Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Toronto Villa on February 21, 2026, 05:01:42 PM
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Very disappointing but a point at least.
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We have properly got away with one today with Chelsea drawing as well.
Unai needs to make our subs sooner and start Tammy from now on in.
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He picked the wrong team.
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Crap but could be a vital point.
Waiting so long to bring Tammy on feels like a mistake.
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We keep blowing any opportunities we ger to push on at the top. But a good ppint in the end.
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Just want to give some props to Barkley before everyone wades in. That was a superb half hour or so of football from him. Completely changed the pattern of the game. Sancho did well too.
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4 wins and a couple of draws might just clinch top 5.
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Too slow, too uninventive, too easy for the opposition goalie and too many poor individual performances, too often.
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Play like we did in the second half from the off I fancy we'd have a nice 3 points in the bag.
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They showed some spirit in the second half but there's a lack of confidence and a lack of guile. Sancho much better than Bailey.
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No more Bailey please for the love of McGrath.
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5 goals out the last 7 league games and we still don’t start Tammy. I love Ollie but he’s bereft of confidence atm
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Emery needs to adopt a different style of play. Involve Tammy from the start. Ross looked very lively. Ollie isn’t the answer up front but maybe we can play him and Tammy together. But the way we always set up isn’t working. At least not working with Youri and SJM out for a while. Too rigid, too predictable. We got a point but 4 points from a possible 12 against mediocre teams at home isn’t good if we really want to be in the CL next season.
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I never ever want to see Bailey playing for Villa again. Shocking. Martinez being beaten from 30 yards from a wide position is awful.
The first half was unbelievably bad. The second better. But a point at home to Leeds is nowhere near good enough if we’re being demanding.
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Well despite that "effort", we've maintained the 6 point gap to Chelsea
Burnley scored a 93rd minute equaliser at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea had Fofana sent off for a 2nd yellow in the 72nd minute.
Chelsea will be really pissed off - until late on they were looking at a 3 point gain.
Instead the status quo has been preserved.
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He picked the wrong team.
Indeed. All very predictable plus too many forgetting why we have such a great home record and just expecting us to win without the hard work and urgency.
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Freekick was a beauty but Emi had a poor starting position imo.
Bailey cannot keep starting. I'd rather have Guessand there.
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We only started to play when Barclay came on, Unai please forget about Bailey it's like we are a man short. Team selection cost us but relieved to get a point. We really miss McGinn.
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If Forest beat Liverpool I'll take the point. Even a draw. If Liverpool win it's another costly fuck up.
Onana has gotten off lightly btw. Anybody else notice how half-arsed he looked today?
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Bonus point in the end after Chelsea fluffed their lines.
Really poor performance again. Barkley and Sancho improved us greatly. I don't want to see Bailey start again. He was a disgrace.
We need to change the way we play with our injuries in midfield.
Some of the supporting cast need to step up if we are to start winning again, (Onana, Buendia, Maatsen, Bailey, Sancho). I think they are content to play safe and wait for someon else to di it.
I said last week that we may just limp to 5th Place as Chelsea have the hardest run in, (I didn't bank on them drawing with Burnely). However we have to improve drastically, as I dont see us beating anyone the way we are playing lately.
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Freekick was a beauty but Emi had a poor starting position imo.
Bailey cannot keep starting. I'd rather have Guessand there.
I'd rather we played with ten men. First half was like playing with nine. As somebody mentioned on the Match thread, hopefully the Bailey experiment is over.
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The return from a run of "easy" home fixtures has been really poor. Yes, there's all the injuries, but we're better than this.
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Freekick was a beauty but Emi had a poor starting position imo.
Bailey cannot keep starting. I'd rather have Guessand there.
I'd rather we played with ten men. First half was like playing with nine. As somebody mentioned on the Match thread, hopefully the Bailey experiment is over.
We tried with 10 men and got battered. Any time 10 men for them or us is introduced it leads to a Villa defeat.
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Onana has gotten off lightly btw. Anybody else notice how half-arsed he looked today?
If it was only today. He's been going through the motions since returning from injury.
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A point. At home. To a poor Leeds team.
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Wrong team. Subs too late..Bailey and Buendia should not have played. The Onana/Dougie combo isn't working. Is Tammy the new Malen. Thought Torres would have helped in his passing. Lucky to get a point. The Chelsea result helps but the general level of play is so poor at the moment. Need McGinn back..
