Aston Villa 1 Jorge Mendes clients 1 post match thread.

[Risso]

One sleep later and the positives are starting to settle a bit. We're going to play a bit shit sometimes, and to have scrapped a draw and arguably should've won isn't too bad. Also, we do have a manager who genuinely changes things around when they're not working, this is good.

It makes watching the game far less depressing knowing that even though we're struggling at a point in the match, you're confident the manager will react as opposed to sitting there thinking "we're fucked" after 10 minutes

Changing things is good, not having our customary bad half would be even better.

[KevinGage]

One sleep later and the positives are starting to settle a bit. We're going to play a bit shit sometimes, and to have scrapped a draw and arguably should've won isn't too bad. Also, we do have a manager who genuinely changes things around when they're not working, this is good.

It makes watching the game far less depressing knowing that even though we're struggling at a point in the match, you're confident the manager will react as opposed to sitting there thinking "we're fucked" after 10 minutes

Indeed.

A feature of Emery's tenure so far is how we've been able to grow into games.

[chrisw1]

Mings and Konsa interchange the ball so much because neither are particularly good at playing it out.

They do it because Emery has told them to.  The passing around the back is to draw the press and hopefully find space for a pass further up the field.  It pisses me off when the crowd get antsy about something the manager has clearly directed the players to do.

[Monty]

I actually think they're both very capable of good passing, they've just never really been in teams that prioritised it. They'll get there. Mings, in particular, got pings in 'im.

[boozey182]

Last night was frustrating and fascinating in equal measure. I was really hoping for some momentum to be carried through from the weekend, but Wolves didn't let that happen. I thought they were really good in the first half - one of the best teams I've seen play against us this season and I reckon they'll finish mid table. They didn't let us settle and they controlled the game. What was promising was that, even though we weren't playing well, we didn't give away too many easy chances. Their goal was avoidable, but very well taken. As bad as we were, we managed to stay in the game.

Emery got the starting line up wrong, but he was up against the manager that probably knows him best in the league, given that they've already faced each other this season. It was so good to see us wrestle back control of the game by making changes at half time - that is something that we haven't seen very often in recent (30) years. Managers will always get things wrong, but not many put them right so quickly.

It's also worth noting that this was a completely different challenge to every other game we've played under Emery. He took over a team that was near the relegation zone and his first 5 games were all against teams in the top half, so he obviously has focused on defensive work and playing on the counter so far. He's made us much more effective in games where we are up against better players. Getting it right in games where we are expected to dominate will take more time, I would have thought, so it's not a huge shock that our forward players looked worse yesterday - they haven't been drilled as well in those sort of scenarios. Okay, the Bailey miss wasn't because Emery hasn't shown him how to score once you've gone around the keeper, but we didn't create enough in general last night. I don't think it's a major cause for concern yet, and far too early to write off players like Bailey and Buendia under this manager. They'll both get better, and more consistent as the season goes on and we focus more on dominating possession, I'm sure of it.

In terms of the Ings/Watkins debate, I think this week has shown why we need them both. I don't think we'd have won against Spurs with Ings up front, and we wouldn't have got a point last night without him. There will be different games and situations that suit one or the other, we just have to trust the manager to get it right, which he largely has so far. But if we could buy a player with the work rate and presence of Watkins, combined with the finishing and movement of Ings and we'd be a much better team.

[LeeB]

I think we saw the difference between Matty Cash the Championship winger and Matty Cash the international full back last night. He seemed to most effective when he didn't have to worry about what was behind him.

It's probably easier to play on the left wing for him that to be just slightly ahead of wear you've spent the last 3 years exclusively. He looked like he kept forgetting he wasn't full back most of the time, the lad next to me said after about 20 mins they should've swapped him and Young around

[Brend'Watkins]

One sleep later and the positives are starting to settle a bit. We're going to play a bit shit sometimes, and to have scrapped a draw and arguably should've won isn't too bad. Also, we do have a manager who genuinely changes things around when they're not working, this is good.

