Yuck! Stupid Villa on Wednesday!

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Comments

  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    They're not machines though, Herb. They certainly seem to be naturally fit lads, but even so, you can't expect them to play 95mins on Sunday and again on Wednesday without their performances being affected.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Didn’t seem to bother Liverpool too much on Sunday and they’d played Spurs on the Thursday. I think we were being pulled all over the place by them and were in all honesty never looked threatening.
    Two tough games coming up this week as we were lucky to win both of them at home. All the pundits seem to have this one as at least 2-0 Villa. One pundit went so far as to say he likened our performances to those of Everton, Saints and even Sheffield Utd. He thought Villa was the best performing team of the mid bunch.
  • OutcastLondonerOutcastLondoner
    edited February 2021
    We’ve been underrated the whole season (I don’t mind it that much).
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    OldCastleSwift said:

    They're not machines though, Herb. They certainly seem to be naturally fit lads, but even so, you can't expect them to play 95mins on Sunday and again on Wednesday without their performances being affected.

    But the vast majority of Prem players are doing just that.
  • HamstewHamstew
    A massive problem for us on Sunday was that we just let them have the ball. We were just jogging around after it for 90 mins. It's going to make you tired.
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    Don't see the problem

    Rice and Soucek looked tired because Liverpool were great at keeping the ball

    But even if they were tired, still saw plenty of running in the 90th minute...they weren't exactly on their hands and knees

    Don't see why they not be ok for another 90 minutes here
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    edited February 2021
    IronHerb said:

    OldCastleSwift said:

    They're not machines though, Herb. They certainly seem to be naturally fit lads, but even so, you can't expect them to play 95mins on Sunday and again on Wednesday without their performances being affected.

    But the vast majority of Prem players are doing just that.
    I don't disagree, but I think most other clubs have the option to rotate without a huge drop in quality. We should be able to give Rice or Soucek a rest, given how much work they do, but we can't without starting Noble, which I'm sure you more than anyone would want to avoid 😉
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    Most clubs don't rotate though. Leicester, Villa and Southampton for example play pretty much the same XI barring injuries and never tinker with their star players.
    I do agree with your last sentiment though.😁
  • HamstewHamstew
    edited February 2021
    WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

    Don't see the problem

    Rice and Soucek looked tired because Liverpool were great at keeping the ball

    But even if they were tired, still saw plenty of running in the 90th minute...they weren't exactly on their hands and knees

    Don't see why they not be ok for another 90 minutes here

    I'm just pointing out why the team would be tired. It wasn't a dig or anything I probably worded it wrong. A team like Liverpool keep the ball so well and it gets tiring chasing it around trying to get it back. It's a problem for lots of teams.
    If that was a response to me 👍
  • PrestonHammerPrestonHammer
    Bring out the Clowns!
  • Brother_SledgeBrother_Sledge
    Live on BT Sport 2 , 8.15 KO
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited February 2021
    Think we may see:

    Fabianski
    Coufal - Dawson - Ogbonna - Cresswell
    Souček - Rice
    Bowen - Lingard - Fornals
    Antonio

    Randolph/Martin, Balbeuna, Diop, Fredericks, Noble, Lanzini, Benrahma, Yarmolenko, Odubeko

    This is not going to be an easy game. I think our win at home to them was one of our best results of the season. It should have ended 2-2 & I felt Villa shaded the game. It’s really important we bounce back & don’t lose the game, to keep that gap, but a win would put us 5 points clear of 6th.

    I think a draw would be a really solid result ahead of Fulham & Sheff Utd.
  • alderzalderz
    They are a dangerous side, but they have weaknesses too.

    I just looked at their last four matches (wins against Southampton & Newcastle, losses against Burnley & Man City) on Whoscored. According to the match reports, all four teams "stole back possession" frequently (except City, but they had all the ball, and one of Villa's weaknesses was "gave away possession cheaply", which is kind of the same). They're likely to play McGinna, Barkley & Luiz in midfield - between them they have 9 bad touches / get tackled per game, each of them individually worse than Soucek and Rice. In my opinion, this game - like many of our games - will be won or lost in midfield.

