***Villa v Champions Official Match Thread***

[Beefymcfc]

Thought it was going to fizzle out to a boring 1-0 but for a superb strike from Villa. We should’ve done better to stop it getting to that point but you can’t stop everything.

Still a chance of the ‘Invincibles’ while Arsenal have a chance of going 5 ahead. Is it too late to catch them?

The rags will beat them

I’d prefer an Arsenal win but they do have a tendency to shit themselves when they come up against the Rags.

[Mase]

Pep got the subs spot on the other night. His decisions were terrible tonight.

[City64]

Thought it was going to fizzle out to a boring 1-0 but for a superb strike from Villa. We should’ve done better to stop it getting to that point but you can’t stop everything.

Still a chance of the ‘Invincibles’ while Arsenal have a chance of going 5 ahead. Is it too late to catch them?

We have been terrible in 2 of our 3 away games and terrible in the first half of the home game v Palace . So we have in general been terrible for quite a lot of this new season to be fair .
Work to do !

I agree. The goals have masked some of our play.

I’ve said earlier in the season that this could be one of those wired seasons where you just don’t know what’s going to happen. The likes of Villa and Newcastle played really well in their defensive shape and notably got their chances from the their left hand side, up against Walker while he was, again, in the inverted or withdrawn position. Note how there was no real overlapping or forward play from him again, a tactic that I don’t like.

Seems Pep wants to go down this line as it allows our forward players to swamp the defence but it does have its set backs, as we’ve seen.

With us now playing with a striker it has become easier to defend against us if that makes sense. We are still evolving with the new system and new players but how Newcastle approached the game against us has shown teams how to hurt us especially with our defence in general being in poor form . We are scoring loads of goals but conceding far too many at present. Difficult period coming up with lots of big games in both the PL and CL .

[Nickyboy]

Too slow in midfield again for an away game . Rodri KDB and Gundo way off it . Cancelo and Walker not doing their job and I will say it yet again John Stones can’t pass a fucking ball forward . Newcastle revisited that all over again we have learnt nothing .

Stones can and does pass forward , he headed forward instead of back to Ed - this lead to their goal .
They weren't way off it , it's fine margins at this level .

Three hard games coming up . We didn't lose today , so far so good . Big six pointer next weekend .

Stones gets closed down away from home every time he gets the ball because the opposition know he can’t or won’t pass it forward, it’s a huge problem for us playing out from the back . Laporte is exceptional at passing out from the back and on occasions has the confidence to push forward with the ball . It’s no wonder we have signed Akanji for extra cover .

Just because you keep repeating yourself doesn't make it true

[patrickblue]

Since the odium is descending totally undeservedly on Stones & Cancelo can I offer a clue as to real problem

Stones & Cancelo are the new Sterling & Jesus.

[s1ty m]

I’m sorry but Cancelo cannot defend

Worst thing is he doesn’t even fucking try. Would be better off putting Gomez in there now and find out if he can do a job cause this prick has proved he either can’t or doesn’t want to. Once again standing nearest and watching the man who scores, no effort to block or even effect the strike. We have enough players who can do the stuff going forward without carrying a full back who doesn’t defend.

He's a fucking dreadful defender.

[Abu Dhabi]

Calm down lads. We do this all the time. It is still our best start to a season in 4 years.

[City64]

Too slow in midfield again for an away game . Rodri KDB and Gundo way off it . Cancelo and Walker not doing their job and I will say it yet again John Stones can’t pass a fucking ball forward . Newcastle revisited that all over again we have learnt nothing .

Stones can and does pass forward , he headed forward instead of back to Ed - this lead to their goal .
They weren't way off it , it's fine margins at this level .

Three hard games coming up . We didn't lose today , so far so good . Big six pointer next weekend .

Stones gets closed down away from home every time he gets the ball because the opposition know he can’t or won’t pass it forward, it’s a huge problem for us playing out from the back . Laporte is exceptional at passing out from the back and on occasions has the confidence to push forward with the ball . It’s no wonder we have signed Akanji for extra cover .

Just because you keep repeating yourself doesn't make it true

Facts don’t lie .

[City64]

Calm down lads. We do this all the time. It is still our best start to a season in 4 years.

Indeed but it is frustrating as fuck .

[s1ty m]

I've watched that equaliser multiple times. Stones defended like a child. Could Ederson have called...did Ederson call? Stones had space and time, many options too, the worst of which is what he did. Really shit. Add in that waste of space at left back, who also marked thin air for the 2nd hideous goal last week, and it became the shit show that it is.

2 subs though. Alvarez must be steaming.

[sheblue]

Calm down lads. We do this all the time. It is still our best start to a season in 4 years.

Indeed but it is frustrating as fuck .

It is frustrating. It's early days yet, we will get better.

[Beefymcfc]

Thought it was going to fizzle out to a boring 1-0 but for a superb strike from Villa. We should’ve done better to stop it getting to that point but you can’t stop everything.

Still a chance of the ‘Invincibles’ while Arsenal have a chance of going 5 ahead. Is it too late to catch them?

We have been terrible in 2 of our 3 away games and terrible in the first half of the home game v Palace . So we have in general been terrible for quite a lot of this new season to be fair .
Work to do !

I agree. The goals have masked some of our play.

