RB Leipzig vs Aston Villa post match thread.

[simon ward 50]

Everything about the Amazon coverage is really good, it's a big step up from Sky and TNT and generally the people they get in as pundits are a much better mix. That applies to their Domestic games as well.

Agreed.

Loved the Alan Shearer comment as well that he wished he could've soaked up the atmosphere in the Christmas market a bit more before he had to do comms!

[Dave]

It’s been a great week but that’s been the story of the last 3 games all of which should have been far more comfortable given the great situations we created. Someone is in for a drubbing soon hopefully!

Lunchtime on December 21st will do nicely.

[walsall villain]

It’s been a great week but that’s been the story of the last 3 games all of which should have been far more comfortable given the great situations we created. Someone is in for a drubbing soon hopefully!

Lunchtime on December 21st will do nicely.

Can’t wait that long, Saturday please!

[john e]

^^ Have you told lies before?

Shall we say you ‘mis-spoke’? Or would that make it hard for you to deflect?

How about this.. If we were on opposite sides of the Watkins/Duran debate, and I said ‘I prefer Watkins because he has scored more goals than Duran this season’ despite the fact that I know he hasn’t, what would you call that? Whatever word you choose to describe someone who would do that, we’ll go with it.

I don’t have a horse in this race either way, and this is clearly a crusade that means enough to you to bring it up several times. However, since semantics are involved:

a) that’s a false equivalence. The hypothetical Watkins debate is about number of goals, so clearly that’s a narrow quantitative metric with a clear answer. The debate is about which back 4 makes the better unit/team, not about which back 4 has conceded fewer goals.
b) While fewer goals usually means better defence, and statistics can paint a good picture, this isn’t some conclusive, objective, incontrovertible truth that you make it out to be. There’s a lot more to consider, especially if you’re going to make it a purely statistical argument.
c) the sample sizes you’ve used are decent, but not large enough to account for skews such as individual clangers etc
d) correlation is not causation. Your back 4 may have contributed to a tighter defence which concedes fewer goals, but that doesn’t imply causation in its entirety. Quality of opposition, our set up in those games, how well the midfield screened them, how well Emi played etc all contribute, amongst other a whole bunch of other things.
e) if it’s going to be part of a wider discussion about our best team, we also have to consider how that back 4 impacts our attack, not just a stat about goals conceded.
f) the beauty of football is that, unlike baseball, there are a whole lot of qualitative lenses through which holistic judgements need to be made, as opposed to a singular quantitative metric, even if that metric does play an important role in making said judgement

My wholehearted apologies to the rest of the site for drawing this argument out even further…

I was just about to say all that

[martin o`who??]

A great win against a German side that will help towards England getting the 5th Champions League spot for next season.  We may need it!!

Could do with Arses and Man City* winning tonight.

we'll get automatic entry as holders.

[Meanwood Villa]

Everything about the Amazon coverage is really good, it's a big step up from Sky and TNT and generally the people they get in as pundits are a much better mix. That applies to their Domestic games as well.

Agreed.

Loved the Alan Shearer comment as well that he wished he could've soaked up the atmosphere in the Christmas market a bit more before he had to do comms!

I thought Shearer was good on co comms. Helped that he seemed to want us to win and clearly loves both Watkins and Duran.

[Nii Lamptey]

Considering the shite we gave him during his management time with the Geordies, he does seem to favour us a lot. I quite like him on co-comms.

Would much rather listen to him than that snarling ratface Carragher and his 'well, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeerm...' comments.

[Keeno]

I think the advantage of playing Cash high up on the right is that it creates a very simple role for him to perform, using his pace and aggression to stretch their fullback and be able to swing crosses in. It stretches their defence and gives us more of an overlap threat, creating more space for McGinn, Rogers or Watkins, whoever wants to drift into that right sided channel just inside. His running really stretched them on the counter attack too especially in the first half, even if he doesn't get the ball.

Bailey is obviously more skillful, and overall offers more creatively, but being left footed on that side will almost always look to cut inside. That's definitely not worked as well this season without Diaby (who would often be the player running away from him behind a defence). It might be that we see a new position for Leon over the next few weeks/months to increase his attacking options a bit.

