Aston Villa v Olympiacos - Post-Match Thread

[Somniloquism]

And by the way I know you can’t foresee these things but Dougie would ordinarily have waited his turn from suspension had Tielemans not got injured.

Tielemans got injured in the match Dougie returned as starter in. There was no waiting his turn back. Obviously Emery has his stats and sees the players every week etc so is working on other information then we have, but I don't get why, when he saw how the midfield worked in the two league games he was missing, and how bad it was against Lille, he decided Luiz should get straight back in it.

If Tielemans still got injured, at least Luiz could have come on then.

[PeterWithe]

It’s been a long time since I was so disappointed by a result, everything went against us but when we are bad we seem to concede far more than our performances deserve.

We were well on top but found ourselves two down, the second looked offside to me but there you go, the offside trap is high risk and that’s the breaks.

I think they surprised us with how many men they committed forward and how much energy they had all over the field, it sounds like sour grapes but I didn’t think they were any good but they did work very hard with and without the ball.

After getting back to 2-2 the penalty killed us, it seemed to suck the little energy left out of the players and crowd alike. There were many instances of mental tiredness, stupid unforced errors we just weren’t making earlier in the season, Ollie running the ball out a few times, SJM and Dug giving the ball to them on the edge of our area.

Something not mentioned which really annoyed me, Diaby getting sucked into that argument before our penalty, all it achieved was making us wait to take it. Brainless.

I think they only 4 shots all game. Their CF scored a hat trick and I don’t know if he’s any good as he didn’t touch the ball other than whacking it into our net three times.

Seems a brilliant opportunity wasted. The season has caught us up and we haven’t got the bodies to change things up.

[ChicagoLion]

It’s been a long time since I was so disappointed by a result, everything went against us but when we are bad we seem to concede far more than our performances deserve.

We were well on top but found ourselves two down, the second looked offside to me but there you go, the offside trap is high risk and that’s the breaks.

I think they surprised us with how many men they committed forward and how much energy they had all over the field, it sounds like sour grapes but I didn’t think they were any good but they did work very hard with and without the ball.

After getting back to 2-2 the penalty killed us, it seemed to suck the little energy left out of the players and crowd alike. There were many instances of mental tiredness, stupid unforced errors we just weren’t making earlier in the season, Ollie running the ball out a few times, SJM and Dug giving the ball to them on the edge of our area.

Something not mentioned which really annoyed me, Diaby getting sucked into that argument before our penalty, all it achieved was making us wait to take it. Brainless.

I think they only 4 shots all game. Their CF scored a hat trick and I don’t know if he’s any good as he didn’t touch the ball other than whacking it into our net three times.

Seems a brilliant opportunity wasted. The season has caught us up and we haven’t got the bodies to change things up.

Agree with all of that.
Good post.

[Nii Lamptey]

Had time to think on what happened last night, and still absolutely fuming.

Far too many off it - Whilst he didn't really do anything wrong, there's something about Olsen that just seems to make our defence nervous. Out of the back 4, only Matty Cash comes out with any credit. Thought Lenglet, Konsa and Digne all got bullied by their attackers and looked way off it.

Midfield. Enough has been said about Dougie - Half asleep, totally out of form, hiding behind markers instead of running into space to receive the ball. McGinn started well but got progressively worse throughout the game, probably tiredness having to cover for his midfield partner.

Front line did okay - Watkins and Diaby took their goals well. Bailey a constant threat and does a lot of the dirty work for a showboat type player.

Still think we have a chance. Depends on how we deal with their atmosphere.... and whether Youri is playing or not!

Good to hear that the kid who suffered the cardiac arrest is on the mend too. UTV

[AV82EC]

It’s been a long time since I was so disappointed by a result, everything went against us but when we are bad we seem to concede far more than our performances deserve.

We were well on top but found ourselves two down, the second looked offside to me but there you go, the offside trap is high risk and that’s the breaks.

I think they surprised us with how many men they committed forward and how much energy they had all over the field, it sounds like sour grapes but I didn’t think they were any good but they did work very hard with and without the ball.

After getting back to 2-2 the penalty killed us, it seemed to suck the little energy left out of the players and crowd alike. There were many instances of mental tiredness, stupid unforced errors we just weren’t making earlier in the season, Ollie running the ball out a few times, SJM and Dug giving the ball to them on the edge of our area.

Something not mentioned which really annoyed me, Diaby getting sucked into that argument before our penalty, all it achieved was making us wait to take it. Brainless.

I think they only 4 shots all game. Their CF scored a hat trick and I don’t know if he’s any good as he didn’t touch the ball other than whacking it into our net three times.

Seems a brilliant opportunity wasted. The season has caught us up and we haven’t got the bodies to change things up.

That’s a very good post.

[TonyD]

We can turn this around. 
But not if Longlete and Olsen start again.

[Footy-Vill]

I think it comes with Emery as have seen some performances where we don't look like our usual self and below level. I can only think it's the exhausting demands that basically see player performance and team dip however even last night there could have been more goals for us and a different result.

