Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: Rigadon on January 03, 2026, 11:52:02 AM
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As nobody else has yet… can’t seem to upload a photo though. Team as you’d expect. Maatsen in for Digne. Buendia starts.
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A new gladiator steps into the arena. His bravery is beyond question. His wisdom? We'll see.
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Haha! Yes you can all blame me if we lose.
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We're not going to turn the game around from the bench today so we've got to be on it from the go.
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Need to be right at it. Win please.
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It will go up a gear if he brings on Malen and Sancho especially if Malen is played alongside Watkins.
I’m glad Buendia in as I think Tielemans plays better deeper!
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G9vAiixXsAA88xC?format=jpg&name=small)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G9vAP0rXsAEA9SD?format=jpg&name=small)
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FTFs. I do however like how Dougie gets a full name shout out on the subs bench, respect
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Douglas Luiz Soares de Paulo?
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How he can’t get in a Notts Forest midfield is a big fall from grace.
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Witton Upper in no hot drinks shocker. Boooo!
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Emi left the warm up early….
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Emi left the warm up early….
Big or little?
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Gutted to be sat here at home because the stupid fucking bastard app’s not working.
Go well without me (your lucky charm) Villa.
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Gutted to be sat here at home because the stupid fucking bastard app’s not working.
Go well without me (your lucky charm) Villa.
What with this AND me starting the match thread, the omens look ominous.
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Gutted to be sat here at home because the stupid fucking bastard app’s not working.
Go well without me (your lucky charm) Villa.
What with this AND me starting the match thread, the omens look ominous.
We’ve guaranteed defeat between us mate.
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Hudson-Odoi out, which is a big loss for them.
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Wouldn't mind seeing Rogers and Buendia swapping positions today.
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We need to match them physically and our quality will show. Win the 50/50s and be aggressive.
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Anything less than a 4 goal victory will feel like defeat.
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Got a nasty feeling about this one.
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A great shame Aina is back: his stand-in was shite.
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Jeez, should have scored there
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Great save that.
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Got a nasty feeling about this one.
Why? If we have aspirations of qualifying for the CL these are teams we should be getting 3 points from.
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How on earth did Watkins miss THAT? Fuck sake that’s a massive chance.
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Fucking hell Watkins
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Got a nasty feeling about this one.
Why? If we have aspirations of qualifying for the CL these are teams we should be getting 3 points from.
Dunno, just seems the perfect banana skin game when we're all looking to get back on track after Arsenal.
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How on earth did Watkins miss THAT? Fuck sake that’s a massive chance.
He tidied his room without being asked this morning so this is clearly a weird agenda.
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At least he has his obligatory missed open goal out of the way early. hopefully it won’t cost us points this game.
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Got a nasty feeling about this one.
Why? If we have aspirations of qualifying for the CL these are teams we should be getting 3 points from.
Because sometimes football doesn't work like that.
We took two points from four home games against Brentford, Sheffield Utd, Newcastle and Spurs.
Didn't stop us from qualifying for the Champions League that season.
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afternoon
oh John
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Need a goal when we are this much on top.
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Gotta make the pressure count
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Has the game stopped?
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Need a goal.
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Why is there not a penalty???? FFS!!
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How is that not a foul on rogers? Fuck off
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When will Onana be back?
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Missed the beginning, who is the clown in the black this week?
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McGinn's poor delivery so far is hurting us.
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Our balls into the box have been mostly dog shit
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Set piece delivery sloppy.
Terrible play by Maatsen.
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Gutted to be stuck in Donegal where all the pubs are showing the pub-league derby
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I’ve been taking down the Christmas decorations…
How have we started today? All fart and no shit… yet.
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Watkins playing as an extra Forest defender at the moment.
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Lovely stuff from Cash there.
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Complete Control as The Clash said.Barring a goal that is.
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Watkins playing as an extra Forest defender at the moment.
Rogers is wasting the ball more than Watkins so far
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Emi B is on his heels today.
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It'll come
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Lovely stuff from Cash there.
And again. He's on it today.
