Aston Villa 2 Crystal Palace 2. Post Match Thread.

[brontebilly]

Rogers come off after being hacked down by (what looked from the Trinity like) a pretty horrendous tackle which only earned a yellow. He was down for a time afterwards and limping.

Also, other than a beautiful round the corner pass, he'd been anonymous in the second half, until he won the corner prior to being subbed.

Maybe he'd seen the board...

Wouldn't have taken him off nor Bailey at the time. Bringing on Duran completely negated Watkins influence again too. Thought it was the best Watkins played in weeks up to then. The subs are coming across a bit scripted in recent weeks.

[brontebilly]

We're lacking real leaders on the pitch - might be worth bringing Mings in.

He organises the defence and is very quick too. I can't stand Carlos and Torres as a pair, milk turns faster. Zero communication between them and with their full backs. Yes our midfield was non existent, simply can't play Tielemans/Barkley in PL, but our defence was an absolute shambles again yesterday.

[kippaxvilla2]

https://www.astonvilla.news/match-coverage/what-oliver-glasner-told-his-crystal-palace-players-should-be-concerning-for-aston-villa-and-unai-emery/

[Risso]

https://www.astonvilla.news/match-coverage/what-oliver-glasner-told-his-crystal-palace-players-should-be-concerning-for-aston-villa-and-unai-emery/

That's quite concerning, to be honest. There's no surprise factor to us any more, and the signs are very much that we've been sussed out. That's two managers in recent weeks who have basically said we're very predictable.

[Percy McCarthy]

https://www.astonvilla.news/match-coverage/what-oliver-glasner-told-his-crystal-palace-players-should-be-concerning-for-aston-villa-and-unai-emery/

So Glasner spotted it as well

“I’d be interested to see our average positions - Risso posts them occasionally. I think Torres drifts far too wide, which sometimes works when Konsa and Carlos can shuffle across, but when a traditional RB is playing leaves us with one centre-half defending too much space.”

[Rigadon]

We've been predictable for ages.  Like Man City are predictable.  It's one thing knowing what's coming and being able to stop it.  I'm convinced the issue isn't structural, it's too many players being off form or injured at the same time. I'm backing us to beat Juventus and get a result v Chelsea. 

[Risso]

We've been predictable for ages.  Like Man City are predictable.  It's one thing knowing what's coming and being able to stop it.  I'm convinced the issue isn't structural, it's too many players being off form or injured at the same time. I'm backing us to beat Juventus and get a result v Chelsea. 

Teams aren't struggling to stop it though, that's the point. And we've been crap defensively for most of 2024. It's structural. Our main defender in Torres is great on the ball, but is a fairly mediocre defender. That's a big problem.

[Mister E]

Mings alongside Torres and Konsa seems like an obvious defensive set-up to me, with Onana and Kamara ahead of them. With those 5 forming a solid core, we have more licence to exploit the wide areas as well as covering the current gaps.

[Rigadon]

We've been predictable for ages.  Like Man City are predictable.  It's one thing knowing what's coming and being able to stop it.  I'm convinced the issue isn't structural, it's too many players being off form or injured at the same time. I'm backing us to beat Juventus and get a result v Chelsea. 

Teams aren't struggling to stop it though, that's the point. And we've been crap defensively for most of 2024. It's structural. Our main defender in Torres is great on the ball, but is a fairly mediocre defender. That's a big problem.

We are creating loads of chances though - that is not an issue I don't think.  We have a few problems out of possession for sure though.   Bite and aggression in midfield (i.e. missing Kamara and now Onana) and having to play Carlos too much - ideally we would've signed a right sided centre half last summer, one who is aggressive, quick and doesn't constantly keep giving the ball away in dodgy situations.  One pass he played yesterday into, well, nowhere... I was actually struggling to see what he was trying to do.  Not good enough way too often.

I think every player, bar Diaby, was playing right at the top of their game for a lot last season.  This season a good few aren't and that is the difference between 7th and 4th.  When Kamara is back, and Ramsey and Onana are available again we will see results improving.  And we really must try and upgrade Carlos this January. 

[geolex]

We have conceded 53 Premier League goals in 2024, five more than in the entirety of 2023, in 12 less games

[VillaTim]

We've been predictable for ages.  Like Man City are predictable.  It's one thing knowing what's coming and being able to stop it.  I'm convinced the issue isn't structural, it's too many players being off form or injured at the same time. I'm backing us to beat Juventus and get a result v Chelsea. 

Teams aren't struggling to stop it though, that's the point. And we've been crap defensively for most of 2024. It's structural. Our main defender in Torres is great on the ball, but is a fairly mediocre defender. That's a big problem.

Torres is the elephant in the room. The sooner we have Konsa/Mings back in the middle the better .

[Rigadon]

We've been predictable for ages.  Like Man City are predictable.  It's one thing knowing what's coming and being able to stop it.  I'm convinced the issue isn't structural, it's too many players being off form or injured at the same time. I'm backing us to beat Juventus and get a result v Chelsea. 

Teams aren't struggling to stop it though, that's the point. And we've been crap defensively for most of 2024. It's structural. Our main defender in Torres is great on the ball, but is a fairly mediocre defender. That's a big problem.

Torres is the elephant in the room. The sooner we have Konsa/Mings back in the middle the better .

The Torres pass for our first goal was probably the best of the game, maybe bar Bailey's through ball to Watkins.  He isn't an Elephant in any room.  He's a quality playmaking centre half who needs an aggressive quick partner (who he hasn't got).  Elephants have a better passing range than his partner yesterday.

[Ads]

The quality of our first goal has been lost in the negativity of the result. Pau’s pass, McGinn’s ball around the corner and Watkins’ touch and finish was a really good bit of football.

A similar thing happened second half but Ollie took too much time.

Yeah the pass from Torres took out their press and midfield. McGinn had the space as a result and bang, goal. Agree Ollie should have scored in the second half too with it.

That's the benefit of increasing the pass of our transition through the lines. The issue is, when we give it away, the gap between midfield and defence is too great or too easy to play through. We need Boobie back to be that auxiliary centre half, neat recovery/re-set merchant. He's absolutely class. Put him next to Onana, as I'm sure is the intention and we'll just have a much more solid structure.

[Demitri_C]

We have conceded 53 Premier League goals in 2024, five more than in the entirety of 2023, in 12 less games

Hence why i said 2023 was better than 2024 has been.

Can 2024 just end and can 2025  be like 2023 please !

[john e]

Torres is a class act not playing to his normal levels but still effective as seen by the goals he creates (R Madrid) and playing out from the back although he has been sloppy of late
We have no other centre back that can do it, none