Lille vs Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[artvandelay]

Really easy that. Lots of time and space and we managed it well without ever being threatened. Should have been two nil and put to bed.

Small hold back after, but treated to McGinn doing sprints with a coach. Absolutely brilliant to have his big arse back.

Some grief with the police before the game for the right hand side of the away end, with stewards blocking off a small gate at the top of the stairs. Unnecessary given your tickets had been checked outside twice. French police waded in with batons and gas.

(I said left, I meant right.)

I didnt see the trouble but they blocked those gates at the top of the stairs to make sure people go in the right section. So they let me through one of those gates to get to 21. The stairs led to two sections.

Except there were no signs or information for what gate to go to. In fact the only sign for the J sections was in the I section. Rather than stepping in lower down the stairs and directing people, they let people just get bounced at the ‘wrong’ entrance. Which in turn caused the crush.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Fair few vids of the treatment of fans including this one

https://x.com/bikesswest/status/2032221030362857572

Didn't encounter any of that before the game but we did make an extra effort to get there early.

Had a few problems after the game trying to reach the point where our taxi was waiting for us....police simply wouldn't let us through, just for the sake of it. We walked away and returned 5 minutes later....police  were just getting into their wagon and leaving...so we were able to do our three minute stroll to our pick up point! No issues, no marauding fans, nothing dangerous, so why not let us through in the first place? Because we're football fans!?
We've had a lot of that kind of stuff in Europe, Warsaw probably being the worst.
Sorry for those who had to put up with shit, especially disabled and old farts like me!

[Crown Hill]

Really easy that. Lots of time and space and we managed it well without ever being threatened. Should have been two nil and put to bed.

Small hold back after, but treated to McGinn doing sprints with a coach. Absolutely brilliant to have his big arse back.

Some grief with the police before the game for the right hand side of the away end, with stewards blocking off a small gate at the top of the stairs. Unnecessary given your tickets had been checked outside twice. French police waded in with batons and gas.

(I said left, I meant right.)

I didnt see the trouble but they blocked those gates at the top of the stairs to make sure people go in the right section. So they let me through one of those gates to get to 21. The stairs led to two sections.

Except there were no signs or information for what gate to go to. In fact the only sign for the J sections was in the I section. Rather than stepping in lower down the stairs and directing people, they let people just get bounced at the ‘wrong’ entrance. Which in turn caused the crush.

I must have been lucky where I was then in J21 because I followed signs all the way from the turnstile. That’s how I know those gates at the top of the stairs were to separate the two sections covered by the stairs. I did get there fairly early and that helped. As I said earlier there were a lot of tanked up supporters trying to gatecrash the food and drink queue and then deciding to sit where they wanted in the ground.

It definitely could have been better handled!

[Ads]

You reckon?

[Crown Hill]

Yep

[artvandelay]

Really easy that. Lots of time and space and we managed it well without ever being threatened. Should have been two nil and put to bed.

Small hold back after, but treated to McGinn doing sprints with a coach. Absolutely brilliant to have his big arse back.

Some grief with the police before the game for the right hand side of the away end, with stewards blocking off a small gate at the top of the stairs. Unnecessary given your tickets had been checked outside twice. French police waded in with batons and gas.

(I said left, I meant right.)

I didnt see the trouble but they blocked those gates at the top of the stairs to make sure people go in the right section. So they let me through one of those gates to get to 21. The stairs led to two sections.

Except there were no signs or information for what gate to go to. In fact the only sign for the J sections was in the I section. Rather than stepping in lower down the stairs and directing people, they let people just get bounced at the ‘wrong’ entrance. Which in turn caused the crush.

I must have been lucky where I was then in J21 because I followed signs all the way from the turnstile. That’s how I know those gates at the top of the stairs were to separate the two sections covered by the stairs. I did get there fairly early and that helped. As I said earlier there were a lot of tanked up supporters trying to gatecrash the food and drink queue and then deciding to sit where they wanted in the ground.

It definitely could have been better handled!

Yes J and I were both at the top of the stairs. You were lucky enough to go to the correct one when nobody else was there. Look at all the videos, it’s very clear that there’s no signage whatsoever. If there was then why would people have ended up in a crush at just one of the entrances?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Thought Luiz still dropped back a lot last night. He combines well with Torres so I don't mind that. Maatsen out there would give them a much better wide option on that side too. Onana is a liability getting ball off the back so best he stays out of it. McGinn will give us an extra man in there to play through.

When the ball bounces off Ollie/Buendia/Rogers nearly every time they get it - makes distribution from back very difficult.

I've long thought Onana needs strict instructions and improve his focus and discipline, Thursday was a big improvement and as you say, Luis giving Torres options as well as protection helps improve Torres allowing him to do the things he does best.

Glad to see you've thrown Rogers in with Watkins and Buendia. Buendia especially gets a ridiculous amount of stick despite his effort; Watkins gets a free pass (which he fails to control) with his effort whilst Rogers plays like he's in the playground but probably gives the ball away more than the two combined. He's another who needs a bit more instruction and discipline right now. Wonderful player but he has to realise he can't do it all by himself especially without a ball.

Also lovely to see Bogarde shoving the criticism he gets from some down their throats, he's a quality player in his breakthrough season and he rarely lets us down. Shame Unai hasn't used him more in the last couple of months to bring some much needed stability to the midfield. Unai is extremely stubborn, insisting the players need to play his way despite the evidence it wasn't working.

I can only think he persists with Watkins as he knows he'll be on the move in the summer and we need to maximise his price. Lovely header from Watkins for the goal which will look great on his showreel. Emi B beating the centre half for the headed assist was as brilliant as it was comical, how the hell does he manage to jump so high.

Quite impressed with Lille's Tiago Santos and wondered if he could do a job for us on the right. He was out injured for most of last season but he's now back playing regularly for Lille. Will keep an eye on him Thursday night as he was probably the only Lille player who seemed above the rest of what seemed a very average team.

[Pat McMahon]

Agree with lots of the above, but I just don't get that buzz watching Villa these days. Too many turgid build-ups, none of that crisp incisive passing that was part of our game. Maybe I'm being greedy (or maybe watched too much of the Madrid game last night.

We were saying in the ground how flat it was for a European away game. It feels like we’ve lost zip recently and the fans have lost confidence and belief. It was a really muted evening. Great fun in the bars after though.

Happy with a win at half time
In thebtie

[BoVillan esq]

Just what we needed, build on this going forward.