Unai Emery

[ChicagoLion]

Fuck it, let’s give the points to Wolves, we can’t possibly compete with Wolves with our injuries.

[RamboandBruno]

Fuck it, let’s give the points to Wolves, we can’t possibly compete with Wolves with our injuries.

Not sure anyone has said that.

[Clampy]

Fuck it, let’s give the points to Wolves, we can’t possibly compete with Wolves with our injuries.

How come you're not this animated when we win?

[AV82EC]

Fuck it, let’s give the points to Wolves, we can’t possibly compete with Wolves with our injuries.

Not sure anyone has said that.

They may not have done but it’s nearly 3-4 weeks since it’s happened and we’ve signed some replacements so people are asking with what we now have we don’t seem to be finding a way of playing that’s effective. We’re seeing some flashes of coherence but and this is maybe part of Unais total stubbornness we seem set in a style that other teams have worked out and we need to adapt. I’m sure Unai will sort it out and there’s absolute total faith from me that he will but in the meantime it’s frustrating.

[Ian.]

It’s very frustrating and it highlights how Emery’s style is so fine tuned and probably why new signings are not thrust straight into his side. He had issues at the start of the season, not too different to what we are witnessing now. Suddenly it clicked and then we found a way of winning and building momentum.

From memory I’m sure Torres and Kamara coming in and looking sharp was one of the main reasons. We haven’t got Kamara but we have Torres’s and maybe we need to utilise Barkley more.

[Villan82]

There is no value in keep going about the injuries.
We have enough resources to do better than we are right now.
We have 11 PL games with a massive opportunity to secure CL status.

Fine then. Let's stop

It's an absolute disgrace how our form has disimproved. I think Emery shouldsort this1.How can we go from winning 11 games in a row and beating sides like Arsenal, Man City and Man Utd to the dross we saw against Everton, Brentford and Leeds. it stinks. Why is going on? Why has our play declined?

Why does the manager not just go back to doing what we did in all those games up to the Tottenham FA Cup game? Disgrace!

[Ads]

That might be true but we are better than Leeds all over the park by many levels of magnitude. Our better players, Sancho, Barkely, Torres, were on the bench. If you want to say that we have 3 players out and a hand behind our back, ok, it absolutely is a factor, but.kets not double that problem.

Better players?? Sancho and Barkley did ok yesterday when they came on but are on the bench for obvious reasons. Torres the same, poor v Newcastle twice recently. I'm not a fan of playing Mings in home games like yesterday but it's Lindelof that should be in the team for me over both of them.

Barkley likely on the bench as he probably isn't fit enough for 90. Not sure what other obvious reasons there would be to keep Sancho and Torres there.

[PaulWinch again]

No agreed, on Torres unless it’s an injury it’s a mentality thing. Unai is incredible, but he has a fine balance thing where sometimes he veers towards too defensive. It’s rare, but it does happen on occasion.

[ChicagoLion]

Fuck it, let’s give the points to Wolves, we can’t possibly compete with Wolves with our injuries.

How come you're not this animated when we win?

What a stupid question

[Clampy]

Fuck it, let’s give the points to Wolves, we can’t possibly compete with Wolves with our injuries.

How come you're not this animated when we win?

What a stupid question

Its not. Go back through your posts  and see how pleased you come across when we win.

[LeonW]

It’s clear that recently we’re not currently getting the best out of the players we have. Our current squad even with the injuries we have is comfortably better than Everton, Brentford, Brighton, Leeds and yet we really really struggled against all of them. We got away with it against Brighton. We need to do something different.

[brontebilly]

It’s clear that recently we’re not currently getting the best out of the players we have. Our current squad even with the injuries we have is comfortably better than Everton, Brentford, Brighton, Leeds and yet we really really struggled against all of them. We got away with it against Brighton. We need to do something different.

Not really sure what that different is? Buendia and Rogers form has definitely cooled and we are back to Gerrard esque hoping for moments rather than sustained good play. I don't think two up top is an option, bar a desperate one, don't have players to go with three in midfield. Three at the back wouldn't suit Cash.

Rogers to the left, Tammy up front should be the call for Wolves anyway. Sancho and Barkley will likely come back in. But I'm not all that hopeful until McGinn at a minimum comes back.

[boozey182]

I think where I differ from the general feeling here is that I think our current squad would really struggle to finish in the top half of the league. It's a miracle we're third, and if we can somehow finish in a Champions League place, it will be probably the greatest achievement for a Villa squad in my lifetime. It's insane where we are, given the resources available. At the start of the season, I genuinely thought top half would be a decent finish, given the restrictions we're working under. How many of our squad would be playing Champions League football if we sold them?

Look at the teams we're competing with. Look at the money they've spent. Even Leeds spent over £100 million in the summer. We are not the sort of squad that can just turn up and expect to beat anyone in this league. Every point is a scrap.

We're struggling a bit at the moment, but if you took the best three midfielders out of any squad in the league, you'd see a massive drop off in form. Most teams are struggling to put a run together with a fully fit squad. The problem we have is that we can't completely change the way we play for a month or two, and the players we have at the moment simply aren't capable of covering for the players we're missing. Youri, Bouba and McGinn aren't just our best three midfielders, they're the only players that can get us up the pitch. Without one we'd be fine. Without two we'd struggle. It's no wonder performances have fallen off a cliff without all three.

We just need to hold our nerve, on and off the pitch. Get as many points as we possibly can over the next few weeks, and then get some of our midfield back. At our best, we can beat anyone in the league. At our worst, we can lose to anyone. But we're at the stage now, where we don't need to be at our best every week to achieve something remarkable. Which, I guess, is why everyone is worried we're going to fuck it up.

McGinn being fit again will be a massive boost. I am praying for some news about that this week. He'd make such a difference to this team. We all just need a bit of a lift now. A win on Friday, ideally with us playing a bit better, would be huge.

[RamboandBruno]

Well done Boozey, perfectly summed up the current situation

[walsall villain]

Yep Boozey I agree with that completely. Man C had that time without Rodri and their form dropped off considerably. Even before the loss of the midfielders we had players struggling for form and yet we kept winning (Guessand, Watkins and Sancho). It’s remarkable how well we did. It’s going to be tight as the last 2 seasons were, it will be a rollercoaster ride for sure.