Aston Villa v HŠK Zrinjski Mostar Post-Match Thread

[OCD]

i know we won so it doesn't matter but had we not....Zaniolo was clearly having his shirt pulled late on, and not for an instant but a prolonged period. They have VAR. Why was this not given as a penalty?

Yep, as I said in the match thread, refs not giving penalties like that is exactly why diving is so common, to effectively punish players for trying to stay on their feet is fucking weird.

There's blatantly diving and there's winning a penalty. With how long his shirt's being held, if he goes down, that gets given all day long. Unfortunately this type of thing only gets given when the player goes down.

[jon collett]

I'm glad our players showed decorum at the final whistle after scoring a late winner. So many teams in similar circumstances lately are behaving as though they've won a final with subs running on the pitch etc.

A simple handshake will suffice!

[Gareth]

Could have swore at one point with the rhythm of the chant that they were singing ‘just a small town in Walsall’ - made me chuckle as no doubt they weren’t.

One of the key take aways is part of the fitness thing we really need to see Moreno & Irogbenum fit asap to give Digne a proper break and Dendoncker splinters

[pablo_picasso]

Yet more proof that Douglas Luiz is a very, very good player indeed.

I've said a few times recently but I'll repeat it here, I reckon Dougie is one of the best central midfielders in the league right now, there isn't a team in the country where he wouldn't be a regular starter and improve them, there's probably not many teams in the world where that isn't true.

I think he has become one of the best central midfielders in the world....

[PeterWithe]

They were certainly singing a derogatory song to us and in it referred to us as 'Aston' Seemed to be in Italian though?

[LeeB]

The good midfielders we have never stand still with the ball when we have possession, they're always moving and proving.

That was the most noticeable thing to me 2nd half.

[AV84]

If we fail to get out of the group I won't look at it this way, but a slight positive spin on the poor performances of some of the squad players when given their chance, is that come January Monchi and Co should have a complete idea of who and where needs improvement.

I think this past summer window we were looking at improving the so called starting 11, with options for the bench. The likes of Diaby, Torres, and even Zaniolo have done well there. We've gone into the European games with a few players that are "still here" rather than being the players Emery actually wants to have.

Like I said, it's going to be disappointing if we fail to get out of the group, but we should at least be in a position where we know exactly how much we need to spend and in what positions to move forward. For example I think we've all seen enough of Donk to know he's just not going to fit into Emery's style of play, but we probably don't need to be spending 40mil to get an improvement. Chambers is another one where a smart bit of scouting would probably offer a better option.

If we're out of Europe by January, I think replacing some players becomes less important, and allows the focus to go to the positions where we'll still need cover for the league, LB and RB seeming the most pressing.

[Axl Rose]

Zaniolo needs a goal. The winner at the custard bowl would be a good start.

[ez]

How did the ref and var miss the shirt pulling on Zaniola? Stonewall penalty.

[Clampy]

Does anyone know why the No11's were not going down towards the ground last night? Two of them turned left at the lights in Perry Barr and I had to get off.

[jon collett]

How did the ref and var miss the shirt pulling on Zaniola? Stonewall penalty.

It seemed to bother Unai a lot - he was haranguing the 4th office - not sure I've seen him do that before!

[pablo_picasso]

i know we won so it doesn't matter but had we not....Zaniolo was clearly having his shirt pulled late on, and not for an instant but a prolonged period. They have VAR. Why was this not given as a penalty?

Yep, as I said in the match thread, refs not giving penalties like that is exactly why diving is so common, to effectively punish players for trying to stay on their feet is fucking weird.

Was it John McGinn who got a yellow for diving?

It was a blatant dive, but as you say, if you don't get one for a blatant shirt pull that lasted for about 27 minutes, then players have to go down. And when they do, they then get punished...

Listening to those bellend commentators about this was interesting. They absolutely hammered McGinn for his dive. But then praised players of the team who Im not even going to attempt at spelling for "buying" free kicks & being "clever".

Twats.

[PaulTheVillan]

McGinn was booked for diving.

[OCD]

I'd say Matty Cash dived as well but slightly different. McGinn was in a good position so shouldn't have dived.

[womble]

Emi - great, his default setting
Digne - harsh sub I thought
Carlos - another harsh sub I thought, didn't do anything wrong I saw, could have had a goal but is a CB, not a striker so finishing isn't guaranteed
Lenglet - thought he did well, thought the same against Warsaw though
Konsa - not a RB
Donk - didn't think he did anything wrong but doesn't fit into Unai's style of play
Tiellmans - thought he did OK, part of the reason he will give the ball away is he has it so much
Bailey - offered Konsa no cover on the right, much better second half
McGinn - captains performance, even without the goal, he was involved in a lot
Zaniolo - kicks the ball to hard much of the time, thought he was decent
Duran - not sure how good he was last night to be honest

Cash - great performance from the bench
Dougie - great performance from the bench
Watkins - shows what a modern forward is supposed to do, not just about finishing, can hold up play and create chances
Bertie - great performance from the bench too

Unai - initial selection was lacklustre but he must be trying to get the squad players game time. Subs were great. His half time team talk must have been something, teams attitude and approach changed after it.

Zrinjski - always ran the risk of losing because of parking the bus, as pointed out here, but still could have scored in the first half which I think meant the best we would have been able to achieve was a draw. Playing against a well organised 11 behind the ball is really hard to break down. Wouldn't buy their keeper on last nights performance alone, he was great. Think even Olsen's playing it out from the back might be better than his though.

In the first half we were taking too much out of the ball as the the commentator said and not moving it quickly enough. We also got caught on the break a few times in both halves. The high line needs all 4 backs to know their roles perfectly, with the amount of play our defenders have together currently that is a hard ask.

If we want to go park the bus with the squad players somewhere to eke out a 0-0 draw and pick a team just to do that it shows our current lack of depth at LB & RB. Chambers can't play RB but could prob do a job as a DM or 3'rd CB.

Olsen

Digne Carlos Lenglet Cash

Donk Chambers

Bailey Tiellmans Bertie

Duran

We need cover at RB, never should have let Young go. And Moreno can't come back quickly enough.