I’ve said earlier in the season that this could be one of those wired seasons where you just don’t know what’s going to happen. The likes of Villa and Newcastle played really well in their defensive shape and notably got their chances from the their left hand side, up against Walker while he was, again, in the inverted or withdrawn position. Note how there was no real overlapping or forward play from him again, a tactic that I don’t like.

Seems Pep wants to go down this line as it allows our forward players to swamp the defence but it does have its set backs, as we’ve seen.

With us now playing with a striker it has become easier to defend against us if that makes sense. We are still evolving with the new system and new players but how Newcastle approached the game against us has shown teams how to hurt us especially with our defence in general being in poor form . We are scoring loads of goals but conceding far too many at present. Difficult period coming up with lots of big games in both the PL and CL .

We are evolving and we have to take the ups with the downs, although I’d suggest that there will be many more ups.

We’ll see how this pans out but I’m confident we’ll be in shooting distance come the second half of the season.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Don’t we have a new left back FFS !!! he’s been pretty good (Better than Cancelo for sure )

What doesn’t he play him ?
Why didn’t he play Alvarez ?
Why did he play the same fucking team that was an abomination against Newcastle ?

This draw is on Pep 100% it is .
He got the credit when he made tactical subs last game ,and rightly so , but todays draw was his fault , 100% it was .

Shocking game plan.

[sheblue]

Don’t we have a new left back FFS !!! he’s been pretty good (Better than Cancelo for sure )

What doesn’t he play him ?
Why didn’t he play Alvarez ?
Why did he play the same fucking team that was an abomination against Newcastle ?

This draw is on Pep 100% it is .
He got the credit when he made tactical subs last game ,and rightly so , but todays draw was his fault , 100% it was .

Shocking game plan.

Today he took silva off and brought on Mahrez. It made no difference, Mahrez wasnt any more effective than silva was, probablyslightly worse. The wiser move would have been Alvarez.
But that's Pep, he makes mistakes always has, always will. He made mistakes that cost us premier league games, champions league games, and cup games. That's undeniable.

But he's still the best for us by a considerable distance. He is an exceptional manger but reality is, he's not flawless.
No point in getting too annoyed, it's not ever going to be any other way with Pep.

[s1ty m]

Don’t we have a new left back FFS !!! he’s been pretty good (Better than Cancelo for sure )

What doesn’t he play him ?
Why didn’t he play Alvarez ?
Why did he play the same fucking team that was an abomination against Newcastle ?

This draw is on Pep 100% it is .
He got the credit when he made tactical subs last game ,and rightly so , but todays draw was his fault , 100% it was .

Shocking game plan.

Today he took silva off and brought on Mahrez. It made no difference, Mahrez wasnt any more effective than silva was, probablyslightly worse. The wiser move would have been Alvarez.
But that's Pep, he makes mistakes always has, always will. He made mistakes that cost us premier league games, champions league games, and cup games. That's undeniable.

But he's still the best for us by a considerable distance. He is an exceptional manger but reality is, he's not flawless.
No point in getting too annoyed, it's not ever going to be any other way with Pep.

This is absolutely true, IMHO. His arrogance though, that's another thing. Uses 2 subs when he absolutely must have known he'd set up in the dreadful Newcastle mess thing and it wasn't working again. Didn't correct it...why? Because it would be admitting a glaring mistake? If that is true, not sure it is, it would be very disappointing.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Too many of Peps most trusted players have not started well this season.

At times both Rodri and Foden have been miles off the pace. Walker and Cancelo I’ll not blame as their adapting to a new system, but they haven’t been as effective as a result. Mahrez seems to have reverted back to some of his lackluster performances of when he first joined.

I thought Alvarez for Foden was the play and he went Mahrez for Bern which did nothing.

Frustrating game, but we always bounce back.

[Tokyo Blue]

Too slow in midfield again for an away game . Rodri KDB and Gundo way off it . Cancelo and Walker not doing their job and I will say it yet again John Stones can’t pass a fucking ball forward . Newcastle revisited that all over again we have learnt nothing .

Stones can and does pass forward , he headed forward instead of back to Ed - this lead to their goal .
They weren't way off it , it's fine margins at this level .

Three hard games coming up . We didn't lose today , so far so good . Big six pointer next weekend .

Stones gets closed down away from home every time he gets the ball because the opposition know he can’t or won’t pass it forward, it’s a huge problem for us playing out from the back . Laporte is exceptional at passing out from the back and on occasions has the confidence to push forward with the ball . It’s no wonder we have signed Akanji for extra cover .

Just because you keep repeating yourself doesn't make it true

[Tokyo Blue]

Calm down lads. We do this all the time. It is still our best start to a season in 4 years.

This. Absolutely.

[zuricity]

1. Either play Cancelo in another position or rest him.
2. Drum it into every player including Haarland that when a player is in front of goal passing is the best option . Foden two weeks ago and Walker yesterday , their selfishness put more pressure on the team . Yesterday we would have been well away from Villa.

3. Mahrez is still a luxury , yesterday Alvares should have replaced Bernie.

Three big games coming up.

[stupot]

Not sure if Walker's substitution was tactical or he was injured. If so then Cancelo will be on the right on Tuesday and Gomez can stake a claim on the left. Him and Stones poor again yesterday.
Nothing was coming off for Bernardo but at least he was trying to beat his man and create stuff. Phil didn't even try to, just played it simple every time. Only 1 creating anything was Kev, I'd have taken Silva and Foden off and put Grealish and Alvarez on.