
'Pace out wide' is the new '25 goal striker'. Rashford wasn't played out wide all that often, Malen the same. With little change to the squad, not sure this is the season for Emery to change it up tactically with the same players. Best off sticking to the narrow midfield 4. Waste of time playing Onana next to Kamara and Barkley isn't good enough or fit enough either. Another big problem, our midfield cover for Kamara and Tielemans is nowhere near good enough.
RCB is an absolute priority. Moving Kamara there today only highlights where Bogarde is in Emerys thoughts. Backup to Watkins second and a McGinn clone if possible.
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The priority is a Right Back and it has been for a while now.
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The priority is a Right Back and it has been for a while now.
It’s not. In fact that’s 3rd/4th on the this. We need more attacking options and a centre half before a right back.
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Pace is a subcategory of movement. We need more and better movement of all kinds - pace is one type, but Asensio posseses another, and we're in no position to turn anything of high quality down.
Precisely - reality is we need both. But we need Asensio without doubt, he makes our squad much better.
He really didnt. Once the goals dried up he offered very little..one sure way to piss Rogers off if he's moved wide to accommodate him again. No tactical flexibility with Asensio, 10 or the bench. We can't afford that.
'Pace out wide' is the new '25 goal striker'. Rashford wasn't played out wide all that often, Malen the same. With little change to the squad, not sure this is the season for Emery to change it up tactically with the same players. Best off sticking to the narrow midfield 4. Waste of time playing Onana next to Kamara and Barkley isn't good enough or fit enough either. Another big problem, our midfield cover for Kamara and Tielemans is nowhere near good enough.
RCB is an absolute priority. Moving Kamara there today only highlights where Bogarde is in Emerys thoughts. Backup to Watkins second and a McGinn clone if possible.
Sorry Bronte I know this is all about opinion, but you’re wrong on this. Pace out wide isn’t the new “25 goal a season striker” it’s just a thing you need to open games up. Unai has used it. Asensio is also a class option, which we badly need.
Rogers is a brilliant, but developing player, playing out wide will likely help him in the long-run and it’s also how he gets to the World Cup so unlikely to piss him off.
Also it’s a squad game - we’ll be fucked if we are starting a player in 50 plus games.
I agree we need a centre-half though.
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I'm surprised by some the moaning on here. The first game of the season which sometimes can always be a bit scrappy, neither side were great (to say the least) and we got a draw with ten men. Lacked pace but i think he would have changed that had Konsa not gone off. First game people.
I think you might need a bit of perspective - it's hardly a moan-fest is it?
That's why I said 'some'. No-one mentioned moan-fest, only you.
I know, Clamps, that's why i said it is NOT exactly a moan-fest.
The reaction seems pretty honest and muted to me.
I know that doesn't fit with your patrolling the threads, telling everyone they're silly shtick, but hey ho.
There's barely any overreaction. In fact, there's barely any moaning. Except your usual moaning at others routine.
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Isn’t Malen our pace out wide option?
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The priority is a Right Back and it has been for a while now.
It’s not. In fact that’s 3rd/4th on the this. We need more attacking options and a centre half before a right back.
I disagree, we have needed better than Cash for a few seasons now.
Imagine what we would be if we had someone as competent RB as Digne is at LB.
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Yeah that might help I’m sure, it’s not our biggest gap in the immediate term though.
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what was the Premier League song about?
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what was the Premier League song about?
Not sure, but we'll probably play the Championship one by mistake this season.
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Yeah that might help I’m sure, it’s not our biggest gap in the immediate term though.
It is for me.
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That’s fair enough. My view is though right back is functional if not ideal. We have material gaps in other areas.
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Last time we started the season with a 0-0 was Fulham away in 2011.
https://www.11v11.com/matches/fulham-v-aston-villa-13-august-2011-294903/
The last time we kicked off a league campaign with a 0-0 at home was in 1902 !
https://www.11v11.com/matches/aston-villa-v-derby-county-06-september-1902-55665/
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The priority is a Right Back and it has been for a while now.
We have had a serious recruitment failure when it comes to that position. We have signed two who after 1 and 2 seasons are not deemed good enough to replace a barely adequate current occupant.
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He really didnt. Once the goals dried up he offered very little..one sure way to piss Rogers off if he's moved wide to accommodate him again. No tactical flexibility with Asensio, 10 or the bench. We can't afford that.