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When Onana is good, he’s very good.
Unfortunately this happens about one game in ten.
Or he’s injured. He’s not the answer.
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Freekick was a beauty but Emi had a poor starting position imo.
Bailey cannot keep starting. I'd rather have Guessand there.
i agree he may be poor but he at least puts effort in, Bailey had a good few months in 23/24 and has been at best below average the rest of the time
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Atrocious performance, bar the equaliser there wasn't another positive. Team selection, timing of subs from Emery also miles off. Tempo of play scandalous. Not too optimistic after that. Burnley equalising late on could be crucial.
Martinez 5 - can't be beaten from there, good save late on
Cash 6 - battled hard until he tired late on
Konsa 4 - bullied by DCL to an embarrassing degree, great jump for the goal
Mings 4 - picked to deal with DCL but he just pulled onto Konsa instead, awful in possession
Maatsen 5 - very much meh, kept trying to do the the right thing though
Onana 2 - hologram - didn't show up yet again
Luiz 4 - so disappointing, no imagination in his distribution and didn't attempt to dictate play
Bailey 3 - one step forward, two back. No courage
Buendia 6 - reasonable enough, shouldn't have been replaced
Rogers 5 - awful first half, form seems to be cooling a bit
Watkins 4 - what was that before half time? Tried hard second half but best days seem long past him
Sancho, looks the part but delivers nothing, Barkley did improve things a bit. Tammy scored with his only touch. Strange timing for last two.
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Anyone that clicks on the 'Micah on Milner" link on BBC football needs to remove themselves from this site following a grovelling apology.
F uck Leeds and f uck mica
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A point. At home. To a poor Leeds team.
They’ve not been bad away from home lately, and we’ve been poor at home.
I was worried about this fixture.
A late equaliser, and Chelsea drawing isn’t too bad a day for us.
If we can get SJM back soon we could have a decent run in still.
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Martinez wasn’t a 5. At least a 7. The goal was brilliant and while his starting position might have been better the positioning of the shot was superb. But Martinez rescued us later. Without him we lose that game.
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We need to change the way we play with our injuries in midfield.
Playing two midfielders to replace our three injured diamonds, we're just too weak in midfield now and it shows, every bloody game.
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Bailey and Watkins were absolute crap, Watkins has been pretty much all season and Roma will have been overjoyed we took Bailey back. Tammy and Sancho start, simple as, Barkley needs more of a role too going forward. Manager needs a kick up the arse too
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Onana has gotten off lightly btw. Anybody else notice how half-arsed he looked today?
Just today? Salzburg, Brighton...he's a fraud
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Martinez wasn’t a 5. At least a 7. The goal was brilliant and while his starting position might have been better the positioning of the shot was superb. But Martinez rescued us later. Without him we lose that game.
No keeper should be beaten from there
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Not great. We huffed and puffed in the 2nd half and probably just about deserved the point. Baily woeful. Luiz is the frustrating Luiz in the 6 months before he was sold as opposed to the creative, aggressive player we had before that.
Special marks for the Cockney knob end on whichever feed I was watching suggesting Rogers has 'been off the boil'.
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Down on form and confidence and missing 3 key players, we kept going and got a deserved equaliser against a well organised defence.
Barkley, Sancho and Tammy should all start next week.
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Yeah, I was going gentle. To be honest, if one of the clubs is so desperately wants to join are interested in the summer...crack on, mate.
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If Forest beat Liverpool I'll take the point. Even a draw. If Liverpool win it's another costly fuck up.
Onana has gotten off lightly btw. Anybody else notice how half-arsed he looked today?
Indeed. We've needed leadership in there since the loss of out three best midfielders and he's offered zip.
Good energy and poses a physical threat when he's on it. But he's on it nowhere near enough. Even when he makes it out on to the pitch, which is by no means a given.
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We must start with Tammy against Wulves! Couldn't understand why Buendia was on for so long: he kept getting knocked over by the Leeds midfield
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I said before kick off that Tammy should've started. Watkins was as shit as he I thought he would be.
It wasn't just him though, there were terrible performances all over the pitch. Special mention for Bailey who was diabolical.
We've got away with one today, I just hope they learn from it
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Bonus point in the end after Chelsea fluffed their lines.
Really poor performance again. Barkley and Sancho improved us greatly. I don't want to see Bailey start again. He was a disgrace.
