Aston Villa v Chelsea Post-Match Thread

[Villa Lew]

At the end I was just happy it was only 4, in the end they almost looked like they were gonna score every time they attacked, sadly when SJM and Youri return, it'll probably be too late for CL qualification.

[pauliewalnuts]

Chucking away Champions League qualification from the position we’d gotten ourselves into would be unacceptable.

If unacceptable happens you would obviously  want Unai to be sacked?

No. I always find this type of reaction odd, you can be critical of the the team and still support it. The levels of performance of late, both tactical and physical, have not been good enough and yesterday’s performance and result was unacceptable. “Unacceptable” does not mean sack everyone - it means don’t do it again. Unai needs to reflect as what he’s doing at the moment is not working. I still think he’s the right man, but he’s not infallible and he needs to stop repeating very obvious mistakes.

But you said "unacceptable" which to me means you are saying his position is not acceptable?

That's flawed logic.

[aj2k77]

We were thoroughly outplayed all over the pitch. They attacked with pace out wide and deft touches through the middle. Our fullbacks we're totally exposed time and time again and the center of the pitch we chased shadows and pressed at the wrong moments leaving us being ran at too often. The center backs we're unfortunately all over the place with the ball over the top. Martinez again parried a weakish shot in to danger.

The midfield continue to give the ball away sloppily allowing attacks from transition which we struggle to deal with due to our lack of pace throughout the team. Chelsea looked physical, quick and accomplished at one touch football and we're good value for their win.

The starting selection of Buendia, Bailey and Watkins set the tone for more of the same and things have caught up with us. It was a poor night from the 2nd minute onwards and that includes from the management. We won't finish in the top 5 now, we've done one of our famous collapse jobs.

The transfer windows are showing the full effect of how bad a job Monchi did and January's appear lazy in ''getting the old band back together' a lack of planning and imagination.

A great season is fizzling out, we punched well above our weight for 60% of it but we're punching below it now.

[Bobby Boy]

I didn't think we were terrible, but we had Ollie on the end of our chances and they didn't. And he was one of our best players, apart from in front of goal. We tried, we battled, we ran, but weren't good enough. I give a lot of credit to Chelsea, who I thought were as good as I've seen at VP this year, they were brutally efficient at exposing our structural and individual weaknesses and it was something of a relief they declared at 4. Their speed in transition was something else, quickly getting the ball forward and wide to get us on the back foot and pinned in our half.

They had clearly identified that Rogers either doesnt get back at all or if he does, is attracted to the ball centrally leaving loads of space behind to get the full back into, and did it over and over without a reaction.

In all I thought that they did to us what we are capable of doing do weaker teams when we are on it, creating a few chances, taking them, then keeping the ball and killing the game. Someone said there is a smell of the end of a era and I can see something in that, we look a little old, lacking in vigour, pace, aggression and ideas.

I hope Unai sticks around to supervise a rebuild.

Chelsea were good because we played into their hands. With the team selection and formation we gave them everything they could have asked for.

Only having two in the middle was asking to be dominated there and we were. We stood off them and let them play.

Suicide.

We played some nice stuff ourselves of course. Created some good chances. Had some nice moves.

But with the way the team were set up we had no chance over 90 minutes. They were going to get through us.

Emery's job is to give us the best chance to win every week. That has to mean tweaking things to take the opponent into account. He doesn't feel prepared to do that.

[Walmley_Villa]

Outplayed by a young, hungry team that cost 3 x ours at least. No surprises there unfortunately.
However on transfers we can't just lay all the blame on Monchi - Unai has to have input and is also culpable. The fact we have Bailey, Mings, Konsa, Cash, Luiz, Buendia shows how little the squad has actually evolved and is aging and declining.

It feels like Konsa and Mings have been our CB's for the last 10 years.

[andyh]

There have been so many things wrong all over the team for weeks now.
But I am sick and tired of seeing Buendia buzzing around like an annoying gnat but causing more problems to his own team than to the opposition.
I have lost count of the number of times he has wafted his boot in an attempt to make a tackle, loses it and then just stands and watches, throwing his arms in the air, as the opponent jogs away with the ball.