We beat them 4-1 and very handily with Asensio playing in the 10 AFTER his goals dried up.Today with almost the same team bar him and Maatsen and we were nowhere at all.
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Just seen the sending off incident. It's a bit daft to try and put that one on Cash.
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Keep playing like that and never mind champions league, it’ll be relegation.
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The priority is a Right Back and it has been for a while now.
We have had a serious recruitment failure when it comes to that position. We have signed two who after 1 and 2 seasons are not deemed good enough to replace a barely adequate current occupant.
Agreed, and we were getting pretty good results with Konsa there.
He had tried Desasi, Nedjelovijk Konsa, Garcia Bogarde which tells you it’s a problem that has not been fixed.
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Keep playing like that and never mind champions league, it’ll be relegation.
Behave
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Don't understand the criticism of Watkins and I'm not his biggest fan, he had no supply and left isolated up front. Malen, why did we buy him if he is overlooked each week? Rashford proved last season that speed out wide is all important. The new keeper very capable.
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The priority is a Right Back and it has been for a while now.
We have had a serious recruitment failure when it comes to that position. We have signed two who after 1 and 2 seasons are not deemed good enough to replace a barely adequate current occupant.
Garcia, who’s the other one? I’ve forgotten!
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Ned.
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Keep playing like that and never mind champions league, it’ll be relegation.
Lol
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Ned.
Oh yes. Ta
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Didn't see the game, how did our 50m man get on in midfield? Making only one sub seems odd.
Much like everyone else (other than Bizot) looked entirely off it. I include Unai in that, as I think our game plan was just wrong.
I just couldn't get into it either. Maybe it was being Upper North for a change.
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Rogers i agree wasnt fit. He had a very bad game. Not sure why unai didnt take him off sooner that was a wierd one
By making Rogers the attacking fulcrum Emery has painted himself into a corner a bit. Rogers has become undroppable and is subbed-off too late or not at all when having a mare. He should be pulled off when he's not performing and left-out when not fit or out of form.
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The timing of the sending off was crucial. Its about that time when Emery usually makes changes which have so often got us a result in a game that was heading for stalemate. The biggest issue for me was our wayward passing in the first half. Time and again our attacks broke down before we even got going. Work to do and some new recruits hopefully coming in will put a different outlook on things. Its certainly not as doom and gloom as some posters are making out. Onwards and upwards.
Strongly agree with this summary and reiterate the first point in particular. We started with a very conservative game-plan and I think the idea was to become more adventurous as the opportunity arose (we did that a lot in our good run at the end of last season). We were approaching that point when the sending off happened and scuppered that. But as someone else said, Konsa could have saved us a point and we’ll never know for sure.
Delighted with the upgrade Bizot gives us in reserve, I don’t think Olsen saves the early Elanga chance, or even the one Bizot shovelled round the post from Gordon.
Glad Mings is back as a seemingly important player and leader and I hope he gets the nod in some of the bigger games we hope to play at the business end, and Torres continues to contribute with his skill-set in games that suit him.
I like Kamara and Onana but we missed Tielemans vision and passing accuracy in a deeper position. Our midfield combinations will out-class a few PL midfields over the season, but Jaudi Arabia’s is one of the best, although they’ll have a huge workload to deal with this season.
Two seasons ago we got off to a nightmare start and the conference league helped give the team rhythm and confidence that was missing today and we benefitted from that throughout the season. I suspect that will happen again and we’ll see the best of Malen, Guessand and maybe Buendia with a few goals and assists behind them.
I’m pretty confident reinforcements and greater depth and variety is incoming so overall I’m very optimistic. And it was great to be back at church, even though it’s gonna cost me a small fortune again as I scramble for waiting list points.
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what was the Premier League song about?
Not sure, but we'll probably play the Championship one by mistake this season.
It sounded like the Newcastle fans joined in.
Premier league- - - - -
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what was the Premier League song about?
Not sure, but we'll probably play the Championship one by mistake this season.
It sounded like the Newcastle fans joined in.
Premier league- - - - -
Corrupt as F*ck.
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what was the Premier League song about?
Not sure, but we'll probably play the Championship one by mistake this season.
It sounded like the Newcastle fans joined in.
