Sheffield Utd vs Aston Villa Pre-match Thread

[Risso]

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

In the forward positions? Son is a stupidly good player, plus they've got Richarlison and Maddison. Id' have Son over Watkins given the choice, and Maddison over Diaby or Tielemans.

[LeeB]

Maddison can suck my balls, the stupid little Cov div.

[Brazilian Villain]

I'm not sure where Chris Wilder is going with his criticising of perceived bias from officials.

From what I've seen Sheffield United have had plenty of decisions going their way. We should have a clear penalty in the home fixture, you could actually argue 2 of them. How on earth they got a penalty against West Ham I will never know.

A Liverpool fan's take on it.

Despite a great performance last night I’m still grieving the upcoming loss of Jurgen, just as much for his human qualities and lack of pretension as his ability to coach footballers

Then I noticed that Chris Wilder is having a moan about referees (which may well be justified - I don’t really pay attention to Sheffield United unless they are playing us) and the BBC is quoting him as complaining that, on entering the referees room to discuss an issue post match

"One of his assistants was eating a sandwich at the time, which I thought was a complete lack of respect. Hopefully he enjoyed his sandwich while he was talking to a Premier League manager."

It just brings home to you what a classy guy we are losing, and how many egotistical wankers there are in English football. Hodgson and Pardew spring to mind but there must be loads of other examples

I wish we had a classy, unassuming manager like Bingo.

[VillaTim]

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

In the forward positions? Son is a stupidly good player, plus they've got Richarlison and Maddison. Id' have Son over Watkins given the choice, and Maddison over Diaby or Tielemans.

Agree . Better full backs too or cetrainly Undogie / Porro better than we have

[brontebilly]

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.

Those three teams have players of equal or near equality quality to come in. I don't think for example we should be playing anywhere near such an aggressive high defensive line with Carlos or Lenglet at the back. The risk just isn't worth the reward of a Torres stepping at ease into midfield with the ball. Those two aren't comfortable doing that.

There's nothing wrong with being a bit more pragmatic either, even during a game. From very early on it was clear Newcastle had us in serious problems with their counters down our wings. We were 11 points ahead of them pre game so we absolutely did not need to get into a basketball type game with them. Same at Old Trafford.

 All we needed to do was bunker down for a bit and take the sting out of them. Emery rarely does that during a game and we have been fortunate at times (Chelsea in cup and was it Wolves last season) to keep a team scoreless in the first half. What kind of beggared belief really is that he waited until the 60th min to make any changes against Newcastle and the game was done by then.

[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.

Those three teams have players of equal or near equality quality to come in. I don't think for example we should be playing anywhere near such an aggressive high defensive line with Carlos or Lenglet at the back. The risk just isn't worth the reward of a Torres stepping at ease into midfield with the ball. Those two aren't comfortable doing that.

There's nothing wrong with being a bit more pragmatic either, even during a game. From very early on it was clear Newcastle had us in serious problems with their counters down our wings. We were 11 points ahead of them pre game so we absolutely did not need to get into a basketball type game with them. Same at Old Trafford.

 All we needed to do was bunker down for a bit and take the sting out of them. Emery rarely does that during a game and we have been fortunate at times (Chelsea in cup and was it Wolves last season) to keep a team scoreless in the first half. What kind of beggared belief really is that he waited until the 60th min to make any changes against Newcastle and the game was done by then.

That's kind of my point - they have more strength in depth. 

The Newcastle game (actually, both home and away) was disappointing and I was just a fucked off with us not changing personnel sooner.  There must be a reason behind it that I don't understand because this manager is amazing and my knowledge of football tactics isn't.  Their first two goals were from set pieces, one that we should've definitely defended better, the other they got a massive slice of luck with the ball hitting the bar and falling directly to one of their players.  The third from a Matt Cash fuck up.  So, 2 corners and a fuck up.   No amount of 'shape' can counteract that stuff. 

We have to get our defensive discipline and attacking zeal back.  Do that, and team knowing how we play won't matter much.

[Drummond]

I'd start Zaniolo and Rogers to get stuck in, play them for 30 mins and then bring Bailey and Diaby on when they've roughed them up. 😁

[astonvilla82]

Also would like our players stop getting in petty confrontation with the opposition,, Douglas Luiz did it again against Newcastle, grab the ball and carry on,let the referee deal with it, apart from that it slows the game down

[Risso]

Also would like our players stop getting in petty confrontation with the opposition,, Douglas Luiz did it again against Newcastle, grab the ball and carry on,let the referee deal with it, apart from that it slows the game down

I really liked big Ange's comments after the Spurs game the other night. He was having none of the ridiculous handbags. As he put it, if you think you're hard, sort it out in a UFC cage. If not, stop fucking around with the nonsensical pushing and shoving, it doesn't do the team any good.

[Risso]

I'd start Zaniolo and Rogers to get stuck in, play them for 30 mins and then bring Bailey and Diaby on when they've roughed them up. 😁

And we're 3-0 down! Not sure how much roughing up Zaniolo would do lying on the ground for half an hour.

[Ads]

Their kick off against us was probably the most embarrassingly shit, school boy level thing I've ever seen at Villa Park. Utter village. Let's Bury these ****** for fucks sake Villa.

[ChicagoLion]

I'd start Zaniolo and Rogers to get stuck in, play them for 30 mins and then bring Bailey and Diaby on when they've roughed them up. 😁

And we're 3-0 down! Not sure how much roughing up Zaniolo would do lying on the ground for half an hour.

He would be too concerned about roughing up his new hairdo.

[Ads]

Pau back training but won't feature.

[LeeB]

Pau back training but won't feature.

Pissflaps.

[Toronto Villa]

No Zaniolo worldies this weekend. They will be missed.