I wanted to called it naive, but stubborn is probably right. They should have tried to stink the place out at 0-2 and he gave us an opportunity to play the way we wanted, despite several warnings in the first half.
Aston Villa appoint Unai Emery as manager
- Thread starter DavidDeSchmikes
- Start date
How have they got away playing like that all season? Or have they not played like that all season. Their line was absolutely suicide and surely if this average Utd attack can hurt you, then other teams can too. Anyone explain it?
Because they press high and squeeze teams to death. We played well through midfield and they couldn’t get near us so they couldn’t stop the pass into the forwards.
Today and v Arsenal were the two best games we played this season where we just popped it round their press and it froze them into static positions.
I'd be interested to see how they limited City to two attempts.
Two seasons in a row now he's playing such a high line. We only scored 1 to win last season but could've had 4-5 and Villa had reason to go for the win. Here they got two fortunate goals and I expected them to see the game out after a halftime talk. We have to give some credit to ourselves though, we can be electric at times and forced some deep errors that Emery was livid with.
Two seasons in a row now he's playing such a high line. We only scored 1 to win last season but could've had 4-5 and Villa had reason to go for the win. Here they got two fortunate goals and I expected them to see the game out after a halftime talk. We have to give some credit to ourselves though, we can be electric at times and forced some deep errors that Emery was livid with.
United didn't actually create a lot of chances despite that high line.
The far bigger problem was his players were very weak against the press after the 2nd goal.
The far bigger problem was his players were very weak against the press after the 2nd goal.
In as much as the pundits and everyone else talks about Man Utds failings/successes, I was thinking from a Villa perspective I'd be furious in part because there was no urgency about your team when you got to 2-0, and the few times you did play the ball up to Leon Bailey etc you looked like you'd score, but there seemed to be a plan to be as patient throughout as possible, but with 6 United players in your half I don't know if that was the best way to play. It was like a total aversion to get the ball forward even. And our goals came from turning the ball over. Nothing changed second half from Villa. Watkins was utterly anonymous.
With that said, your lot have been fantastic this season and they did show a real threat at times, and I feel like there's more quality in that Villa team than a lot of the United players have. Strange one. Pau Torres injured?
We play like that most weeks. I don't have an issue as we usually get total control at VP hence the 8 wins in 9 and while away is more difficult our record is o.k for top 4 challenge.
I do look at Newcastle and Spurs playing belting end to end games and wondering how both will be standing come May given the injuries and general intensity.
I think we're pacing ourselves o.k but simply we had no answer as soon as Man. United got the first tonight and were just waiting to be defeated. High line got exposed at Old Trafford aswell last season but ultimately many other teams in last 12 months struggle to cut it open like you did so Emery will just look at that and think it's worth it for all the other wins we get.
Massively missed Pau and Kamara. They’re critical to that system. Dendocker despite his goal was rubbish. Lenglet was atrocious too. I also do think we’re one of the best teams at getting through such a system when it’s having an off day. Also villa are dodgy as feck away from home.
We can never get a grip on Fernandes, was desperate for Emery to put on another CM to try to lock down the space he was getting centrally as it was asking for trouble and eventually we conceded from quick balls out wide (Eriksen can also do this if teams sit off him).
Baffled me when I heard at the weekend he'd never scored in about 12 games v West Ham when he's on about a goal a game (plus many assists) playing us.
Your system should never be a detriment when you're in a position of control. If so, it needs tweaking.
Yes certain players and fixtures just gel well. Spurs have done well vs City over the years.
With Bruno it should've one more against Villa, we had a penalty to rescue a game and Bruno blazed it over the bar at OT, you won 1-0 during our Ole era, Ronaldo should've taken it. I was there in the ground that day side on to Bruno's pen.
To be fair, playing like that at home is a lot different to playing like that away.
They'll dominate the ball a lot more when we go to Villa Park, and we won't find our way around the press anywhere near as easy.
To be fair, we do have maybe the dumbest players in the league to get caught offside so often. Our attackers can't time a run in behind to save their lives, and the player passing holds onto the ball way too long also. There were so many opportunities to create big, clear chances today and there was lack of cohesion between the players, poor passes, poor touches, poor decisions, poor timing of runs.
Though to be fair, Villa knew how bad our attackers were going into the game so maybe they thought they can give us acres of space and we'll be too shite to take advantage. A risk that's not paid off.
I feel like this will be the start of their decline. Title talk starts to become more widespread and they slip up at home to Sheffield then throw a 2 goal lead away to a struggling side!
They're on 39 points and are currently third halfway through the season. I'd say it actually is working pretty great
Yeah, despite the goal Dendoncker was really poor.
Ye I agree. But a top manager would tweak tactics depending on opponent. If your up against teams who have a rapid front line then it’s suicidal sticking with the high line, especially at 2-0. Surely you’d go deeper? They was lucky that we’re awful at timing runs.
Much like Martinez is crucial to ours….
Yeah, Martinez, shaw, Casemiro to name a few. Barely had any of them available this season.
Yeah I was about to say that as well. Villa missed a few players that have been mentioned often in context of their great form. Kamara and Torres for sure, but also Cash and Diaby. But thats just hear-say, havent followed them too deeply. I think, they are the typical dark horse for certain phases of the season. They come up with a great plan for their squad and it works fantastically until it fades away because other teams figure out how to stop it. They can still hurt stubborn managers with big teams like City when they insist to not adjust their game plan. United played well to not let them go into their rhythm but I felt they didn't go all-in to exploit our own weaknesses in the match.
But it was also good to see that we increased our intensity in the 2nd half. I was sure at halftime that this match had a few other goals in it.
Exactly!
