Aston Villa - 2 Leeds Eleven Terrible Dirty Haircuts - 1

[eamonn]

I wonder will Emery make us press aggressively like Leeds did. Wolves did it too and we didn't have any response until the half time whistle saved us in both games.

Both those teams have more physicality than us, I do worry that we're too light-weight. Moreno is another player who must be eight stone wet-through.

[Paul.S]

Just seen the interview with their manager, he wasn't nearly as bitter as I'd hoped, I'm quite disappointed tbh.

Says he’s happy to continue loose if they play like that.

I’d be fucking overjoyed if they continue to lose and piss off back to the championship.

Marsch - “we were the better team”. He just doesn’t get it does he. If I were a Leeds fan, would be very worried.

He’s like big kid. Can’t stand the bloke, waving his arms about and pointing at his watch. Could’ve done with a 4th official to stop him coaching from on the pitch.

[Ian.]

Signing that fella from Marseille could help change that. He looks pretty tough and is good with the ball.

[SoccerHQ]

One deflected shot and a great save from Emi equated to our goal leading a "charmed life" in the first half according to SSN.

Your team lost, get over it.

Wasn't there a cracking goalline clearence by Moreno aswell?

They played well and I think there's three worse teams than them in this division.

Will probably have to whisper this quietly but I'd prefer them to stay up as there's always some sort of edge between us stemming from the championship seasons so more interesting home and away game than playing half of this division these days.

[paul_e]

To answer this:

Leeds pressing was intense first half, we were smothered. Predictably they can’t keep that up and we were much better second half. Thought Ashley Young was excellent on what was a testing night for him, one mistake when he played for the foul and they went on to score. We clearly need a better striker and cover for Bailey. Very stressful but I love a Friday night win!

and this:

We knew they would play an energetic high press, so we should have varied the tactics more. We could have tried going longer into the space behind, rather than playing out and trying to break the lines, as it floundered too often in our midfield.

Our 'out' against a high press is the running and energy Watkins brings. Him getting injured after about 15minutes of play (accounting for the Digne injury break) and having to go off a little while afterwards meant we didn't have that option. Once we had chance to have a chat and reorganise we changed the shape and played Bailey as our furthest forward, dropped Buendia into midfield and had Ings trying to play as more of a 10 (but not really getting involved enough) and we were much more comfortable and dangerous in the 2nd half as a result. I think a lot of our problems in the first half were down to the injuries and we actually did a really good job of keeping things solid when our own plans were ruined.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I think we played okay and deserved the win.

Leeds despite their chances never looked like winning.

Once Bailey scored I never really worried about anything, Leeds are a poor team, 2 wins in 17 games, they need massive investment which won't happen and despite all their effort and they did run around a lot, they're crap, starting with their keeper all the way to their so called striker. Every game for them is a cup final or they'll be marching on together back to where they belong.

Kamara as everybody could see is on another level. The back 5 did what they're paid to do, the midfield let us down with Ramsey who looked really rusty and never got into the game, Emi B who may as well have not played the first half and even Dougie let the game pass him by. Watkins and Ings up front may as well have not turned up due to the lack of service.

Bailey's goal was a move made in heaven. Starting with the brilliant ball from Young to Kamara, his driving forward with the ball glued to his feet, his lack of panic when reaching the Leeds box allowed him to play the perfect ball and Bailey just needed a touch to bring it inside and bury it. Liquid football I could get used to.

[paul_e]

One deflected shot and a great save from Emi equated to our goal leading a "charmed life" in the first half according to SSN.

Your team lost, get over it.

Wasn't there a cracking goalline clearence by Moreno aswell?

They played well and I think there's three worse teams than them in this division.

Will probably have to whisper this quietly but I'd prefer them to stay up as there's always some sort of edge between us stemming from the championship seasons so more interesting home and away game than playing half of this division these days.

If they'd scored that I'd have been fucking livid. The ref blew up for offside on the edge of their box and then let them take it quick (maybe even a rolling ball) midway in their own half, that's just basic incompetence.

[Axl Rose]

3 points ace. But fuck me that like a game of Hungry Hippos.

Brilliant

[Clampy]

Delighted with the win. I didn't think we played great overall and we rode our luck a little at times but there were spells in the game where we showed how good we could be become if we stick at it.

[olaftab]

Comfortable win. That’s what big teams do. Fuck off you Yorkshire Whites.

[astonvilla82]

Jessica Marsh must have watched a different game to me

[Percy McCarthy]

Big Emi - world class
Ash - defies biology
Moreno - excellent debut
Konsa/Mings - mostly solid
Dougie - slight off day
Kamara - world class
Buendia - anonymous first half, vastly improved after break
Ramsay, anonymous. Give him a pass for ring rust.
Bailey -  not great but always seems to have an impact. Even in his desperately bad games somehow remains our biggest threat.
Ings - ran around a bit.

We’re in another race to progress enough to keep Emi and Kamara, similar to the one we lost when Joe left,

4 or 5 signings at Kamara’s level and we’ll be great. Guendouzi first please.

[DB]

Just got back.Bailey and Emi ok scored the goals but blimey, they lose the ball a lot. Also, Bailey doesn't trust his pace, a number of time he checked his run. We need better.
MotM, Young or Kamara, who just keeps getting better. Good debut from Moreno, looked a bit nervous at first but good 2nd half, already upgrade on Digne.

[russon]

A welcome 3 points if somewhat fortunate.

Bailey showed a lot of courage after the preposterous muff against Wolves. He doesn’t hide, he wants the ball and takes initiative when in possession. If only he would pass the bleedin’ thing after he’s jinked past a couple of players instead of trying to beat them again, Ings was tearing (what’s left of) his hair out.

[paul_e]

A welcome 3 points if somewhat fortunate.

Bailey showed a lot of courage after the preposterous muff against Wolves. He doesn’t hide, he wants the ball and takes initiative when in possession. If only he would pass the bleedin’ thing after he’s jinked past a couple of players instead of trying to beat them again, Ings was tearing (what’s left of) his hair out.

I honestly don't think it was fortunate at all, we weren't as fluent as we'd want going forward (in the first half at least) but we limited them to probably 2-3 genuinely good chances and created 4-5 ourselves.

They ran around a lot and were super aggressive but never really put us under heavy pressure.
Emi made a couple of good saves but that's not luck, it's what world class goalkeepers do.
We made a couple of good scramblnig defensive clearances but again, that what our defenders are really good at doing, they also had a couple of chances because our defenders made the sort of mistakes that hold them back from being chased by CL teams, again not luck just our players being exactly who they are.
We also weren't even lucky with decisions, the penalty shout for them would've been very soft (but will become a 100% stonewall pen and red card for people wantin to talk us down), the offsides for rodrigo and buendia were both 100% correct (and obviously so) and, if anything, they were lucky not to have a lot more fouls and bookings given against them.