    The other big area of focus, IMO, is that they almost exclusively attack down the left. It's a real feature of their play, with Grealish being their dangerman, but Targett being a good crosser of the ball. Coufal, Dawson, Soucek and Bowen are key for this. Soucek often comes across to help out on the right side. So if Grealish comes inside, Soucek and Dawson should be waiting for him.

    I think we're better than them at set pieces, they are probably better at creating chances from open play, but we are pretty evenly stacked, I'd say.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    I would say we are better than pretty much anyone in the PL at set pieces
  • alderzalderz
    baracks_a_hammer said:

    I would say we are better than pretty much anyone in the PL at set pieces

    Unless we go short again
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    alderz said:

    They are a dangerous side, but they have weaknesses too.

    I just looked at their last four matches (wins against Southampton & Newcastle, losses against Burnley & Man City) on Whoscored. According to the match reports, all four teams "stole back possession" frequently (except City, but they had all the ball, and one of Villa's weaknesses was "gave away possession cheaply", which is kind of the same). They're likely to play McGinna, Barkley & Luiz in midfield - between them they have 9 bad touches / get tackled per game, each of them individually worse than Soucek and Rice. In my opinion, this game - like many of our games - will be won or lost in midfield.

    The other big area of focus, IMO, is that they almost exclusively attack down the left. It's a real feature of their play, with Grealish being their dangerman, but Targett being a good crosser of the ball. Coufal, Dawson, Soucek and Bowen are key for this. Soucek often comes across to help out on the right side. So if Grealish comes inside, Soucek and Dawson should be waiting for him.

    I think we're better than them at set pieces, they are probably better at creating chances from open play, but we are pretty evenly stacked, I'd say.

    #Lawro Out #Alderz In
  • LukerzLukerz
    The keeper's pretty good, I think Mings is worth targeting. I like Konsa, who is a threat from set plays, but Mings looks like he can get rattled when put under pressure. A ball in behind him with Antonio to run onto seems like a good bet.

    Cash is a good attacking RB but leaves space behind. They'll get joy with him against Cresswell if Fornals doesn't help out. I think it's important Fornals stays on the left, with is why I think Lingard will start. I think Lingard will also have that extra final ball quality to release Antonio. Targett is ok. They don't tend to attack with him as much but he links with Grealish.

    I think we'll need to beef up the midfield with either Fornals centrally or Lingard coming in. Not sure Rice, Souček & Benrahma as a middle 3 is going to work against their midfield. Luiz & McGinn are pretty quick players.

    Grealish, we all know, is capable of providing that moment of magic & you can't go near him anywhere near the box. Coufal, I think, is in the top two 1v1 full-backs in the league, the other being Wan-Bissaka. But he will have a tough game tonight. I would image we'll plan for him like we did Zaha. Coufal & Dawson v Grealish does worry me.

    Watkins is a poacher. Does a lot of running so we'll probably drop deep but then we need to stop that ball coming into the area & pinging around.
  • stevesteve
    Hate Villa ,Would forgive the Liverpool game if we beat this lot
  • jay_in_cptjay_in_cpt
    Not sure why, but think Fornals might sit this game allowing Lingard to make his debut...Probably wrong tho!.
  • Cuz1Cuz1
    I wouldn’t be happy to watch him come in on loan and take my place
  • ASLEFshruggedASLEFshrugged
    Lingard has made three appearances this season, played 90 minutes against Luton and came on for the last ten minutes against Brighton in the League Cup in September and lasted 80 minutes against Watford in the 3rd round of the FA Cup.

    He'll be on the bench tonight, it is the Moyes way.
  • YeoldhammerYeoldhammer
    the first of quite a few "doing the double" over another team.
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    We've only lost to Liverpool x 2, Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal so far. Let's keep it that way.
  • YeoldhammerYeoldhammer
    Newcastle*
  • yoyoyoyo
    I'd be happy with a point but I have negative vibes about this one
  • Brother_SledgeBrother_Sledge
    We drew with Citeh 1-1
  • SlackerSlacker
    Jeez that Grealish is cheating little ( expletive deleted) isn’t he?

    Just practicing for later.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Some surprises in the line up tonight
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    No Fornals or Bowen. Two of our hardest working players.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift

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