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Watkins playing as an extra Forest defender at the moment.
Rogers is wasting the ball more than Watkins so far
He is, just needs to get his feet sorted.
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McGinn, Buendia and Rogers need to rotate positions. They're all a bit obvious at the moment.
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Total domination…just not creating clear chances. Final ball is shocking.
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Maybe we should be trying to score from outside the box, the central defence is too congested
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Ollies touch and lay offs are truly shocking.
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Great save Emi. Rubbish from Kamara and Victor.
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Ollies touch and lay offs are truly shocking.
It is quite something
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Ollies touch and lay offs are truly shocking.
They're all struggling with the final pass - its so congested
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That Bakwa is a proper screaming twat.
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Stay on your fucking feet FFS
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Fucking Hinchliffe talks utter bollox about fouls and penalties: of a player is pushed over it's a foul!!
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This bald ****** is giving nothing.
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Milenkovic is being given a lot of latitude here.
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We’re getting dragged into the game they want to play.
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This bald ****** is giving nothing.
He is giving me the ick
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Two corners, two punches from Emi. Obviously they've worked on it - good!
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Fucking Hinchliffe talks utter bollox about fouls and penalties: of a player is pushed over it's a foul!!
Most pessimistic knob going...every sentence is "he should of" or "why didn't he".
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No chance we're getting anything from the ref, letting their defenders be very physical.
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I’m amazed to learn we haven’t had a penalty all season.
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Fucking Hinchliffe talks utter bollox about fouls and penalties: of a player is pushed over it's a foul!!
Fucking Hinchliffe shouting more bollox ...
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Forest are a proper Dyche team now. Burnley 2.0
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We're not doing a lot wrong.Maybe shooting a bit more.
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I’ve pressed mute.
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Forest are a proper Dyche team now. Burnley 2.0
They key, as always against his teams, is to score first. The longer it stays 0-0, the longer his teams will think they can nick something.
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How the fuck is that not a foul!
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There's a 3-0 win here for us if we want it.
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Get out of the way you fucking moron
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Is about time we employed an artistic coach. To teach the player to make it look like they didn’t go down deliberately, or that they tried to stay up before they went down.
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Is about time we employed an artistic coach. To teach the player to make it look like they didn’t go down deliberately, or that they tried to stay up before they went down.
You heard it here first. Arsenal employ an "Artistic" coach for the 26/27 season and Sky can't get enough of it.
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SJM hasn’t been great so far.
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It's like watching Andorra.
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Need to be a bit more decisive in the final third.
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SJM hasn’t been great so far.
He hasn't.Maybe change it?
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SJM hasn’t been great so far.
Don't say that mate, Merson says he should start every game because he would hate playing against him.
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We needed that early goal to open them up a bit. The longer it goes the more frustrated it'll get, with them getting deeper and deeper.
I don't think we can one touch pass our way their back 10, so need to try something else. Other than the Watkins chance, I don't think their keeper has made a save.
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Malen for Buendia at half time.
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McGinn needs to stop giving the ball away.
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We need to shoot from outside the box
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We need to shoot from outside the box
Never mind that… what’s our Xg at the moment?
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If Hichcliffe plays for England so can i
Who remembers that one?
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We need to shoot from outside the box
Never mind that… what’s our Xg at the moment?
0.90
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We need to shoot from outside the box
Never mind that… what’s our Xg at the moment?
0.90
We’ve won with worse!
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OLLIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
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all this possession and their goalie hasnt made a save other than the watkins miss which shoul dhave been buried. Need to get some shots in and not overplay.
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OOOOHHHH FUCK....WOOOOOH!!!
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At last.
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final ball quality is wank.
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What a hit - get in
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We're not doing a lot wrong.Maybe shooting a bit more.
We're so focused in keeping our defensive shape with the ball nobody is prepared to take the ball forward and it gets pushed wide and back it comes.
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Out of the box job
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What a fucking hit Ollie!
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As i said!!
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go;llaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllll
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Ollie is back!!!!
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Foot like a traction engine.
