Aston Villa Reserves v Forest Post-Match Thread

[Chris Smith]

By design I suspect we played very much in eco mode for much of the game hence letting them have the ball . Emery will want everyone as fresh as for Paris .
Effectively after a fast start we won in 2nd gear .

I reckon only Rogers, Martinez and Tielemans are definite starters in Paris though. With Watkins a probable, Asensio and Mings possibles.

Anyone else would be quite surprising, so a lot of the "staying fresh" was happening off-pitch.

Yeah possible , hard to read Emery sometimes but I think he wanted some energy conservation across the pack. Probably didn't want to bring Kamara on today but Onana wasn't doing enough .

Onana was good in the first half but is just coming back from injury so it was inevitable that he’d tire.

[nick harper]

I dont think Emery will have been impressed with our inability to break their man to man press in the second half. Don’t know if we were surprised by the tactical change but we gave it away constantly until we got McGinn’s backside into the game. Not many teams can combat it when done very well.

Expect the same on Wednesday, but probably another level again. No doubt Unai will have a plan.

[Ads]

Yeah as stressed, the fact we could make so many changes and still create the best chances, scoring 2 as well, 2nd half chaos notwithstanding, that's an excellent achievement.

With this squad all season, we'd still be in the hunt in 3 competitions, we'd just be maybe creating more of a jitter on Merseyside.

[Richard E]

Ramsey made a difference as well when he came on.

[eamonn]

Only Grealish should have that hairstyle, it's horrid.

A couple of observations on the Malen goal. One, did it bounce up just before he hit it? From the reply it looked like a tricky, more composed finish than it initially appeared.

Also on the replay, you can see Watkins at the edge of the box being held from making a run into a goalscoring position by one  of their two bouncers at CB. When the goal goes in, Ollie turns to his aggressor to taunt him quickly.

[tomd2103]

I dont think Emery will have been impressed with our inability to break their man to man press in the second half. Don’t know if we were surprised by the tactical change but we gave it away constantly until we got McGinn’s backside into the game. Not many teams can combat it when done very well.

Expect the same on Wednesday, but probably another level again. No doubt Unai will have a plan.

Problem was we just couldn't get out.  Them pressing us high meant that Emi had to kick it long every time and their centre halves just won it every time.  Winning battles for second balls suits their two central midfielders to a tee and they had overloads in the wide areas, so always had options out there.  We worked out how to counter it in the latter stages though and got back into the game. 

[VillaTim]

re-watched the Malen goal. The dark arts fully evident if you watch Watkins trying to make his run .
horrible team and approach to the game .

[Stu82]

Only Grealish should have that hairstyle, it's horrid.

A couple of observations on the Malen goal. One, did it bounce up just before he hit it? From the reply it looked like a tricky, more composed finish than it initially appeared.

Also on the replay, you can see Watkins at the edge of the box being held from making a run into a goalscoring position by one  of their two bouncers at CB. When the goal goes in, Ollie turns to his aggressor to taunt him quickly.

The Ollie wrestling partner was so blatant in holding him, but there’s never a consequence, refs just turn a blind eye.
It just encourages this grappling, something needs to be done for next season.

[DrGonzo]

I'm sure our opposition fans have a lot to say about our time wasting, which is rank and sometimes embarrassing.  Win some, lose some.  Fortunately we won some.  Up and at 'em for Wednesday.

[AlexAlexCropley]

I'm sure our opposition fans have a lot to say about our time wasting, which is rank and sometimes embarrassing.  Win some, lose some.  Fortunately we won some.  Up and at 'em for Wednesday.

Bizarre

[paul_e]

The idea that we are worse for time wasting than anyone else is a myth.

[amfy]

I was actually watching the clock as Emi was holding the ball and the Forest fans booing. He never had it for more than 10 seconds. I know it's only supposed to be 6, but 10 is hardly exceptional in the game generally.

[London Villan]

Emi is a marked man for "timewasting". Forest were doing it from the kick-off!

[PeterWithesShin]

Every team time wastes when needed. Every set of fans moan when it's against them and approve when their team does it.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm sure our opposition fans have a lot to say about our time wasting, which is rank and sometimes embarrassing.  Win some, lose some.  Fortunately we won some.  Up and at 'em for Wednesday.

That's a really weird post.