Aston Villa vs Manchester United : Official Matchday Thread 06/11/2022 @ 2.00pm

Originally Posted by Dasilvatwins

The moment he saw them play 4-4-2 and the first goal went in he should have just told VDB to drop deeper and pack out the midfield in a 451. Just overload and control it .

Second goal came too quick . Leaving lindelof in a 2 v 2 is criminal. Yes you’re chasing a game but there’s a whole 45 mins left.

ETH got it wrong, but he will learn about these #@&%!heads. Need the WC break to come quick

Or Fred should have played, not Beek.

He gets a bit of stick but I think we missed Bruno today. For all his passes going astray, he keeps the team on their toes and at least shows some urgency.

Anyway, WC beak won’t do us any harm

Originally Posted by Dasilvatwins

I’ve said this. It’s easier to say start mcfred , but they’re terrible players. They get better each game they don’t play. Hindsight is a bastard, yes VDB was shit , could have moved Eriksen forward but then it leaves Casemiro doing the job of two players

You play The Big Dog and Fred and Eriksen at 10.

Easy really...

He could have played Fred, but then we’d get complaints that he’s playing Fred.

Originally Posted by ErikvanHaaksbergen

Funny how the players I keep calling months in advance as being pivotal to good or bad performances keep being so. Funny that.

League, European Cup & European Championship winning starting defensive midfielder is "shite". OK mate. Don't give up the day job.

Resume your confusion at why/when we play well / badly. It is tragic to read.

The only thing that's funny is your scouse-level of delusion

Then again I recall a few suggesting you might be a Scouse bastard

Scouse bastard or just a thick bastard, your cluelessness is always on display

Originally Posted by andyroo

There was 75 minutes at that point... and we were turning it around too. Maybe not terribly convincingly but we'd stopped the rot, were moving the ball around better, chances starting to come. The goal was slightly flukey but only one team looked like it then. We were right back in it... then shot ourselves in the foot standing back and watching some @#%&! get a free swing at it on the edge of our box.

£#%&! it's frustrating. We did it to ourselves.

The front 4 were quite average. Bar garnacho I think he looked dangerous and was trying things.

Rashfords last chance this season, even with his goals his overall
Performance still looks poor. Ronaldo should be off and VDB probably won’t play again.

If we can get Sancho going , Antony fit and martial in the number 9 we should still be able to get top 4.

A lot of ifs an buts. Sancho hasn’t been great this seaosn either. We need signings . We need back up CBs who are decent we need back up CMs who are decent.

Probably should have kept mejbri , then start him next to Casemiro and move Eriksen up when Bruno is out.

We need a first team RB CF and GK.. there’s big gaps in the team

We will have good games this season, we will have more bad games this season. Ultimately we just have to hope they either make top 4 or win europa.

As much as it’s portrayed , I don’t think we as a club can spend too long outside of the champions league

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

He could have played Fred, but then we’d get complaints that he’s playing Fred.

Tbf most of Fred’s complaints would be justified

Originally Posted by Dasilvatwins

The front 4 were quite average. Bar garnacho I think he looked dangerous and was trying things.

Rashfords last chance this season, even with his goals his overall
Performance still looks poor. Ronaldo should be off and VDB probably won’t play again.

If we can get Sancho going , Antony fit and martial in the number 9 we should still be able to get top 4.

A lot of ifs an buts. Sancho hasn’t been great this seaosn either. We need signings . We need back up CBs who are decent we need back up CMs who are decent.

Probably should have kept mejbri , then start him next to Casemiro and move Eriksen up when Bruno is out.

We need a first team RB CF and GK.. there’s big gaps in the team

We will have good games this season, we will have more bad games this season. Ultimately we just have to hope they either make top 4 or win europa.

As much as it’s portrayed , I don’t think we as a club can spend too long outside of the champions league



Tbf most of Fred’s complaints would be justified

Yeah agreed.

We’ll be in and around top four. Arsenal and City will take two of the spots. Newcastle are flying, but I expect they’ll hit problems. Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool look to have as many problems as we do.

The margin for error is greater too. You don’t need to win every week.

Be an interesting January for Newcastle.

