Monaco vs Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Percy McCarthy]

I think if you watch the highlights you’ll see Buendia was quite effective, compared to the rest of them anyway.

[coreyfeldman]

I am surprised about the praise for Buendia (I forgot he was on the pitch) - he does a good pass or dribble, and he looks really good, however the next 5 times he receives the ball he gives it to the opposition or just gets knocked off the ball, and then lies on the pitch throwing his arms in the air like a child having a hissy fit in the supermarket.

Absolute nonsense mate, was by far our best player last night. He was slow to start i thought but was involved in all our best attacking moments and would have had 2 assists with better finishing

[FatSam]

A a France '98 (the first World Cup I ever watched) almost certainly clouded my judgement.

I’m trying to work out how it clouded your judgement. Monaco wasn’t a venue for France ‘98. It”s only got a capacity of 18k. It’s also not in France.

[Rigadon]

They were barely PL standard and we got beat.  Awful result. 

The last 30 mins was about as bad as we get and it was mostly the result of trying Watkins and Duran together.  It just doesn’t suit either player and I don’t think we’ll see it again.  They will both have to accept that they will be rotated and either get on with it or leave the club. 

Rogers was imperious first half and terrible second.  He looked totally gassed. 

Bailey… jeez, he needs benching for a bit.  I hope Malen is more robust physically and mentally. 

Maatsen looks ok going forward but crap defensively and not as good as Digne at either aspect. I hope I’m wrong but it looks a shite transfer at the moment (I know, PSR, but still). 

This seasons tactics have been mentioned on here, but I think it’s totally down to Emery realising that playing the high line is so physically demanding that a team competing on so many fronts with a relatively small squad of genuinely first team players is… risky.  See spurs. 

[Smithy]

They were barely PL standard and we got beat.  Awful result. 

The last 30 mins was about as bad as we get and it was mostly the result of trying Watkins and Duran together.  It just doesn’t suit either player and I don’t think we’ll see it again.  They will both have to accept that they will be rotated and either get on with it or leave the club. 

Rogers was imperious first half and terrible second.  He looked totally gassed. 

Bailey… jeez, he needs benching for a bit.  I hope Malen is more robust physically and mentally. 

Maatsen looks ok going forward but crap defensively and not as good as Digne at either aspect. I hope I’m wrong but it looks a shite transfer at the moment (I know, PSR, but still). 

This seasons tactics have been mentioned on here, but I think it’s totally down to Emery realising that playing the high line is so physically demanding that a team competing on so many fronts with a relatively small squad of genuinely first team players is… risky.  See spurs. 

Barely PL standard? They're 4th in the French league.  We SHOULD be beating teams like that, even with a below par performance and the chances missed (I'm convinced we win that game if Ollie's chance doesn't get pushed past the post) - but we don't need to negate the standard of team we're playing. They are decent enough.

There ARE some teams in the Champions League who would struggle in the Prem, and probably struggle to get out of the Championship. We beat one of them 3-0 away from home. But Monaco are NOT one of them.

EDIT: totally agree on the tactics, I also think teams started to figure out our high line towards the end of the season, and Unai is trying to find a new way to play.  As you say, Spurs have gone the opposite way and doubled-down on their style from last season, and look how it's working out for them.

[Demitri_C]

Ergh what a horrible morning  was hoping i dreamt that last night. What a nightmare. Cant believe the two games we have lost is brugges and monaco.  God. I think this one was even worse than brugges tbh. As they had injuries and were badly out of form yet we hardly threatened them.

As another poster said the worst thing for me now is we will sacrifice  the fa cup for the play off games if that happens which is really frustrating

Glad unai took ownership but you cant defend some of the performances  for example bailey. He was atrocious.

You just know we will get shafted and get someone like real madrid or dortmund  in a two legged play off game

I wouldnt have minded if this was in next stage as we would have qualified and anything else would have been a bonus. But now likley two extra games that we really do not need. Cant believe they fucked it yesterday  i really cant. I bet unai is massively  disappointed in them

[FatSam]

It’s a bit like the smaller version of them Italian stadiums that were tarted up for the WC 1990 and never painted or touched since.  I went to see a Napoli game and it was a complete shit hole.

I don’t know much about the Monaco stadium, but I’m assuming that it’s publicly owned, and the football club are just tenants. If so, that is the same as all (I think) of the Italy ‘90 stadia, which tend to be quite basic beyond the often spectacular stadium bowl. I can remember watching a documentary called Et in Stadia Ego at the time, which was comparing English football grounds in the wake of Hillsborough with the Italian stadia. They found a rolled-up newspaper from the 1920s inside a crush barrier on the Leppings Lane End. Compared with this the Bari stadium seemed like a vision from a utopian future. It’s still the third largest stadium in Italy, and hosted the ‘91 European Cup Final, but SSC Bari have spent more time out of Serie A than in it.

[Rigadon]

They were barely PL standard and we got beat.  Awful result. 

The last 30 mins was about as bad as we get and it was mostly the result of trying Watkins and Duran together.  It just doesn’t suit either player and I don’t think we’ll see it again.  They will both have to accept that they will be rotated and either get on with it or leave the club. 

Rogers was imperious first half and terrible second.  He looked totally gassed. 

Bailey… jeez, he needs benching for a bit.  I hope Malen is more robust physically and mentally. 

