Douglas Luiz - coming back?

[Brazilian Villain]

Haha! Na! Nana! Nana! Na!

Yep, and very well found. That's the one.

[aj2k77]

Blues again tonight.

[Bad English]

Don't think McGinn and Diaby messing around at the edge of the box before his penalty helped much either. Quite a long delay there before he took it.

I did think that too… what was the point in them continuing the silliness, just pick a different spot to run in from, and let it die down.

If Luiz had belted it in, we could have said, "Good shithousing from McGinn and Diaby, the delay upped the pressure on their keeper and put him off while Luiz was cucumber cool."*

*He wasn't though..He started taking deep breaths and you could visibly see that he was feeling the pressure.

[Clampy]

I wasn't confident about his pen. He only just squeezed in the one he took in Lille and he's not playing that well. Watkins or Mcginn probably would have been a better choice in hindsight.

[Demitri_C]

Cheers doug

Superb tonight 👎

Going to try to stay calm but we wouldn't be sitting in a European semi final if he hadn't been magnificent last season for us to get us to 7th and we wouldn't be top 4 if he hadn't been magnificent, as in world class, in the first half of this season when he was King of Villa Park and scoring more goals from midfield than any player since Ian Taylor.

Yes stay calm im calm. I love dougie and i dont agree with some of the comments about taking us to where we want to go. But we cant hide the fa t he was absolutely terrible and probably one of the main reasons we lost yesterday.

We get to 2-2 does a needless and foolish hand ball. Then misses a pen. Look as much as i am fucked off about yesterday's performance and the pen miss- thats his first miss for us. He has scored so many pens.

The delay in taking the pen clearly had a impact and the ref lost control. When they had  a pen our players did none of that which is a bit annoying but we can't really complain after emis antics against lille.

If dougie wants to make it up for that poor showing do it on the pitch in that 2nd leg. Make it right. We know what a absolute top player he is on his day. I hope unai benches him weekend as his heads not in it and he may be more determined to prove a point.

He has been really stupid recently like that needless booking against arsenal right at the game getting himself a two game ban. He doesnt help himself with ailly things like that

[colin69]

He’s been way off it for a while, needs to find his mojo again and quickly.

[ChicagoLion]

He’s been way off it for a while, needs to find his mojo again and quickly.

Maybe drop the bubble perm.

[Drummond]

Fuck me, there's some shit being chatted in here.

If we hadn't had Luiz, we wouldn't be 4th in the league and we wouldn't be in the Semi-Final because we wouldn't have finished as high in the league last season.

Every player has ups and downs in form; the issue we have is that due to injuries we can't make substitutions as we'd normally do to give the out of form ones a break and to take them out of focus.

[chrisw1]

Fuck me, there's some shit being chatted in here.

If we hadn't had Luiz, we wouldn't be 4th in the league and we wouldn't be in the Semi-Final because we wouldn't have finished as high in the league last season.

Every player has ups and downs in form; the issue we have is that due to injuries we can't make substitutions as we'd normally do to give the out of form ones a break and to take them out of focus.

Exactly Drummond.  Luiz is brilliant and has played a huge part in our success.  He's not at 100% right now, but I still think he's a top, top player. 

We need to build a team around Martinez, Pau, Luiz & Watkins.  They are the only non-negotiables for me.

[Demitri_C]

Luiz is a important integral part of our long term plans so i am all for iver looking a few bad games  especially yesterday as he was dreadful.

Id bench him for weekend give him a bit of a break and get on as a sub

[VillaTim]

Luiz is a important integral part of our long term plans so i am all for iver looking a few bad games  especially yesterday as he was dreadful.

Id bench him for weekend give him a bit of a break and get on as a sub

Needs dropping but we are short on numbers and i'm not sure Irogbunam is ready to start v Brighton . Huge game .

[kippaxvilla2]

He’s not been the same since his hair started growing. It’s almost a reverse Samson effect.

[Percy McCarthy]

I love Dougie. I do think he’s a bit burnt out though. In an ideal world we’d have a squad where our first choice players are playing about 35/40 games a season, especially centre-mids. I think we’ll have that next season.

[LeeB]

I wasn't confident about his pen. He only just squeezed in the one he took in Lille and he's not playing that well. Watkins or Mcginn probably would have been a better choice in hindsight.

Me either, it was the one against Burnley that seeded the doubt in my mind.

[pablo_picasso]

Granted he was beyond shit last night, (hey look at that, he can be criticised & he doesn't even play for Spurs), but nothing has changed for me.

The situation is still the same as it has been recently which have been causing his poor recent form.

Kamara missing, him dropping deeper to cover Kamara missing, him playing more & running more than most players in the entire squad, etc, etc. So even though the game was important last night & we are all rightfully disappointed, nothing has changed, other than losing more players to injury.

I am not one to blow smoke up a players arse unnecessarily. In fact, I can be down right critical at times, but in Douglas Luiz, we still have one of the finest midfielders in the world at our club.

But he is going through a rough patch of form due to the above.

And that is what some people are finding difficult to grasp.

The difference between ability & form...