Monaco vs Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[villa for life]

We desperately need Pau back. We can’t play Watkins and Duran together. Rogers is knackered and needs a rest.

Really poor.

Disagree. I think had Pau played, we’d have been 2 or 3 down. Mings made a mistake but he more than made up for it.

He made a few mistakes. Gave the ball away repeatedly too

Fuck me, you could say that about the majority of them.

You could, but the point is about what Pau brings and it is very obvious that passing out of defence absolutely killed us tonight. Not the only thing clearly, but Konsa and Mings consistently stopped us building any play.

But they also stopped the opposition scoring more than one.

Yes, but also massively undermined our ability to score any and that was the same against Brugge. If they can’t link the play that kills us (as it did today).

Call me old fashioned, but i find it hard to blame two centre backs for “massively undermining our ability to score”

Fair enough, but then I don’t think you’ve really clocked how we’re trying to play. Torres is a big contributor to our attacking play, his quality on the ball makes a big difference. For example, we don’t beat Bayern without it (and we didn’t concede 2 or 3 that day).

True, but our defence, of late, has been woeful with Pau in the side. During the game, I did also think we were missing Pau’s absence, but what we lost going forward, we gained in defence. I still think had Pau played tonight, we’d have conceded more.

[jwarry]

Unai Emery: "It was my mistake when we played with two strikers because we lost positioning. We lost control of the game. We were very weak in the middle. I watched it not work well."

Fair play to him owning up

[SamTheMouse]

It's happened every other time it's been tried. He took longer to see it doesn't work than we did.

[VillaTim]

Unai Emery: "It was my mistake when we played with two strikers because we lost positioning. We lost control of the game. We were very weak in the middle. I watched it not work well."

Fair play to him owning up

Is he paving the way for a sale

[andyh]

That’s the end of Duran and Watkins as a pair then.

[PaulWinch again]

Possibly, I’m not sure we would, but ultimately I think we would have had a better chance of scoring and losing 1-0 or 3-0 versus the possibility of getting something I’d take that risk.

I think the wider point is Ty has been a great servant for us, and is a really good member of the squad - but if he’s starting week in and week out I think it limits us (longer-term). I’m starting to think the same about Konsa, who has been really poor of late.

[brontebilly]

Konsa was particularly shit. Constantly looked gormless in possession, and instead of trying to make an angle, he just jogged towards one of the midfielders, waiting until they were well marked, then very obviously and deliberately played them a slow hospital pass. He might as well have held a sign up.

He was an absolute disgrace. There was one point in the first half, doing his usual dog pissing on the ball routine, Cash was screaming for the ball free on right side. Ignores him and gives him plenty of verbals back instead. Has getting into the England squad gone to his head completely I wonder.

[85kota]

And thats why you and duran  do not play together ollie.

I think Unai made that decision

Oh really didnt know that.

As you are aware ollie said that they can play together on the weekend which was the original point

Good point, well made.

That being said, Ollie probably does think they can play together; Jhon might not care.

I think I saw Jhon say "I don't know what he said" to Ollie just after he came on.

Wish it would work as makes things easier. But its failed near enough every time.  We got worse when duran came on. Id have taken ollie off for duran like for like. Ollie really struggled when duran came on.

Yes I agree, we have seen very little evidence that they can work together effectively.

[Small Rodent]

A bit of perspective, but the people watching the game in my local pub all thought Villa deserved something from the game.

[Demitri_C]

Unais biggest mistake for me was starting ollie. He looked tired. Have absolutely  no idea why duran has started none of the last three games. You would have thought tonight would have been perfect opportunity  to start him and bring ollie on later in the game

Ollies played a lot of minutes while duran was banned. Bad decison there by unai

[brontebilly]

Unai Emery: "It was my mistake when we played with two strikers because we lost positioning. We lost control of the game. We were very weak in the middle. I watched it not work well."

Fair play to him owning up

But why not take off Ollie then? Waiting 85 mins to bring on two subs was ridiculous.

[andyh]

Unais biggest mistake for me was starting ollie. He looked tired. Have absolutely  no idea why duran has started none of the last three games. You would have thought tonight would have been perfect opportunity  to start him and bring ollie on later in the game

Ollies played a lot of minutes while duran was banned. Bad decison there by unai

Duran is not ready to start.

[Percy McCarthy]

We desperately need Pau back. We can’t play Watkins and Duran together. Rogers is knackered and needs a rest.

Really poor.

Disagree. I think had Pau played, we’d have been 2 or 3 down. Mings made a mistake but he more than made up for it.

He made a few mistakes. Gave the ball away repeatedly too

Fuck me, you could say that about the majority of them.

You could, but the point is about what Pau brings and it is very obvious that passing out of defence absolutely killed us tonight. Not the only thing clearly, but Konsa and Mings consistently stopped us building any play.

I’m not sure Pau being on the pitch would have made much of a difference to say Rogers giving the ball away so much. The centre halves weren’t only ones giving the ball away.

Yes but if you watched Rogers a lot of him giving the ball away was the central defenders telegraphing they were going to pass to him, delaying, then passing to him which meant he got swarmed.

That is absolutely what happened. Felt like dozens of times.

[Clampy]

Personally, I think we needed someone sitting alongside Kamara. It really didn't need Bendy, Rogers, Teliemans and Bailey as an attacking force. We did strangely not look like scoring as soon as Duran came on though. That's not on him, it just looked easier right defend against.

[ChicagoLion]

A bit of perspective, but the people watching the game in my local pub all thought Villa deserved something from the game.

What were their guide dogs called?