Reflections on Conference League

[Keeno]

I see the injury card is being played . Don't . We had enough to beat these with the players we had , it's a poor excuse . We bottled it massively and it's a huge disappointment. Even tonight 9-0 on corners and we frittered away all of them . Was a pathetic no show .

What an idiotic post.

We haven't been able to rotate for the best part of 3 months. Most of the XI tonight, while it looked good on paper, have had to play every minute of most of those games. The tiredness is WHY our level is so low. It's not rocket science. Slagging off the players is the kind of rubbish that the Sky 6 fans would do.

[Goldie.7]

I've never seen us win anything and probably never will, shame really.

They did their homework on us and were very good. They didn't take the Martinez press bait once over two legs and because that's a big part of our build-up play we didn't know what to do.

Every time we're so close to some silverware we just don't perform. The century curse goes on......

[Toronto Villa]

So you’ve given up that easily? 18 months we were fighting to stay up. Now we just fell short in a European competition and could finish 4th. Why is not reasonable to assume that the next logical steps would be to add talent, get healthy and become consistent as a side operating at the top of the table and latter stages of competitions. Today was shit, but remember the journey. We are long way from the finished article.

[Drummond]

Squad size- i think tonight demonstrated our squad isnt big enough

We need to add host of players to the squad in summer with CL or europa football which is a much superior tournament than this.

God of all teams to go out to i cant believe it was olympiakos and we lost both games so easily

The squad size is fine:

Martinez/Olsen

Cash/Konsa
Lenglet/Carlos
Mings/Torres
Digne/Moreno

Kamara/Luiz
Tielemans/McGinn

Ramsey/Rodgers
Zaniolo/Buendia
Bailey/Diaby

Watkins/Duran

The problem is we've had a disproportionate number of injuries, hence we're fucked. You can argue for upgrades if you like, but for sheer numbers we have more than enough.

Thats the issue though merlin you got to expect injuries and when we have 2 or 3 we look thin. I think we need to add another 3 to the numbers we already have

2 or 3?

We've got 8 of the 22 above out. Including 3 for the best part of a year and 2 more with recurring problems for almost the same amount of time.

That we've lasted this long is a miracle in itself.

[Drummond]

Down to our last 11 senior players, some playing out of position, all mentally exhausted. It’s the alertness of thought, and sharpness of passing that has deserted us. It’s the definition of hitting the wall.

It’s genuinely perplexing to me that intelligent people can’t see this.

Yep, me too.

[Brazilian Villain]

I've never seen us win anything and probably never will, shame really.

You should have a bet on that, it would be 'easy money'.

[Keeno]

So you’ve given up that easily? 18 months we were fighting to stay up. Now we just fell short in a European competition and could finish 4th. Why is not reasonable to assume that the next logical steps would be to add talent, get healthy and become consistent as a side operating at the top of the table and latter stages of competitions. Today was shit, but remember the journey. We are long way from the finished article.

Being far, far too reasonable for this evening!

[Sexual Ealing]

I’m sympathetic to this (seemingly eternal) ‘running on fumes’ argument but hells bells, we could surely have lifted it for these two games, no? Winners find a way to win, we’re not the first club to have a full fixture list. Great season of course but to go out with such a whimper over 3 hours against qualifiers is pretty lame.

It was totally shit but at the same time I just don’t think the first teamers we have remaining have any energy in them any more. Arsenal and Bournemouth games were great results, and we got a point against a resurgent Chelsea team. Given the colossal injury list we have, it’s not like Emery could change things.

I agree with you both.

[Ben1505p]

Imagine what would have happened if that unbiased referee hadn't ruled out the perfectly good goal that Bailey scored at the start of the tie...

[Brazilian Villain]

Imagine what would have happened if that unbiased referee hadn't ruled out the perfectly good goal that Bailey scored at the start of the tie...

I imagine we'd have lost the tie by 3 goals instead of 4.

[Percy McCarthy]

I've never seen us win anything and probably never will, shame really.

They did their homework on us and were very good. They didn't take the Martinez press bait once over two legs and because that's a big part of our build-up play we didn't know what to do.

Every time we're so close to some silverware we just don't perform. The century curse goes on......

I wonder why they didn’t take the Martinez press bait in the first leg?

[Sexual Ealing]

There are some insane takes in here.

The team are on the whole shattered.
There has been little to no rotation.
Other European clubs have been waived their league games between euro fixtures.
Our lot have had to play in the most intense league between conference fixtures.

We have three ACLs to key players.
Our primary subs tonight were kids.
The first 11 were out on their feet from the start.

They’ve improved on last year significantly.
We might get champions league.
We were at real risk of getting relegated only 18 months ago.

Please, PLEASE don’t act like a miserable spoiled child because you might miss the only positive period we’ve had in over a decade. It won’t always be this good. Cheer up.

Doesn't even rhyme.

[adrenachrome]

I've never seen us win anything and probably never will, shame really.

They did their homework on us and were very good. They didn't take the Martinez press bait once over two legs and because that's a big part of our build-up play we didn't know what to do.

Every time we're so close to some silverware we just don't perform. The century curse goes on......

I wonder why they didn’t take the Martinez press bait in the first leg?

"It is nearly an insoluble pancake, a conundrum of inscrutable potentialities, a snorter."

[olaftab]

We were fortunate to beat Lille, this was another game too far based on our depleted resources.

[Rory]

Fucked the coaches off and in a taxi back to the bar. I intend to salute this European adventure in the best possible way, but drinking my body weight in gin. Fucking love the Villa.

Much love, Ads, to you and every Villa fan who went out there. Disappointing, but these things happen and we've been bested fairly over two legs.

Enjoy it, and safe travels back.

UTV