Aston Villa v HŠK Zrinjski Mostar Post-Match Thread

[Meanwood Villa]

Huge goal, we would have made it really hard for ourselves being on one point after two. Hope we see stronger starting line ups for the AZ double header.

[PeterWithesShin]

A contender for being his best performance is a pretty low bar with Tielemans. I thought he was a good signing especially on a free and hope he comes good but he's been very disappointing so far.

[PaulWinch again]

Some of the comments about Tielemans in the match thread

It's the match thread though.

and? You seem to get really worked up if anyone comments on the match thread but it go so bad that someone who wasn't watching had to ask what he'd done when a misplaced pass resulted in 5 people calling him shit, it's just fucking silly when it gets to that.

Tielemans was wank.

No he wasn’t. He wasn’t great and clearly needs to improve, but in that second half there were signs of him finding his way back.

Lucky bloke got longer on the pitch than he deserved

Or he stayed on the pitch long enough to start showing signs of improvement. He clearly did show that, and I hope it continues as it’s better for the club if it does.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Some of the comments about Tielemans in the match thread

It's the match thread though.

and? You seem to get really worked up if anyone comments on the match thread but it go so bad that someone who wasn't watching had to ask what he'd done when a misplaced pass resulted in 5 people calling him shit, it's just fucking silly when it gets to that.

Tielemans was wank.

No he wasn’t. He wasn’t great and clearly needs to improve, but in that second half there were signs of him finding his way back.

That may be the case but he gave away more passes tonight than SJM did last season when he had a shit spell. It could have cost us multiple times. Plus, what's happening to his shooting? It was his one special skill I have been looking forward to seeing since he joined us.

[Meanwood Villa]

Tielemans is crap.

Maybe Emery can work some magic on him though.

[pauliewalnuts]

Good win, got stronger and pleased.

I can imagine the match thread, but I'd agree with Paul, Tielemans grew stringer as the game went on and there were some good signs there. I think he needs a run of games to get his eye in fully.

I love the team ethic, I love that they never give in.

Yeah with Tielemans there were two very nearly brilliant passes. Clearly there was still some ropey play in there too, but you could see what he was and could be again. He just needs to get his confidence up.

I reckon if that interview when he was with Belgium hadn't happened everyone would be talking about how tonight was his best performance for us and hoping he can keep it up but now some people have got it in their heads that he's upset about not playing more they're hyper-critical of everything he does wrong.

Oh, Paul, with all due respect, what rubbish.

I don't give a fuck what he said in Belgium, but he's had multiple chances to show what he can do and, 90 percent of the time, has shown pretty much nothing, including tonight.

[Malandro]

They’ve somehow devalued every European competition. I personally couldn’t give a shit about this. I’d rather win the FA Cup.
I certainly do not want it to impact our league performances.

[paul_e]

Some of the comments about Tielemans in the match thread

It's the match thread though.

and? You seem to get really worked up if anyone comments on the match thread but it go so bad that someone who wasn't watching had to ask what he'd done when a misplaced pass resulted in 5 people calling him shit, it's just fucking silly when it gets to that.

People are just watching the game and posting as if they're at the match. It usually moves at such a pace that nobody is aware that somebody else has posted the same thing, it wasn't a concerted effort to get on hs back.

I never said it was, I was just pointing out that the threshold for a lot of people to call him shit is ridiculously low right now. He had a poor first half, so did everyone else. 2nd half he was one of our better players and pretty much every independent football site that is giving ratings on the game backs that up.

[pablo_picasso]

We were wank first half but much better second half. They were determined to get every man behind the ball & play very narrow so we crossed for their taller players to head clear.

And it almost worked.

Fair play to them for starters for playing well as a defensive unit & for getting the tactics almost correct.

Almost.

I was starting to think that this would be "one of those games" where we play until December 2337 & still be unable to score, but the impressive Cash helped us get the win we deserved.

