Aston Villa v Brentford Pre Match Thread

[brontebilly]

Brentford are one of the best pressing teams in the league so that doesn’t augur well for Olsen, Carlos, Konsa et al if we try to play walking football. Agree about upping the intensity and getting the ball back to front much quicker even if possession drops a bit.

No point trying to play that type of football with Olsen in goal, another reason to get Mings in for Torres. Olsen does have a good long punt on him so Watkins might benefit from that.

[Mister E]

I really do not know why so many think the answer to the problem is to go to a Back 5.
Thankfully Emery does not do 5 at the back either.

Mainly because we need defensive solidity and some pace out wide. The players we have with the best pace are our fullbacks.
And, all of what we've tried thus far has not delivered.

[Duncan Shaw]

Onana still out, as is Ramsey, Emi they are checking after training today (he won't play!)

[Risso]

I know we all love and Emi and everything, but his save percentage is the third worst in the Premier League this season, at only 63%.

[ChicagoLion]

I really do not know why so many think the answer to the problem is to go to a Back 5.
Thankfully Emery does not do 5 at the back either.

Mainly because we need defensive solidity and some pace out wide. The players we have with the best pace are our fullbacks.
And, all of what we've tried thus far has not delivered.

So with the team struggling defensively, introduce a completely different system? It takes a lot of time, planning and training to go to a back 5, doing it in 3 days is almost impossible. It is why teams rarely change to it and stick to it during the season. It also offers less in game flexibility than a back 4, where it is relatively straight forward to increase deployment / emphasis in defence, midfield or attack.

[Bobby Boy]

Brentford's away from is poor but they've played tough sides away. Just having nightmares of their fleet attackers cutting through our midfield and defence.

1-3.

[coreyfeldman]

I wouldn't mind seeing maatsen playing attacking left in front of digne for this one. He played moreno there a few times, we desperately need some pace in the side

[VillaTim]

Onana must have been made in the same glass factory as Ramsey and Kamara

[Skerra]

That’s the problem Tim. Doesn’t matter how good a player is if he’s injured for half of a season.

[Demitri_C]

Onana must have been made in the same glass factory as Ramsey and Kamara

Yep thats a good point tim. Say what you want about luiz and diaby but last season they rarely got injured. Esp luiz
 
His fitness record was excellent

For a big lad onanas fitness  record is not the best

[Demitri_C]

Brentford have six players out. Onw being key player jensen. Thats some good news at least

[Risso]

Compared to Ramsey he's like The Terminator. I love JJ, but by god he's missed a lot of football. The trouble is, we know how good he is when he's fit, so the manager and his team probably don't think about replacing him, but he really is made of absolute tissue paper. When he's injured, which he always is, we've literally got nobody to replace him. He seems to be injured, gets semi-fit, doesn't play that well because he's getting back to match fitness, then is injured again. Rinse and repeat.

[Paul.S]

We’ve got to shake it up a bit both tactically and with players. Mings, Barkley, Maatsen and Duran need to start as well as Onana if fit.
Unfortunately we don’t have many options out wide so a re think from Emery would be good.

[Risso]

We’ve got to shake it up a bit both tactically and with players. Mings, Barkley, Maatsen and Duran need to start as well as Onana if fit.
Unfortunately we don’t have many options out wide so a re think from Emery would be good.

There's no way he's making that many changes.

[Rigadon]

If we stick with the same team, the first instruction needs to be: win the fucking 50/50s.  Be aggressive and do not let, do NOT LET them bully us anywhere on the pitch.  We have enough quality footballers to do the rest.  Oh, and take the chances when they inevitably come along.

Do that and we might win then game despite having Olsen in goals.