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OLLIEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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blooody good finish that so harder than the first one .
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Bless the Lord, we had a shot.
Well done Ollie, we needed that.
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Haha what a hit! Well done Ollie!
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A beauty
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perfect time to score
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Wow! Now that was unexpected. What a strike.
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Great goal.
Another from outside the box.
Ollie 8)
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I take it all back.That was fucking special
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I am absolutely delighted for Ollie. He struggled but he’s now scored 4 in 3… this is great for us going into January!
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He's on one of his streaks, isn't he?
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Deserved lead. Well done Ollie.
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All of a sudden his figures look decent, that's 7 league goals now?
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Perfect time to score, i hope Forest try and come out a bit second half and we can pick them off.
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Great hit from Ollie, perfect timing too.
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Oof that was a great hit.
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Fabulous goal!
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Yessss, Ollie's the Greatest!!
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What a gaol!!!! Needed that after a frustrating half. Get IN!
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Great goal to finish a dominant half - puts a very different complexion on the second half, as I have no doubt Dyche would have sent them out with instructions to "do the same again" had we not scored!
I expect a more open second half now as a result. Fingers crossed we take advantage.
I do like that we've done what good teams do, and bounced back from a bad result with a dominant performance (so far). Absolutely ZERO signs it has affected team confidence, which is how it is with top teams. Arsenal is treated as an anomaly, not a return to the norm. Love it!
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Maybe we should be trying to score from outside the box, the central defence is too congested
Ahem
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that will wipe the smirk off some faces...
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How on earth did Watkins miss THAT? Fuck sake that’s a massive chance.
He tidied his room without being asked this morning so this is clearly a weird agenda.
His room is looking spotless
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Great goal. Wish we would shoot more this match, NF have 2 banks of 5...2nd half now they will have to come out.
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The goal
https://x.com/TopGoose/status/2007441952250167767
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Andrew George Hinchcliffe is a cock womble.
It's an entertainment business, he sould find another job in a dog food factory or similar
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Unsustainable 🤪
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How on earth did Watkins miss THAT? Fuck sake that’s a massive chance.
He tidied his room without being asked this morning so this is clearly a weird agenda.
His room is looking spotless
You'll be 50p lighter but full of pride!
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that will wipe the smirk off some faces...
😂 8)
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Thank fuck that went in. Forest are the same cynical bunch of cloggers but without so much pace up front as last season. Imagine watching them every week. Bluegh.
So many final balls were crap in that half. It’s so congested but we can batter these with better decisions.
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Great strike
Said to my lad lers go as half over with 20.secs to go
He said he wanted to stay.
We did.
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We will need at least one more, because we’ve got the feeling about us that we’ll give one away.
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Dyche has soon put his mark on this Non football philosophy
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Great goal and fully deserved. Lots of possession without creating too much, Buendia not involved at all, so maybe swap him out for Malan or Sancho but any change will likely be delayed now we’re in front.
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that will wipe the smirk off some faces...
😂 8)
Fair play mate,
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Great goal and fully deserved. Lots of possession without creating too much, Buendia not involved at all, so maybe swap him out for Malan or Sancho but any change will likely be delayed now we’re in front.
354 passes by us first half with 90% completion. Highest first half passes by any team this season.
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Without any doubt, Forest the worst PL team I've seen this season. We should be picking them off in the 2nd half, 3-0 my prediction.
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Reckon the goalkeeper should have got closer, good confidence boost though.
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We need to come out and get into them immediately, score. Again and they will get ready for the bus home.
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They need to come out more which should play into our hands.
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We need some wide pace I’d bring sancho on.(gulp) god Dyche is a one trick pony isn’t he. Turning this Forest team who looked half decent into a bunch of park the bus cloggers relying on set pieces.
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Buendia not at races
Others done fine
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Wow, Watkins from range, how often does that happen? The type of finish you see Brazilians and Argentinians score. Fuck off Alyson (sic), Ollie's at the wheel!
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Gotta feel sorry for those, who went for an early cuppa.