It makes watching the game far less depressing knowing that even though we're struggling at a point in the match, you're confident the manager will react as opposed to sitting there thinking "we're fucked" after 10 minutes

Changing things is good, not having our customary bad half would be even better.

It's not necessarily customary under Emery so far.  Yes, poor first half last night but that's more down to the Wolves new manager (Can't think of his name) sussing us out. Emery then sussed out his suss hence the improvement after the break. Two good managers there at it again, same as Villareal v Seville where the match finished 1-1 too.

[Exeter 77]

I think we saw the difference between Matty Cash the Championship winger and Matty Cash the international full back last night. He seemed to most effective when he didn't have to worry about what was behind him.

It's probably easier to play on the left wing for him that to be just slightly ahead of wear you've spent the last 3 years exclusively. He looked like he kept forgetting he wasn't full back most of the time, the lad next to me said after about 20 mins they should've swapped him and Young around

Exactly what we were saying.

[LeeB]

I actually think they're both very capable of good passing, they've just never really been in teams that prioritised it. They'll get there. Mings, in particular, got pings in 'im.

I personally think Mings gets way too much stick about his passing when actually he's much more skillful and creative than most of his contemporaries, it's concentration and touch that occasionally let him down. I think he should be encouraged more to bring the ball forward and run directly at the opposition, as it's both effective and ace.

[boozey182]

Mings and Konsa interchange the ball so much because neither are particularly good at playing it out.

They do it because Emery has told them to.  The passing around the back is to draw the press and hopefully find space for a pass further up the field.  It pisses me off when the crowd get antsy about something the manager has clearly directed the players to do.

Yeah, I thought at the end of the first half, we were just starting to get a foothold in the match, but the crowd were desperate to "get it forward!". I think it was just as important to keep hold of the ball for a few minutes, get into half time only one down and come out a different team. But I get it, it's incredibly frustrating to watch at times, especially as most of us are expecting us to give it away cheaply at the back and put one of their players clean through. The ghost of Ciaran Clark haunts us all.

We're a (justifiably) nervous fanbase. Hopefully, we'll get a bit more relaxed because I reckon our CBs will see more of the ball than any other players under Emery, and they'll feed off our energy.

[DB]

Mings does think he's Pirlo at times.

[martyn ellis]

Having watched the highlights on Villa TV, I concur with most on here who say that Emery got it a bit wrong, but had the nous to put it right second half. Two very intelligent managers, (Lopetegui has managed the national team so can't be bad), bringing their combined tactical nous to the Midlands - they even sound the same in their post-match analysis (turn the pictures off and you wouldn't know which was which!). And as for Leon's miss, not half as easy as many are claiming; first he took it away from the keeper, but it needed a very firm hit at a difficult angle on his wrong foot to beat the covering defenders. Let's not be too hard on him. Emery certainly won't. Got a warm feeling even though we couldn't beat what turned out to be a very good side.

[The Edge]

Games like tonight (and not for the first time) show that we need a target man option, even if it's just to bring off the bench.

Andy Carroll is out of contract

[London Villan]

Wolves are a different team to the one they were pre-world cup. They have a decent manager that has set them up differently, and like us, will cause some surprises as teams have to try and work them out.

The PL is unforgiving and teams work out the strengths and weaknesses of opponents very quickly. Emry showed more nous last night to change it mid-game than any other manager I've seen at Villa in the past 10 years.

Couple of other observations... Luiz was clattered by the Wolves 11 and on top of the Spurs game it probably took its toll on him. Ings/Watkins - if only they could be combined into one player... they'd be worth £100m! Leon Bailey needs an arm around his shoulder - interesting to see it was Watkins that went to drag him to his feet and stop him crying.

[SamTheMouse]

I like Watkins but I'd be starting with Ings from now on. He's done very well under Emery so far.