Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours/Champions League Thread 2024/25

artanevilla · 09-12-2023 8:29pm

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Bounty Hunter · 09-12-2023 8:29pm

15 wins in a row at home. Man City and Arsenal beaten by Villa in 4 days!

Is this some sort of collective dream?

:)

OptimusTractor · 09-12-2023 8:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121476524#Comment_121476524

Hang it in the Louvre.

CSF · 09-12-2023 8:43pm

Missed a lot of that game unfortunately but the result is a thing of beauty.

Patser · 09-12-2023 8:45pm

Is this the real life, or is it fantasy....

CSF · 09-12-2023 9:23pm

Hard to believe we lost the first game 5-1 and lost Buendia and Mings to ACL injuries and the world seemed to be collapsing around us. The best thing about Emery is that all the players that used to drive us crazy are all class now.

OneColdHand · 09-12-2023 9:32pm

Unbelievable. Think i aged about 5 years during that game.

I dont even know what to say about that game still. Arsenal probably had the better of the possession and the chances. But we got our early goal (which was brilliant by the way). Arsenal had their chances but didnt take them.

Panrich · 09-12-2023 9:36pm

Do the owners push that boat out in January or do we stick with what we have? A top class rb would be welcoms as well as backup/competition for Watkins.

CSF · 09-12-2023 9:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121476813#Comment_121476813

You’re pretty much nailed what is needed there. A shakeup is not required, just to add some quality in those 2 areas where we’re short numbers.

Panrich · 09-12-2023 10:20pm

By the way. Arteta was very graceless and sour in his post match presser. He's a bad loser (and most great managers probably are) but he should have been able to put on a better show of class. Probably closely related to why he was sitting in the stands tonight.

pavb2 · 09-12-2023 10:34pm

McGinn epitomises it but the whole team seems to have increased their work rate and pressure on the opposition particularly the last two games.

OptimusTractor · 09-12-2023 10:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477009#Comment_121477009

Emery has honed McGinn into a man of focus, commitment, sheer f**king will.

artanevilla · 09-12-2023 10:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477009#Comment_121477009

I think that's part of what Emery has done, he actually allows players to make individual mistakes once the general system, positioning etc. is adhered to, he doesn't focus on what went wrong, he focuses on what to do better the next time.

As McGinn said in his post match interview, he basically said he scored that goal because he had had a similar chance against AZ I think he said but missed because he made the wrong decision. That was identified by the coaching staff and they went through what to do next time if it happened again and low and behold he scores.

It's that kind of coaching that really builds confidence in players and when it starts producing results on the pitch it just drives it on and players buy into it and are willing to really work for the manager and the team.

circadian · 10-12-2023 1:14am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121476813#Comment_121476813

Just add a wee bit of depth to keep things going between domestic and Europe. No need to be shaking things up. If we finish the season in 3rd or higher then it's a black chequebook as far as I'm concerned. I doubt Emery would even sign that many new players either.

It wouldn't be outrageous to assume emery could attract some players from the top teams of the league as well.

CSF · 10-12-2023 2:40am

Would be in early to make my call for an almost completely changed 11 (having played the exact same team for 2 absolute wars in 3 day) of Olsen, Cash, Chambers, Lenglet, Moreno, Dendoncker Tielemans, Ramsey, Zaniolo, Diaby, Duran in Bosnia, but I think we all know Emery well enough to know that this isn’t happening.

The Rooster · 10-12-2023 7:57am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121476767#Comment_121476767

Would bow to the knowledge of those who watch Villa every week, and would never wish injury on anyone, but might taking Mings out of the first XI have been a blessing in disguise?

Bounty Hunter · 10-12-2023 8:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477707#Comment_121477707

I think you may have seen more of Villa playing with 3 at the back and Cash / Digne bombing forward from WB in some games but it is hard to argue against anything but the players that have played this season because things have gone so well. For example you could easily argue that Torres for example would not have settled as quickly (and he did have some questionable early performances) if Mings had been around taking up game time, nor would Carlos have gotten the game time to step things up like he has recently (as he too did not look the best after returning from injury).

