Olympiacos v Villa Pre-match Thread

[Brazilian Villain]

Few Villa on the 06:20 out of Manchester. Getting excited now (30 min delay).

Hope you and everyone else heading to Athens has a great time. In fact, I hope it turns out to be the best Villa European away trip ever.

[LeeS]

Fatigue - my arse. Just an excuse and Unai doesn't accept excuses.

Top athletes are playing a game for 90 minutes every 3 days or so. Mollycoddled beyond belief. Snooker table pitches, elite travel, top hotels, curtailed training, staff galore (kit washers, bag carriers etc), top physios, top facilities and all the rest. They are kicking a ball not doing the Tour de France!! FFS

As for mental fatigue - my arse.

If I got up every morning and saw a bottom line of GBP 4,672,885 in my Bank account any stress would soon dissipate. Make up your own figure but it is not going to be low.

Injuries aside, pick our best eleven for all the remaining matches.

Rest - my arse. 

Fatigue is relative. Of course they can play 2 games per week. They could play 7 times a week and still be less fatigued than your average pub team. But if the opposition isn’t playing twice per week and isn’t facing crucial, season defining matches constantly, then that opposition will be less fatigued.

[Baldy]

Cash has played right midfield all throughout his career. Moreno has never played right midfield. Everyone else - everyone - was playing in a position they're very familiar with, in a system they've been drilled in every day for a year and a half.

Mate, I'm sorry, but you're just wrong. Even the opposition manager went so far as to say 'this was not Villa' due to the fatigue issue. You have no idea what it's like to play top-level football, the concentration involved, the long-term toll it takes on the legs. Yes, it's a better living than virtually anything else on earth, but the idea that therefore tiredness does not exist is just a weird error.

Hi Monty, why not do a straight swap (left sided Moreno for left sided Rogers) and not shift anyone around. For us, Cash looks like a fish out of water when he plays in midfield and his involvement caused others to have to shift around. IMHO, an unnecessary over complication.

I did play at a decent level (semi-professional) in the late 70,s which was very demanding. For training had to run down the hard shoulder until I got sick!! But the fact I was playing a game I love was enough to pull me through.

I'd say that, with all the respect due to you (clearly played to higher standard I did!), the difference between semipro in the late 70s and today's Premier League is a vast and probably uncrossable canyon.

Cash came on because Adingra was murdering us. He (Adingra) did stop getting in so much down the outside-left, but our weakness in central midfield meant he just drifted infield and hurt us from there. I thought Cash was one of our better performers on the day - far more baffling, to my mind, was the Duran substitution.

Yes, I like Cash, fully committed in whatever role he is given. Unai has been forced into a juggling act but I beg to differ, on this occasion I think he dropped a ball!!

Premier League demands are considerably higher. But sometimes I think the word 'fatigue' can be used by some players as an excuse and they shouldn't be excused!! Ninety minutes exertion every 3 days or so should be possible to manage.

Anyways, allowing for injuries put out our best eleven against Olympiakos and go for it. COYVB.

[Monty]

Sorry pal, I don't think this is one of those 'agree to disagree' things (although to an extent everything is) - the fatigue factor is one of those things that just is the case. As has been said, it's relative - we're more tired than the opposition, who have more recovery time and so on than we do, and that makes an incredibly obvious difference.

Put it this way: Unai hinted at it in the post-match interview. He never, ever brings up anything that looks like an excuse, but he hinted at this. Because it's just too obvious to ignore.

[VillaTim]

Fatigue - my arse. Just an excuse and Unai doesn't accept excuses.

Top athletes are playing a game for 90 minutes every 3 days or so. Mollycoddled beyond belief. Snooker table pitches, elite travel, top hotels, curtailed training, staff galore (kit washers, bag carriers etc), top physios, top facilities and all the rest. They are kicking a ball not doing the Tour de France!! FFS

As for mental fatigue - my arse.

If I got up every morning and saw a bottom line of GBP 4,672,885 in my Bank account any stress would soon dissipate. Make up your own figure but it is not going to be low.

Injuries aside, pick our best eleven for all the remaining matches.

Rest - my arse.

Whilst I agree , did you see the Brighton game, they are blowing out their arses . Physically and mentally they are gone .

