Aston Villa vs Newcastle pre-match thread

[Brazilian Villain]

The best defensive paring is Mings and Konsa and that’s what should start. Pau is decent but can’t head the ball too well or run fast. Not good attributes in a centre back. Granted, he’s far better offensively.

Exactly, and the defensive stats improved markedly once Torres was out injured and Mings stepped in .

And we're off! Really feels like the season is upon us now.

[rob_bridge]

The best defensive paring is Mings and Konsa and that’s what should start. Pau is decent but can’t head the ball too well or run fast. Not good attributes in a centre back. Granted, he’s far better offensively.

Exactly, and the defensive stats improved markedly once Torres was out injured and Mings stepped in .

And we're off! Really feels like the season is upon us now.

Do we score more when Pau starts?

I prefer Torres against the better footballing sides whereas the Everton, Leeds, Palace, Wolves 'battles' would pick Mings

[Dave]

The best defensive paring is Mings and Konsa and that’s what should start. Pau is decent but can’t head the ball too well or run fast. Not good attributes in a centre back. Granted, he’s far better offensively.

Exactly, and the defensive stats improved markedly once Torres was out injured and Mings stepped in .

And we're off! Really feels like the season is upon us now.

Do we score more when Pau starts?

I prefer Torres against the better footballing sides whereas the Everton, Leeds, Palace, Wolves 'battles' would pick Mings

Although if we have designs on being the sort of side that controls games rather than invites teams onto us, those "battles" shouldn't become battles in the first place because we're in charge and the game takes place in their half.

The best scenario is that we find out how to make the defence of the first half of 23-24 come back.

The perfectly-drilled, unbeatable high line one, meaning we don't need Mings because we're not camped in our own box needing someone to head everything away.

[VillaTim]

Torres is Unai's key player - as soon as he is fit, he is in the team. Only one player has started more games for Unai than Torres. No way will he drop him for Mings, as we saw last season.

You're going to be disappointed . Very much a squad game now given how many fixtures we'll have .

[PaulWinch again]

The best defensive paring is Mings and Konsa and that’s what should start. Pau is decent but can’t head the ball too well or run fast. Not good attributes in a centre back. Granted, he’s far better offensively.

Exactly, and the defensive stats improved markedly once Torres was out injured and Mings stepped in .

And we're off! Really feels like the season is upon us now.

Do we score more when Pau starts?

I prefer Torres against the better footballing sides whereas the Everton, Leeds, Palace, Wolves 'battles' would pick Mings

Although if we have designs on being the sort of side that controls games rather than invites teams onto us, those "battles" shouldn't become battles in the first place because we're in charge and the game takes place in their half.

The best scenario is that we find out how to make the defence of the first half of 23-24 come back.

The perfectly-drilled, unbeatable high line one, meaning we don't need Mings because we're not camped in our own box needing someone to head everything away.

Yep and that’s just it. The whole defensive team structure needs to function better.

[VillaTim]

Exactly, and the defensive stats improved markedly once Torres was out injured and Mings stepped in .

 meaning we don't need Mings because we're not camped in our own box needing someone to head everything away.

He does a lot more than just that . Leadership , organisation, etc and i think you know that . Torres USP is his passing and even that hasn't been on form for a while now .

[pauliewalnuts]

I prefer Torres against the better footballing sides whereas the Everton, Leeds, Palace, Wolves 'battles' would pick Mings

I agree with this.

[ChicagoLion]

I prefer Torres against the better footballing sides whereas the Everton, Leeds, Palace, Wolves 'battles' would pick Mings

I agree with this.

So do I , sort of.
The problem is I wouldn’t rate Pau’sndefensive ability above Mings regardless of the type of forwards we are up against. Looks like we are saying we prefer Pau when we don’t have to defend.

[PaulWinch again]

Well yes, but that assumes we’re not talking about Pau when he’s not at his best. He definitely was under par for much of last season, and whilst it’s true he’s not a dominant centre-half, the idea he can’t defend is just nonsense.

[villa for life]

He can’t defend

[PaulWinch again]

He can. Just opinion and all that, but you don’t play internationally and in the top flight in Spain and England as a centre-half if you “can’t defend”. Remember who was playing centre-half pretty much all season when we finished 4th?

[villa for life]

You just have to look at the amount of goals we concede when he plays to know he’s not good enough.

When he plays, the burden is on the attackers to score more than we let in.

[PaulWinch again]

Bit simplistic, if a player were that big of a drag on a team they wouldn’t be playing regularly in the team that secured our highest finish in decades. Might also want to think about that we score more goals with him coordinating the play.

[VillaTim]

You just have to look at the amount of goals we concede when he plays to know he’s not good enough.

When he plays, the burden is on the attackers to score more than we let in.

Cost us in the big games last season , might be Emery's biggest blind spot , though he has started to acknowledge the issue at least .

[villa for life]

You just have to look at the amount of goals we concede when he plays to know he’s not good enough.

When he plays, the burden is on the attackers to score more than we let in.

Cost us in the big games last season , might be Emery's biggest blind spot , though he has started to acknowledge the issue at least .

Yes, spot on. A real blind spot. What makes you think Emery is starting to acknowledge the issue?