I’m not worried yet. I was pleasantly surprised by our excellent start to the season (results-wise), as I thought it would take a lot of games before this squad started to click. I thought we were quite fortunate to be as high as we were a few weeks ago, not because we had been lucky to win matches, but because we seemed to be relying on goals from Duran, which was never going to be sustainable.We still look a long way off ‘clicking’. Rogers has been poor for weeks, and, to be slightly controversial here, I don’t think he was that good at the start of the season when he was getting a lot of attention. A lot of his performances were 70% brilliant and 30% poor, and that 30% usually included getting a goal or assist - so while he was playing well, he wasn’t winning us games. He has arguably the most important role in our team, and if he isn't playing well, we really struggle.Unai knows this, and he knows that we need him to find some form soon. That’s the only explanation for why he plays him so much - he needs to get better, he needs more experience, he needs to work out how to impact games. To be honest, I’d have taken him out of the team weeks ago, but I think Unai is thinking about the next few years, not just the match this week. He obviously sees something in Rogers, and is doing whatever he can to bring it out of him.Then there’s Bailey, who has a similarly important role. I’ve never seen a player so desperate for something to go his way. I’m convinced that if that shot had gone in against Palace, or McGinn had scored from his cut back against Juventus, that could have jolted him back, but nothing is happening for him at the moment.The margins are so small in the way we set up. It’s high risk football, and it relies on every player protecting the ball. We’re not doing that at the moment. Due to the run we’re on, players are doubting themselves and each other. A split second of doubt can have major ramifications. Cash and Konsa are the most obvious ones - the amount of time they can play a forward pass, but hesitate slightly and it comes back. That’s spreading all over the pitch now, and I’m sure that it’s 90% confidence.The thing is though, I have no idea how you can force that to work. I’m not sure what Unai can do to suddenly create confidence throughout the team, it almost certainly has to come from them. That’s the bad news. The good news is that it could come back very quickly. It could be one game where we start to pass through a side, moving from defence to attack. Bailey beats his man and sets up Rogers who lashes it home - one moment that could have a huge impact on our season.I think I will be a bit worried if we don’t have a good week. I think 4 points minimum, but we need to be looking at 6, really. If we get those, then the league will look very different, and the world will seem a much better place this time next week.I appreciate that this amount of positivity isn’t for everyone, so for those people, try this - I don’t think I’ve ever cared less about how we’re doing. It’s got nothing to do with Unai or the players, but I just can’t muster up the same level of enthusiasm and passion as I have done every other year. I didn’t go to the Juventus game, and I’m not sure how much I missed it.We can question our transfer dealings in the summer, but we apparently had to sell Doug to comply with the Premier League rules, and Diably to comply with the Champions League rules. We had to replace them both with a very tight transfer budget (because of the rules, not because the club doesn’t have the means to spend). We also had to strengthen the squad now that we’re playing in the Champions League - a net spend of around £30 million? Meanwhile, our opponents yesterday have spent £1 billion on players, while continuously failing to achieve anything. Firing managers, leaving multi-million pound signings out of the squad because they can’t fit them in, selling hotels to themselves.We’re rebuilding our squad because three years ago we let Steven Gerrard buy his mate.“It’s an unfair game”. Too fucking right. I’m close to being done with it. Not least because in order for us to be able to compete with these kinds of teams, who happened to be towards the top of the league 10 years ago, when the music stopped, we, the fans, have to accept whatever the club wants to charge us. What’s the point?So there we are: everything’s going to be fine, but it doesn’t really matter anymore because everything’s fucked. Something for everyone.
I think you make some good points Boozy, but its a lot of words for someone that has "ever cared less".
Quote from: ChicagoLion on December 02, 2024, 11:00:22 AM I think you make some good points Boozy, but its a lot of words for someone that has "ever cared less".That's a fair point I guess - but it's a relative scale. I just don't feel myself as bothered by our games these days, especially away when I'm not there. I didn't watch the match yesterday (which I appreciate may undermine a lot of my opinions on how things are going), whereas that would have been unheard of six months ago - I'd need to be watching. And I wouldn't read too much into my word count - I write for a living, so I can bash out a load of nonsense like that in about five minutes - it doesn't even need to be good when people aren't paying for it! Part of the reason I started writing it was because I want to try and find out why I don't care as much, and writing things down can help organise thoughts, if that makes sense?
Stickied? Is that really appropriate/necessary?
Yeah, the Heck stuff has really pissed me off a lot more than I thought it would. I view everything now through the prism of the club (ie Heck) not giving a shiny shite about the fans, so there's almost a perverse pleasure to be had in thinking about how he's going to try to explain loads of empty seats for upcoming games. It's easy to rinse the fans when we've qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever especially with home ties for glamour games, far less easy when our form and results have gone down the toilet. It'll be very interesting to see how full Villa Park is for the next two games, what with shit results, crap weather, lots of matches and Christmas coming up.
When Unai arrived two years ago, he steadied the ship, calmed down the players, got them more focused and clearly defined their individual and collective responsibilities. In recent months Unai has become more agitated with the players and officials and this is rubbing off on others. MCGinn for example, has reverted back to his old bad habits of mouthing off left, right and center.Has over analysis caused paralysis. Some of our players look confused!!Without doubt, Unai is a class manager but first and foremost I think he needs to look at himself. Where has that calming influence gone? He needs to reflect on what he said and did during his first week at the club.Our players are currently lacking confidence, belief and look stressed. That comes from the manager.I understand where you are coming from, 5 or 6 games ago Emery seemed to be having a very heated, lets call it discussion, with Mcphee during i think a live game.I remember at the time thinking that it didn't look right, a little off, and could not remember seeing the like before.Though i could easily be wrong, but in my mind things on the park seem to have worsened since that incident.Unai needs to calm down, set a better example and get back to the basics he initially installed. A calm head is called for and this will rub off on the players.
Quote from: Drummond on December 02, 2024, 12:57:15 PMStickied? Is that really appropriate/necessary?I agree, it's a really bad look!
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Topic: Are you worried? (Read 29143 times)
