Aston Villa vs Chelsea Post-Match Thread

[Deano's Mullet]

You could see right from the start of the second half that suddenly we were more passive, the pressing was off and that Chelsea had stepped it up again. I’m not saying we would still have won the game had he been there but I definitely think that’s where we missed Gerrard on the touch line yesterday.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

You could see right from the start of the second half that suddenly we were more passive, the pressing was off and that Chelsea had stepped it up again. I’m not saying we would still have won the game had he been there but I definitely think that’s where we missed Gerrard on the touch line yesterday.

Spot on......exactly what I thought too and dreading we were going to get torn apart, especially after Lukaku scored his header very comfortably. We managed to rally, and I actually thought our element of anything resembling control dipped when Sanson went off....their 2nd penalty was gift wrapped by Targett, Konsa writing the gift tag and tying it on. We need to be smarter than that.

[Allan C]

Sanson played really well.

Agree with this, his best game for us I thought

[olaftab]

You could see right from the start of the second half that suddenly we were more passive, the pressing was off and that Chelsea had stepped it up again. I’m not saying we would still have won the game had he been there but I definitely think that’s where we missed Gerrard on the touch line yesterday.

McAlister waited a long while before  making any subs so I wonder if Gerrard had been there he would have reacted to counter Tuchel shifting to back 4 at the start of the second half quicker? The first 15 mins killed us and we were just about recovering when our subs came on.

[colin69]

Sanson played really well.

Agree with this, his best game for us I thought

Yes I am very impressed with Sanson.
Think he will be very good for us.

[eamonn]

The game passed Sanson by, largely. Surprised at the praise he's getting. Loose on the ball a few times too.

His cameos have been great but I want to see him start against a team outside of the top 3 to see what he's made of.

[colin69]

The game passed Sanson by, largely. Surprised at the praise he's getting. Loose on the ball a few times too.

His cameos have been great but I want to see him start against a team outside of the top 3 to see what he's made of.

You watched a different game to me…

[Ads]

Passed him by how? He was excellent on the ball and was able to beat his marker, combative in winning the ball back and was excellent in distribution. No idea what game you saw.

[colin69]

Passed him by how? He was excellent on the ball and was able to beat his marker, combative in winning the ball back and was excellent in distribution. No idea what game you saw.

That is exactly what I meant to say…

[olaftab]

Eamonn is obviously pulling a Xmas cracker. Sanson was up against an aristocratic midfield and he didn’t look out of place.

[JUAN PABLO]

Sanson was one of the better players , was cool on the ball and I liked how he wanted the ball returned into space , thou a few players missed it . Dougie was very good first half too.    Sanson, SJM ,Dougie , JJ and another midfielder coming in to replace MN and we have a great midfield plus cameos from Chuka . I actually think Sanson has leader qualities .

[eamonn]

I'll defer to popular opinion, I was drinking while watching but thought he and the rest of our midfield stood-off Chelsea and had fcuk-all possession between them.

[Deano's Mullet]

I'll defer to popular opinion, I was drinking while watching but thought he and the rest of our midfield stood-off Chelsea and had fcuk-all possession between them.

Second half maybe but first half we had a lot more of the ball and pressed them in numbers.

[The Edge]

You could see right from the start of the second half that suddenly we were more passive, the pressing was off and that Chelsea had stepped it up again. I’m not saying we would still have won the game had he been there but I definitely think that’s where we missed Gerrard on the touch line yesterday.

McAlister waited a long while before  making any subs so I wonder if Gerrard had been there he would have reacted to counter Tuchel shifting to back 4 at the start of the second half quicker? The first 15 mins killed us and we were just about recovering when our subs came on.

I didn't actually spot it but I'd be amazed if SG wasn't in permanent contact with Gary Mac for the whole game and team changes would have come from him. He wasn't banned he was ill.

[amfy]

You could see right from the start of the second half that suddenly we were more passive, the pressing was off and that Chelsea had stepped it up again. I’m not saying we would still have won the game had he been there but I definitely think that’s where we missed Gerrard on the touch line yesterday.

McAlister waited a long while before  making any subs so I wonder if Gerrard had been there he would have reacted to counter Tuchel shifting to back 4 at the start of the second half quicker? The first 15 mins killed us and we were just about recovering when our subs came on.

I didn't actually spot it but I'd be amazed if SG wasn't in permanent contact with Gary Mac for the whole game and team changes would have come from him. He wasn't banned he was ill.

I’d definitely say he was in touch, but it’s not the same as being there. He’d miss a lot of what was happening in terms of positional sense off the ball with only TV pictures to go on.
So I think his views would be filtered by the first hand views of Macalister, & naturally slower, both because of how quickly he’d be able to spot where the issues lay because he could see less, & adding in the time to discuss & communicate it,