Premier league- - - - -
Corrupt as F*ck.
was this mentioned on the TV commentary any where?
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Delighted with a point, and I think I would have been even if we'd stayed at 11x.
First half was abject and I'm glad we got to half time without conceding, we seemed ponderous, lethargic and lacking any of the qualities needing to compete in a game. You would have expected, with the midfield set up, to at least have looked secure but we didn't, we were second to every second ball and under the cosh.
Second half we at least injected some 'zip' and at least looked like ourselves without ever discovering the fluidity needed to create chances, after the sending off it seemed both sides were happy with the point and I dont think they created anything either. Bright spots, Bizot looked really good, McGinn rag dolling their left back time and again, thought Cash really stood up and put in a really mature performance when were down to 10.
Newcastle are a very well coached team, no stars in their starting side but they all know the plan and carry it out effectively, Gordon looks to have bulked up and was a threat.
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Delighted with a point, and I think I would have been even if we'd stayed at 11x.
First half was abject and I'm glad we got to half time without conceding, we seemed ponderous, lethargic and lacking any of the qualities needing to compete in a game. You would have expected, with the midfield set up, to at least have looked secure but we didn't, we were second to every second ball and under the cosh.
Second half we at least injected some 'zip' and at least looked like ourselves without ever discovering the fluidity needed to create chances, after the sending off it seemed both sides were happy with the point and I dont think they created anything either. Bright spots, Bizot looked really good, McGinn rag dolling their left back time and again, thought Cash really stood up and put in a really mature performance when were down to 10.
Newcastle are a very well coached team, no stars in their starting side but they all know the plan and carry it out effectively, Gordon looks to have bulked up and was a threat.
Agreed, it was noticeable in the first half how we kept trying to slow the game down in contrast to their flat out hustling approach. They were playing without a recognised striker and consequently the midfield was always congested.
In the second we upped it and managed to push them further back without ever really hitting our best and then the sending off spoilt any chance of being able to change that. In the circumstances a clean sheet and extending our unbeaten home record should be taken as positives.
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The priority is a Right Back and it has been for a while now.
It’s not. In fact that’s 3rd/4th on the this. We need more attacking options and a centre half before a right back.
I disagree we need a right back as much as those positions.
A right back that can play both centre half and rb would be ideal. Someone that geertriudas would be ideal
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what was the Premier League song about?
Not sure, but we'll probably play the Championship one by mistake this season.
It sounded like the Newcastle fans joined in.
Premier league- - - - -
Corrupt as F*ck.
was this mentioned on the TV commentary any where?
Yes, Fletcher mentioned it halfway through the second half.
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I think Edge and Percy sum things up really quite accurately. Hard to reconcile the selection and passive display first half with the pressing set up we usually adopt at home to them and how we featured in pre-season.
I'm racking my brains for the reason for the tactical and selection caution shown and they're all unsatisfactory answers in my head, for the most part.
A Malen and a Maatsen would have helped the counter press and stopped Newcastle having the freedom to quickly recycle first half and also given us an out ball for the wayward passing, least. An odd one really.
Anyway I look forward to the £100m a season Fortress LLC can pay us in sponsorship for Fortress Villa Park. As that's allowed surely? Going rate for the best home record going in the Best League in the World. Premier League, corrupt as fuck indeed.
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I think Edge and Percy sum things up really quite accurately. Hard to reconcile the selection and passive display first half with the pressing set up we usually adopt at home to them and how we featured in pre-season.
I'm racking my brains for the reason for the tactical and selection caution shown and they're all unsatisfactory answers in my head, for the most part.
A Malen and a Maatsen would have helped the counter press and stopped Newcastle having the freedom to quickly recycle first half and also given us an out ball for the wayward passing, least. An odd one really.
Anyway I look forward to the £100m a season Fortress LLC can pay us in sponsorship for Fortress Villa Park. As that's allowed surely? Going rate for the best home record going in the Best League in the World. Premier League, corrupt as fuck indeed.
Absolutely and thanks Ads. I think there is a growing resentment of PSR as the reality of its intentions have slowly dawned on everyone outside the Greedy6. We either have to be extremely creative to make ourselves competitive or we need to lead the way in being more vocal in our objections to it.
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I think Edge and Percy sum things up really quite accurately. Hard to reconcile the selection and passive display first half with the pressing set up we usually adopt at home to them and how we featured in pre-season.