[Footy-Vill]

Is there going to a Brighton discussion thread as it's needed now to focus on the next game which is ever so important

[langleylions]

Positives for sure where the 2 goals scored.
Watkins and Diaby finishing was superb!
Seemed a bit over run in midfield areas in transition however another day Villa score several more.
Prayers and thoughts to the supporter who was taken to hospital I hope that they will be ok.
Does anyone have any info or knowledge on this.
God bless them.
That's the most important thing tonight the welfare of supporter

Medical attention will almost certainly be more useful than prayers.

Mods….. what the rules for getting me banned again. I can’t read the absolute bollocks that comes out of the mouths of Risso,Demitri C and Paulie. What a bunch of pricks. At least DC is only annoying the other two are just Cs. If they spoke to people the way they do on here the other side of a keyboard they’d be seeking medical assistance pretty urgently.

Is that good enough?

HERE HERE

[AV82EC]

It took us until that injury break and Unai having a go at Doug, Olsen and Diaby for us to start beating that press. What was apparent from the start was Cash was continually in acres of space as Podence was coming in to press Konsa, unfortunately Konsa was having one of his poorest games with the ball at his feet and Olsen just isn’t as good at the longer pass to a fullback as Martinez. I think Diaby pulled into that space after that as well and we got things going much better. Also Doug started looking for the ball more as well. All in all that first 30 mins may have cost us the tie but I remain hopeful that we can’t be as bad in the 2nd leg!! And thank fuck the away goals rule has gone, we’d be properly fucked if that was in place.

[Nev]

If there was an award for fans turning on each other we'd win it hands down. That altercation in the UH was something else, they all shook hands on the concourse at HT mind. As my mate said, we were better behaved when we went down!

I'm seriously worried about Doug now, he was off it from KO last night. I'm hoping the missed pen is a watershed and he returns to form on Sunday but I am fearful that he's done for the season. The standard he's set over the last 12 months or so is very hard to live up to week in week out.

[VillaTim]

If there was an award for fans turning on each other we'd win it hands down. That altercation in the UH was something else, they all shook hands on the concourse at HT mind. As my mate said, we were better behaved when we went down!

I'm seriously worried about Doug now, he was off it from KO last night. I'm hoping the missed pen is a watershed and he returns to form on Sunday but I am fearful that he's done for the season. The standard he's set over the last 12 months or so is very hard to live up to week in week out.

He looked petrified taking that pen.

[Demitri_C]

On another night we could have scored 8 and they barely went in our half in the second half, but got the pen (not sure what Dougie was thinking) and big deflection.

Would be lovely if we could somehow beat Brighton and Liverpool win, so we can go all out in the second leg to claw it back.

Seems very unlikely that we'll get through now though.

Shout out to Cash, who was far and away our best defender tonight. Hope Diaby gets some confidence from his goal and assist.

I dont know if i agree with that mate to be honest. On that performance i dont think we would ahve ever scored 8. We had a good 5 mins when we scored towards end of half then as soon as we equalised we literally shot ourselves in both feet and handed olympiakos the victory. The performance was really poor collectively

Its going to have to be 10x better than that if we have aspirations to go through

When you look at our squad and value in comparison to theirs its embarrassing  how much better and easier they made it look to us. We can all say we are tired but if you think this is bad whats it gonna be like in CL?? Its gonna be significantly more difficult than the conference league

Of course it is and we are going to need to improve the squad depth and quality and be a lot luckier with injuries.
Adding Mings Kamara Ramsey Buendia will be a pretty good start.

I agree CL. My biggest concern with mings kamara and buendia is that they have been out for so long will they be the same players? Carlos after his long term injury has been very up and down (more down for me)

Its going to take these players a long time to get back ti what they were.  Kamara i dont think will even be back this year will he?

The tiredness i believe is a key point but unai doesnt help himself at times. We have players like kesler and kellyman who are given virtually zero minutes but on the bench most weeks. They need more exposure in games and might be able to help us with fatigue

[cdward]

McGinn and Diaby getting involved with their players whilst Dougie was waiting to take the penalty played right into their hands.
That's the kind of thing that Martinez does and although you think it wont have any effect on the player taking the penalty, the amount of times is does is not a fluke.
McGinn especially should have not got involved and as captain, should have pulled Diaby away too.
Anyway, score first at their place and it's game on.
UTV

[Nunkin1965]

It’s been a long time since I was so disappointed by a result, everything went against us but when we are bad we seem to concede far more than our performances deserve.

We were well on top but found ourselves two down, the second looked offside to me but there you go, the offside trap is high risk and that’s the breaks.

I think they surprised us with how many men they committed forward and how much energy they had all over the field, it sounds like sour grapes but I didn’t think they were any good but they did work very hard with and without the ball.

After getting back to 2-2 the penalty killed us, it seemed to suck the little energy left out of the players and crowd alike. There were many instances of mental tiredness, stupid unforced errors we just weren’t making earlier in the season, Ollie running the ball out a few times, SJM and Dug giving the ball to them on the edge of our area.

Something not mentioned which really annoyed me, Diaby getting sucked into that argument before our penalty, all it achieved was making us wait to take it. Brainless.

I think they only 4 shots all game. Their CF scored a hat trick and I don’t know if he’s any good as he didn’t touch the ball other than whacking it into our net three times.

Seems a brilliant opportunity wasted. The season has caught us up and we haven’t got the bodies to change things up.

That’s a very good post.

I think we played a better side in the previous round.
Football eh?