We need to change the way we play with our injuries in midfield.
Some of the supporting cast need to step up if we are to start winning again, (Onana, Buendia, Maatsen, Bailey, Sancho). I think they are content to play safe and wait for someon else to di it.
I said last week that we may just limp to 5th Place as Chelsea have the hardest run in, (I didn't bank on them drawing with Burnely). However we have to improve drastically, as I dont see us beating anyone the way we are playing lately.
Chelsea’s next 6 opponents: Arsenal, Villa, Newcastle, Everton, Manchester City and Manchester United.
We MUST earn more points than them over our next 6.
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Thought Cash was the only player who started who had a decent game.
Tammy has to start v Wolves.
Luiz and Onana don’t seem to be a good combination, but we’re stuck for the time being.
Emery needs to change something, somehow. We’re becoming very predictable.
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We can match what Chelsea do from here on in points wise, and we’ve got a six point head start. It sounds much better when it’s put like that I think.
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Luiz still not up to speed, Onana playing like he has no competition for his place!!
Get Lindelof in to replace one of them.
He has been one of our better players recently, will give 100% and until we get Tielemans/McGinn back we will have to scrap hard in midfield for a victory.
All opponents know our achilles heel and are taking advantage.
Draw fair result, but really another two points dropped.
Unai, sort it out.
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Decent point in the end, but only because I remember how depressed I was before Tammy & the Burnley goal gave me a quick double hit of good news. Let’s hope other results keep going for us over the next two days.
Hopefully, Unai saw some things he can learn from today.
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Chelsea will be far more down after today than we are, as players/coaches and fans.
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We can match what Chelsea do from here on in points wise, and we’ve got a six point head start. It sounds much better when it’s put like that I think.
I agree and a lot of the metrics look really positive, (i.e., 66 points should do it, 4, five more wins required etc). However, the problem is, the drop-off in form of late has been staggering. I knew we would struggle without the three lads in midfield, but I didn't think our general play would go to shit like it has.
Let's face it we were very lucky v Brighton and again today. Playing like that, I'm not confident of us beating anyone and I include Wolves in that.
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We are limping through these games without our best midfield. Thank god teams below us are also dropping points.
PS Tammy to start next match
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Chelsea will be far more down after today than we are, as players/coaches and fans.
Yeah, we'd be a lot more pissed off if the situations were reversed (or if we'd blown a 2 goal lead at Molineux). Decent point in the end, which will be even better should Forest and/or Everton do us a favour.
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Have to say with some of the players we have ( the not very good ones ) it's still pretty unbelievable how we're 3rd. All to do with tactics, even though it's tough to sit through at times.
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Proper frustrating. Buendia and Bailey swapped for Barkley and Sancho and we’d have won that. Onwards….
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I wish we could push Dougie further forward. He’s such a good player. Onana and Bogarde further back and Sancho for Bailey.
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I wish we could push Dougie further forward. He’s such a good player. Onana and Bogarde further back and Sancho for Bailey.
I like Luiz but he was miles off it today
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Wrong team. Subs too late..Bailey and Buendia should not have played. The Onana/Dougie combo isn't working. Is Tammy the new Malen. Thought Torres would have helped in his passing. Lucky to get a point. The Chelsea result helps but the general level of play is so poor at the moment. Need McGinn back..
The selection I found most surprising was Mings for Torres, together with the reticence to bring Torres on as an attacking substitution – especially in that second half where we were on the ball for 70% of the time. Can only assume there is some lingering injury problem there. Maybe it was with one eye on Calvert-Lewin?
Great admirer of Mings, of course. But his passing is relatively blunt compared to Pau.
Stating the bleedin' obvious but we were very poor today, and got what we deserved.
But trust in Unai to make us competitive again when it matters.
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Proper frustrating. Buendia and Bailey swapped for Barkley and Sancho and we’d have won that. Onwards….
In the first half those pair were laughably bad, I try to find positives as much as possible but Bailey in particular was both utterly shit and completely disinterested. I'd honestly prefer it if we'd kept Jimoh and Young over this pair on that showing, Sancho and Barkley improved us massively and then Abraham for Buendia meant we suddenly had no one giving the ball away cheaply and we started to really dominate play and build pressure.
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I wish we could push Dougie further forward. He’s such a good player. Onana and Bogarde further back and Sancho for Bailey.