Maatsen looks ok going forward but crap defensively and not as good as Digne at either aspect. I hope I’m wrong but it looks a shite transfer at the moment (I know, PSR, but still). 

This seasons tactics have been mentioned on here, but I think it’s totally down to Emery realising that playing the high line is so physically demanding that a team competing on so many fronts with a relatively small squad of genuinely first team players is… risky.  See spurs. 

Barely PL standard? They're 4th in the French league.  We SHOULD be beating teams like that, even with a below par performance and the chances missed (I'm convinced we win that game if Ollie's chance doesn't get pushed past the post) - but we don't need to negate the standard of team we're playing. They are decent enough.

There ARE some teams in the Champions League who would struggle in the Prem, and probably struggle to get out of the Championship. We beat one of them 3-0 away from home. But Monaco are NOT one of them.

EDIT: totally agree on the tactics, I also think teams started to figure out our high line towards the end of the season, and Unai is trying to find a new way to play.  As you say, Spurs have gone the opposite way and doubled-down on their style from last season, and look how it's working out for them.

It was like watching grown ups playing a youth team in the 1st half.  I thought they were ordinary at best and like a less physical Ipswich.  Young Boys aside, easily the worst team we’ve played in the CL.  I hope Celtic make that statement moribund next week! 

Yeah, the change in tactics is another sign that Emery is a serious (and seriously great) coach.  He seemed highly pissed off with some of the players last night. 

[The Edge]

They were barely PL standard and we got beat.  Awful result. 

The last 30 mins was about as bad as we get and it was mostly the result of trying Watkins and Duran together.  It just doesn’t suit either player and I don’t think we’ll see it again.  They will both have to accept that they will be rotated and either get on with it or leave the club. 

Rogers was imperious first half and terrible second.  He looked totally gassed. 

Bailey… jeez, he needs benching for a bit.  I hope Malen is more robust physically and mentally. 

Maatsen looks ok going forward but crap defensively and not as good as Digne at either aspect. I hope I’m wrong but it looks a shite transfer at the moment (I know, PSR, but still). 

This seasons tactics have been mentioned on here, but I think it’s totally down to Emery realising that playing the high line is so physically demanding that a team competing on so many fronts with a relatively small squad of genuinely first team players is… risky.  See spurs. 

Barely PL standard? They're 4th in the French league.  We SHOULD be beating teams like that, even with a below par performance and the chances missed (I'm convinced we win that game if Ollie's chance doesn't get pushed past the post) - but we don't need to negate the standard of team we're playing. They are decent enough.

There ARE some teams in the Champions League who would struggle in the Prem, and probably struggle to get out of the Championship. We beat one of them 3-0 away from home. But Monaco are NOT one of them.

EDIT: totally agree on the tactics, I also think teams started to figure out our high line towards the end of the season, and Unai is trying to find a new way to play.  As you say, Spurs have gone the opposite way and doubled-down on their style from last season, and look how it's working out for them.

It was like watching grown ups playing a youth team in the 1st half.  I thought they were ordinary at best and like a less physical Ipswich.  Young Boys aside, easily the worst team we’ve played in the CL.  I hope Celtic make that statement moribund next week! 

Yeah, the change in tactics is another sign that Emery is a serious (and seriously great) coach.  He seemed highly pissed off with some of the players last night.

He also called our set pieces "horrible". Too bloody right they were. Every corner either didn't beat the first man,something that has always annoyed the hell out of me, or sailed straight into the keepers hands completely unchallenged. So from that the question has got to be- "what the hell are we paying the set piece coach for?" I would not be surprised to see Austin Mcphee head for the exit at the end of the season.

[Nelly]

Until around 65 minutes I thought we still had levels we could go up to if needed, as with West Ham recently. But that was astonishingly poor. It had the intensity of a pre-season game and yes, all the more galling considering what was at stake and the poor quality of the opposition.

I'd love to know which players weren't following the plan, because it would seem they compromised us badly last night. It's not a mentality or a look that I'm comfortable with, the least I expect is commitment from a professional footballer. If you can't raise yourself for a Champions League game - the supposed pinnacle of the sport - there's something wrong.

Buendia the only real half highlight for me.

[Brend'Watkins]

Emery has said we controlled the game for the most part. If you’re a goal down after 8 minutes and their keeper has hardly had a shot of note to save we are most certainly not controlling the game.

[jwarry]

I think Unai was talking about Watkins and Duran not following instructions.  I noticed when Jhon came on and ran over to Ollie, Ollie asked his what the plan was and whatever Jhon said Ollie didn’t look happy.  Can’t fin the clip now but it was telling.  My guess would be one of the m needed to play on the right but it never happened

[Rigadon]

I'm sure I read some quote from Unai earlier this morning where he names the players who he thought were following instruction.  I can't find it now, but it included Tielemanns, Cash, Martinez, Mings and I think Rogers and maybe another name I can't remember.  It definitely did not include Watkins of Duran.

[malckennedy]

I'm sure I read some quote from Unai earlier this morning where he names the players who he thought were following instruction.  I can't find it now, but it included Tielemanns, Cash, Martinez, Mings and I think Rogers and maybe another name I can't remember.  It definitely did not include Watkins of Duran.

I included Konsa too and, I think, Buendia. It did not include Rogers though.

[LeeB]

I've not read all of this thread so while I remember, shout out to Dave for scoffing at their keeper who proceeded to look like the bastard son of Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks.