Aston Villa - 2 Lille - 1 Post match chit chat

[Gareth]

Certainly the first decent opponent weve played in Europe this season.

Disappointing to concede but felt we were still the better side, particularly around the McGinn goal when the midfield actually remembered they are allowed to shoot!

Need Cash back and need to get a Cash / Konsa / Torres / Digne back line….Carlos is so very average.  Centre half is far more important than right back….we shouldn’t be playing one of our best two centre halves at right back

[Percy McCarthy]

It's a win, which is great, but I think we could all see that Lille are a very good side, and will definitely cause us problems in the second leg. Not a classic performance by us, by a long way, but we could easily have had a pen and be 3-0 up.

Not really. The pen was at 1-0, that would (probably have made it 2-0 and then there would have been a kick-off. Nothing in the game would have been the same after that.

[brontebilly]

Our defending of set pieces and crosses has gone to shit. It’s the big area we miss Mings. Of course doesn’t help we are having to play our starting CB at RB either.

Watching the highlights, no-one seems to pick their scorer up at all and he goes into a gap between Carlos and whoever it was defending the area beyond the near post.

Carlos was asleep I thought, he was body checked a bit but that's his area to clear out at the front post.

Only saw the highlights, from that alone our defence seemed all over the place. I can't stand Konsa at RB but he's not going to throw in a kid at RB.

[BC54 VFC]

It's like we have a switch that gets flipped. We were very passive towards the end of the second half. Still, a win is a win.

Sorry, couldn't resist; a great track on an absolutely brilliant album!

[ROBBO]

Right back has been a problem since we let Young go, seems careless that we have no-one there that can cover adequately, moving Konsa across has weakened us comsiderably, Carlos oh dear.

[adrenachrome]

I would have taken this result before the match, so I am not disappointed.

Another disjointed performance, though, which is becoming the norm since the year end.  You can argue that this is inevitable given the number of injuries and the depth of the squad.

We can beat anyone on our day, but a bumpy ride beckons.

[Rory]

I think we can all agree that it's a dark day.

Only winning a first leg European Quarter Final by one goal? I haven't felt so let down by the players and manager in a long time.

Thank god we don't do anything like laugh at Wolves for their levels of delusion, or some of us might look rather like prats right now.

[Demitri_C]

Im hoping villa do a villa. Lille will fancy their chances and we go as underdogs then villa go there and put a performance that no one expects and win comfortably

I think if we score early silence the crowd i think we can win. But defensively we have to be so much better than yesterday

I was happy we won just worried at home many chances we gave lille. It was far too easy at times and emi saved us so many times.

I think getting konsa back at cb is essential. Kesler should have been goven abit more game time tbh so we know if he is ready. But sometimes young playwr thrive in these kind of circumstances

[taylorsworkrate]

Im hoping villa do a villa. Lille will fancy their chances and we go as underdogs then villa go there and put a performance that no one expects and win comfortably

I think if we score early silence the crowd i think we can win. But defensively we have to be so much better than yesterday

I was happy we won just worried at home many chances we gave lille. It was far too easy at times and emi saved us so many times.

I think getting konsa back at cb is essential. Kesler should have been goven abit more game time tbh so we know if he is ready. But sometimes young playwr thrive in these kind of circumstances

Lille are 4th in a vastly inferior league in which we are 5th. We should not bs going there as underdogs

[Villafirst]

I think the players are probably a bit knackered after a season where they’ve played more competitive football than they’re used to and we’ve been continually losing players to massive clobbering injuries.

Agree. There's not enough rotation options with so many injuries. These games come thick and fast. They do look a bit jaded which is not surprising. Losing Ramsey for the season has only compounded the problem, plus 3 ACL injuries to more key players. If only we could have Mings available now!

[Demitri_C]

Im hoping villa do a villa. Lille will fancy their chances and we go as underdogs then villa go there and put a performance that no one expects and win comfortably

I think if we score early silence the crowd i think we can win. But defensively we have to be so much better than yesterday

I was happy we won just worried at home many chances we gave lille. It was far too easy at times and emi saved us so many times.

I think getting konsa back at cb is essential. Kesler should have been goven abit more game time tbh so we know if he is ready. But sometimes young playwr thrive in these kind of circumstances

Lille are 4th in a vastly inferior league in which we are 5th. We should not bs going there as underdogs

Im sure liverpool think the same after yesterday vs atlanta. Doesnt always work like that. Lille will fancy their chances at home. Lets be real we didnt really give them much to worry about esp 2nd half. The atmosphere was also flat last 20 as acknowledged by mcginn when he was referencing the last 10 mins. But i think the slow build up football kills the atmosphere it seems

Going to be tough next week but not impossible

[baddowvillans]

We're clearly labouring a bit now, not really surprising with so many injuries and suspensions. I'm still enjoying it, 5th and our first ever 1st leg in a European QF, that'll do for tonight.

We really are beginning to run out of steam at the wrong time.  Emery effectively throwing the Man City game is looking an increasingly bad call as well now

Why? We haven’t lost since that game. Even at full strength we’d have struggled against Foden and Rodri when on that form.

Get that, but he needed to win on Saturday to back his judgement and we didn’t.  So many similarities with O'Neill with Moscow and Stoke - he just piled so much unnecessary pressure on himself

So the players implode at 2-0 with shit defending and its all Unai's fault?

[sid1964]

I can see us scoring at their place - 1-1

The pressure will be on them - the big miss for me is Kamara in the midfield

[Dave]

Im hoping villa do a villa. Lille will fancy their chances and we go as underdogs then villa go there and put a performance that no one expects and win comfortably

I think if we score early silence the crowd i think we can win. But defensively we have to be so much better than yesterday

I was happy we won just worried at home many chances we gave lille. It was far too easy at times and emi saved us so many times.

I think getting konsa back at cb is essential. Kesler should have been goven abit more game time tbh so we know if he is ready. But sometimes young playwr thrive in these kind of circumstances

Lille are 4th in a vastly inferior league in which we are 5th. We should not bs going there as underdogs

We're not. We're 3/10 to qualify for the semi-final. Lille are 12/5.

[darren woolley]

It was a good win Lille played a lot better than I thought they would but I will take a win.