Sorry Tim, against Brighton we had too many players out of their normal position. Some didn't know what they were meant to be doing and were running around like headless chickens. When Rogers went off, Unai over complicated matters. Rarely he makes a mistake, but this time he did. Why not replace Rogers with Moreno (fairly familiar with that role) instead of putting Cash on (out of position) and shifting Diaby, Bailey and Watkins about. They were not blowing out their arses, they were confused!!

We must have watched different games . They played at a snails pace and looked dead on their feet .

[Bad English]

The Greeks play once a fortnight and get grapes and sweet wine fed to them by pretty servants of varying gender in between. The Villa play every 45 minutes and have to do training plus Unai's 6 hour video and tactics sessions twice a day.

We can't compete.

[LeeB]

The also get to eat 'a healthy Mediterranean diet' and our lads are forced to subsist on chips and gravy.

[ChicagoLion]

Fatigue - my arse. Just an excuse and Unai doesn't accept excuses.

Top athletes are playing a game for 90 minutes every 3 days or so. Mollycoddled beyond belief. Snooker table pitches, elite travel, top hotels, curtailed training, staff galore (kit washers, bag carriers etc), top physios, top facilities and all the rest. They are kicking a ball not doing the Tour de France!! FFS

As for mental fatigue - my arse.

If I got up every morning and saw a bottom line of GBP 4,672,885 in my Bank account any stress would soon dissipate. Make up your own figure but it is not going to be low.

Injuries aside, pick our best eleven for all the remaining matches.

Rest - my arse.

Whilst I agree , did you see the Brighton game, they are blowing out their arses . Physically and mentally they are gone .

Sorry Tim, against Brighton we had too many players out of their normal position. Some didn't know what they were meant to be doing and were running around like headless chickens. When Rogers went off, Unai over complicated matters. Rarely he makes a mistake, but this time he did. Why not replace Rogers with Moreno (fairly familiar with that role) instead of putting Cash on (out of position) and shifting Diaby, Bailey and Watkins about. They were not blowing out their arses, they were confused!!

We must have watched different games . They played at a snails pace and looked dead on their feet .

Any one who thinks that our lads are not knackered isn’t paying too much attention.
It’s not just fatigue it’s the injucaused by fatigue.

[Lastfootstamper]

We blew the engine in those 3 games when spurs didn't play. I reckon it was a calculated gamble by Emery, and it might just pay off. We're running on fumes, in limp mode, there's no recovery cavalry van riding over the Bodymoor hills, and we're down to Shaun Of The Dead levels of chucking anything we can lay our hands on at the opposition. It's been a herculean effort, whatever happens we've already surpassed last seasons triumph, we ourselves can do nothing more than pray to McGrath that our champions can find one last almighty roar within themselves. Up The Fucking Villa.

[VillaTim]

It would be a shame to finish such a great season with a run of defeats . You then think back to the opening day bizarreness and reflect on a mad season where we've played some great stuff intertwined with a few disappointments . That's football I guess .

[Baldy]

I hope no Villa Players read this thread. They have been given post match excuses for being slow and ineffective against Olympiakos!!

Wouldn't surprise me if when Rodri mentioned fatigue, he was not rested by Pep but dropped. It's what top teams do.

Exertion can be managed and as for football players having 'tired brains' - give me a rest.

Football is a simple game, not rocket science.

[Monty]

Pep goes on and on about fatigue! Also, hardly the guy to bring up for the old 'football is a simple game' canard.

[Baldy]

The Greeks play once a fortnight and get grapes and sweet wine fed to them by pretty servants of varying gender in between. The Villa play every 45 minutes and have to do training plus Unai's 6 hour video and tactics sessions twice a day.

We can't compete.

Very true, but the Greeks love shagging every half hour.

[Risso]

I have to say I don't think Emery is doing much to help the tiredness situation at the moment. If fatigue is an issue, then why not pick Cash at right back ahead of Konsa? Why keep playing Diaby and Bailey from the start when the lack of defensive work from the pair of them means the midfield is even more under the cosh? Why not stick Iroegbunam in as a fresh pair of legs to free up McGinn and Luiz from some of the donkey work?

[PeterWithesShin]

Yeah everything said over the years by players, managers, coaches, physios, studies by sports scientists and so on is all a load of hokum. A bloke on the internet is the real expert on elite sports fitness.