[PeterWithe]

Given that Garnacho was killing us and Fernandes was doing most of the feeding of him, there was a strong argument for us putting Konsa, our best man marker, to RB on the former, and Bogarde to get close to the latter. But I suppose by then we were behind and its a negative change.

[astonvilla82]

I think we should change the ownership and management of the club ,who will spend billions of pounds or euros on players, because the present ownership have purchased players who should have realized they were going to be shit,we should be like Manchester United and Chelsea who have spent billions and are near and around us, anyone who scouted the like of Bailey again should be given a first and final warning,I mean I could see he was shit when warming up on first game

[PeterWithe]

There have been so many things wrong all over the team for weeks now.
But I am sick and tired of seeing Buendia buzzing around like an annoying gnat but causing more problems to his own team than to the opposition.
I have lost count of the number of times he has wafted his boot in an attempt to make a tackle, loses it and then just stands and watches, throwing his arms in the air, as the opponent jogs away with the ball.

He has an infuriating habit of challenging for the ball from the wrong side allowing himself to get rolled easily. But I have never been a big fan so there is a bit of bias there.

[dorsetvillian]

This morning doesn't seem to make me feel any more optimistic. I was furious when hearing the lineup, and the performance confirmed what we all knew. Unai has been a magician since arriving, and getting Villa into the position we were at Xmas was incredible. However, he hasn't managed to get a tune out of the team since the injuries and seems to be as lost as the players. Our one hope is the return of McGinn and Touri.

[john e]

There have been so many things wrong all over the team for weeks now.
But I am sick and tired of seeing Buendia buzzing around like an annoying gnat but causing more problems to his own team than to the opposition.
I have lost count of the number of times he has wafted his boot in an attempt to make a tackle, loses it and then just stands and watches, throwing his arms in the air, as the opponent jogs away with the ball.

He has an infuriating habit of challenging for the ball from the wrong side allowing himself to get rolled easily. But I have never been a big fan so there is a bit of bias there.

True that about the Bias thing
if we’re honest we all have a bit of conscious or even unconscious bias

I always had a problem with players who arn’t comfortable with the ball and struggle to control it,
Probably to a ridiculously stupid level

So Ming’s, Konsa, Watkins, Onana, Tammy come with a negative bias from the off
Whereas McGinn, Pau, Buendia, Malen would always get a more positive reaction from me even when they’re having bad games

I’ve picked the players out that have come in for criticism in the past. Players like Kamara and Tielamans we know our fucking brilliant.

A lot of us are like that on here you know exactly which posters are gonna moan about certain players I’m no different to anyone else in that respect

[The Edge]

PS, Ollie missed chances but Tammy missed the easiest of the lot, although there only seemed to be about half a dozen left to witness it.

You'll have to refresh my memory. I recall Tammy hitting the bar with a looping header that wasn't easy. I saw Watkins 8 yards out with only the keeper to beat and he didn't even get a shot in. Similar in the first half but not quite such a golden opportunity.

[LeeS]

Why is Unai above criticism from some on here? And why, when he is criticised (completely fairly because he’s having a mare at the moment) do people reach for the smelling salts?

He’s human. He’s capable of making mistakes. He’s also capable of putting those mistakes right. I hope he does. I believe he will. But he’s not having a good few weeks.

[TheToffnar]

Why is Unai above criticism from some on here? And why, when he is criticised (completely fairly because he’s having a mare at the moment) do people reach for the smelling salts?

He’s human. He’s capable of making mistakes. He’s also capable of putting those mistakes right. I hope he does. I believe he will. But he’s not having a good few weeks.

Not sure there's many left who consider him untouchable. Thankfully, we seem past the point where criticizing him is perceived the same way as calling for his head.

[LeeB]

PS, Ollie missed chances but Tammy missed the easiest of the lot, although there only seemed to be about half a dozen left to witness it.

You'll have to refresh my memory. I recall Tammy hitting the bar with a looping header that wasn't easy. I saw Watkins 8 yards out with only the keeper to beat and he didn't even get a shot in. Similar in the first half but not quite such a golden opportunity.

You could've read War and Peace in the time it took him to get his shot away for that chance.