Here’s hoping we can get a few wins on the bounce while we slowly get a full squad fit and back.
It definitely wasn't working yesterday though. But it's ok, we've had our fair share of losing from tactical stubbornness so it's about time we got the rub of the green.
It is. They’ve been very good this season.
And playing Diego Carlos instead of Pau Torres was the cherry on the cake's top, but he probably improved a lot in his career I guess. Actually surprised that guy managed to reach the Premier League: here at Portuguese league he was a strong and fast CB but had some issues dealing with aggressive forwards despite being a strong fella.
which is? What’s our system ?
Different worlds anyway. I get what you’re implying but Aston Villa have spent less than 200 million in the last two seasons. We’ve spent over 450 million. You can’t hold both to the same standards, in particular when relating to squad depth when one is outspending the other by more than double. United will be expected to manage injuries/suspensions a lot better.
Diaby has been off form tbf so has been dropped. But yeah with a team like Villa it works well until you start losing one or two players. Then it will get exposed and decent teams will rip it, luckily for them they’re not long term. They simply don’t have the depth in squad to deal with missing key men and that isn’t a criticism. They don’t have the finance to stack their squad like others.
We had an Xg of just over 1 and none of the goals came from them having a high line. The first comes from a high turnover in their third and quick transition, the second from a cross into the box and poor box defending and the third from a corner. What am I missing?
I’m not explaining the system to you. It’s been done to death at this point.
Bringing money spent in to the equation is also disingenuous and moving the goalposts to suit an agenda.
The fact is the points are identical.
Does Monchi get much of the credit in Villa circles for how the club has turned around? You only hear the media talk about Emery, but Monchi was very highly regarded during his time at Sevilla.
I'm not just talking about the goals. There was a huge gap of space between their defence and goalie which we exploited all night long with Hojlund, Ganacho and Rashford.
Without the 800 offsides due to bad timing, we could have scored a bucket load.
The “800 offsides due to bad timing” are due to their tactics and playing the offside trap to perfection as they have all season.
It weren't working last night though! That's the point. Playing off the cuff of the last defender is one of our (very few) strengths and Emery didn't adjust for it.
That's all there is to it.
Not necessarily
Asking for trouble then. Good managers change tactics throughout the game especially when we kept giving them a scare time after time only if we wasn’t offside all the time.
Erik > Unai.
Bald is best.
Bald is best.
It is absolutely in no way disingenuous and completely relevant. When discussing the ramifications of missing players squad depth and transfer spend is very relevant. They literally go hand in hand.
Agenda?
Come on man have some self awareness.This is literally an Aston Villa thread, which you’ve come into and replied to a post and have now made it about Manchester United.
Bare in mind that in the quoted post Manchester United were given positive praise but you saw the injury line and decided to make a comment about Martinez, a Manchester United player in an Aston Villa thread.
You can’t really do that and then accuse people of agenda posting. You have literally come into this thread with an agenda and narrative you’re trying to push relating to (I suspect) Manchester United and injuries. A thread that is titled ‘Aston Villa appoint Unai Emery as manager’.
If you want to bang the drum about United being given some leeway for injuries I’d probably go and do it in a Manchester United thread. It does look a bit silly going into an Aston Villa thread and then turning a discussion about them into Manchester United’s injuries and then accusing people in that thread who post about Aston Villa as having agendas.
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His away record has always been below par.
I remember Sevilla getting into the top 4 in La Liga whilst managing to win ZERO away games all season. It's definitely a weakness of his and the game yesterday showed it quite clearly.
I remember Sevilla getting into the top 4 in La Liga whilst managing to win ZERO away games all season. It's definitely a weakness of his and the game yesterday showed it quite clearly.
Any title talk was completely fanciful. Maybe if we'd beaten Arsenal and Man. City in April but silly when there's still over half the season left.
We also aren't getting anywhere near 90 points, even in the miracle Leicester year they actually could've won that league with low 70s IIRC so was a massive drop off that year compared to now.
70 points is still realistic though unless our home form really drops off in second half of the season.
Please explain it again, maybe I struggle with understanding it. Repetition always helps.
It is absolutely in no way disingenuous and completely relevant. When discussing the ramifications of missing players squad depth and transfer spend is very relevant. They literally go hand in hand.
Agenda?
This is literally an Aston Villa thread, which you’ve come into and replied to a post and have now made it about Manchester United.
Bare in mind that in the quoted post Manchester United were given positive praise but you saw the injury line and decided to make a comment about Martinez, a Manchester United player in an Aston Villa thread.
You can’t really do that and then accuse people of agenda posting. You have literally come into this thread with an agenda and narrative you’re trying to push relating to (I suspect) Manchester United and injuries. A thread that is titled ‘Aston Villa appoint Unai Emery as manager’.
If you want to bang the drum about United being given some leeway for injuries I’d probably go and do it in a Manchester United thread. It does look a bit silly going into an Aston Villa thread and then turning a discussion about them into Manchester United’s injuries and then accusing people in that thread who post about Aston Villa as having agendas.
Shall keep this brief.
You were talking about United in a Villa thread. I replied to you.
You stated Pau and Kamara are crucial to the system they play. I pointed out Martinez (and Casemiro I guess) are both crucial to ours.
Both points are true and factual. I’ll not sure what you’re arguing about really unless you disagree that Martinez and Casemiro are important.
Possibly your own self awareness needs looking at?
You've been linked with him haven't you....
I don't mind him as much as most of our fanbase (as he's a bit of a whipping boy when he plays and we lose) but someone who isn't quite good enough to feature regularly for the level we're at. Would do a solid job for a Palace, Fulham or indeed Everton though. Nuno at Forest will probably be interested as he was a regular at Wolves.