I'm racking my brains for the reason for the tactical and selection caution shown and they're all unsatisfactory answers in my head, for the most part.
A Malen and a Maatsen would have helped the counter press and stopped Newcastle having the freedom to quickly recycle first half and also given us an out ball for the wayward passing, least. An odd one really.
Anyway I look forward to the £100m a season Fortress LLC can pay us in sponsorship for Fortress Villa Park. As that's allowed surely? Going rate for the best home record going in the Best League in the World. Premier League, corrupt as fuck indeed.
Absolutely and thanks Ads. I think there is a growing resentment of PSR as the reality of its intentions have slowly dawned on everyone outside the Greedy6. We either have to be extremely creative to make ourselves competitive or we need to lead the way in being more vocal in our objections to it.
It’s both in my view. The hierarchy know what needs to be done both commercially and with the squad and it may take time. I don’t think people have quite come to terms with our need to player trade to help boost turnover either. It may not be to people’s liking but taking the Brighton/Brentford model and tweaking it for where we operate wouldn’t go amiss. I think we’ve missed a couple of opportunities to sell assets at peak prices (Bailey/Luiz) but that’s maybe offset with the Diaby/Duran activity. But generally we’re moving in the right direction, all be it maybe not as quickly as we’d like.
In terms of what we can do, change the chant to
Domestically “PSR, corrupt as fuck” and
European games “SCR, corrupt as fuck”
And get some banners with that on as well.
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I think Edge and Percy sum things up really quite accurately. Hard to reconcile the selection and passive display first half with the pressing set up we usually adopt at home to them and how we featured in pre-season.
I'm racking my brains for the reason for the tactical and selection caution shown and they're all unsatisfactory answers in my head, for the most part.
A Malen and a Maatsen would have helped the counter press and stopped Newcastle having the freedom to quickly recycle first half and also given us an out ball for the wayward passing, least. An odd one really.
Anyway I look forward to the £100m a season Fortress LLC can pay us in sponsorship for Fortress Villa Park. As that's allowed surely? Going rate for the best home record going in the Best League in the World. Premier League, corrupt as fuck indeed.
Absolutely and thanks Ads. I think there is a growing resentment of PSR as the reality of its intentions have slowly dawned on everyone outside the Greedy6. We either have to be extremely creative to make ourselves competitive or we need to lead the way in being more vocal in our objections to it.
It’s both in my view. The hierarchy know what needs to be done both commercially and with the squad and it may take time. I don’t think people have quite come to terms with our need to player trade to help boost turnover either. It may not be to people’s liking but taking the Brighton/Brentford model and tweaking it for where we operate wouldn’t go amiss. I think we’ve missed a couple of opportunities to sell assets at peak prices (Bailey/Luiz) but that’s maybe offset with the Diaby/Duran activity. But generally we’re moving in the right direction, all be it maybe not as quickly as we’d like.
In terms of what we can do, change the chant to
Domestically “PSR, corrupt as fuck” and
European games “SCR, corrupt as fuck”
And get some banners with that on as well.
I'd be down with that. The club has to be careful and measured with it's official views on PSR and SCR but the fans don't. We can be as vocal as we want. Every set of fans outside the Greedy6 should be coming together on this one. There has to be rules in place and the first one for me is to ban state ownership of professional football clubs. The current set up is clearly a power grab by those that already sit at the head of the table.
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Getting banners on tv won't be shown if there is swearing on them. Equally, because the likes of SKY and TNT feed into this sort of bias, they won't want the greedy six outing. The singing in the stadium was well heard and fans can really come together on this issue. Togetherness outside the stadium will also go down well as it would unusual.
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A mention to Unai yesterday. When we went down to 10 men, a lot of managers would have done the obvious thing and taken a striker off and put another defender on but he kept it simple and just dropped Kamara back which in turn helped us stick to our shape and game plan which got us a point. Good management.
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A mention to Unai yesterday. When we went down to 10 men, a lot of managers would have done the obvious thing and taken a striker off and put another defender on but he kept it simple and just dropped Kamara back which in turn helped us stick to our shape and game plan which got us a point. Good management.
I agree Clampy. I honestly can't remember the barcodes having a really decent shot on target in the second half. We look defensively sound enough and protected our goal very well. I was wondering, had we stayed at 11 men, whether Unai would have bought both Malen and Guessand on though.
