Aston Villa v Lille Post-Match Thread

[rob_bridge]

I think Emery got the line up right and the subs right. 
Lindelof makes a huge difference.

Lindelof is our best signing post-Rogers. I wanted him to start v ManU as had a point to prove.

Let's see if he starts v SPam as he played well last time

[RamboandBruno]

Only saw second half, we got the goal against the run of play with Ollie ready to come on the sideline. Ollie did make a big impact off the bench but that's with Lille pushing on too. Ordinary enough in truth against a very average Lille team. Lindelof for me was a positive again, don't think he's had a poor game at centre back for us yet. Sancho with an assist and Bailey with a goal wasn't on the bingo card tonight. Maatsen, Torres, Rogers, Onana, Luiz , McGinn, Tammy all meh though.

Anyway, onto next round

As you said Lille posed very little threat and non of their players stood out but you can only beat what’s in front of you. I’d say Torres was steady and tried to get us in the front foot without loads of movement ahead of him, Axis of Luis and Onana did well without being pressured too much but both got around the pitch. Rogers showed some lovely touches and played a few good balls linking up with Sancho, particularly in the first half.

Lots of encouraging performances tonight which hopefully we can build on to click out of our current league form.

One thing I'll give Torres credit for is he's definitely sharper in the offside line than Mings. He was nearly caught tonight at one stage but still pushed out in time. Granted Giroud isn't exactly Joao Pedro. Distribution wise I thought Torres was poor when it was competitive. To be fair, Maatsen's attitude tonight was very poor next to him and Luiz needs to take more risks in front of him to get on it. But far too often Torres forward balls were either cut out or if Tammy got there first he was totally isolated and dispossessed. Maybe movement wasn't good enough in front of him but I'd expect Torres to be better. Lindelof bailed him out big time at start of second half when he got caught under a cross and Giroud looked set to score. Martinez not one for clearing house in that scenario any longer.

Lindelof was our best defender by a long way tonight I thought. Luiz certainly worked very hard in midfield, far more interceptions than Onana I suspect and the odd moment of class like that ball for Sancho. But taking a bit too long on the ball for me, still doubting himself a bit maybe.

Torres played well, albeit with not much threat from Lille. His passing is night and day to any of the other centre backs. Considering Watkins had nearly the whole second half, his performance compared to Tammys was night and day, Tammy was really poor against a very average team, maybe we never played to his strengths, but I can why Emery hasn’t been starting him. Not sure why Maatsens attitude was poor?
Anyway, flat first half, much better second, and all in all a really comfortable night. Think West Ham will push us harder on Sunday.

[AV82EC]

I think what some of us sometimes forget is that with a 1-0 lead from the away leg we don’t need to go chasing the game. As long as our structure and defensive shape is ok very few teams in this competition are going to cause us issues as was proved last night when Lille managed the sum total of fuck all in the first half. It doesn’t make for a great spectacle but trophies aren’t won by being gung ho at this stage. We were constantly baiting the Lille press last night and it wasn’t until into the second half that the gaps started to appear and we got some of our flow going.

Scores for me

Martinez 7.5 did everything he had to and did it well. Much prefer the pinged long clearances he makes rather than the floaty ones.
Bogarde - 6.5 did well defensively didn’t add much offensively.
Lindelof - 7 solid, reliable, dependable
Torres 7 - did well and his passing in the second half really opened them up
Maatsen - 6.5 looks a bit off it at the moment but did his job well and got better as the game progressed
Onana -6.5 much better and seems to be growing into what he’s being asked to do
Luiz -7 very good from Dougie. Caught the wrong side a few times but he started to motor as the game progressed
McGinn - 8 he’s back topped with a great goal
Rogers - 7 that’s more like it, as the game opened up we saw the player we know exists. His movement into space in the first half wasn’t being picked up.
Sancho - 8 assist, thunderbastard off the post and numerous other good things. Best performance in a Villa shirt, more please.
Abraham - 5 static, lost possession frequently and just seemed to be reacting to what was going on around him.