I'd definitely be happy if we saw the same team from last night vs Forest, with Mings in for Carlos to deal with their aerial threat in Wood. Think it offered us both a new way to attack, and naturally with Cash dropping in to make a back 5, a lot more defensive solidity especially in defending the counter attack which we'd looked woeful at recently.

[Risso]

Everything about the Amazon coverage is really good, it's a big step up from Sky and TNT and generally the people they get in as pundits are a much better mix. That applies to their Domestic games as well.

Agreed.

Loved the Alan Shearer comment as well that he wished he could've soaked up the atmosphere in the Christmas market a bit more before he had to do comms!

I thought Shearer was good on co comms. Helped that he seemed to want us to win and clearly loves both Watkins and Duran.

The whole Prime set up is miles better than TNT. A good, knowledgeable host in Gabby Logan, decent guest pundits, and an excellent after-match interviewer. Actually spending time to talk about us, rather than half an hour about Manchester United, and "now here's the football." Good interviews, with well thought out questions, unlike that utter div on TNT, with his complete nonsense "Alright Unai, you're very good in Europe, what's your favourite chocolate in a tin of Quality Street, bruv?"

[ian c.]

Now I actually want to know what Unai's favourite Quality Street is.

[Somniloquism]

Hopefully his reply is "none of them because the ****** at Nestle make them and they should be boycotted as much as possible, the baby killing ******".

[KevinGage]

It's telling that anyone defending Carlos (and it's just as well he doesn't have to do it himself) has to make a case based on the handful of games in his entire Villa career when he hasn't dropped a bollock. 

It should be the norm for a defender, not the exception.

We were keen to offload him to Fulham in the summer and are apparently open to him going in Jan according to various reports, so it doesn't seem Emery is particularly enamoured with him either.

He'll be gone soon, hopefully. And that will be the end of that.

[KevinGage]

A far bigger dilemma is Torres' ongoing malaise.

He's approaching 18 months in English football and the issues spoken about last season still show themselves time and again; lack of strength on the ball, lack of recovery pace, weakness in the air and tendency to ballwatch. 

He could have Beckenbauer-like ability of the ball and it would be hard find a starting place for him in the modern game as a centre half with the above deficiencies.

Part of the upturn in form we seen when Emery joined was solidity at the back and better defensive organisation. So the manager can set teams up that way. He has shown it.

But if having that Torres-like ability to bring the ball out from the back start attacks is key to his vision he might need to find a better player than Pau (with more rounded defensive skills) to do it.

[LeeB]

Everything about the Amazon coverage is really good, it's a big step up from Sky and TNT and generally the people they get in as pundits are a much better mix. That applies to their Domestic games as well.

Agreed.

Loved the Alan Shearer comment as well that he wished he could've soaked up the atmosphere in the Christmas market a bit more before he had to do comms!

I thought Shearer was good on co comms. Helped that he seemed to want us to win and clearly loves both Watkins and Duran.

The whole Prime set up is miles better than TNT. A good, knowledgeable host in Gabby Logan, decent guest pundits, and an excellent after-match interviewer. Actually spending time to talk about us, rather than half an hour about Manchester United, and "now here's the football." Good interviews, with well thought out questions, unlike that utter div on TNT, with his complete nonsense "Alright Unai, you're very good in Europe, what's your favourite chocolate in a tin of Quality Street, bruv?"

Point of order, they're not tins anymore they're plastic.

[rob_bridge]

I still reckon we need minimum of 4 points.

I don't think any will disagree for certain qualification, and our inferior GD to some of the others around us we will need to be at least a point above the cut off, but I still think 15 points and GD will be the cut-off. 16 points will still be fine but maybe squeaky if we lose in Monaco in January.

We only need one point to finish in top 24.

We are certainly through to the next round of matches whether that is straight in or entering a qualifier, and if the latter, I also think we have already done enough for 2nd leg at home.

Agree we will be 14th or 15th with the current total. A win in Monaco and Top 8 is as good as done according to Amazon last night. Still not so sure - may look different after tonight's results.
Always thought 16 was a minimum for Top 8, 17 more likely and 18 definite.