Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: PeterWithesShin on March 19, 2026, 09:51:45 PM
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Never in doubt. Ollie was fantastic, Sancho very good.
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Never in doubt. Ollie was fantastic, Sancho very good.
Well, Sancho was very in and out.
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Happy happy happy
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Well done. Sancho and Emi did so well for the goal.
Ollie made a big difference when he came on.
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Martínez key passes for both goals. Clean sheet. MOTM.
Watkins good cameo.
Sancho great second half.
Solid result.
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That was a much more Emery performance than we've seen recently, calm, composed and controlled for most of the 90, just playing it our way and waiting for tiredness and mistakes to come into their play so we could punish them. Both goals were very good, with unselfish assists that made them tap-ins really.
More of that and we'll finish the season well.
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Martínez key passes for both goals. Clean sheet. MOTM.
Watkins good cameo.
Sancho great second half.
Solid result.
This
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What a difference Ollie made when he came on, he was brilliant. McGinn is just essential to us, what a player. Just before the goal I was grumbling about Sancho, but he did very well for that goal. What a pass from Emi!
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Job done.
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McGinn’s goal came at a critical moment. Team looked like they were about to go into their shell again. Hope this is the start of a turnaround in form.
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Much better second half.
Good cameo from Harvey,
Well done lads
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In the end a routine win.
I thought Bogarde (esp. 1st half), Luiz and Lindelof were excellent, but Emi and Sancho just edged them out for =MotM.
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Only saw second half, we got the goal against the run of play with Ollie ready to come on the sideline. Ollie did make a big impact off the bench but that's with Lille pushing on too. Ordinary enough in truth against a very average Lille team. Lindelof for me was a positive again, don't think he's had a poor game at centre back for us yet. Sancho with an assist and Bailey with a goal wasn't on the bingo card tonight. Maatsen, Torres, Rogers, Onana, Luiz , McGinn, Tammy all meh though.
Anyway, onto next round
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That was a really, really satisfying night. I think everyone played well, including those who get, sometimes deserved, criticism. If I'm being harsh, Tammy was quiet, but he worked hard and probably made it easier for Watkins off the bench.
I think Lindelof's our best centre half btw. Just throwing it out there.
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Great result - thought Onana and Luiz looked better than they have - though possibly not there toughest challange.
Second half was the best Sancho has played for us. Watkins was excellent - though I think he benefited from the fact we scored just before he came on. But hopefully him and Bailey have had a big shot in the arm.
Win at the weekend and would be a great way to leave it for the international break
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I thought McGinn, Torres, Onana and Luiz played well. Your a harsh man Bront!
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This poor girl stood next to Stan looks absolutely terrified.
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Only saw second half, we got the goal against the run of play with Ollie ready to come on the sideline. Ollie did make a big impact off the bench but that's with Lille pushing on too. Ordinary enough in truth against a very average Lille team. Lindelof for me was a positive again, don't think he's had a poor game at centre back for us yet. Sancho with an assist and Bailey with a goal wasn't on the bingo card tonight. Maatsen, Torres, Rogers, Onana, Luiz , McGinn, Tammy all meh though.
Anyway, onto next round
Take the point that the opposition weren’t too clever but Villa were generally by far the more accomplished side. The confidence visibly flowed back into the team after we scored the first goal.
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"I was looking for Jadon to thank him for the assist and he was nearly at Witton station."
😂
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Good win and some encouraging signs that we are slowly getting our confidence back.
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Pretty comfortable against a side that didn't really pose too much of a threat over the two legs. 3rd European QF in three seasons - let's see who we get.
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Happy for the win but poor opposition.
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Bologna or Roma?
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Not Malen as the script is written there.
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Steal MyToilet
The second-half opener settled Villa's nerves, which were evident around Villa Park during a tepid first half. Villa could have drifted into trouble but they remained largely in control.
The second goal added gloss to a performance which again lacked quality and energy. Villa did what they needed to do to get the job done, but still need to improve - both in the Premier League and Europe.
Yet they can still produce one-off moments, like Martinez did, to lift them and ensure their Europa League dream remains alive.
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Bologna Just scored. Oops wring thread.
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Bologna winning.
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elliot is a good player , I honestly think more minutes from him and we would have had a few more points when bailey , buendia and even rogers was dire.
he has worked hard , turned up every day and you can see the players like him... ..
The confidence hopefully will start to come back Sancho looked good tonight and I like the Linderlof and Pau partnership. Ollie did well other than one typical Ollie moment and Bailey got a goal , oh my . . .
