Just a quick transition for Villa and me, the second tight turn in as many weeks.
Having finally found a way through against Bologna, Villa went on to record their first league win and multi-goal game versus Fulham, followed by another in Rotterdam to make it three on the trot.
Which makes things feel a little better. Still not the finished article, but starting to look more like the team we thought we’d see earlier. Watkins and Rogers, our two brightest attacking lights, have yet to shine, though Watkins did finally get off the mark. Rogers is starting to look like he remembers what a football is.
Elsewhere, as we’ve variously said, there’ve been bright spots and so far, they’ve been Emi Buendia and John McGinn as far as goals. It wasn’t smooth sailing at De Kuip, but as Emery rightly noted, resilience is rather important, and not just in football. You won’t always be the better team or on the front foot. But if you can weather the inevitable storms, you never know. Villa did just that, got through to a better second half and found their reward.
Now it’s Burnley and another important game before another (and probably well-timed) break. Easy to be a bit complacent, as Emery also noted, but it’s an opportunity to show further progression and get a bit more comfortable in the table. I’d think we’ll have a couple players back following the layoff unless Belgium manage to overdo it with Onana.
We’re going to need them.
But then it’s been another funny season so far and there’s drama and intrigue all round as it’s not only Villa who’ve stumbled out of the blocks. Since we were never going to win the league, there’s still pretty much everything to play for, and the good start in Europe despite being shadows of ourselves makes winning that competition more realistic than it was three weeks ago.
So today again is simply about winning, however it comes to pass. The rest will sort itself in due course.
Over to you.
Fulham, Feyenoord, Burnley, Oh My
Get in, Donnie.
Trademark Melon goal. Running one way and shooting to score the other way. Killer pass from Kam.
Indeed. And he needed that.
Not bad. Those long throws, don’t know why they’re suddenly so hard for everyone (not just Villa) to deal with. But Emi was equal to it.
Otherwise, lots of nearly, loose pass here, poor touch there undoing a lot of moves. But we are trying to move it quicker.
Pleasingly competant first half. We seem to have a more even balance between the right and left sides of the team. I don’t really do tactics but there seems to be something tactical going on between Bogarde and Cash/Konsa.
Is it my imagination or does Bogarde seem to be taller and beefier than last season? Think I’m getting a Bogarde complex. Will he be less injury prone than Kam?
Yeah, seemed like a lot of back three, with either Bogarde or Kamara on the right with Cash pushed further up. Did help give us more width.
Overall, seems to have clicked for Bogarde. He’s done well relieving pressure, seems to be in the right places, been good on the ball. Think it’s probably just confidence, has found his feet mentally.
1-0 tho hardly the page turned, would be good enough at full time. Hopefully the passing keeps getting sharper bit by bit. I’d quite like a clean sheet as well.
A bit of a worry that you could hear Emery telling them where to pass the ball and who to close down
Crikey! We seem to be operating with bona fide twin strikers.
What a beauty.
Yet another trademark Melon hammer shot goal. Nice stuff from Rogers.
Watkins grumpily off so the Melon can get a hat trick.
Ridiculous double cock up goal conceded!
Martinez should’ve been less focused on pushing the player out of the way.
Rogers lone striker now?
That was really cheap shot, knew exactly what he was doing. How Emi got a yellow and not Flemming i don’t know.
Shame Dubrovka had a good game. There was more in it for us. Hate losing the clean sheet, but the win is all we needed.
The trouble with Kam is that he is so effortlessly smooth that it is so easy to overlook him BUT…… I think my POTM Bogarde has out Kammed Kam today.
Think I’ve been a bit hyper today. Where’s my Ritalin gone?
Did our best to give Burnley a shot but 3 points is 3 points. Hopefully Tielemans isnt too far away and we come back ready to rock after the internationals
Yeah, it seems inevitable that when you squander chances something stupid will go in. They were invisible second half, Burnley. Good header, but Emi being silly and no one marking. Konsa was apoplectic.
If you include Feyenoord, that’s 3 games in a row that we’ve conceded from direct corners. McPhee has a lot of work to do, because our attacking corners are dreadful too.
Saw more of it Thursday, but there’s an increasing willingness for Konsa to carry out, and Bogarde and Kamara were doing well today taking that short pass, turning and getting clear.
Course, you’ll see CBs run into cul-de-sacs once they beat a player or two, but it’s encouraging and does help break the predictability in our play-out patterns. We need not to have everything coming out on the left.
That’s 4 wins on the bounce guys. Happy days. Whilst I never complain when we collect a win, I did think Burnley looked relegation fodder. It was a game we should have won with ease but their keeper played a blinder.
