So here we go, one of those funny ones where you’d think the odds are against Villa given what the match means to our opponents. We’re seemingly stabilizing, they really need a win.
Obviously anyone’s guess as to how that plays out. I like our chances of getting a result mainly because I think Emery boxes smart. Which means absolutely nothing, because my brain and past trauma says this is where the scouse stop their slide.
But Emery is teaching us that past trauma is not an indicator of future performance.
So, I’ve got not pearls. Arne is under a bit of pressure. Emery, less so. They’re reeling and we’re not. A pragmatic approach based on Unai weighing it up tells me we’ve got a shot. They’re obviously not invincible and Villa really have nothing to lose.
Big thing for me is Buendia being out. Not so much that everything depends on him. Rather, it’s the idea that he’s simply not available to influence things, either starting or from the bench. You’d worry about it less if Youri was available. But he’s not.
Just following intuition, I see McGinn playing the advanced role from the right. They’ll throw everything at it from the start. If we weather that, game on,
We’ve seen Liverpool concede. We’re not exactly rock solid. It really comes down to how that plays out. Both teams will have chances. Who converts? So very simple, but I think that’s what it comes down to. Just keep them out for the first 15-20, it’s anyone’s game after that.
Over to you,
Liverpool vs Villa
Historically, this is a venue and opponent we struggle against. With playmakers Buendia and Tielemans missing, I’m not expecting anything. So if we do get something from the game, happy days. UTMV.
£116m Liverpool signing Florian Wirtz is widely regarded as one of the best attacking midfielders in the world and so far has played crap and not scored yet! Just saying…………
You know what that means, jbd.
Yup. Rogers must be worth £130m.
Ha…well played, sir.
Team News:
Martinez, Digne, Torres, Konsa, Cash, Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Rogers, Guessand, Watkins
Subs: Bizot, Lindelof, Mings, Bogarde, Maatsen, Barkley, Malen, Sancho, Broggio
Pretty much as expected.
Interesting comment from one Stephen Warnock, that Youri being out has helped us play faster, contributing to the turnaround. Don’t know that I agree, but hadn’t thought of that.
Rogers off the post.
Cash off the post.
Defence showing signs of overplaying. STOP IT!
Bollocks
Thank fuck for VAR.
You called it 656. Fucking suicide.
FFS, Emi.
Defensive twiddling to maintain control. One goal down. TUT!
Threw away a perfectly reasonable half.
Leave him alone SJM. Konate is only 6ft 4in.
I knew I had missed something. We gave Saleh a record equalling goal.
Our playing out from the back is school boy stuff. It’s way below standard. Salah won’t be given a gift like that for the rest of his career.
Well that was a kick in the bollocks. Otherwise that was a very solid first 47 minutes. The balls to Rogers dried up after a while, but maybe we were trying to get to HT level. Still very hopeful for the 2nd half, Ollie looking very good and it isn’t very often that bouba is the weak link for us. And it would be great if Guessand could get some final product, you just feel that he won’t find the right pass or shot when he’s in…
We seem determined to help them score.
Bummer.
Disappointing result but for whatever reason, we just struggle to put our best foot forward against this lot. Still, plenty of things to like about the performance, even if it was littered with costly mistakes. Shake this one off, win on Thursday and keep the confidence and momentum rolling. I hope it was a tweak rather than a pull for Tyrone. That came from (another) dreadful corner that set them up for a counter.
Yeah, there were dodgy bits, but it really was fine as a performance and I don’t think they deserved two. One of our early efforts go in, they’d have started wetting the bed. But they didn’t, we gifted them one, and they got lucky on the second. Shot was going straight to Emi.
Was expecting nothing. Got nothing. Don’t think we ever will get anything at Anfield by playing passive football. It let the opposition take control and gave them an easy game. Needs full blooded attacking all game to get a result at their place. Didn’t expect to give them both goals either mind.
Looked like a Tyro hamstring Henry. As we lost the last Europa League game, it will need a strong selection against Maccabi.
59 years of observing the omens and portents, I was never confident for this game. We had to give the sucker a benevolent even break yet again. At least Wirtz didn’t get his first goal. I negligently missed the Salah thing so I couldn’t ward that one off. I had one stroke of luck. I missed their 2nd goal so missed the heart attack watching that one develop. Can’t be arsed giving this stupid cock up any more thought. SNAFU!
Oh alright fellow suicidal happy clappers, 6 points out of 9 from 3 very tough games, is great work.
Not my work, reality check from the other lot (well done).
Indeed. A tough run and we did fine.
I might offer thoughts as a separate write-up, but I was mostly annoyed because we gifted it to them. Do everything right, more or less, and you’re in at the half 0-0. Could’ve been us up 1 or 2. But whatever misunderstanding there was between Emi and Pau, you’re down 0-1.
Second one I think says a lot about not playing it out. Pau goes long, comes straight back, and his deflection turns a routine save into a goal. Game over. On balance, that evens out the goal-line touch he didn’t put in our net last time out.
They didn’t carve us apart, we employed a number of variations in getting it upfield. We looked to counter as that’s their weakness. Didn’t come off, deflections and bounces didn’t go our way. Could easily have ended up 0-0.
The bad moments at the back aren’t about philosophy. They’re about players making poor decisions, mishandling, not being in sync. We can say that means we shouldn’t play it out, but their second goal is the counterargument.
Me, I thought the game ebbed and flowed for each team. There were times we were combative, times we did lay off a bit too much. I thought they looked tired at end. But you’ll hear about who they didn’t have available or whatever, and you won’t hear much about Youri or Buendia being out. Which is a bigger deal for us.
So, one of those days away at a place that’s in our heads against a very strong side in desperate need of a win.
Yep 6 out of 9 points from those 3 games is a fine effort John. I might be wrong but I thought Pau didn’t want the ball from Emi and wellied it down field in anger to just get rid. That it came straight back and ended up killing us off was a bit of bad luck and poor defending.
Ah, missed that with Pau there. I’m not sure as a defender that I’d enjoy playing it out under pressure all that much. Wouldn’t mind being the one to get it having cleared the first line, but I’m sure it’s a bit nerve-wracking at times.
Quarter of season gone ,it’s been a series of disappointing performances, average performances excellent performances from manager players and backroom staff
Serious worries have to be made over watkins demeanour his form lack of goals,
The difference in result last night compared to city the week before came down to 3 out of our 4 up front not in the game the ball never stuck and whoever scouted guissand needs never let sign another player thank god afcon coming shortly
I’m hoping Guessand settles down. At least he works off the ball, which is why he’s getting picked. Can make a rash challenge, but it’s interesting seeing how hard it is for a fair number of players coming from the continent. Seems like a lot of the scouting doesn’t translate very well. And these days, £20-some million seems like bargain-bin shopping.
If you have a spare 10mi s watch Justin talks villa,couple of our players stats for Liverpool have to be seen
I think we could hold a separate debate solely about Guessand. It seemed to me during the game that he and SJM were awol and not on the pitch. The Opta stats show that SJM did in fact have some input to the game even if he was ineffective. But the Opta stats on Guessand are truly shocking. What was it? Four touches during his entire time on the pitch? It was as though he’s a leper and none of his team mates wanted to go near him.
He was unable to make himself available in space. He didn’t appear to be demanding the ball. His contributions were more defensive cover situations rather than any attacking threat. We cannot hope to compete at Anfield carrying any passengers and I’ve felt he’s been one for some time.
On the selection front, Unai has given him substantially more exposure than any of the other new recruits combined. It’s time to pull him out of the firing line for a spell to see if he can regain his confidence on the training ground. He had a hot scoring spell at Nice which obviously lifted his purchase price, although his form did wain somewhat before he joined Villa.
Unai’s standard MO usually entails new recruits playing bit parts during their first season with us whilst they get up to speed on the pace of things, how we structure ourselves during games and adjust to the fastest and toughest league in world football. Yet this has not been the case with Guessand. As an average Joe, I’m wondering why exactly this player is different.
Agree with all of that,
My guess is it’s because Bailey’s gone (who likewise wasn’t accomplishing much offensively) and Guessand will at least help Cash and, on paper, offer a wide threat. There’s just no other similar type available unless you put Roger’s out there, and he’s better coming left to right.
There’s been other combinations, but like Rogers, I think that since we bought him, Emery would to see if he can play his way into form. Sancho and Elliott, not at all convinced he wanted them, but Sancho has at least shown signs of life.
My take on defeat was small margins which all went against us,
One thing our recruitment team have to do is get us a few nasty buggers our squad is full of nice lads, bar digne watching van dyke running 60yards to moan at ref mcallaister corner routine we have nobody lads you would be happy enough dating your daughters
Ha…yes, though McGinn does get a bit naughty from time to time.
But the game was fine margins that we were on the wrong end of.
Mings out to at least xmas,he not have much luck with injuries Tyrone
Mcginn signs new contract, one thing mind you it was only one Bruce got right
Possibly 300 appearance tomorrow night a proper legend
Yep, SJM has been unbelievable value for Villa. Thanks for that Spud. It’ll be Rogers turn next. Rumours are that his contract is under renewal discussions and will contain £100 million release clause.
Tyro will be a loss, step forward Bogey. We need Tielemans and Buendia back.
I don’t think we can take any chances with Maccabi tomorrow night. Strongest selection needed in my book and bring on subs once we’re a couple of goals to the good. I know the entire Maccabi team value is less than what we paid for Guessand but that means nothing. We do need a win.
I worry about this game for several reasons. First, despite the anticipated police presence, I expect that there will be some violence in the protests outside. Second, the Israeli team must feel significantly aggrieved (and with reason) and should be hypermotivated to beat Villa, which may lead to a very physical match and the potential for injuries and suspensions. Finally, a loss here leaves our European situation very tenuous. We would stop talking about home advantage and start talking about qualification, period.
Well at least we only had near minor cock ups and Maatsen squeezed one in from some rare sharp play at a killer time, just before HT.
Really not sure that was a pen but the defender made himself look guilty. Penalty king Malen made it look simple.
Yeah, very soft. I suspect they’d like Maccabi to be right out asap.
Nice penalty by malen,another underwhelming performance, when martinez has made a couple great saves
Was a good take.
Really could do with scoring a few more,Watkins and kamara look to be coming on
Could only tune in just before the goal. Underwhelming, yes.
I have to say, though, it looks for all the world that we’ve deliberately kept our foot off the gas. So many options to play forward and then we check back.
Dicking around in defence again. STOP IT!
Don’t know what Emi was thinking there, either. Completely missed that guy being there.
Then Youri opens them right up.
So, job done, but I honestly never know what to make of matches/performances like that. Felt like a training session…and a lazy one at that. Like I said, we declined so many opportunities to push it forward. If that’s by design, fine. If players were just playing it safe, fine. No style points being awarded, and maybe that’s why Emery does well in tournaments.
With Bournemouth coming up, I can see no one wanting to exert themselves beyond the minimum required. But often there was simply a lack of quality in a critical/final ball.
Positives were Youri walking in without missing a beat, Malen converting well. Not happy with the chances we did concede or that Emi had to make any saves, really.
Also thought that late ball into Ollie that he didn’t get under control was sort of emblematic of his season so far.
Whole different ball game when Tmans came on. Huge relief that Buendia seems OK. My individual pluses were the solidity and reliability of Bogarde and Lindeloff slotting in seamlessly at LCB when Torres went off. Sadly, Watkins still struggling and Martinez showing signs of dodginess.
Hopefully the football did the talking tonight and not opportunistic gobshite politicians or clickbait grabbing scum media.
Yeah, that back-line shuffle was useful experience.
Yes. Tielemans is such a huge part of getting the ball out of the defense and into the attack, which is what we’ve been missing so much. He turns it and finds an open teammate (often Rogers) ahead of him and suddenly the defense is stretched and we create chances. Welcome back!
Indeed…It seems to have largely flown under general radar that we got very important points against good sides without him. Instead the focus is on xG, which sure, but without Youri that’s also not terribly surprising, never mind whatever else might be at play.
The view from the terraces. Slow, ponderous, too many changes, fortunate. Maccabi didn’t press us to begin with but once they realized we were happy playing it along the back line, they started doing it. Lost count of the times we beat the press only to play it backwards again to Emi and have the need to beat it again. Did my head in. It’s no wonder that all the players ahead of the defence just stood still, they knew the ball wasn’t going to be played forward.
Couldn’t believe we went in at HT leading. Maatsen’s goal was exemplary. At FT no doubt Unai was satisfied his team had won at walking pace but the opposition did miss 2 gilt edged chances when it looked easier to score than miss. It could so easily have gone tits up.
A breath of fresh air blew through the stadium late on when Tielemans and Buendia came on. At last some attacking play.
Taking the positives, we collected 3 points and sit handily placed in the table for a top 8 finish. We also collected 2 more coefficient points which contributes to the Association coefficient that helps towards P5 being a Champions League spot again.
The negatives, VP packed to the rafters and baying for blood is a fearsome experience. Sadly the performance and ticket prices ensured this never materialized. The performance just never ignited the fans and sucked the atmosphere out of the stadium. I understand the need for rotation but the new faces might at least have put in a shift for the fans. Instead they took Unai’s MO to the nth degree and killed the atmosphere.
It is clear to me that Elliott is heading back to Pool on 1st Jan. Unai doesn’t want him. I can draw no other conclusion for his treatment. Which is grossly unfair on the lad. He signed up to further his career after excelling for England U21’s and these months with us have done him no favours. He hasn’t been given a chance and his time has been wasted.
Guessand on the other hand keeps appearing and I’m not seeing his value and/or contributions to the team. Is Unai playing him out of position? Unai has done this with other players. Lindelof’s lack of pace last night was exposed at RB. Unai corrected it by moving him to CB and using Bogey at RB.
When he’s on the pitch, Malen is the correct choice for penalty duties. You know where he’s going to put it, but hits the ball hard and true which leaves the keeper helpless. I felt quite confident he’d score when he lined up to take it.
I’ve concluded Emery didn’t want him, was willing to take a look, but the 10-appearance obligation has Unai saying ‘I’ll spend that £35m elsewhere’. Guessand is already money spent. Elliott, well…Someone else’ll take him and I’m sure he’ll do fine after six months paid vacation.
That said, I don’t disagree that apart from being willing to play a defensive role Guessand hasn’t shown much elsewhere. It’s just down to the money. And probably Buendia’s resurrection (Elliott). And Buendia being paid for.
I think the jury is out on Sancho. We need a fast tricky winger capable of getting in behind the FB’s. Haven’t seen any of that from him to date.
Yeah, he’s not showing much. Flashes one or two good moments and that’s it. I was begging for him to cut inside and shoot but he always laid it off.
Something in Tuchel’s press conference about Ollie “playing with discomfort”. That was obviously true last year and for the first few months of last season. Anyone know if this is a carry over from last year? Has Ollie been crocked all this time?
PS
I wrote this at 11:38 pm.
No idea…but he still runs and runs and I don’t see any hitches.
Having said that, Emery has either been managing his minutes, trying to develop successors, or both.
Sunderland-Arsenal a very interesting watch. Revises my view of our point. Doesn’t make me ecstatic after leading, but that’s one scrappy outfit.
Just heading out to VP. COYVB.
Buendia 1 Bournemouth 0. Supernatural free kick from Mini Emi.
Long range low slasher from Onana. This is going too well!
Yeah, two really nice goals, and no more than we’ve deserved.
Yeah, that was lovely, jbd.
Didn’t want to say too much til the half, but much better energy all round. Buendia was massive.
Ollie looks a shadow of himself.
Most satisfying first half we have had at VP this season. No need to overanalyse anything.
Supernatural save by Maxi Emi.
Absolutely. Terrible call, too.
Lucky pen to Bmouth. Karma save from Maxi Emi.
Didn’t want Onana being subbed off. Trust the process, perhaps Barclay will score.
Comment of the day
Thank you Barks. 3-0.
4-0. Behave Melon!
Stand out performance from nearly everyone. Just about everything went our way, but when it didn’t, Martinez had it covered.
Notable defensive CF play from Ollie à la Emile Heskey. Buendia got us going and won the first half for us. Martinez won us the second half with two inspirational saves. Martinez my POTM.
HAPPY BUNNY!
Just realised that we’ve got another effing international break to mess up our flow.
GRUMPY BUNNY!
Test
Yes, I have been having to press “post comment” 3 or 4 times to submit my wibblings.
Something odd going on, jbd. I keep failing the captcha verification even logged in as admin.
But yeah, excellent day, really good energy and commitment. Buendia gets MOTM for me, his energy seemed to galvanize us, lovely goal.
But it’s hard to argue against a peno save. Hate to think how that could’ve turned on such a harsh call.
Commentator here was giving it to Ollie for his holdup play, overall work up front. We see it, doesn’t always get recognized.
Just fyi to everyone: I’m having trouble on my end posting as well. Seems to be something with captcha, goes through on third attempt. I’ll try to figure that out, could just be an overall glitch beyond the site. Started happening somewhere in the second half.
Hope I haven’t worn the site out with my ramblings.
Excellent end to week even better doku has just put city 3 up on bindippers
Apart from a 20min spell we dominated and if ref had followed up on a few cards Bournemouth would have been down 9/10 men
Don’t think we had a man of match we had 6 or 7 on top form and watkins is starting to get a bit form back few weeks behind rogers
Fixtures run kindly for next few weeks and then a hell of run in December and early Jan, Rogers and kamara are going to walk a disciplinary tightrope both on 3 yellows
Think this probably goes to Henry’s point about set pieces. If they were anywhere near us when we got turned upfield our man was being brought down.
Lest we forget….this was a massive result. An absolute hammering of the Cherries….except it wasn’t. Must thank the World’s No 1 for a tremendous performance. Not to mention 2 special first half goals that had everyone out of their seats.
Up to 6th and 1 point off Champions League place. Brooks is a poor referee. He let them foul us all over the park. Dirty play them. He booked Rogers for an ankle crunch but let their guy get away with an exact replica.
Having problems posting too.
By the end we had them by the short and curlies. So nice to see Buendia and Tielemans back in action. We’ve missed them. And Barks scored a beauty. Ollie ran his nuts off. Kamara and Onana controlled the game except for the 20 minutes or so after HT when we decided to sit on the 2 goal lead. Always a dangerous ploy but the peno save livened us up. Simply wonderful afternoon and evening!!
I’m a HAPPY BUNNY too. After 11 games we’re above the bin dippers. Oh dude.
Been having a peep at the Cherries blogs. Some of them saying they didn’t think it was a 4-0 game. I tend to agree with that. Their xG of 2 compares to ours of 1.33 suggesting they had the better chances. And they did have some. Emi was magnificent in goal. But then Cash was played in by a sublime Kamara pass and tried to lob the keeper who got finger tips to it. Ollie swung his boot at the ball which hit their keeper. Malen slipped a difficult chance wide. Kamara brought out an excellent save from their keeper. So we could have scored even more. Yep, it was a battering.
It was and it wasn’t. They didn’t create any tap-ins but neither did we. We scored 3 set pieces and a long range effort. It could been anything from 6-2 to 1-0 but either way, we were on top for all but 15 minutes and deserved to win. A bit like the 5-1 vs Brighton a couple of seasons ago.
Fair. It’s interesting how set pieces have become so important to sides of all stripes. I’m assuming their xG was boosted by the peno, and either one of the saves (maybe the opening one after the head clash more so than the deflected lob).
Not sure what the stats say over time, but no longer are they the province (in popular imagination anyway) of the lesser sides.
Note for all Lifers. The previous comment posted fine.
Yes…normal service seems to have been restored.
Great performance and result. No one was less than a 7 out of 10.
I think this is the best football we have played since the end of unai’s first half season. They have a method to the defence which somehow works, and they have a way of fairly regularly getting into the opponent’s final third without busting a gut. I preferred the slow-slow-quick of Emery’s first 18 months, but this version is now getting very good performances. I wouldn’t say there was a superstar yesterday, but everyone looked good.
I hope we can keep this number of players un-injured until the end of January. What is great to see is that win lose or draw, the minites are managed, nobody plays all the minutes.
When you can bring on Barks, Tielemans and Malen it’s a powerful message. Even Bogey looked very comfortable when he came on. And it’s tremendous news about Rogers signing a new contract. Guess we’ll find out in due course whether it contains a release clause or not.
I’d seen either £80m or £100m thrown about in an article a couple weeks back, only mention that caught my eye.
I’ll get a fresh page up, but yeah, there’ve been some different ‘iterations’ over his tenure. To your point about injuries, it’s remarkable we’ve taken 15 of the last 18 points on offer without Youri.
Yes that is very true. Dougie was the player Emery was on all game because of how important that creative 6 role is and Youri took that role after Dougie left.
I think that also tells you, in black and white, how impressive Unai is as a manager. So far this season he’s coped:
– without Youri, Onana, Barkley, Kamara due to injury/personal problems
– with Ollie, our only striker, having to manage a niggle
– with a chaotic transfer window, a departing Monchi and 2 deadline day loan players that he didn’t want
Not many “top level” managers would have us where we are after being dealt that hand. I’m still curious about how long he’ll stick around, playing the PSR game vs the Sky 6 etc.
Henry, I’m less curious about how long Unai will stick around playing the PSR game v Sky 6 etc. He holds complete control over the entire playing side. Finding another club that would offer him carte blanche like which Nassef and Wes have done won’t be easy.
He is definitely capable of producing a title winning team but may need more time due to PSR constraints than otherwise necessary. I’m more curious about how long it will be before he starts tiring of life in Brum. If he loves his work, it won’t be an issue at all, as he’s not only building a title winning team but also building a club infrastructure and legacy that will last for years. Always assuming Nassef and Wes remain at the helm.
That’s definitely one thing Villa can trump the others on so it should keep him committed longer than normal.
Interesting comment on the title winning. Although I call him an elite manager, I think he makes it harder for himself by avoiding having a personal relationship with the players. You can gain a lot of points by being able to connect personally and using it to get players “in the zone”.
Football is bonkers,rep of ireland have had an amazing 4days,beating Portugal comfortably even with Ronaldo having a meltdown, today v Hungary it was fairytale stuff young parrot with hatrick winner coming in stopage time
One player really caught the eye and it wasn’t parrot goalscorer hero but our Irish keeper was outstanding Keller really impressive
Lovely interview with and about my favorite Villan was just released on Villa site:
https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2025/november/16/feature-mcginn–the-story-so-far/
Enjoy!