I like Luiz but he was miles off it today
Our whole mood since losing the three midfields has been shot of confidence. We have fight, yes, but we look lost as a great attacking team.
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If Forest beat Liverpool I'll take the point. Even a draw. If Liverpool win it's another costly fuck up.
Onana has gotten off lightly btw. Anybody else notice how half-arsed he looked today?
Indeed. We've needed leadership in there since the loss of out three best midfielders and he's offered zip.
Good energy and poses a physical threat when he's on it. But he's on it nowhere near enough. Even when he makes it out on to the pitch, which is by no means a given.
I don't think the problem is directly with Onana. But there is an issue with the Luiz-Onana tandem.
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Wrong team. Subs too late..Bailey and Buendia should not have played. The Onana/Dougie combo isn't working. Is Tammy the new Malen. Thought Torres would have helped in his passing. Lucky to get a point. The Chelsea result helps but the general level of play is so poor at the moment. Need McGinn back..
The selection I found most surprising was Mings for Torres, together with the reticence to bring Torres on as an attacking substitution – especially in that second half where we were on the ball for 70% of the time. Can only assume there is some lingering injury problem there. Maybe it was with one eye on Calvert-Lewin?
Great admirer of Mings, of course. But his passing is relatively blunt compared to Pau.
Stating the bleedin' obvious but we were very poor today, and got what we deserved.
But trust in Unai to make us competitive again when it matters.
I don't think Torres is fully fit, since he came off against Newcastle in the league he's been used really sparingly and he wasn't moving all that well in the game. Given he was out for a while with a calf problem I suspect there's an underlying issue that they're trying to manage so he can be fully involved again once the European games come back as he's a far better option than Mings for those.
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Some of this is on Unai.
Torres has to start. Barkley has to start. Watkins needs to be dropped and Buendia should be on the bench at best.
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A point. At home. To a poor Leeds team.
What's your point?
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Best thing to do when something clearly isn’t working is to keep on repeating it game after game because that always works.
Worst offenders today:
* Bailey: completely abject in every regard. We also saw some of the lazy tracking back we’ve all become use to.
* Watkins. One good cross field pass followed by plenty of lost duels, poor runs off the ball and poor hold up play. Couldn’t stay onside most of the time. A dream to defend against.
* Buendia: easily swamped, easily dealt with.
* The manager; picked Buendia again after the game at Eland road where he was easily dealt with. Picking Mings in another game where we have more possession and lack ball progressors. Continuing to pick a completely abject Watkins when we now have a good alternative.
Barkley was bright.
We are far too easy to play against although credit to Leeds who carried on where Everton, Brighton and Brentford went before them.
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Decent point in the end, but only because I remember how depressed I was before Tammy & the Burnley goal gave me a quick double hit of good news. Let’s hope other results keep going for us over the next two days.
Hopefully, Unai saw some things he can learn from today.
Does Unai ever show evidence he's learned from previous games?
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We can match what Chelsea do from here on in points wise, and we’ve got a six point head start. It sounds much better when it’s put like that I think.
I agree and a lot of the metrics look really positive, (i.e., 66 points should do it, 4, five more wins required etc). However, the problem is, the drop-off in form of late has been staggering. I knew we would struggle without the three lads in midfield, but I didn't think our general play would go to shit like it has.
Let's face it we were very lucky v Brighton and again today. Playing like that, I'm not confident of us beating anyone and I include Wolves in that.
Wolves just battled back to draw with the next Champions. We ain't winning there.
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We got ourselves into an unbelievable position in the league with an incredible run.
There is absolutely no doubt that the injuries have hurt us BUT, that doesn’t excuse the performances of individuals over the last 6 weeks or so.
As I have said before, losing top, top players like Kamara, Tielemans and Ginny is a double whammy.
Not only do you lose that quality, but the replacements are shit.
Buendia and Bailey are players we tried to offload in the summer but no other fucker wants them.
I’m not convinced that Onana and Luiz can play together either.
For me, I am worried that we will also blow 5th.
The team looks devoid of confidence and the drop off in the quality of our attacking play is incredibly worrying.
One big positive for me is Rogers. We know how good he is, but it’s noticeable over the last few weeks how much more involved in play all over the pitch he has become.
He is becoming a proper leader and is doing his best to drag us through games.
Lots of others can take a leaf out of his book.