Subs

Watkins - 8 showed why he starts, movement was excellent, gave their centre backs a torrid time and an a’cyst.
Bailey, Buendia, Elliott and Cash all did their jobs well. Special mention to Leon’s goal and the quite extraordinary reverse ball control from a high ball which for all the criticism he takes made me smile.

Emery 8 knew exactly what was required

The seeds of recovery are there, let’s take that in to Sunday. Onwards…..

[eamonn]

A'cyst! Building on the fine work of Percy and Monty.

[Villa Lew]

After not a great 1st half, big improvement in the second, particularly good to see the best of Sancho and of course SJM scoring. Superb pass from Emi for the goal, let's see more of that and Unai, please can you have a word with Doug to cut out these needless free kicks he keeps giving away in dangerous areas.

[Baldy]

A great assessment AV82EC.

Have a feeling Bogarde is under instruction to be more defensive than offensive. Can never remember him crossing a ball in any game.

[luke95]

After not a great 1st half, big improvement in the second, particularly good to see the best of Sancho and of course SJM scoring. Superb pass from Emi for the goal, let's see more of that and Unai, please can you have a word with Doug to cut out these needless free kicks he keeps giving away in dangerous areas.

He's done that his whole career with us , usually 3/4 yards outside the penalty box if not a free kick it'll be possession.

[Dave]

After not a great 1st half, big improvement in the second, particularly good to see the best of Sancho and of course SJM scoring. Superb pass from Emi for the goal, let's see more of that and Unai, please can you have a word with Doug to cut out these needless free kicks he keeps giving away in dangerous areas.

He's done that his whole career with us , usually 3/4 yards outside the penalty box if not a free kick it'll be possession.

From memory, wasn't it one of those that took the Olympiakos tie away from us?

[ChicagoLion]

We really needed that.
Something to take into the West Ham match.

[Steve kirk]

Sold professional performance by the Villa, Lindelof excellent, better from Sancho, regarding our 2 main strikers Tammy was nowhere near as bad as some are making out, Ollie did ok which is an improvement on the last few months, now let’s find a way to beat West Ham.

[Meanwood Villa]

I know they both got through last night but watching Forest and Palace relatively struggle this season has really emphasised how well Unai has got us to adapt to European football. This year in particular has been a breeze for most of the time. Never a period in this tie we didn't look in control, long may it continue.

I think Doug was good last night, as was Onana, although there were a couple of careless moments.

[PaulWinch again]

Ollie was much better than ok - what he did enabled the attack to be much more linked up.

Tammy struggled, and other than good work rate to force the corner that Onana nearly scored from it was not a great night for him.

[DB]

Agree on Lindelof, great signing, played well with Pau last night.
Sorry, but Sancho was poor 1st half, and did great for the goal but apart from that, not consistent enough. His contract finishes in the summer, if he was offered, it’s a no, especially the wages he’s on.

[walsall villain]

Agree on Lindelof, great signing, played well with Pau last night.
Sorry, but Sancho was poor 1st half, and did great for the goal but apart from that, not consistent enough. His contract finishes in the summer, if he was offered, it’s a no, especially the wages he’s on.

I thought he had his best game for us and was my pick for motm. Looked far more of a threat than previously. Noticed he was also tracking back with pace when needed too. One silly moment when he lost control of the ball and it went out of play when he was in loads of space. Based on what we’ve got from him so far I can’t see us trying to buy him. Hope he can at least contribute positively for what’s left of this season.

[rougegorge]

After not a great 1st half, big improvement in the second, particularly good to see the best of Sancho and of course SJM scoring. Superb pass from Emi for the goal, let's see more of that and Unai, please can you have a word with Doug to cut out these needless free kicks he keeps giving away in dangerous areas.

He's done that his whole career with us , usually 3/4 yards outside the penalty box if not a free kick it'll be possession.

From memory, wasn't it one of those that took the Olympiakos tie away from us?

Noted this same thing last night. He was good at getting the ball, but careless in distribution at times and likely to foul in a dangerous position.

Lindelof in particular, and Torres did well, although Pau's long passing in the first half was quite wasteful.

The first goal really helped as Lille had to try to commit more forward and they increasingly lost shape enabling us to pick them off more readily. However, to be fair to Watkins, he used that space very well and hopefully it will give him a boost.