Aston Villa v Ajax UECL R16 2nd Leg. Villa Park 8:00pm KO. Pre Match Thread

[Martyn Smith]

Watkins & Bailey need a rest so does Konsa & Luiz.
Play the fringe players

And risk following up a really really shite result with another one?  Fuck that.  Strongest possible side please.

the bigger game and focus should be on West Ham .

Nah, Thursday is massive.  Lose that and it will feel like the wheels are off.

I think every game we have left now is massive. We are where a team of our stature should be, in a European competition and competing for CL places. We should be looking to maintain and build on that every match now

[ez]

Watkins & Bailey need a rest so does Konsa & Luiz.
Play the fringe players

And risk following up a really really shite result with another one?  Fuck that.  Strongest possible side please.

the bigger game and focus should be on West Ham .

Correct. We're down to the bare bones already. We need to keep our best players for the league.

[AV82EC]

Nope, full strength please, however Unai feels we can beat them, don’t care just win.

We the fans need to be a lot better as well. Both in noise terms and not fucking off early if we’re a goal down. If you want to take the glory of a 6-1 win against Brighton how about staying for the less glorious moments when the team need you.

[TaxDodger]

Martinez, Cash, Carlos, Torres, Digne, Luiz, McGinn, Tielemans, Diaby, Rogers, Watkins.

We'll win 3-2.

[Risso]

Nope, full strength please, however Unai feels we can beat them, don’t care just win.

We the fans need to be a lot better as well. Both in noise terms and not fucking off early if we’re a goal down. If you want to take the glory of a 6-1 win against Brighton how about staying for the less glorious moments when the team need you.

The team need to give the crowd something to cheer about. Setting up try not to lose is never going to get people going. And if McGinn can't be arsed with staying for 90 minutes, then why should anybody else?

[Axl Rose]

Full strength, or as close as, please.

We can win the whole thing, and fought like mad to qualify for Europe last season.

I'll be pissed off if we put out a weakened team with Duran, for example, up front.

[VillaTim]

Emery didn't go full strength in Ajax , can't see him doing it on Thursday when we have a huge game on Sunday

[PeterWithe]

It’s been a well trodden path for many years us pointing out that, if you keep fucking about with kick off times and pricing the typical supporter out of the game, then don’t be surprised when the atmosphere takes a knock. You reap what you sow.

[VillaTim]

Nope, full strength please, however Unai feels we can beat them, don’t care just win.

We the fans need to be a lot better as well. Both in noise terms and not fucking off early if we’re a goal down. If you want to take the glory of a 6-1 win against Brighton how about staying for the less glorious moments when the team need you.

Nah fuck off. This is on the players and manager who are paid bucket loads to deliver the goods . They let us down yesterday .

[AV82EC]

No I won’t fuck off. The atmosphere has been shit at Villa Park for ages and we need to play our part. Yes the players and manager do as well I wasn’t in anyway saying they don’t.

[Drummond]

          Martinez
Cash  Konsa    Torres   Moreno
           Luiz   McGinn
Bailey            Tielemans
         Diaby   Watkins

[Risso]

The problem, is Emery's style doesn't make for an exciting spectacle quite often. Ignoring yesterday for a moment, it's made us successful which is great, but it's not the sort of football to get you off your seats. Sometimes it does, like when Bailey is driving into the box, but a 30 yard pass back to Torres to restart possession, whilst clever football that is the bedrock for how we play, it's not going to get the crowd roaring.

Personally, I don't care, as I'd much rather watch a win under any circumstances and I'm not particularly bothered about the crowd, but if you want a raucous, belligerent Villa Park driving the players on, then Emery probably isn't the manager for you.

[Risso]

          Martinez
Cash  Konsa   Carlos  Torres   Moreno  Digne
           Luiz   McGinn  Tim
Bailey     Tielemans   McGinn
         Diaby Tielemans Watkins

I think that's how he'll set up, but with a slight tweak to the personnel. We need to be getting Tim up to speed, and the only way to do that is to play him in games like these. And Konsa is banned.

[AV82EC]

The problem, is Emery's style doesn't make for an exciting spectacle quite often. Ignoring yesterday for a moment, it's made us successful which is great, but it's not the sort of football to get you off your seats. Sometimes it does, like when Bailey is driving into the box, but a 30 yard pass back to Torres to restart possession, whilst clever football that is the bedrock for how we play, it's not going to get the crowd roaring.

Personally, I don't care, as I'd much rather watch a win under any circumstances and I'm not particularly bothered about the crowd, but if you want a raucous, belligerent Villa Park driving the players on, then Emery probably isn't the manager for you.

It’s a fair challenge Risso and I know what you mean about Emerys predominant style being slow and patient and whilst like you I don’t care if that comes at the expense of raucous crowd etc etc I feel there’s a balance somewhere between the two that means you don’t end up with the hearing a pin drop moments. Maybe PW is right and the more we get treated as “customers” as opposed to “supporters” this is the natural progression. Who knows but it’s become noticeable just how quiet VP is getting on occasion.

[Risso]

A small point, but the four separate stands doesn't help compared to 'bowls'. Every stand feels very distinct. I've been away to Arsenal and Spurs, and a good atmosphere there seems to spread throughout the whole ground more organically.