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A mention to Unai yesterday. When we went down to 10 men, a lot of managers would have done the obvious thing and taken a striker off and put another defender on but he kept it simple and just dropped Kamara back which in turn helped us stick to our shape and game plan which got us a point. Good management.
This is true. We actually looked better balanced then and especially when Malen came on.
He just got it wrong at the start although Newcastle began ferociously and tailed off after half time.
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Very difficult to find any positives, but Bizot looked an improvement on Olsen, Kamara was superb, when he had to drop back and our unbeaten league record at VP is now a magnificent 19 matches.
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Does anyone have a link to the Talksport interview with Unai snarling back at Matterface? Can't find it on YouTube. Does Sam have the power to request content be taken down of clips where he's made to look silly?
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I'm surprised by some the moaning on here. The first game of the season which sometimes can always be a bit scrappy, neither side were great (to say the least) and we got a draw with ten men. Lacked pace but i think he would have changed that had Konsa not gone off. First game people.
I think you might need a bit of perspective - it's hardly a moan-fest is it?
That's why I said 'some'. No-one mentioned moan-fest, only you.
I know, Clamps, that's why i said it is NOT exactly a moan-fest.
The reaction seems pretty honest and muted to me.
I know that doesn't fit with your patrolling the threads, telling everyone they're silly shtick, but hey ho.
There's barely any overreaction. In fact, there's barely any moaning. Except your usual moaning at others routine.
Patrolling the threads? I don't do anything of the sort and what is that even supposed to mean? What absolute rubbish.
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Does anyone have a link to the Talksport interview with Unai snarling back at Matterface? Can't find it on YouTube. Does Sam have the power to request content be taken down of clips where he's made to look silly?
No doubt it will be made a Talking Point by Jim White and Simon Jordan this week though!
We should know our place.
Was confused as to why Malen didn't start: we were so sluggish in that first half. Impressed with Bizot!
At least we managed to hang on for a point, despite the sending-off: only 39 to go and we're staying up...
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I really like Malen but can’t say I’ve seen of him to know or understand his game
He took 1 minute to have a shot at goal when he came on yesterday forcing a save from the goalkeeper, the shot was easily saved but the rebound could have gone anywhere, it was a positive direct action shot when you consider we went the whole of the first half without as much as a single attempt
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Does anyone have a link to the Talksport interview with Unai snarling back at Matterface? Can't find it on YouTube. Does Sam have the power to request content be taken down of clips where he's made to look silly?
I have this clip
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The moronic rhetorical questions piss me off totally.
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Matterface is steering the narrative and Unai took hold of it . I don’t mind Matterface most of the time he does get abit exited about the top 6 abit too much . However he is betters than that smug south coast red Alex crook
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I agree with much of what Percy and Peter Withe have said above.
I think Newcastle’s plan to press our defence and stop us playing out from the back worked well - we really struggled with it. Their kick off directly to our right back corner flag flagged their intent from the off. Going long failed completely as Ollie isn’t a back to goal player and was outmuscled by Burn, sometimes illegally. McGinn was able to make the ball stick but couldn’t do his usual arse roll as effectively as usual.
I thought we showed signs of improvement until the sending off, but we had a few chances to break where our passing was inaccurate or we just couldn’t get the ball under control and I don’t think Pope had to make a single save that merits praise.
Red card was nailed on as Gordon had the legs on Konsa, so he probably saved us a point. So the small highlights for me were the clean sheet, relatively small number of chances for them and the very good debit by Bizot. And all four sections of the ground singing “Premier League corrupt as muck”.
Oh yeah, getting in was a doddle too which was a pleasant surprise.
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I agree with much of what Percy and Peter Withe have said above.
I think Newcastle’s plan to press our defence and stop us playing out from the back worked well - we really struggled with it. Their kick off directly to our right back corner flag flagged their intent from the off. Going long failed completely as Ollie isn’t a back to goal player and was outmuscled by Burn, sometimes illegally. McGinn was able to make the ball stick but couldn’t do his usual arse roll as effectively as usual.
I thought we showed signs of improvement until the sending off, but we had a few chances to break where our passing was inaccurate or we just couldn’t get the ball under control and I don’t think Pope had to make a single save that merits praise.