Most Villa fans know what Mings is tbh. On his day he is better than 95% of defenders but he also has a mistake in him most weeks that can cost us a game. Even when he was making England squads (cos Southgate wanted a left footer) a lot of Villa fans were saying that Konsa was the one who deserved that call and was playing as our best CB even though he has since been pushed out to the right.

By the time he is back from injury hopefully Villa have a new RB fighting it out with Cash for the starting birth because that would mean we would have Torres / Mings for LCB and Carlos / Konsa for RCB and honestly I don't think many teams have so small a difference in quality when it comes to replacement CBs... I mean look what happened to Spurs when Romero /VdV got suspended/Injured.

CSF · 10-12-2023 12:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477707#Comment_121477707

I don’t think so. I get why the argument can be made considering Torres’ different skill set and the fact that things have gone so well in the time since, but it’s worth mentioning that Villa were at the top of the form table in 22/23 from the point when Emery came in also, and at that point I’d have said Mings was our most important performer with Doug throughout that spell.

Not sure Mings is going to be able to move Torres out of that spot in the Villa team that have evolved since either though.

OneColdHand · 10-12-2023 2:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477609#Comment_121477609

I feel Emery will play Luiz and Digne. They are both suspended for the next PL game.

CSF · 10-12-2023 2:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478550#Comment_121478550

Luiz that defo sounds clever for actually, yeah, but Moreno needs minutes even more if starting Sunday actually.

sc86 · 10-12-2023 5:18pm

What a day

Id recommend the lower grounds to anybody going over.

Free drink and food for 3 hours before game and 1.5 after. Great value.

The atmosphere in villa park under lights is brilliant

Panrich · 12-12-2023 1:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121479346#Comment_121479346

Interesting. Am going over on 30th for Burnley and was looking at that. Sorry I didn’t add it now.

pavb2 · 12-12-2023 9:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121486479#Comment_121486479

I’d say you still can though you would probably have to phone the ticket office which can take some time to get an answer.

To compare prices I paid £63 for my wife’s seat for Arsenal, Lower Grounnds for Burnley is £140 with all the additional stuff.

Panrich · 12-12-2023 10:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121488613#Comment_121488613

I suppose you'd buy a fair few burgers and pints with £95 (my Trinity tickets for Burnley were £45). I still like the idea though and might go for it next time as an experience.

sc86 · 13-12-2023 10:44am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121486479#Comment_121486479

You can buy it as a add on.

It was 72 stg extra for arsenal game , assume its same price for all games

sc86 · 13-12-2023 10:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121488874#Comment_121488874

No ques for a drink or food.

I saw huge ques for a drink elsewhere pre match at the weeknd.

Thats worth few bob alone

artanevilla · 13-12-2023 11:19am

I'd drink £72 worth of drink no bother. Just don't ask me who won.

OneColdHand · 13-12-2023 5:33pm

I would go with this tomorrow:

Olsen

Cash - Chambers - Llenglet - Digne

Donk - Luiz - Ramsey

Diaby - Duran - Zaniolo

If Moreno needs time, he could come on for 30/35 mins.

CSF · 13-12-2023 9:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121491628#Comment_121491628

Looks right to me, although Digne/Moreno is a coin toss. And we both know that Emery doesn’t rotate much for some mad reason.

OneColdHand · 14-12-2023 5:04am

Newcastle and ManYoo both got dumped out of Europe. This is bad all round for us. For started, they can focus more on the league now and push for the CL places. But also it means that and English team getting 5th spot for CL is less likely now (I'm not an expert at all on this, so not sure how badly it's affected).

CSF · 14-12-2023 9:48am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121493245#Comment_121493245

Yeah, bad all around. Hopefully us, Liverpool and City can go far in our European competitions (assuming we were to finish 5th and actually need to care about the other 2)

listermint · 14-12-2023 10:28am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121493443#Comment_121493443

The notion they haven't been focused on the league is not accurate though.

