Sheffield Utd vs Aston Villa Pre-match Thread

[VillaTim]

Torres coming back could be massive

Is he back? I've not seen anything on this.

Somebody on here said yesterday he was back in training

[Rigadon]

All this stuff about teams sussing us out... I get where that thought comes from, but do we not think teams know exactly how Liverpool or Man City or Arsenal play.  Because they play the same way all the time.  It's one thing knowing how a team plays and quite another stopping it. 

Our form has been a mixture of certain players being injured (Torres) and others playing below par (Diaby), plus some shit luck with decisions / marginal offsides. 

We are still a really really good side and we will challenge all the way through to the end of this season in a way MONs Villa just couldn't do.

[VillaTim]

Bailey must start, even if he is not fit to play 90 minutes (which we don't know).

As mentioned before, we need to take an early lead against this lot to make the game more open. Bailey is more likely to assist/score than Diaby.

Up our tempo from the first minute, match their intensity and our extra quality should shine through.

0-3 the villa. Watkins (2) and Bailey.

i would keep Bailey out and throw on after 60 mins

[Rigadon]

Bailey must start, even if he is not fit to play 90 minutes (which we don't know).

As mentioned before, we need to take an early lead against this lot to make the game more open. Bailey is more likely to assist/score than Diaby.

Up our tempo from the first minute, match their intensity and our extra quality should shine through.

0-3 the villa. Watkins (2) and Bailey.

i would keep Bailey out and throw on after 60 mins

Weirdly, so would I if Bailey is injured. The last thing we need is to lose him for the rest of the season.  But I wouldn't play Diaby. 

[VillaTim]

Bailey must start, even if he is not fit to play 90 minutes (which we don't know).

As mentioned before, we need to take an early lead against this lot to make the game more open. Bailey is more likely to assist/score than Diaby.

Up our tempo from the first minute, match their intensity and our extra quality should shine through.

0-3 the villa. Watkins (2) and Bailey.

i would keep Bailey out and throw on after 60 mins

Weirdly, so would I if Bailey is injured. The last thing we need is to lose him for the rest of the season.  But I wouldn't play Diaby.

Agree Diaby don't deserve to play , i'd play Rogers. I'd keep Bailey as supersub and throw him on when their carthorses at the back are dragging their hooves

[Risso]

All this stuff about teams sussing us out... I get where that thought comes from, but do we not think teams know exactly how Liverpool or Man City or Arsenal play.  Because they play the same way all the time.  It's one thing knowing how a team plays and quite another stopping it. 

Our form has been a mixture of certain players being injured (Torres) and others playing below par (Diaby), plus some shit luck with decisions / marginal offsides. 

We are still a really really good side and we will challenge all the way through to the end of this season in a way MONs Villa just couldn't do.

We'll see how they react in the coming games I suppose. It was embarrassingly easy for Howe on Tuesday though, and it was a Newcastle team with a 17 year old in it, and a non-entity like Longstaff. Torres is a miss of course, but all the vibrancy of our attacking play from earlier in the season has vanished. It was only really McGinn on Tuesday who was at anything like his normal levels. Well Diaby was I suppose, but I mean in a good way. Both Luiz and Kamara looked bog average, Moreno was dismal, so was Cash, and apart from the goal Watkins looked well off it as well.

When things aren't going right, like on Tuesday, like both games against Newcastle, like Liverpool and Man U away, we don't seem to be able to change things to any great degree.

[LeeB]

Kamara looked stoned on Tuesday, believe me I know what that looks like on a football pitch.

[eamonn]

Given Diaby's form and Leon not being 100% (and not great away from home), maybe putting Rodgers straight in could work. He'll be high on adrenaline and let's face it, it's the worst team in the top flight we're up against so their level won't be much higher than what he's been used to playing against in the Ch'ship.

[LeeB]

I'd go with that too, think we could do with a jolt of something different and he'll be bang up for it.

[Risso]

Nah, he'll definitely start with Bailey.

[Rigadon]

All this stuff about teams sussing us out... I get where that thought comes from, but do we not think teams know exactly how Liverpool or Man City or Arsenal play.  Because they play the same way all the time.  It's one thing knowing how a team plays and quite another stopping it. 

Our form has been a mixture of certain players being injured (Torres) and others playing below par (Diaby), plus some shit luck with decisions / marginal offsides. 

We are still a really really good side and we will challenge all the way through to the end of this season in a way MONs Villa just couldn't do.

We'll see how they react in the coming games I suppose. It was embarrassingly easy for Howe on Tuesday though, and it was a Newcastle team with a 17 year old in it, and a non-entity like Longstaff. Torres is a miss of course, but all the vibrancy of our attacking play from earlier in the season has vanished. It was only really McGinn on Tuesday who was at anything like his normal levels. Well Diaby was I suppose, but I mean in a good way. Both Luiz and Kamara looked bog average, Moreno was dismal, so was Cash, and apart from the goal Watkins looked well off it as well.

When things aren't going right, like on Tuesday, like both games against Newcastle, like Liverpool and Man U away, we don't seem to be able to change things to any great degree.

Agreed.  That's really the difference between us and the teams above, Spurs aside - those teams have a greater number of top quality players than we do, albeit the gap is closing.  When somebody is struggling a bit or is off on international duty, they bring somebody else in who is equally as good.  We are almost there, but not quite. 

It's not the system, or that we've been found out - teams have had a year to suss us out and only in the last month have we dropped points.  I honestly believe that it's a simple case of having a smaller group of players (than our immediate rivals) who are top drawer, and some of the ones that are having a dip in form. 

[Ads]

Disagree on Spurs. Don't think they're any better anywhere on the park.

[Risso]

I hope that's all it is Rigadon, and that we get back to winning ways quickly. We've been shite since the Arsenal match though, and aren't really showing any signs of improvement. Hope it's just a blip, but with Villa and being perpetually disappointed, who knows. One 5th place finish in nearly 30 years is shite though, I really did think this might be the year for something different. Hopefully it still will be.

[Rigadon]

Disagree on Spurs. Don't think they're any better anywhere on the park.

Yes, agreed.

[Rigadon]

I hope that's all it is Rigadon, and that we get back to winning ways quickly. We've been shite since the Arsenal match though, and aren't really showing any signs of improvement. Hope it's just a blip, but with Villa and being perpetually disappointed, who knows. One 5th place finish in nearly 30 years is shite though, I really did think this might be the year for something different. Hopefully it still will be.

Fingers crossed!  I'm staying upbeat, but reserve the right to be bitterly pissed off on Sunday