Olympiacos v Aston Villa Match Thread

[dorsetvillian]

Very sad. The same players just can't play every game but with the injuries Uni has no options. What might have been..

[taylorsworkrate]

Why doesn’t he take as many people off as possible to save their energy l?

Emery is amazing obviously, but its been a poor decision to leave so many key players on. 10 minutes into the second half without 1 back should have been the cut off

[Brazilian Villain]

Every second post in this thread is a knackered player is being described as 'wank' etc, I think it's a disgrace given the sheer effort of these players all season.

I don't get it either. I think it's their way trying to show they care more and have more 'pashun' than the rest of us.

[Edvard Remberg]

All of our wide play hasn't got past the first man...incredible

[AV84]

Not sure those 5 minutes of rest will do anyone any good for Monday.

[PeterWithesShin]

Three shots on target all evening. What a load of crap.

If we'd scored them all and conceded 0 we'd have won.

#thinkpositive

[pauliewalnuts]

Why doesn’t he take as many people off as possible to save their energy l?

Emery is amazing obviously, but its been a poor decision to leave so many key players on. 10 minutes into the second half without 1 back should have been the cut off

Yeah but that's easy to say now we know how it has panned out, if he'd actually done that, people would have been going nuts.

[Ian.]

Yep, we’ve been shagged for a while. We managed to rise to the occasion somehow and I really don’t know how we did, to get those 7 point from 9 while Spurs were not playing but that’s been enough to do us in.

[Stu]

Smash and grab. We’ve been the better team over both legs. Whatever.

They’ve battered 6 past us! It’s been genuinely shit.

[BoVillan esq]

When the whistle blows hope Emery get on the pitch, stops the players heads going down, gets them of the park

[waynejames]

We have had a number done on us.
They are a good side and have rode their luck......
You need luck along with ability to win a trophy.....
Ask Peter Withe

[Villan82]

At least,  the "why not play Tim instead" has been answered

Cue Monday's match thread and Luiz and McGinn are named as starters and the posts of 'Emery, why have you picked Luiz' start up

[mike]

As said above, get some players off. It’s not being negative, just realistic. We’re not going to win now so rest some for the league.

[SaddVillan]

That's it then.

Put emotions to one side, sit down, pour a bloody big drink and reflect.

We can trot out the reasons - injuries, fatigue etc., but the underlying cause is insufficient quality and depth in the squad.

Now I'm not criticising, a successful squad takes two or three transfer windows, possibly even four, to put together. Unai's had a summer and  a January.

If there's one upside to our season tailing off is that it shines a light on the weaknesses in the squad.

Pretty sure Unai/Monchi knew what they were, but this will certainly focus things.

Finish 4th, take a step back and review 2023-24 - the positives and the negatives and take stock.

Move out  players who aren't up to the required standard, raise some cash through appropriate sales, bring in better quality, get our injured players back, and let's go again in August.

[Behind Bluenose Lines]

Fair play to them: they took their chances over the 2 legs & we didn't. Hope you can get to the final, gkap7!