Lille vs Aston Villa post-match thread

[jon collett]

I noticed the ref speaking to the two captains before the penalties and neither appeared to understand a word he was saying.

He was also distracting Luiz when he was trying to focus ahead of the kick.

[PeterWithe]

I was surprised at the stat that we had more possession than Lille, it didn't feel that way but they didn't seem to do too much with it, yes we rode our luck a little to get the goal back but it wasn't as though they were peppering our goal constantly.

[tomd2103]

I was surprised at the stat that we had more possession than Lille, it didn't feel that way but they didn't seem to do too much with it, yes we rode our luck a little to get the goal back but it wasn't as though they were peppering our goal constantly.

Despite the commentator constantly mentioning him last night, I thought Jonathan David was very quiet over the two legs.

[Bad English]

I envisaged BE strutting into his school like some WWE wrestler giving it large this morning.

Unfortunately, I'm the second week of half-term. After a five week lay-off due to a fracture. But I will be wearing the Emi believer T-shirt on Monday (have it on now, might need a wash).

[Bad English]

I noticed the ref speaking to the two captains before the penalties and neither appeared to understand a word he was saying.

He was also distracting Luiz when he was trying to focus ahead of the kick.

Then captains were all 'WTF?' at the toss, as the onanist in the whatever colour he was wearing appeared to be making up the penalty toss protocol as he went along.

[Pete3206]

Every time the crowd started yowking about something, the ref was swayed by it. Martinez didn't really do much for either yellow. One of the weakest officials I've ever seen.

There was an absolute clownshoes in the Intertoto years ago at the Hawthorns. This bizarre ref was on a par with him.

[Bad English]

Also, I laughed at the crying fans

To our eternal shame, I was watching with about 10 blokes, all around 50, to a man to room was filled with a massive jeered 'Arghhhhh' when they showed the tearful young Lille fans. I will give myself a severe talking to.

SWMBO gave me a sharp "DON'T YOU DARE take a picture of that poor kid on the telly and post it on Facebook!" I tried but couldn't get away with it.

[tomd2103]

The first leg ref was as shit too.

The one in the first leg at Ajax was up there with the worst as well.

A 3rd tier competition gets 3rd tier refs. Obv, innit.

There weren't that many ties last night though, so you'd have thought that the best ones could have been deployed across all the games last night.

I think we will see another awful one in the 2nd leg out in Greece to be honest.

[PeterWithe]

I was surprised at the stat that we had more possession than Lille, it didn't feel that way but they didn't seem to do too much with it, yes we rode our luck a little to get the goal back but it wasn't as though they were peppering our goal constantly.

Despite the commentator constantly mentioning him last night, I thought Jonathan David was very quiet over the two legs.

Yup, might have been big game nerves but he was kept very quiet and didn't really do anything at all to enhance his reputation.

[Smithy]

I was surprised at the stat that we had more possession than Lille, it didn't feel that way but they didn't seem to do too much with it, yes we rode our luck a little to get the goal back but it wasn't as though they were peppering our goal constantly.

Despite the commentator constantly mentioning him last night, I thought Jonathan David was very quiet over the two legs.

Yup, might have been big game nerves but he was kept very quiet and didn't really do anything at all to enhance his reputation.

Given how he's been talked up on these pages in the last 18 months or so, I had my heart in my mouth any time he got the ball at his feet, but he didn't really do anything of note in the entire 210 minutes I don't think? Certainly doesn't look like the £40-50m player some were suggesting he is. He looks pretty fast though.  Entirely possible we made him look average, but I certainly won't be calling for us to break the bank to have him help spearhead any champions league campaign we might find ourselves with next season.

[Risso]

Apparently Napoli are offering £35m for him, Lille want closer to £50m. He didn't look great, but if you were valuing our players based on their overall performance last night, I think you'd struggle ot get much. If I'd never seen Diaby before, based purely on last night I wouldn't want him on a free transfer. I guess you need to judge players based on more than 90 minutes.

[pablo_picasso]

I don't think Martinez did much wrong, really. Nothing that warranted a yellow card. It's football, it's emotional, he's a character. He makes the game better. He's a lead guitarist amongst a peer group of bass players and drummers.

The yellow card in normal play was a fucking terrible decision as well, I'm utterly convinced the ref got confused by how many times Emi was stood in open play with the ball at his feet waiting to be closed down and had it in his head that he'd been time wasting so was looking for the first possible chance to book him. I don't think he'd taken any longer ofver that goal kick than any other in the game.

Thats exactly how I saw it.

He even told Martinez that he had already done it four times by holding up his fingers. I don't think we had even had four goal kicks by that point.

The referee got confused by a mixture of the crowd boo'ing due to their own bitterness & his own fucking stupidity to make one of the most ridiculous yellow card decisions in the history of the game.

And then followed it up with the rest of his games idiotic decisions, along with the second booking for having the audacity to celebrate his save & telling fans to stop throwing physical shit at him.

[purpletrousers]

Why is Martinez shushing the home supporters a yellow card but it’s unremarkable that a home player gees those fans up to make more noise? Both should obviously be allowed.

To be devils advocate, one is inciting the opposition (seen as unsportsmanlike etc) one is engaging/encouraging your own fans, but I agree with you. Think Troy Deeney winding up Villa fans, we want and respect characters. Emi is pure Box Office, and the cash tills are ours.

[PeterWithe]

  He didn't look great, but if you were valuing our players based on their overall performance last night, I think you'd struggle ot get much. If I'd never seen Diaby before, based purely on last night I wouldn't want him on a free transfer. I guess you need to judge players based on more than 90 minutes.

True enough, although we were organised we were pretty appalling in possession for much of the game with so many players making numerous unforced errors, SJM, Torres, Cash, Luiz, Yuri. I think with so many players so far under par, we did really well to make it through. It was our defensive shape that won us the game, much to improve on in defending set pieces mind.

[Gareth]

  He didn't look great, but if you were valuing our players based on their overall performance last night, I think you'd struggle ot get much. If I'd never seen Diaby before, based purely on last night I wouldn't want him on a free transfer. I guess you need to judge players based on more than 90 minutes.

True enough, although we were organised we were pretty appalling in possession for much of the game with so many players making numerous unforced errors, SJM, Torres, Cash, Luiz, Yuri. I think with so many players so far under par, we did really well to make it through. It was our defensive shape that won us the game, much to improve on in defending set pieces mind.

I think you are right, a couple of times that line executed the offside trap exactly as we were before Christmas….distribution wasn’t as good but that line kept them at bay a lot.  Need to tighten up defending corners obviously:-)