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

Yeah agreed.

We’ll be in and around top four. Arsenal and City will take two of the spots. Newcastle are flying, but I expect they’ll hit problems. Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool look to have as many problems as we do.

The margin for error is greater too. You don’t need to win every week.

yeah all the teams having to cram an entire groups worth of european fixtures in the space of 3 months. Even west ham are flagging.

Our performances have been getting steadily worse since spurs at home. We're creating less and less chances, losing control of the game and today was a right mess from the start. We need to set a standard that we don't drop below because over the last two years we've seen far too many of these games where we lose it in some mad 10 minute spell while our players are like deer in the headlights.

Originally Posted by Coracao

Be an interesting January for Newcastle.

Missing Isak and ASM seems to affect them a lot less than missing Antony affects us.

Might be they’ve leapfrogged us already tbh. Can’t see us having greater ambition than them in the market from this point on either.

I think once the third goes in mentally and physically they switch off. Or standards drop. Even if it’s subconscious.

They’ve played 9 matches in about 30 days with practically absolute zero rotation . Whilst that isn’t an excuse, it plays a part in performance , I don’t think you can dismiss it.

Other factors like players just being good enough don’t help. I think I’ve had enough of lindelof. He is on the bin list with maguire.

Originally Posted by Coracao

Be an interesting January for Newcastle.

Missing Isak and ASM seems to affect them a lot less than missing Antony affects us.

Might be they’ve leapfrogged us already tbh. Can’t see us having greater ambition than them in the market from this point on either.

If the board stick to the no money in January line, could be a miserable second half of the season for us tbh.

Originally Posted by dunk

Missing Isak and ASM seems to affect them a lot less than missing Antony affects us.

Might be they’ve leapfrogged us already tbh. Can’t see us having greater ambition than them in the market from this point on either.

If the board stick or the no money in January line, could be a miserable second half of the season for us tbh.

There's no chance we're finishing top 4. No chance. We just quite simply don't score enough goals.

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

Yep. I actually have a degree of sympathy. We seem to be playing every opponent at a strong point for them and the scheduling for the World Cup has been insane. Plus we were only busting a gut in Spain on Thursday because of some dumb rule they’ve brought in. We’ve got 15 points from that group and have to play two more games in a world mid-season spell. Ludicrous.

We don’t have the squad depth to deal with it and today felt like one game too many. I’m not not surprised.

Freshen it up a bit in midweek and for the love of Christ, get Sancho and Antony back pronto!

What has happened to Antony FFS? Didn't he just have a "knock" originally??

Originally Posted by Sparky***

There's no chance we're finishing top 4. No chance. We just quite simply don't score enough goals.

You don’t have to tell me pal, been saying it forever.

Was told by certain sages there’s loads of goals in this team btw.

Originally Posted by red in cumbria

What has happened to Antony FFS? Didn't he just have a "knock" originally??

There’s a World Cup in two weeks mate. None of them will be risking missing that

Originally Posted by Sparky***

There’s a World Cup in two weeks mate. None of them will be risking missing that

Can deffo see a subconscious easing off happening from this point on can’t you? No way the likes of Ronaldo, Casemiro, Eriksen etc. are risking overstretching for a shit pass and missing the WC. Wouldn’t really blame them either.

The whole thing is £#%&!ing stupid.

Originally Posted by dunk

Can deffo see a subconscious easing of happening from this point on can’t you? No way the likes of Ronaldo, Casemiro, Eriksen etc. are risking overstretching for a shit pass and missing the WC.

Tbf casemeiro and Martinez are the only ones playing at full tilt.

Eriksen was shit today. He’s obviously classy, but I seem to remember at Spurs that he disappears when the going gets tough. He was awful at City too.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Tbf casemeiro and Martinez are the only ones playing at full tilt.

I’m not sure Martinez would give up a loose ball walking through Asda tbh. Would probably smash the kid that bounced it into aisle 9.

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

Eriksen was shit today. He’s obviously classy, but I seem to remember at Spurs that he disappears when the going gets tough. He was awful at City too.

He was at Brentford last season mate. He’s not exactly elite level. He’s been decent at times but he’s played virtually every minute of every game.