Luton vs Aston Villa post-match thread

[dave shelley]

Emery on the 79th minute rescued a bad situation that was unfolding, very good management really. Other previous managers we've had (i'm not going to name names), under such pressure would have gone to the dugout, sat down and adopted the crash position.

Result goes the other way and he gets criticised for delaying the changes. Like he was against Newcastle and Chelsea. That's the lot of a manager. With Rogers on a yellow I thought he could have tried swapping Tielemans and Rogers a good bit earlier. But it wouldn't have made much difference to how we defended those two set pieces.

It's a bit concerning in the last three games we crucified three very average teams early on but let them back into the game with some appalling defending. Constantly changing CBs hasn't helped and we are physically weak at set pieces anyway. Also with Ramsey injured again we really look out of options for cover now on that left side. I'd actually try Bailey there v Ajax with Digne behind him. Try McGinn on the right and Tim in next to Luiz. I'm not sure Tielemans deserves the hold his spot but maybe his guile would be more useful than Diaby's speed.

I thought Emery should have changed things sooner in the 2nd half , we were getting overrun down the right wing.
The defence isn't right, Lenglet is not the answer and i would certainly not make the loan a permanent move, let him be Barca's issue come May.
As for playing Irogbunam, yes maybe vs Ajax but he's not ready for League games in my opinion, Tielemans all day long.

Regarding that last sentence.  What criteria do you suggest be used to decide when Irogebunam is ready for first team league action?  To gain experience in league football; you need to be playing it, you're not going to get it if sitting on the bench or in the U21's.  Tim is being nurtured by an exceptional coaching team and is being slowly taught to walk before he can run, he only gets that by degrees and those minutes he's getting now will increase in time as he learns.  I would back Emery's appraisal of how he's developing over yours any day.

[Smithy]

Anyone who knows the xG shit know why our XG on the end of the match was 1.83 and Luton's was 2.28?

Because xG means the grand total of fuck all.

Luton's first goal was probably counted as 2/3 seperate chances, with the xG total going up for each one

Understat shows it better than most and they have the 3 chances as .71, .64 and .79 (goal). So yeah, the number is very misleading.

That's exactly what it is.  It was a scrappy goal to lose, but people forget the brilliant goal-line clearance from the first header, and the save Emi made on the floor from the same player before Chong scored.  So in that 4 or 5 second period of play, they had three excellent chances to score that added up to 2.14 "expected goals".  It's an anomaly of the Xg system that all of those chances are count separately, even though only one of them could ever have counted as a goal.  If you only count the Chong chance, then their Xg for the game is about 1, which is about right.

[Clark W Griswold]

Like Rogers, Tim needs to get a bit of game time late on in games till the end of the season. All good experience and it'll give first 11 players a breather.

As for Longlet, i don't see him as anyone's 'issue'. He's one of the weaker players in a 4th place PL team in his first season in the PL, and he's only been standing in for injuries. When i see some of the criticism players have got this season i think some people must have a short memory of the dross that we had playing for us between 2010-2020, really not that long ago.

I agree that i thought at the time that Emery would have changed it a bit earlier than he did, but ultimately we won another away game so who cares?

[Smithy]

Like Rogers, Tim needs to get a bit of game time late on in games till the end of the season. All good experience and it'll give first 11 players a breather.

As for Longlet, i don't see him as anyone's 'problem'. He's one of the weaker players in a 4th place PL team in his first season in the PL, and he's only been standing in for injuries. When i see some of the criticism players have got this season i think some people must have a short memory of the dross that we had playing for us between 2010-2020, really not that long ago.

I agree that i thought at the time that Emery would have changed it a bit earlier than he did, but ultimately we won another away game so who cares?

Lenglet was on-loan at Spurs last season, and played something like 30 games for them.  Though I agree with everything you said, he does have premier league experience.

[Clark W Griswold]

Ah, true. Still, as i say he's hardly an issue though. Just not as good as Torres, but there aren't many who are.

[VillaTim]

Ah, true. Still, as i say he's hardly an issue though. Just not as good as Torres, but there aren't many who are.

But there are issues with our defence and the way i see it Lenglet is part of the problem. The sooner Torres / Mings are back the better.

[Risso]

Well Mings isn't going to be until next season, so Lenglet is going to continue to have a part to play until the end of the season, either as starter or first sub as things stand.

[VillaTim]

Well Mings isn't going to be until next season, so Lenglet is going to continue to have a part to play until the end of the season, either as starter or first sub as things stand.

Ideally he plays at Ajax and is on the bench Sunday when Torres returns.

[chrisw1]

I've got no problem with Lenglet, I think he's contributed really well since he came in and has turned out to be an astute signing.

Obviously, he's not as good on the ball as Pau and he's not as good as Tyrone defensively.  But frankly very few players are.

[brontebilly]

The main fault for the first was Lenglet not leaving it for Emi to pick up.

If in doubt put it out...thought Lenglet had a decent game and wouldn't blame him at all for the goal. Martinez wasn't outstanding either on the second ball. Konsa had a shocker of a second half

[Clampy]

The main fault for the first was Lenglet not leaving it for Emi to pick up.

If in doubt put it out...thought Lenglet had a decent game and wouldn't blame him at all for the goal. Martinez wasn't outstanding either on the second ball. Konsa had a shocker of a second half

But we won Bronte. You can try acknowledging that as well once in a while.

[VillaTim]

The main fault for the first was Lenglet not leaving it for Emi to pick up.

If in doubt put it out...thought Lenglet had a decent game and wouldn't blame him at all for the goal. Martinez wasn't outstanding either on the second ball. Konsa had a shocker of a second half

There was really no pressure on Lenglet at all, it was very different to the Fulham goal where the bloke was bearing down.
At Fulham you take no risks - Row Z
At Luton there is no player incoming the ball is landing safely with Martinez, let the keeper claim it.
Also watch the corner for goal 1 , Lenglet is all over the place and is on the deck unchallenged when the ball goes in the net.

[eric woolban woolban]

Who is the commentator on Villa's official feed? Is it Mark Regan?

[Clampy]

Who is the commentator on Villa's official feed? Is it Mark Regan?

Yes, I think so.

[Risso]

I thought Luton's pressing was some of the best I've seen this season, and even though we could have scored two or three first half they worked their nadgers off to make things tricky for us.

I was right behind our goal in the first half  and there were several occasions when Emi and the defenders had stern words between each other. I wouldn't say they were rattled but they were deifnitely finding it tricky to get the passing game going from our area, the Luton players just wouldn't let them settle.