Finally, Bailey has his Callaghan moment today. He can fuck off.
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Proper frustrating. Buendia and Bailey swapped for Barkley and Sancho and we’d have won that. Onwards….
In the first half those pair were laughably bad, I try to find positives as much as possible but Bailey in particular was both utterly shit and completely disinterested. I'd honestly prefer it if we'd kept Jimoh and Young over this pair on that showing, Sancho and Barkley improved us massively and then Abraham for Buendia meant we suddenly had no one giving the ball away cheaply and we started to really dominate play and build pressure.
Unlike Bailey, at least Buendia doesn't give up. He nearly scored twice in the second half and was always going to be targeted by Leeds' physical players.
Barkley hasn't started a PL game in .... how many months (?), I'm not sure he has the fitness for it. Did well when he came on but also did a couple of stupid things that Buendia would get pelters for - a wayward shot from a position he was never going to score from and giving away a stupid free-kick with a push to the back in front of the referee when we were 1-0 down with less than 10 minutes left.
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Decent point in the end, but only because I remember how depressed I was before Tammy & the Burnley goal gave me a quick double hit of good news. Let’s hope other results keep going for us over the next two days.
Hopefully, Unai saw some things he can learn from today.
Does Unai ever show evidence he's learned from previous games?
Duran and Rashford forcing their way into the team. Maatsen the same.
That’s the kind of thing I’m hoping for with Tammy and Sancho in particular.
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Exactly. Bogarde/Onana or Barkley/Onana might be better.
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It’s not great at the moment. Least we salvaged a point, but if we don’t improve we’re going to finish 6th. We have to start playing with more intent, particularly at the start of games. It’s so lifeless.
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Emery reflects on 'deserved draw' against Leeds
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/videos/ckg34yd1g98o
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Some of this is on Unai.
Torres has to start. Barkley has to start. Watkins needs to be dropped and Buendia should be on the bench at best.
Torres played v Newcastle twice and was average at best in both games. Lindelof should be playing instead of Mings and Torres.
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Proper frustrating. Buendia and Bailey swapped for Barkley and Sancho and we’d have won that. Onwards….
In the first half those pair were laughably bad, I try to find positives as much as possible but Bailey in particular was both utterly shit and completely disinterested. I'd honestly prefer it if we'd kept Jimoh and Young over this pair on that showing, Sancho and Barkley improved us massively and then Abraham for Buendia meant we suddenly had no one giving the ball away cheaply and we started to really dominate play and build pressure.
The problem is that we have a number of players who look good in 20 minute cameos yet are poor when they start.
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We’ve just got to keep battling away.
I thought the support was appalling in places. Boo’s from some at half time and that sarcastic cheer when Bailey went off. We’ve been here before with Rogers.
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I thought we started well, killed the game, kept the crowd quiet and ... Ah.
I'd love us to start games more on the front foot, but I accept it's not Unai's way. Not usually, anyway.
I'd definitely start Barkley and Sancho in the next game.
Hoping for a new manager bounce at Forest tomorrow, and for an Everton favour on Monday. We may well escape this disappointment relatively unscathed.
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Wrong team. Subs too late..Bailey and Buendia should not have played. The Onana/Dougie combo isn't working. Is Tammy the new Malen. Thought Torres would have helped in his passing. Lucky to get a point. The Chelsea result helps but the general level of play is so poor at the moment. Need McGinn back..
The selection I found most surprising was Mings for Torres, together with the reticence to bring Torres on as an attacking substitution – especially in that second half where we were on the ball for 70% of the time. Can only assume there is some lingering injury problem there. Maybe it was with one eye on Calvert-Lewin?
Great admirer of Mings, of course. But his passing is relatively blunt compared to Pau.
Stating the bleedin' obvious but we were very poor today, and got what we deserved.
]But trust in Unai to make us competitive again when it matters.
It matters now!
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I think Sancho has been showing great attitude lately. Night and day difference with Bailey who's only any good when things are going well, but whose head - and willingness to work for the team -drop frighteningly quickly when the going gets even slightly tough. Far too weak mentally for this level.
I'd definitely be starting Sancho next game. He looks like he's playing for his next contract, so we might as well make the most of that.
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Desperate stuff. 1 point from leeds, 10 man brentford and Everton. Dire home results
We were lucky vs Brighton too.
The performances have returned to the start of the season where we struggled to score and create anything
We got lucky today.