Onana was better and with Youri soon back , Im thinking we can still get a chumps league place.
win Sunday and its on .....
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I've really warmed to Elliot. It's a shame. But Emery has obviously decided he either isn't worth 35m, or more likely, we don't need to spend 35m in that position.
Which we don't. We need pace. Lots of pace.
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Only saw second half, we got the goal against the run of play with Ollie ready to come on the sideline. Ollie did make a big impact off the bench but that's with Lille pushing on too. Ordinary enough in truth against a very average Lille team. Lindelof for me was a positive again, don't think he's had a poor game at centre back for us yet. Sancho with an assist and Bailey with a goal wasn't on the bingo card tonight. Maatsen, Torres, Rogers, Onana, Luiz , McGinn, Tammy all meh though.
Anyway, onto next round
Take the point that the opposition weren’t too clever but Villa were generally by far the more accomplished side. The confidence visibly flowed back into the team after we scored the first goal.
Sure and it's job done. But result aside, didn't see much sign of life in us really. Couldn't get out of our box after half time until we scored. They had to gamble then and it made things easier for us. A bit more care and we could have scored a load - Sancho off post, Watkins not able to put a 2 yard pass through to Luiz, might have been another one.
Luiz kind of summed us up. He seemed to win the ball back a lot to be fair, far more than Onana. Brilliant ball to put Sancho through but stupid moments around our box. Passing ball straight out of play at one stage under no pressure. Maatsen another one, just so sloppy. He cost Luiz a yellow.
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We won. Be pleased for a change.
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p.s Malen will be watching Emmerdale . . .. no VP reunion :)
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Bailey was so looking forward to getting his revenge as well....
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This Nick Mashiter who has been writing articles on us this week on the Beeb is a right twat. Seems to hate us!
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This Nick Mashiter who has been writing articles on us this week on the Beeb is a right twat. Seems to hate us!
Steal MyToilet is an absolute pillock.
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p.s Malen will be watching Emmerdale . . .. no VP reunion :)
I've heard he's after tickets.
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This Nick Mashiter who has been writing articles on us this week on the Beeb is a right twat. Seems to hate us!
I haven’t seen the latest but I’ve noticed in the past that he seems to be very anti us. He’s a prick.
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Nice and steady, with energy preserved for a much sterner test on Sunday.
In my opinion Emery has made 2 major errors since Christmas, letting Malen go and not using Lindelof enough, the latter self evident tonight.
Cruising through like this may not be a thrill a minute but there will be excitement to come I'm sure. 3 Euro QF's in 3 seasons is excellent, we need that trophy but you have to say that Emery deserves all the praise that comes his way.
And just a word for some of the moaning around me, comparing things to when DOL was in charge, calling multiple players fucking shit and my particular favourite "I don't care how much the tickets are, the place should be full".
I bet he's a fucking Tory.
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It’s nice to win again and a third consecutive European quarter final; hopefully we can go all the way this time.
The performance was better. Yes, there’s plenty to critique and the opposition weren’t the best, but just happy to enjoy the win again and see some semblance of the Emery Villa we’re more accustomed to seeing. Onwards.
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Just glad we're through with no drama. Now Bologna looks tricky, and hopefully Porto will after them. Players back and better league form would be useful by the time the quarters roll around on April 9th.
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This Nick Mashiter who has been writing articles on us this week on the Beeb is a right twat. Seems to hate us!
I haven’t seen the latest but I’ve noticed in the past that he seems to be very anti us. He’s a prick.
I'd agree.
This journo has not said anything positive about us .
He's obviously not happy as according to his name somebody has stolen his toilet!
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Only saw second half, we got the goal against the run of play with Ollie ready to come on the sideline. Ollie did make a big impact off the bench but that's with Lille pushing on too. Ordinary enough in truth against a very average Lille team. Lindelof for me was a positive again, don't think he's had a poor game at centre back for us yet. Sancho with an assist and Bailey with a goal wasn't on the bingo card tonight. Maatsen, Torres, Rogers, Onana, Luiz , McGinn, Tammy all meh though.
Anyway, onto next round
As you said Lille posed very little threat and non of their players stood out but you can only beat what’s in front of you. I’d say Torres was steady and tried to get us in the front foot without loads of movement ahead of him, Axis of Luis and Onana did well without being pressured too much but both got around the pitch. Rogers showed some lovely touches and played a few good balls linking up with Sancho, particularly in the first half.
Lots of encouraging performances tonight which hopefully we can build on to click out of our current league form.