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Maybe we should be trying to score from outside the box, the central defence is too congested
Ahem
Alright Mister Emery, we already know you're a football genius.
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Forest completed just 67 passes in the first half, the third lowest total by a team in the first half of a Premier League match this season.
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Great goal and fully deserved. Lots of possession without creating too much, Buendia not involved at all, so maybe swap him out for Malan or Sancho but any change will likely be delayed now we’re in front.
Not involved much directly, but he's occupying one of Dominguez or Anderson every time we decamp near their box by playing quite narrow, so he's doing a job for the team, certainly. Not sure we have a like-for-like replacement without tweaking the formation a bit?
If they continue sitting deep, and we get to 60 minutes with the same score, I'm all for changing him for someone with a bit of pace to isolate a full-back, whether that's Malen or Sancho...
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Think Buendia has done fine
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I'd get Malen on here.
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Gotta feel sorry for those, who went for an early cuppa.
I can't understand it
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Dyche. Another name of the great-big-shit-English-manager circus.
See also Pulis
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Forest completed just 67 passes in the first half, the third lowest total by a team in the first half of a Premier League match this season.
They've played WORSE than this?
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Dyche. Another name of the great-big-shit-English-manager circus.
See also Pulis
Gerrard S….
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SJMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
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McGinniesta
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Villa are back, hello, hello.
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Lovely stuff. Get a third Villa.
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Fuck yeah!
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great football that loving maatsen today too :)
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That’s it! Get stuck in and attack them quickly
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Time to build back that goal difference we lost on Tuesday
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There's probably folks there that missed both goals.
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Quality goal celebration - Meatball and Baby Rhino all in one.
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Time to build back that goal difference we lost on Tuesday
That is exactly what I came to say. Need to give a proper rogering to them to recover our GD.
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Never gonna give a pen this fucktard
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Beautiful move and goal.
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and there you have it. Slightest touch in the back and he gives a foul. None of them are fouls.
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This ref is shite
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That was a let off.
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If that’s a foul then the foul on Rogers in the first half was, which should have been a penalty.
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Should b a pen
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That Bakwa is Cackwa
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and there you have it. Slightest touch in the back and he gives a foul. None of them are fouls.
If that was a foul, the challenge on Rogers in the 1st half was a penalty
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That’s no different to when Rogers was pushed in first half
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Quality goal celebration - Meatball and Baby Rhino all in one.
Has he stopped doing the goggles then or is it a new one for his nephew?
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and there you have it. Slightest touch in the back and he gives a foul. None of them are fouls.
After not giving 4-5 of them for us giving that one is pathetic.
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This ref is shite
He's a bottle job
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The exact same same foul this ref didn’t give a pen for in the first half then.
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Time to build back that goal difference we lost on Tuesday
That is exactly what I came to say. Need to give a proper rogering to them to recover our GD.
Just as likely we let them back in and it's 2-1.
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Quality goal celebration - Meatball and Baby Rhino all in one.
Has he stopped doing the goggles then or is it a new one for his nephew?
Someone with club contacts pls put us out of our misery here
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He only gave that because it was just outside the box, otherwise....
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Come on Villa front give them any encouragement
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The exact same same foul this ref didn’t give a pen for in the first half then.
It's most similar to the one on Tielemans, no idea how you could call one a foul and not the other.
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Time to build back that goal difference we lost on Tuesday
That is exactly what I came to say. Need to give a proper rogering to them to recover our GD.
Just as likely we let them back in and it's 2-1.
You can always tell who’s been a Villa fan all their lives! That wonderful sense of cynicism and self-deprecation…
Wouldn’t swap it for the world though.
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Gorgeous move
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My stream is slow and before the free kick.
I’ve drawn a mental grid on the Holte End and am trying to work out what square it will end up in.
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I hate it when we start to be get cocky along the back
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And here's the complacency
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FFS
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Brilliant. Well done. What’s happened to our clean sheets??
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Spawny c**ts.
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Martinez?
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If anyone was going to.
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That’s a great finish, but dreadful defending. We’ve got far too casual here.