Thought Bailey looked a lot more dangerous on the left. Thought Tielemans improved after a truly shit first half. Think Zaniolo looks like he is trying too hard. Cash, Douglas Luiz & Watkins improved the team ten fold after coming on. And finally Konsa is NOT a RB.

Not a classic game for fan or neutral alike, but a much needed & deserved victory.

Shout out to the ref, who was shit. Not biased, as he made crap calls for them too. He was just shit.

Almost as shit as the commentators who kept talking about the opposition, whose name I cant even pronounce never mind spell, "growing into the game" because they managed to get close to the half way line a couple of times... Pair of bellends...

[AV84]

If everyone's on 3 points it's almost like starting again from day 1. So not the worst place to be.

[Beard82]

Good win, got stronger and pleased.

I can imagine the match thread, but I'd agree with Paul, Tielemans grew stringer as the game went on and there were some good signs there. I think he needs a run of games to get his eye in fully.

I love the team ethic, I love that they never give in.

Yeah with Tielemans there were two very nearly brilliant passes. Clearly there was still some ropey play in there too, but you could see what he was and could be again. He just needs to get his confidence up.

I reckon if that interview when he was with Belgium hadn't happened everyone would be talking about how tonight was his best performance for us and hoping he can keep it up but now some people have got it in their heads that he's upset about not playing more they're hyper-critical of everything he does wrong.

Think how it ended at Leicester is a bigger factor in peoples perceptions

[paul_e]

Some of the comments about Tielemans in the match thread

It's the match thread though.

and? You seem to get really worked up if anyone comments on the match thread but it go so bad that someone who wasn't watching had to ask what he'd done when a misplaced pass resulted in 5 people calling him shit, it's just fucking silly when it gets to that.

Tielemans was wank.

No he wasn’t. He wasn’t great and clearly needs to improve, but in that second half there were signs of him finding his way back.

That may be the case but he gave away more passes tonight than SJM did last season when he had a shit spell. It could have cost us multiple times. Plus, what's happening to his shooting? It was his one special skill I have been looking forward to seeing since he joined us.

101 passes attempted, 85 completed so 84%. McGinn was at 60-65% at the start of last season. 4 shots, 2 on target and 1 blocked.

[pauliewalnuts]

If everyone's on 3 points it's almost like starting again from day 1. So not the worst place to be.

We managed to dig ourselves out of a very large, embarrassing hole, right at the death.

I hope we learn something from tonight.

[VillaBoy_23]

Good win, got stronger and pleased.

I can imagine the match thread, but I'd agree with Paul, Tielemans grew stringer as the game went on and there were some good signs there. I think he needs a run of games to get his eye in fully.

I love the team ethic, I love that they never give in.

Yeah with Tielemans there were two very nearly brilliant passes. Clearly there was still some ropey play in there too, but you could see what he was and could be again. He just needs to get his confidence up.

I reckon if that interview when he was with Belgium hadn't happened everyone would be talking about how tonight was his best performance for us and hoping he can keep it up but now some people have got it in their heads that he's upset about not playing more they're hyper-critical of everything he does wrong.

Tielemans was garbage tonight.

[paul_e]

Good win, got stronger and pleased.

I can imagine the match thread, but I'd agree with Paul, Tielemans grew stringer as the game went on and there were some good signs there. I think he needs a run of games to get his eye in fully.

I love the team ethic, I love that they never give in.

Yeah with Tielemans there were two very nearly brilliant passes. Clearly there was still some ropey play in there too, but you could see what he was and could be again. He just needs to get his confidence up.

I reckon if that interview when he was with Belgium hadn't happened everyone would be talking about how tonight was his best performance for us and hoping he can keep it up but now some people have got it in their heads that he's upset about not playing more they're hyper-critical of everything he does wrong.

Think how it ended at Leicester is a bigger factor in peoples perceptions

I think that meant people didn't give him long before criticising but the complaints since the international window have increased massively.