Post Match Aston Villa 2:1 Leicester City

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I’m just getting more and more arsey as the minutes pass.

I still think we largely completely battered them and were undone by a freak result and goalkeeping performance.

Doesn’t make it any less ****ing depressing. Won’t be booking any flights home for a while now.
 
I’m just getting more and more arsey as the minutes pass.

I still think we largely completely battered them and were undone by a freak result and goalkeeping performance.

Yes this is how I feel, unfortunately the timezone I am in means I got up at 5am to watch this, drank a few beers and have a whole day of (unproductive) work to contend with.

Gutted is an understatement.
 
The first part of that is hardly unexpected, our team is very young...

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This was from earlier in the season but still probably reasonable accurate.

We talk a lot about our players not being up for big games. I think it's a mentality thing more than age/experience. Some players can step up on the big stage at a young age or are talismen for their team (e.g. Grealish). Some players will go missing (Ozil).

It's not because of those 247 days that we have been completely outplayed by Liverpool twice this season.
 
Still so ****ing angry at the Gray substitution. What a shambles.

What do you think Albrighton would have done in that situation?

Thrown his whole ****ing body and soul at the ball to stop the cross, that's what
 
Really depressed. Some thoughts from last night:
  • If that's not handball, I don't know what is. I also haven't a clue what use VAR is if it can't give that.

  • Our fans performance was quite poor at a time that we needed to be most encouraging the players. Between their goal and ours, we were silent.

  • Kasper being the on field captain doesn't work. No doubt he's a leader and if he played in any other position he'd be fine, but sometimes the captain needs to be in the refs ear - especially around time wasting. That often happens from goal kicks and thrown ins but Kasper can't run the length of the pitch to make the point. I also think with a young team, they need the encouragement of their captain and while Kasper has always been vocal, I didn't see him doing much of that in recent weeks (when we've really needed it).

  • The talk that this team is better than the title winning side can be closed right now. That team had absolute balls of steel when it came to high pressure, must win matches. This team wilts in those situations. The title winning team were also able to play a style of football which other teams couldn't defend against. Since the Man City and Liverpool games, this team have been worked out.

  • Rodgers has shown really tactical naivety in the past few weeks. It was obvious from the first few minutes that we were getting battered down the right hand side with Grealish doubling up. It was no surprise when we conceded the first goal, but we didn't change it. We also never got to grips with Grealish. If Villa go down and we sell Maddison, I hope we go for him.

  • What has Albrighton got to do to get on the pitch? Several poor performances from Gray and he still doesn't look any closer. I'd be happy to let Gray and his giant shoe collection go. 4 years on and he's still a Championship player. Lacks the desire to ever make it at the top and if every manager since Claudio hasn't fancied him or been able to get more out of him, I doubt we ever will.
 
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I’ve slept on it and I still think it was a cowardly performance after their opener. I usually forget about it as soon as I’m home from a match. This one has got to me.
 
It's nights like these which will turn our boys into men. How else are they supposed to learn? This is the process by which we become an experienced team.

We shall lick our wounds but I'll be damned if next season will be the same in these big matches. This will hurt, and I hope it hurts real bad. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and this will make us stronger just like Liverpool doing everything right and still not winning the title last season made them stronger this season.

Keep this team together, keep the morale high, keep the faith and keep learning as one and next season will be phenomenal.
Interesting point. When we lost to Watford in that semi, it sparked something brilliant next season. Hopefully we won’t have to wait til next season. FA cup anyone?
 
I guess it does depend on the team, the management and individual players.

But I have a feeling this team will be able to bounce back and be stronger from the cruel nature of this as opposed go crumbling for the following reasons:

1. We have an excellent manager who has a lot to prove in the PL, someone who himself came desperately close to legendary success with Liverpool. Since he has become a winner in Scotland and that feeling will have rubbed off on him. He will be rallying the players and motivating them.

2. I genuinely believe we have a group of very talented players who are hungry and desperate to do well.

3. We reportedly have excellent camaraderie at the club. That IMO will make all the difference in terms of learning to deal with matches like this as a unit. After all this is a team sport.

4. Experience of this doesn't guarantee that we will learn from it. But it will give a taste of what this feels like and hopefully the team won't want to feel it again. In the league we've been winning more than not this season, we are 3rd!!! So hopefully the lads will remember that 8 game run and do whatever they can to get addicted to winning.
 
In general though we need a bit of a re-shape with some dead wood out and some new talent in.

BR hasn't even had a full year at the club so this will take time. With regard to tactical naivety, the same thing - this squad, these players...they will take time to adapt. Some won't be up to the job. But you have to trial it first.

It's going to take this and then the summer transfer window to really shape things up, Rome wasn't built in a day.
 
We need to look at what the opposition are good at. That's both Burnley and Villa who have had it easy as we've left Ricardo to defend the entire right side of the pitch. Certain teams are more than happy for us to have loads of possession and take shots from range and take shit corners over and over again. Occasionally you have to accept they're not just going to let you score. Our goal was scored in a rare moment of positive forward movement. I'd love us to win something this year but can't see it unless Brendan allows some flexibility to our game
 
I'm no apologist for Gray but you did see Grealish on the wing I hope? He did and that clearly influenced how he couldn't go full on to stop the cross. The problem was that he was alone with two players.
 
What do you think Albrighton would have done in that situation?

Thrown his whole ****ing body and soul at the ball to stop the cross, that's what
Absolutely. He was the one. Gray over Albrighton is ****ing criminal.
 
I'm no apologist for Gray but you did see Grealish on the wing I hope? He did and that clearly influenced how he couldn't go full on to stop the cross. The problem was that he was alone with two players.
You have to be able to use your brain and decide upon the biggest threat. Anyone with half an ounce of intelligence could see that the cross needed to be stopped.
 
You have to be able to use your brain and decide upon the biggest threat. Anyone with half an ounce of intelligence could see that the cross needed to be stopped.

Problem is he just stood there doing nothing - if he had opted to push it out wide he wouldn’t have got close enough to deal with Grealish either

Cut out the immediate danger, then worry about the next one if it happens

Although he was indeed left on his own - our whole approach to defending in that last minute disappeared down the shitter
 
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