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FFS we started to drop our energy
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It was coming. We had been peeing about.
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Good finish.
The prick.
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Martinez?
You're f'ingjoking i trust
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Why? Why? Our mental attitude needs sorting out
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Time to build back that goal difference we lost on Tuesday
That is exactly what I came to say. Need to give a proper rogering to them to recover our GD.
Just as likely we let them back in and it's 2-1.
Prophetic.
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Martinez?
Just a good finish
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Every time we feel comfortable we take our foot of the gas and start looking shot.
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Williams warned by the ref two minutes ago, fouls AGAIN and escapes a booking.
Hooper's useless.
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well was hoping for the goal difference to get a lift too
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Book the ****** you blind bell end!
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How is Williams not been booked?
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Ref is an egg head prick
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We’ve got really casual here. Buendía is having a really sloppy game.
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Get Buendia off
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Ref missing obvious yellows by Forest
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get Buendia off now
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Digne and Sancho getting ready
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Should have scored. We need a third here. You can tell we’ll gift another.
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I fucking hate these.
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I don't know why it is but officials seem to go out of their way to let teams rough us up. Waving away physical contact that we, on the other hand, are frequently penalised for.
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Ian and Buendia off
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Calling SE to the conspiracy thread.
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Buendia has a good 20 minutes every 5 games.
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Ian and Buendia off
Feels about right.
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Not sure Sancho is one for a physical battle.
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That goal against should not have been gifted away, but we are Aston villa and we do nervewrecking last twenty minutes or so.
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Calling SE to the conspiracy thread.
Wha gwan?
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Not sure Sancho is one for a physical battle.
I would have thought Malen to help Watkins work the two defenders more.
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I don't know why it is but officials seem to go out of their way to let teams rough us up. Waving away physical contact that we, on the other hand, are frequently penalised for.
This SE.
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Really sloppy.
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SJMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
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Clown keeper
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HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....
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Phew
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SJM brilliant today.
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Felt like that was a gift from Forest. Get in.
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SUUUUUPERRRRR
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And he's pretending to be injured now....HA HA you fool
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Wee Johnny Mac 8)
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what a tielmans pass
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Phew, brilliant composure big John. Weird goalkeeping.
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Farcical goal!!
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What a ball from Youri
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What an absolute joke of a goal - but we needed it!
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I would like to adjust our player fines system to add a final tier that specifies that anyone caught offside is subject to immediate decapitation.
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Now don’t gift them another.
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That will not improve our XG!
Fantastic, calm finish from SJM! Brilliant
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Great goalkeeping!!!
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The pass is special from Youri.
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He made it look easy but that was a really smart finish.
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Nice composed finish that. Get in!
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HA, crocodile tears you wet fuck.
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Keeper hoping for ground to open up here. Fortunate obviously but think we have played really well today. Right flank in particular
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I don't know why it is but officials seem to go out of their way to let teams rough us up. Waving away physical contact that we, on the other hand, are frequently penalised for.
This SE.
Doesn't help that we do a fair amount of diving.
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Crying.. your manager is Sean Dyche, and you’re crying?!
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About time we had a GK fuck up go our way
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Crying.. your manager is Sean Dyche, and you’re crying?!
Dyche will slap him
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SJM's goggles were back then.
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HA, crocodile tears you wet fuck.
Thought the same, I’ve fucked up so I’ll pretend I’m injured to try and save embarrassment.
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Att: 43,039
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I actually feel a bit sorry for their GK. A monumental error and off injured.
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The curve on that goal was sublime
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I don't know why it is but officials seem to go out of their way to let teams rough us up. Waving away physical contact that we, on the other hand, are frequently penalised for.
This SE.
Doesn't help that we do a fair amount of diving.
I'm much more amenable to the idea that refs are starfuckers, but we're the stars in this one.
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HA, crocodile tears you wet fuck.
Thought the same, I’ve fucked up so I’ll pretend I’m injured to try and save embarrassment.
100%
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Emi saves
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Att: 43,039
Applause
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Christ, wake up.
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Have to feel for their keeper a bit.