Too many poor performances. Buendia and bailey in particular were shocking. Mings overhit long passing was very frustrating as well.
God bless Burnley though
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Wrong team. Subs too late..Bailey and Buendia should not have played. The Onana/Dougie combo isn't working. Is Tammy the new Malen. Thought Torres would have helped in his passing. Lucky to get a point. The Chelsea result helps but the general level of play is so poor at the moment. Need McGinn back..
The selection I found most surprising was Mings for Torres, together with the reticence to bring Torres on as an attacking substitution – especially in that second half where we were on the ball for 70% of the time. Can only assume there is some lingering injury problem there. Maybe it was with one eye on Calvert-Lewin?
Great admirer of Mings, of course. But his passing is relatively blunt compared to Pau.
Stating the bleedin' obvious but we were very poor today, and got what we deserved.
]But trust in Unai to make us competitive again when it matters.
It matters now!
Yes. We need champions league for next season and got ourselves into pole position for it to happen. Yet it’s starting to look like it’s going to slip through our fingers. Emery’s team selections have been wrong for the past 4 home games now.
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I thought we started well, killed the game, kept the crowd quiet and ... Ah.
I'd love us to start games more on the front foot, but I accept it's not Unai's way. Not usually, anyway.
True.
Would be nice to shake it up a bit, mind.
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Play like we did in the second half from the off I fancy we'd have a nice 3 points in the bag.
Yep and that’s a massive issue - we are starting games in such a meek fashion at the moment. It’s absolutely killing any momentum from the off.
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Luiz is such a nothing player now, drifts through the game like a hologram.
Pretty much everything else has already been said, fucking shit. I dispair with Watkins, it looks like he's forgtton how to kick a football. Tammy absolutely has to start against Wolves.
This squad needs an overhaul and a serious injection of quality. If we bottle top 5 we're fucked trying to do it on a shoestring.
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Play like we did in the second half from the off I fancy we'd have a nice 3 points in the bag.
Yep and that’s a massive issue - we are starting games in such a meek fashion at the moment. It’s absolutely killing any momentum from the off.
I agree.
It happens too often, and although we've gained more points than anyone else from a losing position, we shouldn't keep on putting ourselves in such a position.
We don't have our best midfielders who are good at playing out from the back, but we compounded it today by slowing it all down in the first half. I do like Mings, but as already noted, he doesn't pick a pass quickly and slows it all down and Konsa then slips into the same ways.
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Just got back from a pretty subdued VP, although it livened up towards the end thankfully. Barkley and Sancho coming on changed the game, they were both excellent. Martinez saved us more than once with a couple of excellent saves. Haven’t seen their goal back so not sure if he could have done better, but it seemed to fly in like a rocket. Great to see Cash back - he was solid and combined well with Sancho in the second half.
Watkins has plenty of credit in the bank but today might be the day I’ve finally lost patience with him. Fluffed the one on one, and the amounts of crosses/pull backs into dangerous areas where he was nowhere to be seen was ridiculous. Seems to have lost all strikers instinct. Bailey’s body language just before he was subbed off was pathetic - lost the ball easily, gave up trying to win it back, then basically subbed himself off, he couldn’t get off the pitch quick enough. I thought Dougie was poor and Onana not much better.
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Not great, and I’m worried about the next 4 but think we should have enough to get over the line in 5th when the boys are back
Our frontline has been below par all season tbh, we can’t create many chances and relying on something special to happen too frequently. Set pieces helping us currently.
Just need to get through now. Minimal spend and getting in CL in the current context would be great
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Luiz is such a nothing player now, drifts through the game like a hologram.
Pretty much everything else has already been said, fucking shit. I dispair with Watkins, it looks like he's forgtton how to kick a football. Tammy absolutely has to start against Wolves.
This squad needs an overhaul and a serious injection of quality. If we bottle top 5 we're fucked trying to do it on a shoestring.
Got to remember dougies played so little football and has been thrown in. He wasnt great but he did wipe in some good balls yet no one was close to it.
What was up with that freekick 1st half? Luiz whipped a great balm in but three of our players ran out the box towards dougie
Was one of the worst set plays gone wrong i have ever seen
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Desperate stuff. 1 point from leeds, 10 man brentford and Everton. Dire home results
We were lucky vs Brighton too.
How about 4 points from last two league games which is not so desperate and we at least deserved a point today?
