Aston Villa 2 Crystal Palace 2. Post Match Thread.

[Demitri_C]

We miss Diaby, pure and simple. He had more quality than a lot on here gave credit for.

We replaced him with an ex-youth team player in Jaden who had one good year in the championship, he is nowhere near Diabys level.

The backup to Ollie is an untried and often erratic young player, so no real alternative in Duran than last season, yes he has the odd glimpse of greatness but then equally does nothing for several games.

Luiz is also a big miss in the middle, Tielemans has a couple of good games and then disappears for the next.

We are worse off than last season squad wise IMO and it is showing

spot on

[Monty]

Diaby is the last player we miss. Seriously, put him immediately in this team, tell me what changes?

Rogers is better.

[AlexAlexCropley]

Diaby is the last player we miss. Seriously, put him immediately in this team, tell me what changes?

Rogers is better.

Agreed

[Ads]

Rogers is miles better. We miss all our players who are injured. Especially JJ running down the flank as we had at Anfield. And absolutely a fit Kamara to plug the yawning chasm that exists in the space from where our midfield should be and where the wheatabix defence is.

[dorsetvillian]

Missing the penalty was a defining moment with Palace scoring straight after it. Surely Rogers should have taken it as he does for the U21's. As till thought at 2-2 we would go on and win. The last two subs of Buendia and Bidace killed us with Rogers and Bailey  going off.

[Gareth]

To conjure a penalty to us into a goal for the opposition in about 45 seconds is prime Villa!

Didn’t think either side were particularly good and a draw was fair enough in the end.  We haven’t been anything like our best for last 4/5 games but as a balance it is only the second half vs Spuds that was really poor.

Being broken on at will when you have a set piece is pretty much negligent to be fair, we had 10 players within 25 yards of their goal all facing their goal was asking for trouble if they have any runners.  Can’t go gung ho when we have an attacking sat piece, need to have 1 or 2 players positioned to defend at all times.

Think a lot of the issue is the centre of midfield, for me Teilemans and Barkley were dreadfully weak out of possession and neither were particularly tidy with the ball either.  Last time Teilemans was above 5/10 was Bologna for me.

Thought Bailey was improved, after the early chance when he ran through and the full back robbed him he didn’t let his head drop and was probably our biggest threat.

[andyh]

It’s quite incredible how players that were so inconsistent last year are the ones we miss so much this year.

Diaby was shit for a lot of last season. I don’t miss him at all.

Maybe Dougie is the one we really miss ?

[Demitri_C]

Diaby is the last player we miss. Seriously, put him immediately in this team, tell me what changes?

Rogers is better.

 i think he would have scored more goals than rogers will this season.

He is also faster and far better at getting the ball forward quicker.  Rogers is veey good dont get me wrong. But its not in rogers spot its baileys. Rogers and diaby in same team on form is a dangerous team.

Baileys been generally rubbish this year diaby would be well ahead of him this season.

We are missing him and pretty badly. Him and luiz in my opinion

You just need to look at how many goals our midfielders have scored this season comapred to last

[PaulWinch again]

Diaby is the last player we miss. Seriously, put him immediately in this team, tell me what changes?

Rogers is better.

For me it’s not so much Diaby or Rogers, I’d have Rogers every day of the week. It’s more an alternative to Bailey, or a sub to add dynamism and directness. Philogene and Buendia sadly are bringing absolutely nothing.

[pelty]

Can't agree on Torres , he's a poor and weak defender , yes he can pass (sometimes) today he was an absolute liability .

This is my take, too.

[pelty]

Forget Diaby, the one we *really* miss is Zaniolo!!! All those glorious last-minute goals are sorely missed! And him and Duran together were sublime. Poetry in motion.

[VillaTim]

Can't agree on Torres , he's a poor and weak defender , yes he can pass (sometimes) today he was an absolute liability .

Yeah he was absolute garbage in our brilliant run in the first half of last season….

i said "today" and actually this season generally he looks a liability and weak , our defence is a mess and he's at the heart of it

And it was brilliant when he was at the heart of it last year. Suggests to me it’s not actually the defence that’s the cause - it is completely exposed because the midfield does nothing to screen it. The midfield is the main problem.

The defence wasn't "brilliant" last year either , it was bang average but we were outscoring opponents , it's got worse now Torres is a liability in the middle , he cannot defend .

[VillaTim]

The rebuild has to start with defence . Keep clean sheets and you win games , conceding 2 like today as we have been doing for 18 months now and it's a struggle . I can't believe it but this seems to be Emerys blind spot

[Demitri_C]

Forget Diaby, the one we *really* miss is Zaniolo!!! All those glorious last-minute goals are sorely missed! And him and Duran together were sublime. Poetry in motion.

How can we forget him!

Miss the amount of yellows he would pick up too!

[markeeeebeeee2005]

Not great today, particularly defending. The Sarr goal I’m blaming on the coaches. We’re getting hit like that too regularly.

Bailey needs a hug.

There’s some signs of life, so am hopeful for a happy Christmas.