Although any sympathy is tempered somewhat by the fact he has his first name on his shirt instead of his surname.
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wake up Villa, no more gifts.
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HA, crocodile tears you wet fuck.
Thought the same, I’ve fucked up so I’ll pretend I’m injured to try and save embarrassment.
100%
Looking at the impact on that knee though, it did look like a ligament jarrer.
Either way. We want 4! Get the Don on!
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Come on villa shut the game down.
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Elliot Anderson surely finding a new home after this season. He’s wasted with them.
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I don't know why it is but officials seem to go out of their way to let teams rough us up. Waving away physical contact that we, on the other hand, are frequently penalised for.
This SE.
Doesn't help that we do a fair amount of diving.
We do no more or less than the majority of teams in the league and we have little choice because you get fuck all if you try to stay on your feet.
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Elliot Anderson surely finding a new home after this season. He’s wasted with them.
I can't remember a single thing he's done apart from watch us pass through him.
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SJM and Ollie off for Bogey and Malen.
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Elliot Anderson surely finding a new home after this season. He’s wasted with them.
I can't remember a single thing he's done apart from watch us pass through him.
Because we’ve had 80% of the ball.
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Douglas Luiz on for them.
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SJM hatrick would have been be so nice.
Who was the last Villa skipper to get a hat-rick?
I don't know
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Elliot Anderson surely finding a new home after this season. He’s wasted with them.
I can't remember a single thing he's done apart from watch us pass through him.
Because we’ve had 80% of the ball.
His job in the team is for us to not have 80% of the ball.
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Douglas Luiz on for them.
Makes me sad
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Elliot Anderson surely finding a new home after this season. He’s wasted with them.
I can't remember a single thing he's done apart from watch us pass through him.
He's a hell of a player but you're right. He's done very little in this game. Largely because our midfield have bossed the middle of the park.
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Kamara is silk
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Elliot Anderson surely finding a new home after this season. He’s wasted with them.
I can't remember a single thing he's done apart from watch us pass through him.
He's a hell of a player but you're right. He's done very little in this game. Largely because our midfield have bossed the middle of the park.
He is also probably getting worn out as he has played every minute of the season so far as well as a considerable amount of Europe and England.
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I really want Garcia to be good....those eyes.
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Kamara is silk
just class
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Kamara is silk
He'd probably be the best creative midfielder for half the league.
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Garcia on for Cash.
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7 added mins
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Seems to be the day for posting game stuff in the non-game threads.....
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Villa have attempted 620 passes in this game, their highest total in a single match in the Premier League this season.
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Villa have attempted 620 passes in this game, their highest total in a single match in the Premier League this season.
That is an insane stat. Well done Villa.
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Douglas Luiz on for them.
Makes me sad
Bet it makes him sad.
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Villa have attempted 620 passes in this game, their highest total in a single match in the Premier League this season.
That is an insane stat. Well done Villa.
I reember the day when we couldn't put two passes together!
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Kamara is silk
just class
He's absolutely priceless.
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We definitely sold Luiz at the right time.
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Very soft yellow for Bogarde after the stuff he's let go.
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And so commences the next winning streak.
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I'm running out of superlatives. Just to say I can't pick a motm. There were too many choices.
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Good professional win. UTV.
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Got a nasty feeling about this one.
Why? If we have aspirations of qualifying for the CL these are teams we should be getting 3 points from.
Because sometimes football doesn't work like that.
We took two points from four home games against Brentford, Sheffield Utd, Newcastle and Spurs.
Didn't stop us from qualifying for the Champions League that season.
I meant more about the pre-game mentality. Not the actual outcome.
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I have noticed the last couple of home games away fans mocking our Game intro fireworks , smoke Screen build up . why are they being so mean 🤔😃
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Villa have attempted 620 passes in this game, their highest total in a single match in the Premier League this season.
That is an insane stat. Well done Villa.
I reember the day when we couldn't put two passes together!
There was a time in the Lambert days when we passed passed passed but nothing happened until we lost possession and conceded. Ah the memories.