Red card was nailed on as Gordon had the legs on Konsa, so he probably saved us a point. So the small highlights for me were the clean sheet, relatively small number of chances for them and the very good debit by Bizot. And all four sections of the ground singing “Premier League corrupt as muck”.
Oh yeah, getting in was a doddle too which was a pleasant surprise.
A key weapon in the game last season was Martinez’s ability to take Newcastle’s midfield out the game with one ball. Bizot did very well but he can’t ping a ball 60 yards straight to Watkins feet.
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We only play well out of a press when Emi and Pau are in combo. I thought Ollie dis very well when long out ball was used in pre season but I guess PL defences are better at dealing with that method.
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I agree with much of what Percy and Peter Withe have said above.
I think Newcastle’s plan to press our defence and stop us playing out from the back worked well - we really struggled with it. Their kick off directly to our right back corner flag flagged their intent from the off. Going long failed completely as Ollie isn’t a back to goal player and was outmuscled by Burn, sometimes illegally. McGinn was able to make the ball stick but couldn’t do his usual arse roll as effectively as usual.
I thought we showed signs of improvement until the sending off, but we had a few chances to break where our passing was inaccurate or we just couldn’t get the ball under control and I don’t think Pope had to make a single save that merits praise.
Red card was nailed on as Gordon had the legs on Konsa, so he probably saved us a point. So the small highlights for me were the clean sheet, relatively small number of chances for them and the very good debit by Bizot. And all four sections of the ground singing “Premier League corrupt as muck”.
Oh yeah, getting in was a doddle too which was a pleasant surprise.
A key weapon in the game last season was Martinez’s ability to take Newcastle’s midfield out the game with one ball. Bizot did very well but he can’t ping a ball 60 yards straight to Watkins feet.
There was no out ball for him, he gathered and ran to the edge of our box looking for a player but we were lethargic getting into offensive positions.
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I agree with much of what Percy and Peter Withe have said above.
I think Newcastle’s plan to press our defence and stop us playing out from the back worked well - we really struggled with it. Their kick off directly to our right back corner flag flagged their intent from the off. Going long failed completely as Ollie isn’t a back to goal player and was outmuscled by Burn, sometimes illegally. McGinn was able to make the ball stick but couldn’t do his usual arse roll as effectively as usual.
I thought we showed signs of improvement until the sending off, but we had a few chances to break where our passing was inaccurate or we just couldn’t get the ball under control and I don’t think Pope had to make a single save that merits praise.
Red card was nailed on as Gordon had the legs on Konsa, so he probably saved us a point. So the small highlights for me were the clean sheet, relatively small number of chances for them and the very good debit by Bizot. And all four sections of the ground singing “Premier League corrupt as muck”.
Oh yeah, getting in was a doddle too which was a pleasant surprise.
A key weapon in the game last season was Martinez’s ability to take Newcastle’s midfield out the game with one ball. Bizot did very well but he can’t ping a ball 60 yards straight to Watkins feet.
There was no out ball for him, he gathered and ran to the edge of our box looking for a player but we were lethargic getting into offensive positions.
There aren't obvious passes here either, its about Martinez's ability.
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That’s great danno, I was making the point that we were not trying to get into passable positions or Newcastle were very good at shutting the space down.
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That’s great danno, I was making the point that we were not trying to get into passable positions or Newcastle were very good at shutting the space down.
It did seem we were very much hoping for McGinn or Rogers to get the better of their fullback. The midfields did cancel each other out.
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Oh yeah, getting in was a doddle too which was a pleasant surprise.
Yes it was. I was a bit worried about the attendance at first as the queues for the North Stand were virtually non-existent when we got there.
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There seems to be a very repeatable formula for getting on top of us. I thought we looked lethargic, formulaic and dull.
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I was fairly happy with the line up, however I did groan when I saw Malen on the bench.
Our half time stats of zero shots off target, zero shots on target don't make great reading. Even the second half where we had three attempts on target include two straight at the keeper (Watkins and Kamara), both really should have scored. Like you I wanted to see Malen on the right, things happen when he's on the pitch, with Rogers at 10. As it turned out Rogers may as well not been on the pitch, such was his involvement. On a positive, we had zero shots off target.
Hopefully Unai will learn from this experiment.