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Great views from the Upper North of the goals, which we sprung from quick, direct moves, exploiting space. In sharp contrast to the constant passing around either box we specialise in.
Just wish we'd go direct more often. Tammy is dying for some crosses into the box to attack.
Really enjoyed the hour pre-game in the Warehouse. Having a Villa "band" playing live on stage while massive screens showed the other European games and you could easily sit down on one of the beaches and chat away to other fans.
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Controlled that mostly. The first half was a borefest but much better in the second half. Ollie did loads of great stuff when he came on, Sancho probably our best forward over the 90 mins. Thought Luiz was poor. I like Pau and Lindelof together, although no doubt would have issues against quicker forwards.
First time in the Warehouse before and after, enjoyed it.
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Just back as the M40 was closed which was nice.
Job done, great moves at times but also wasteful. Sancho really is frustrating, 1st half did nothing of note just kept losing the ball unable to get passed anyone, then 2nd half improved. Still nowhere near consistent enough for me.
Onana and Luis we great. Defence was pretty solid. Our probs are attacking quality, McGinn has made a difference but need more from the others.
Yeah, Warehouse was great. Easy to get a drink and seat, the band and big screens was a real positive. Just the front bit needs finishing off, signage etc looked temporary and cheap.
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Only saw second half, we got the goal against the run of play with Ollie ready to come on the sideline. Ollie did make a big impact off the bench but that's with Lille pushing on too. Ordinary enough in truth against a very average Lille team. Lindelof for me was a positive again, don't think he's had a poor game at centre back for us yet. Sancho with an assist and Bailey with a goal wasn't on the bingo card tonight. Maatsen, Torres, Rogers, Onana, Luiz , McGinn, Tammy all meh though.
Anyway, onto next round
Take the point that the opposition weren’t too clever but Villa were generally by far the more accomplished side. The confidence visibly flowed back into the team after we scored the first goal.
Sure and it's job done. But result aside, didn't see much sign of life in us really. Couldn't get out of our box after half time until we scored. They had to gamble then and it made things easier for us. A bit more care and we could have scored a load - Sancho off post, Watkins not able to put a 2 yard pass through to Luiz, might have been another one.
Luiz kind of summed us up. He seemed to win the ball back a lot to be fair, far more than Onana. Brilliant ball to put Sancho through but stupid moments around our box. Passing ball straight out of play at one stage under no pressure. Maatsen another one, just so sloppy. He cost Luiz a yellow.
I agree with you re Luiz - some good passing and vision and some moments where he lost his head and looked to be determined to get a card.
I thought we were turgid for the first half but rarely looked in trouble. The first goal killed the tie which was exactly what we needed. Good cameo from Ollie too. West Ham will be much harder.
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Only saw second half, we got the goal against the run of play with Ollie ready to come on the sideline. Ollie did make a big impact off the bench but that's with Lille pushing on too. Ordinary enough in truth against a very average Lille team. Lindelof for me was a positive again, don't think he's had a poor game at centre back for us yet. Sancho with an assist and Bailey with a goal wasn't on the bingo card tonight. Maatsen, Torres, Rogers, Onana, Luiz , McGinn, Tammy all meh though.
Anyway, onto next round
As you said Lille posed very little threat and non of their players stood out but you can only beat what’s in front of you. I’d say Torres was steady and tried to get us in the front foot without loads of movement ahead of him, Axis of Luis and Onana did well without being pressured too much but both got around the pitch. Rogers showed some lovely touches and played a few good balls linking up with Sancho, particularly in the first half.
Lots of encouraging performances tonight which hopefully we can build on to click out of our current league form.
One thing I'll give Torres credit for is he's definitely sharper in the offside line than Mings. He was nearly caught tonight at one stage but still pushed out in time. Granted Giroud isn't exactly Joao Pedro. Distribution wise I thought Torres was poor when it was competitive. To be fair, Maatsen's attitude tonight was very poor next to him and Luiz needs to take more risks in front of him to get on it. But far too often Torres forward balls were either cut out or if Tammy got there first he was totally isolated and dispossessed. Maybe movement wasn't good enough in front of him but I'd expect Torres to be better. Lindelof bailed him out big time at start of second half when he got caught under a cross and Giroud looked set to score. Martinez not one for clearing house in that scenario any longer.
Lindelof was our best defender by a long way tonight I thought. Luiz certainly worked very hard in midfield, far more interceptions than Onana I suspect and the odd moment of class like that ball for Sancho. But taking a bit too long on the ball for me, still doubting himself a bit maybe.