Aston Villa vs Sheffield United Post-Match

[Mister E]

We struggleagainst bus-parking teams, and do better against more expansive ones.
If we dip into the market in January, I hope it is for someone who gives us something else in unlocking teams.

I think Tielemans or Kamara would have helped tonight

Tielemans certainly; Kamara less so since we had 80% possession anyway. We needed the killer passing that Tielemans can dleiver

[Smithy]

I think it was right to disallow it. Ramsey was holding the keeper back by one of his arms, which meant he couldn't catch/clear the ball properly, so the ball ended up back with one of our players. I'd have been pissed off it that had been allowed to stand against us. The penalty for the shove seemed far more clear and obvious.

The ball ended up with their player, so in referee speak there was a different phase of play, they then lost the ball and Villa scored. Any foul on the keeper was irrelevant. This was VAR re refereeing the game.

That's how I see it too. How far do you go back?

This the premier league on it (my comments in brackets):

The VAR will only check the attacking possession phase that led to the penalty or goal. (technically this is when Ollie regains possession)
The starting point will be limited to the immediate phase. The VAR may not go back to when the attacking team gained possession.
The VAR will consider the ability of the opposing defence to reset, and the momentum of the attack.  (this might be their 'get out of jail' card, as they could argue Sheff Utd hadn't properly reset since the Ramsey foul)

[tomd2103]

It felt like one of our home performances in the europa this season. Too slow and circumspect.

We struggle against teams that concede possession and sit deep. And that's even with two wingers-speedsters on the pitch. We will need to develop a setplay that can deal with this sort of game; may need a de Bruyne / Maddison type of player to come in.

He isn't that kind of level, but that's where Emi Buendia is an asset and will be a welcome addition back into the squad.

[LeonW]

We’re still progressing. We’re nowhere near the point where we can expect perfection. We need to keep that in mind.

Totally agree. We're just over a year into Unai Emery being with us and the progress has been astonishing really.  Like you say though, it's still very much a work in progress after only a year, particularly in the area of squad development.

Think we’ve just got to keep the faith and let Emery get more options/fine tune the squad. We’re on the best path we’ve been for decades.

[Clampy]

It wasn't dismal in the slightest. It was hard work but it wasn't dismal at all.

[Monty]

It felt like one of our home performances in the europa this season. Too slow and circumspect.

We struggle against teams that concede possession and sit deep. And that's even with two wingers-speedsters on the pitch. We will need to develop a setplay that can deal with this sort of game; may need a de Bruyne / Maddison type of player to come in.

Lacking Buendia, lacking Tielemans and Ramsey being out of sorts exposes this a bit in my opinion. We have dribblers, we have energy, we have physical presence, and (virtually) everyone is technically sound, but the kind of pass like the one Tielemans set Bailey away with for the Arsenal goal was clearly lacking. Many instances where McGinn or someone overhit, or underhit, or slightly misplaced, or slightly mistimed a pass - we need TIelemans in there to not do that. As for Buendia, he gets his fair share of passes wrong, but he sees openings and angles that others don't.

On Kamara, we don't concede if he's on the pitch. Not necessarily their goal itself (although McGinn did get suckered in like Bouba probably wouldn't have), but the way they harried us off the ball in the latter stages of each half gave them confidence - confidence they wouldn't have had with Kamara shrugging them off and finding an angled ball out to McGinn.

[tomd2103]

We struggleagainst bus-parking teams, and do better against more expansive ones.
If we dip into the market in January, I hope it is for someone who gives us something else in unlocking teams.

I think Tielemans or Kamara would have helped tonight

Tielemans certainly; Kamara less so since we had 80% possession anyway. We needed the killer passing that Tielemans can dleiver

Kamara playing would have allowed McGinn to play further forward and potentially cause problems in the final third.

So would Tielemans though to be fair.

[SamTheMouse]

No, it wasn't dismal. Even the very best teams can struggle to create against opponents who want only to defend and do it competently.

[Monty]

No, it wasn't dismal. Even the very best teams can struggle to create against opponents who want only to defend and do it competently.

And if we'd got the penalty like we deserved it might have been another 8-0.

[malckennedy]

The biggest learn should be how we lost composure after the disallowed goal. Bailey went from having a very good game to appearing desperate and like a headless chicken for example. By the time composure was recovered time had run out.

[Astnor]

I do find myself more critical about our performances than I used to be - though our performances are better than they used to be. I guess it s about higher expectations after excellent results this year.

[joe_c]

I don't know if anyone else has said this but 11 points from the last five games is a very good return, had the draws come against Man City and Arsenal I'm sure there would be fewer complaints but they'd both have an extra point. If we're going to have a bad day, better it's against Sheffield United than our direct rivals .

[Lastfootstamper]

I think Pau was our biggest miss last night. Lenglet is looking a capable understudy, but he's not quite on the same level. His passing is tidy rather than incisive. Some of the passes Douglas Luiz was attempting would've had more success coming from 15 or 20 yards deeper. We just couldn't turn them around.

Also, I quite like Wilder as a bloke, but what the funk was that restart after we scored?

[tomd2103]

I think it was right to disallow it. Ramsey was holding the keeper back by one of his arms, which meant he couldn't catch/clear the ball properly, so the ball ended up back with one of our players. I'd have been pissed off it that had been allowed to stand against us. The penalty for the shove seemed far more clear and obvious.

The ball ended up with their player, so in referee speak there was a different phase of play, they then lost the ball and Villa scored. Any foul on the keeper was irrelevant. This was VAR re refereeing the game.

That's how I see it too. How far do you go back?

This the premier league on it (my comments in brackets):

The VAR will only check the attacking possession phase that led to the penalty or goal. (technically this is when Ollie regains possession)
The starting point will be limited to the immediate phase. The VAR may not go back to when the attacking team gained possession.
The VAR will consider the ability of the opposing defence to reset, and the momentum of the attack.  (this might be their 'get out of jail' card, as they could argue Sheff Utd hadn't properly reset since the Ramsey foul)

I would argue that the defence had reset as they were in clear control of the ball and mounting an attack.  I could understand it as if the flap from the keeper had led to.a challenge in the box and we'd scored directly from that challenge.  I wonder if that even came into the discussion when Taylor was at the screen or they just looked at the incident in isolation.

Ah well, nothing we can do about it now.  The frustration is just heightened because it has probably prevented us from going top, which although really wouldn't have meant too luch at this stage, would have been a nice little feat.

[Flamingo Lane]

Reasons for consolation, on our winning home run coming to an end: it wasn't against a team around us in the table; we didn't lose; that we didn't lose was due to a last minute equaliser; the point we got  took us up a place in the table, into second; the goal we conceded was scored by a player we all like, and want to do well. And we get today off.