At 2-0 we did what I’ve seen us do so many times before. Call it taking your foot off the pedal, but I call it a serious lack of mental concentration. For a full 5 minutes I could see the Burnley goal coming. We fucked around in the LB position for an eternity instead of booting the ball down the pitch and regaining our shape. It handed them the initiative and invited them to get back in the game. They duly took it.
My thoughts exactly. Digne had 3 opportunities to boot it upfield, but instead messed around and ended up giving them set piece throw ins – i think it is a symptom of this attitude weakness.
Where did this ref come from? Buendia wins a perfectly legit header and the ref not only gives a foul against him but also booked him for it. Shortly after, Emi cops a straight arm elbow to the head which the whole ground saw and the ref who was right there waves play on. This was outrageous. During the game I thought Burnley seemed to do a lot of fouling so I’ve just checked the stats. They conceded 15 fouls to our 9. But I see we collected 3 yellow cards to their 1.
Melon of course is lethal from the right channel if put through. Two wonderful goals from him. The players need to work on their passes to his channel and it will pay dividends. Thought Bogey looked solid too. It was good to see Konsa break into the space forward beyond the press. Now he needs to learn the optimum moment to release the ball to a team mate. It will come if he perseveres. Rogers still looks below par to me but better than previously. And Ollie still isn’t getting the service he thrives on.
Onana is back, so too was Barks. But even with 6 subs used (1 extra for Emi’s head injury) Unai found no room for Elliott. What’s going on there?
Overall I saw some progress from the early days but I’m mindful it was only Burnley. Much tougher opposition is just around the corner. Nevertheless, it’s crack, fizz, glug, glug time. Enjoyable week ahead.
In comparison to similar opposition (Brentford, Sunderland etc) the attack has improved, they appear to know which way they are shooting now. But I guess we’ll get a reality check after the internationals. All the fixtures until December are tough and we won’t get many points if we can’t concentrate and apply ourselves consistently for 90+ minutes
It does get tougher…Fingers crossed we’ve at least settled down a bit. And maybe Ollie and Morgan will have a little competitive fire lit with others doing the scoring.
The morning after and I’m still buzzing. I have to keep telling myself we came through a tough European game just 3 days earlier yet managed to get the wins.
But as Henry2 says above, our set piece organisation and surprise manoeuvres in defence and attack are woeful. The wild man of Borneo needs to step up his game.
Might’ve been dodgy, ugly and lucky in places, but that’s 4 in a row after such a poor start. Looking better (not perfect), but solid damage control, especially in Europe. So yeah, I’m feeling a lot better, too.
News coming out of Belgium that Tielemans calf injury will keep him out until after the November international break. He’s not coming back anytime soon.
Great to see both Ollie and Rogers getting goals for England in the first 10 minutes against Wales. Ollie should have scored a second one but missed a sitter and clattered the post instead. Painful but uninjured we’re told. When Rashford replaced him at HT, the running up front stopped as it does when Kane is selected. But Harry is the Laandan media pin up boy.
Ollie has left the England camp and returned to Villa due to injury sustained when he collided with the post against Wales. Hope it’s just precautionary, but he may be a doubt for this weekend.
Team news for Spurs:
Martinez, Digne, Torres, Konsa, Cash, Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Rogers, Guessand, Malen
Subs: Bizot, Lindelof, Maatsen, Barkley, Bogarde, Buendia, Elliott, Sancho, Watkins
Ollie on the bench. Elliott on the bench. Onana starting. Hmmm.
More twiddling around at the back all in the cause of possession and we give away a goal inside 5 minutes. Hammering on the cards!
Total utter screamer out of nowhere from Rogers. Puts his clickbait price up to £90M!
Bit of a shambling sleepwalking disjointed Villa first half but still in the game. Genius Emery tactical tweak for early second half advantage or else we will get run down.
Genius volleyed long pass from Cash out of defense (instead of trademark dodgy backpass), genius receipt of ball from Digne and finally genius placed pass into the far corner across half the spurs defence by my boy Buendia. Fantastic smash and grab Villa goal. Is it possible that Emery might know what he is doing?
Utterly bonkers away win which I clearly didn’t see coming. We were battered in the first half then those substitutions eventually snowballed into swatting spurs away and toying and teasing them for the last 15 minutes. Cash my POTM match for an incredible pass (wild slash?) out of defense and a very difficult clearing back header when spurs were threatening to swamp us in the last 10 minutes.
Rogers get in. Emi get in. A couple of brilliant goals. Oh how I love a win in Laandaan. Buzzing.