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Desperate stuff. 1 point from leeds, 10 man brentford and Everton. Dire home results
We were lucky vs Brighton too.
How about 4 points from last two league games which is not so desperate and we at least deserved a point today?
Did we play well vs Brighton? Or were we fortunate?
All four home performances were poor. We got out of jail vs brighton lets not sugar coat it.
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I thought we started well, killed the game, kept the crowd quiet and ... Ah.
I'd love us to start games more on the front foot, but I accept it's not Unai's way. Not usually, anyway.
I'd definitely start Barkley and Sancho in the next game.
Hoping for a new manager bounce at Forest tomorrow, and for an Everton favour on Monday. We may well escape this disappointment relatively unscathed.
See, this is the thing I don't get. For the first 18 months of Unai this was our way. We regularly blew teams away in the first half an hour and killed games. it was absolutely fantastic!
Last season we changed it up looking to get to half time in the game and then win it second half. It doesn't suit us as well.
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Desperate stuff. 1 point from leeds, 10 man brentford and Everton. Dire home results
We were lucky vs Brighton too.
How about 4 points from last two league games which is not so desperate and we at least deserved a point today?
Did we play well vs Brighton? Or were we fortunate?
All four home performances were poor. We got out of jail vs brighton lets not sugar coat it.
Very harsh. The way I see it, we desrve huge credit for getting to this position in the first place where are third in the league. I don't care how we finish the job - grind out five 1-0 wins from here and it's dreamland.
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I thought we started well, killed the game, kept the crowd quiet and ... Ah.
I'd love us to start games more on the front foot, but I accept it's not Unai's way. Not usually, anyway.
I'd definitely start Barkley and Sancho in the next game.
Hoping for a new manager bounce at Forest tomorrow, and for an Everton favour on Monday. We may well escape this disappointment relatively unscathed.
See, this is the thing I don't get. For the first 18 months of Unai this was our way. We regularly blew teams away in the first half an hour and killed games. it was absolutely fantastic!
Last season we changed it up looking to get to half time in the game and then win it second half. It doesn't suit us as well.
The style of play changed when we sold diaby. Diaby was critical to our first on the break counter attack. He was rapid.
Now we have bailey running into a player or failing over. We lack any form of pace from our attacking players now
I just do not get why we have sacrificed our pace and the style your ighly say, to this slow pedestrian predictable football. We have been found out now. Park the bus stop the long range shooting and you stop villa. Unai needs a plan b as this style isnt working anymore
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Is this a Bailey scapegoat thread? Must we always have to have one? Was Cash for last 2 years, Mcginn before Unai and there were lots of calls of never wanting them to play in a Villa shirt again. Eggs on faces now. Its a team game ffs and there were players out there today who were worse than Bailey. It was the shite system and the non existent midfield that caused the problems, too big a gap between midfield and forwards. Buendia and Rogers both playing in no 10 role getting in each others space meaning no width on left wing which nullified Maatsen until changes made later in rhe game when Rogers linked up with him. No team in the league would cope with loss of their best 3 midfield players. Newcastle are shit without Bruno and Man City are shit without Rodri, and Utd are shit without Fernandez. Anybody who expected us to keep winning all of our games with those 3 out need to give their head a wobble. Unlike City we cannot go out and spend £100m to replace them. When they return we will get better but hopefully it is not too late.
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Desperate stuff. 1 point from leeds, 10 man brentford and Everton. Dire home results
We were lucky vs Brighton too.
How about 4 points from last two league games which is not so desperate and we at least deserved a point today?
Did we play well vs Brighton? Or were we fortunate?
All four home performances were poor. We got out of jail vs brighton lets not sugar coat it.
Very harsh. The way I see it, we desrve huge credit for getting to this position in the first place where are third in the league. I don't care how we finish the job - grind out five 1-0 wins from here and it's dreamland.
Is correct. We weren’t going to keep up a 12 game winning streak and the injuries on top have absolutely bollocksed us. We’re just going to have to suck it up and try and see it through.
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I think we deserved a point today , just about . Too passive slow and weak on the ball first half. Why don’t we show width down the left anymore or balls down the channels to get there defence turning around . Good responses from Barkley and Sancho when they came on.
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We've lost 2 of 8 league games in 2026, we've hardly turned into Wolves.