CSF · 14-12-2023 12:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121493545#Comment_121493545

It’s not, but having a midweek game takes your focus away from the weekend league game involuntarily though.

Bounty Hunter · 14-12-2023 1:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121493245#Comment_121493245

It affects it alright (and them along with Spurs having no European distractions is not helpful) but I’d imagine City, Liverpool and us are the favorites for the 3 European competitions and obviously winning such competitions would put the coefficient back in the positive column.

it’ll be interesting to see how the likes of Brighton do going forward in Europe.

so… we need to just keep doing what we’re doing and try for top 4 not 5.

listermint · 14-12-2023 2:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494187#Comment_121494187

Like we've had... with smaller squad. 🏋‍♂️

CSF · 14-12-2023 3:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494705#Comment_121494705

Exactly, but we will still have that to deal with and now they won’t. Which is an advantage for them. Still fancy us to finish ahead of them, but it was a valid point from the person who made it.

artanevilla · 14-12-2023 3:35pm

We only needed 14 players to win the league the last time, be grand.

LeBash · 14-12-2023 5:51pm

Almost a full rotation of the team for tonight. That's rare for us.

artanevilla · 14-12-2023 7:33pm

This is a study in how to play against Villa.

OneColdHand · 14-12-2023 8:14pm

Zani-goal.

Time to make the subs. Would like to see Konsa get a break.

artanevilla · 14-12-2023 8:34pm

1-1. Need to keep it tight now.

sc86 · 14-12-2023 8:39pm

Duran is not good enough for us.

God help us if watkins ever gets injured

artanevilla · 14-12-2023 8:41pm

Job done. Think everyone just wanted to go to bed at the end.

pavb2 · 14-12-2023 8:44pm

Glad we qualified but I found all the group games a bit underwhelming. At least Zaniolo got off the mark and we’ve rested a few players

CSF · 14-12-2023 9:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121496301#Comment_121496301

There were players rested in most games to be fair. Don’t have the kind of squad that you can just switch out 3 or 4 players and expect the level to be maintained.

pavb2 · 14-12-2023 9:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121496410#Comment_121496410

Yes, to be fair I shouldn’t complain after all we’ve gone from relegation fights to European nights

CSF · 14-12-2023 9:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121496472#Comment_121496472

Championship relegation fights to be exact

Bounty Hunter · 15-12-2023 2:14am

It's certainly going to be a balancing act going forward with the European games as Emery will definitely see this as an opportunity to win a trophy, which Villa have not done for a good while. The highest profile team in the competition now apart from Villa (after dropping down into it) would be Ajax and they are about 20 points off top in the Dutch league and dropped out of a group topped by Brighton.

Potentially 7 more dates now that we topped the group and are seeded for the last 16 but a few months till the next one

Round of 16: 7 and 14 March 2024

Quarter-finals: 11 and 18 April 2024

Semi-finals: 2 and 9 May 2024

Final: 29 May 2024

LeBash · 16-12-2023 12:02pm

Premier League put out a piece on McGinn if anyone is interested.

https://youtu.be/xufR0RELRxQ?si=5Fx1qeZztauXA-iF

Bounty Hunter · 16-12-2023 3:47pm

Dean Smith and Jack Grealish being the Villa manager and captain was a big positive for me as they were both 100% Villa people but (and it's easy to say this not actually being from Birmingham myself) for me Emery and McGinn has been the next evolution of that duo and a step up. So likeable but also such quality. You don't just want them to succeed because they are at your club but you are more proud of your club because the likes of them are at your club.

Pretty cool to see the Premier League putting together such a piece on McGinn.

Hoping for 3 points this weekend obviously but also...

Utd most likely to drop points at Liverpool

Fulham are in great form and could upset Newcastle

and Brighton would be expected to drop points at Arsenal

Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours/Champions League Thread 2024/25

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