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Positives:
1. I got in immediately without having to buy a new phone.
2. Bizot looked assured throughout and his early save from Elanga was crucial.
3. We didn't concede and managed to preserve Fortress Villa Park.
Negatives:
1. The line up didn't offer any threat. Pushing Youri forward nullified his impact and Rogers had one of his worst games.
2. Some of our passing was abysmal.
3. It looks like the Bartons has gone for good....desperately sad.
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I was fairly happy with the line up, however I did groan when I saw Malen on the bench.
Our half time stats of zero shots off target, zero shots on target don't make great reading. Even the second half where we had three attempts on target include two straight at the keeper (Watkins and Kamara), both really should have scored.
Hmm, dunno about that, they had to quickly shoot with little angle to beat Pope and I wouldn't say they were sitters. The one for me was our only other shot on goal (we didn't even have one shot off-target!) - Kamara's header. A clever striker heads that ball into the ground and to the side to make the goalkeeper work. Bouba did well to win aerial contact but again it was straight at the Pope.
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You're too kind, Eamonn.
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Hopefully Watkins has managed to get out of Dan Burns back pocket by now
Poor game, passing was awful.
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Hopefully Watkins has managed to get out of Dan Burns back pocket by now
Poor game, passing was awful.
Held very little up , control was poor , passing accuracy very poor . Bad day at the office .
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Yeah i didnt think ollie had a good game unfortunately
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No one had a good game other than Bizot. There are a mixture of players who had ok and poor games outside of him.
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No one had a good game other than Bizot. There are a mixture of players who had ok and poor games outside of him.
I would argue that kamara had a good game. Some of his defensive work especially that second half was excellent. He did some crucial interceptions.
Ollie was bad he kept losing the ball and running into no mans land
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No one had a good game other than Bizot. There are a mixture of players who had ok and poor games outside of him.
Mings Bizot Cash Kamara , all had very good games , especially once down to 10.
The stats on Mings and positive results / goals against column are unreal , hence Emery now playing him .
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They had decent games against a team with no focal point. That’s not a criticism really, but they all made pretty poor mistakes/errors in the game too.
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Oh yeah, getting in was a doddle too which was a pleasant surprise.
Yes it was. I was a bit worried about the attendance at first as the queues for the North Stand were virtually non-existent when we got there.
Speaking of which the attendance yesterday was 40k. Where were the empty seats and what is the capacity now? We were told that there was going to be some realignment of the seats taking the capacity to around 44k.
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It was 42,526. Highest last season 42,824 against Celtic so there must have been some empty seats somewhere.
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It was 42,526. Highest last season 42,824 against Celtic so there must have been some empty seats somewhere.
It’s 43,200-ish this season. I could see some dotted about in the Trinity, just to the right (as you look at it from the pitch) of the claret corporate seats in the middle tier. I imagine they’re very expensive.
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There were hundreds of ga+ tickets for sale on friday.
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It was 42,526. Highest last season 42,824 against Celtic so there must have been some empty seats somewhere.
It’s 43,200-ish this season. I could see some dotted about in the Trinity, just to the right (as you look at it from the pitch) of the claret corporate seats in the middle tier. I imagine they’re very expensive.
It's holiday season, though, so a lot of ST holders won't have been able to go.
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Bloke in front of me hasn't been to an August game in 25 years.
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Bloke in front of me hasn't been to an August game in 25 years.
oooh anywhere nice ?
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Norfolk Broads via Tipton. Great scenery.
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It was 42,526. Highest last season 42,824 against Celtic so there must have been some empty seats somewhere.
It’s 43,200-ish this season. I could see some dotted about in the Trinity, just to the right (as you look at it from the pitch) of the claret corporate seats in the middle tier. I imagine they’re very expensive.
It's holiday season, though, so a lot of ST holders won't have been able to go.
Good point.
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I thought they counted STs regardless of them turning up.
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I thought they counted STs regardless of them turning up.
They do, but we were speculating on the actual empty seats.
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I thought they counted STs regardless of them turning up.
Presumably not if they put their seat up for sale? Not sure if they would be counted then if nobody purchased it.
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I thought they counted STs regardless of them turning up.
Presumably not if they put their seat up for sale? Not sure if they would be counted then if nobody purchased it.
Of course they would - the seat has still been sold, to the ST holder.