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I am not too disappointed today. We controlled the game in the second half and there was enough on the pitch to convince me that we will win a few in the last leg of the season. We, of course, lack quality that Bouba, Youri and John provided but have picked up 4 points from last two so we are doing what's necessary.
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Hold on, we’ve been up with the top three sides since around October and had some fantastic performances, but Emery’s style doesn’t suit us well?
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Cash was solid and gave us a good option and outlet which we’ve lacked for a few games. Maatsen was the same in the second half and Barkley and Sancho were great when they came on.
Thought Tammy should have come on a bit earlier, Watkins was struggling to get anything from the long ball that were played up to him, that was an obvious ploy so strange that Tammy never started or that the balls weren’t giving Watkins a chance.
Good job Maatsen got in the way and stopped Rogers ripping their players head off after that cynical foul at the end.
First time I’ve sat in The Holte this season and there’s some right moaning bastards!
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Desperate stuff. 1 point from leeds, 10 man brentford and Everton. Dire home results
We were lucky vs Brighton too.
How about 4 points from last two league games which is not so desperate and we at least deserved a point today?
Did we play well vs Brighton? Or were we fortunate?
All four home performances were poor. We got out of jail vs brighton lets not sugar coat it.
Very harsh. The way I see it, we desrve huge credit for getting to this position in the first place where are third in the league. I don't care how we finish the job - grind out five 1-0 wins from here and it's dreamland.
I disagree- obviously i am happy we beat brighton but the performance was similar today. Martinez saved us in thag Brighton game. We should be beatin team like everton ans especially brentford who had 10 me . Be honest mate did you expect morr than 4 points from these four home games?i certainly did! What counters one of those losses was beating Newcastle though tbf as i expected a loss there. So really we are 3 points worse off than i expected
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Hold on, we’ve been up with the top three sides since around October and had some fantastic performances, but Emery’s style doesn’t suit us well?
Time to get Pardew in I reckon.
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Hold on, we’ve been up with the top three sides since around October and had some fantastic performances, but Emery’s style doesn’t suit us well?
Time to get Pardew in I reckon.
Fuck it. Let’s get Dyche, he’s available.
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Is this a Bailey scapegoat thread? Must we always have to have one? Was Cash for last 2 years, Mcginn before Unai and there were lots of calls of never wanting them to play in a Villa shirt again. Eggs on faces now. Its a team game ffs and there were players out there today who were worse than Bailey. It was the shite system and the non existent midfield that caused the problems, too big a gap between midfield and forwards. Buendia and Rogers both playing in no 10 role getting in each others space meaning no width on left wing which nullified Maatsen until changes made later in rhe game when Rogers linked up with him. No team in the league would cope with loss of their best 3 midfield players. Newcastle are shit without Bruno and Man City are shit without Rodri, and Utd are shit without Fernandez. Anybody who expected us to keep winning all of our games with those 3 out need to give their head a wobble. Unlike City we cannot go out and spend £100m to replace them. When they return we will get better but hopefully it is not too late.
Put so well here.
This should be the last word on the recent dip in form. It isn't rocket science and it is so harsh to see people criticise us without referencinf this context.
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Really poor selection and it cost us.
Mings starting. Why? Not sure we ought to be changing our centre half pairing that achieved Champions League football to try and nullify DLC. He attacked Konsa anyway. Given we spent the overwhelming majority of the game in possession, it was impossible to progress the ball out from the left or through the lines. Leeds doing what everybody does and puts a box four to block the middle. Fine, when you have Torres that can thread it anyway, but a big problem when you can shepherd Mings to play a square ball and throttle Maatsen.
Bailey and Buendia wide were awful. Both lightweight, not capable of a cross and utterly excruciating to watch first half.
Barkley much better for us second when he come on. He has vision to thread a ball, which suited Sancho, who was in turn infinitely more of a threat. He would wither take a man on, put a cross in or bring Cash on the overlap.
We should have committed two up top much sooner.
Really poor first half and that is down to the selection. 4 points from the last 4 home games is not good enough.
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Did we play well vs Brighton? Or were we fortunate?
All four home performances were poor. We got out of jail vs brighton lets not sugar coat it.
We were not fortunate v Brighton as we scored one more than them in normal time. That's how football is played and games won.
I suggest you adjust your parameters, its a long season and it's League football played over 9 months. As I said we have lost 3 of the best midfielders in England, possibly Europe with injuries and that was bound to take it's toll.