Aston Villa v Arsenal Post Match Thread

[brontebilly]

Was relatively confident pre-game as our performances have been progressively getting better of late. Delighted with how we played today, failure to get the killer second nearly cost us again but we deservedly held on. Helped by a somewhat disinterested Arsenal which would worry me ahead of Sunday but that's for another day. Credit to Smith, smart subs who all contributed and even that Lansbury cameo at end killed the clock a bit.

We have brought it down to the last game so credit to all of them for the past three games but it's position after game 38 that counts, not 37.

Reina 6 - don't recall a save, just aswell because I don't fancy him making one
Elmo 6 - started well but was worried with him trying to carry on ala Mings v Leicester
Guilbert 8 - had a couple of horror show appearances before his injury but reminded us today how good a player he can be. Fast, aggressive, good on the ball
Konsa 7 - solid again, made one crucial interception after a Mings error early in the second half
Mings 5 - very good first half but two horrible errors in second half could have killed us. Embarrassing the ease he was beaten with in the air for that moment when time stood still...
Targett 6 - decent on the ball but lacks it seems confidence to stray too far from Mings, leaving huge space that their dreadful right back failed to exploit thankfully
Luiz 7 - did the cynical stuff well but didn't do enough to get us playing out from the back. That forced Grealish to drop a lot deeper than planned
Hourihane 7 - key to the goal with an excellent corner, tidy when give time and space. Less so without the ball. A good pro for us, we know what we get and don't get from him.
McGinn 7 - struggled to get involved in first half but finished the game very strongly. Could have done a lot better with that chance I thought, lashed at it
Trez 7 - humble pie for me tonight. Great finish and one of his better days in a Villa shirt aside from that
Samatta 4 - tried hard but offered very little in terms of link play or goal threat
Grealish 10 - different class throughout with the ball and best I've seen him without it. Real leader for us, Davis scores that chance and that run from Jack is showed on tv all summer long.
Davis 7 - huge improvement from Samatta when he came in but that effort was horrid and given the kind footwork of the keeper was as bad as AEGs looking back. Poor guy
Nakamba 7 - battled hard when he came in and fresh legs were needed then

[Proposition Joe]

Did anyone else hear Mings shout at players to press more? There was a specfic moment in the second half when one of our midfielders was doing the usual thing of falling back into retreat mode and Mings yelled at him get closer, and the end result was them turning over possession to us, when normally it would probably have meant an Arsenal player in loads of space attacking Targett. More of this please!

Also: McGinn was playing as a second striker today wasn't he? It looked like 4-1-3-2 we were playing.

[andyh]

According to another website, we are ‘spawny vile bastards’.


Again.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'd fancy the odds our match thread was longer than the last one for their own club.

[purpletrousers]

I was off reading the rusty Freddie thread and gave it a bump but it was all happening here. I like him too. Slated after the pre-break Leicester thrashing, but then so was Dougie...

[Legion]

According to another website, we are ‘spawny vile bastards’.


Again.

Who cares?

[brontebilly]

Also: McGinn was playing as a second striker today wasn't he? It looked like 4-1-3-2 we were playing.

Yeah number 10, played there v Everton too. Was struggling in a midfield 2 or 3 so bit more freedom for him up the pitch. Getting better so hopefully Sunday is the day he cuts loose

[john2710]

That was torture, but we got the result we deserved.  Sunday is going to be worse, there will be plenty of twists & turns. But we've got the advantage now.

Who was the twat who asked Jack if he was staying? If we go down he leaves, if we stay up he stays unless someone offers silly money.

[olaftab]

I peeked at the score at HT.

Put it in the telly.

Had a few walks round the garden.

FUCKING HELL!

I spent almost entire match cleaning the paving blocks on the drive until it was too dark and then stood by the side of the garage till  PWS announced  the win allowing me  to walk back in and watch SSN.

[paul_e]

Did anyone else hear Mings shout at players to press more? There was a specfic moment in the second half when one of our midfielders was doing the usual thing of falling back into retreat mode and Mings yelled at him get closer, and the end result was them turning over possession to us, when normally it would probably have meant an Arsenal player in loads of space attacking Targett. More of this please!

Also: McGinn was playing as a second striker today wasn't he? It looked like 4-1-3-2 we were playing.

We played 2 slightly different systems.

First half grealish, McGinn and Trez rotated between wings and the centre so 2 were always there to follow the fullbacks and the 3rd could overload them in midfield (along with Samatta). It's why we kept letting them get space out wide unti lthey go to our box and then we forced them in-field and outnumbered them. We did it at least 10-15 times. A few people ppointed out Grelaish coming deep but if you watch it back whenever he did it McGinn and Trez push really wide and our fullbacks pushed on as well so we were 2on1 agianst their wing backs and we got a lot of joy from balls into those areas.

2nd half  they tried to push the wing backs a bit higher and we responded almost immediately by going to the 4411 you mentioned. That meant we still had the cover but we had a much better chance at counter-attacking, which made them wary unti lthe last 10 when they tried to throw everything at us and lost their shape.

[Risso]

According to another website, we are ‘spawny vile bastards’.


Again.

Yes, the disallowed goal for Palace being proof of that apparently.  No mention of possibly the worst penalty and then VAR decision this season against Man U, but whatever.  Their latest Villa thread running for less than a week stretches to 40 pages.  Nothing about their own team gets even remotely close to that.  I bet most of them would accept relegation if it meant us going down as well.

[Pat Mustard]

It’s still not over and Sunday will be a nightmare, but I have to pipe up because it’s something that I’ve seen on here and has  pissed me off no end in the last few weeks.

The team might still not be good enough to stay up. Dean Smith might still be tactically naive and have not made the right decisions at the right time. But anyone who has said this team don’t have bollocks, don’t work hard enough or don’t care enough is just fucking wrong. We’ve had enough piss takers in the last ten years. and this team are not that.  So anyone who has called the manager or any of the players cowards in the last month, then it’s about time you apologised.

[dave.woodhall]

It’s still not over and Sunday will be a nightmare, but I have to pipe up because it’s something that I’ve seen on here and has  pissed me off no end in the last few weeks.

The team might still not be good enough to stay up. Dean Smith might still be tactically naive and have not made the right decisions at the right time. But anyone who has said this team don’t have bollocks, don’t work hard enough or don’t care enough is just fucking wrong. We’ve had enough piss takers in the last ten years. and this team are not that.  So anyone who has called the manager or any of the players cowards in the last month, then it’s about time you apologised.

If this was Twitter I'd reply with what I think the young people call a gif, of a standing ovation.

[paul_e]

I've realised something just, before the palace game I made chocolate cakes, 1 for my wife to take to work and a smaller one for the kids. Tonight we had some bananas that were going a bit brown so I make a banana loaf that finished cooking just before kick off.

I think I better get the recipe book out for Sunday.

[olaftab]

Well said Pat Mustard.