Even better after we gave them a goal start due to our abysmal passing out from the back. Parity lasted for about 4 minutes. But we turned it around. Great to see Rogers finally break his duck. Hopefully the dam will now break for him.
Cash had an excellent game 656. Thought SJM and Kamara worked hard. Was a bit concerned when we subbed Onana as he had been dealing with Spurs long throws into the box. But really it was a masterclass again from Unai. Into the top half of the table. Are we really only 2 points off P4?
And I do believe Thomas Frank is still waiting for his first win against Unai. Long may that stat live.
Hooper is the ref who reported Villa for extra balls around the pitch. It led to a massive fine from the EPL. Wonder if he’ll do anything about Spurs using towels to dry the ball the ball for long throw ins. Those towels weren’t available at the Villa attacking end. I’m not holding my breath.
Reflecting on our fine win yesterday, items of note were:
Martinez and the CB’s didn’t stand with the ball like they have been doing, waiting to attract an opposition player. Instead they played the ball sooner but still like to play out from the back which we’re not very good at and it cost us a goal once more.
Konsa has started to carry the ball forward into midfield. This makes a big difference, he just now needs to appreciate the exact moment to release it safely.
Ollie’s movement up front is a big miss when he’s not there. Malen and Guessand are less effective at it. We looked more dangerous once Ollie joined the fray.
Buendia, Digne, Cash, Maatsen, SJM and Kamara all put in excellent appearances. Nothing to detract from those not mentioned, it was a top all round performance.
Unai likes the first game back after an international break. His record on these games is exemplary. Demonstrates he hasn’t wasted the time available.
Finally a performance to be proud of this season, it appears we are getting our Villa back.
I actually thought neither team really created a clear chance, and as Frank said after the game, a draw wouldn’t have been unfair to either…all the better that we managed to get the 3 points with 2 moments of magic and 86 minutes of defensive grit.
Interesting that our 2 goals came from individuals going “off-script”. I love that we have an identity and structure, but the lads have to be able to let rip sometimes. I think that would actually enhance the effectiveness of Unai’s structure.
Ollie looked very powerful when he came on, that’s a potentially season-turning development. I’m still not convinced that Morgan isn’t carrying an injury or niggle.
Still no Harvey Elliot…apparently Unai wanted Paqueta and Elliot was a fallback, so maybe he won’t be made permanent.
Onto the Europa
I did notice that we were moving it a couple of touches earlier at the back…that’s been an obvious necessity for a while now, so it’s good to see it happen. It also resulted in Rogers getting good space in the middle to turn, despite being the hardest fixture so far…
Was away the last 10 days in sunny Germany, mostly for work, and was in the air while the game was going. Very pleasing to land and see the boys had pulled it off.
Very much looking forward to the replay.
Did manage to read one bit with some extensive comments from Emery about the number of teams adopting so much man-to-man and pressure now, how it affects passing, how you have to adapt. Good little insights to where he thought it began (Atalanta, I believe), the managers employing it, etc. Gave me the sense he’s well aware of what’s going on out there and what Villa can do in response.
Obvs doesn’t mean we’ll execute the adaptations perfectly or play well, but he’s a student of the game and our strengths and weaknesses aren’t lost on him.
To pick up from a point made above, Konsa carrying, for example, is a helpful tweak. And yes, the trick is getting him to do the right thing at the right moment once he’s pushed up and given us breathing room.
Playing for England seems to have a positive effect on Konsa. Saw him playing like a right sided Pau in the internationals at the end of last season. He immediately seemed to be the senior man at the back for England as soon as he got his first cap. At Villa he was always deferential to Mings and didn’t have that edge of authority. Has Tuchel played a blinder for us and done something to Konsa?
Double standards on display. Last night the Ajax captain was sent off after VAR review following his tackle on a Chelsea player. The replay shows he got the ball before he took the players ankle. But an instant red card was issued. Last Sunday, Digne suffered exactly the same type of tackle from Danso in the Spurs penalty area. Not even a foul despite the state of Digne’s ankle. I have a big problem with these types of decisions.
Yeah, you’d think the review process could get you to greater consistency. I know it slows the game down and you’ll always have differences between leagues, but it’s the kind of thing that makes a person crazy.
Team news for Go Ahead Eagles:
Martínez, Lindelöf, Mings, Torres, Maatsen, Bogarde, Onana, Sancho, Buendía, Guessand, Watkins
Subs: Bizot, Proctor, Cash, Konsa, McGinn, Elliott, Malen, Rogers, Kamara, Burrowes
Thank you, Plug. Just barely got a fresh page up.
Interesting chance for Sancho tonight. Also interesting that Cash gets a rest, and well, what he’s doing with the back line in general.