Conjo

I can't think of one loss where the consensus on here has been that while we played well, the opponent played better and deserved the win. I dare you to find one

Did much better than expected. While it's a severe downgrade on Isak, I don't think him starting against Brighton and West Ham if Isak isn't ready is a crisis, although I'd prefer Osula to be given a shot.

Yes, but he wasn't punished as hard, as teams weren't putting the same pressure on him then as they do now + we were set up much more defensive.

How many on here say they can accept and or expect a loss before a game, but no matter what, whenever we end up losing, find something to justify not accepting the loss anyway? "I don't mind losing, its the manner in which we lost" every single time.

Simply not true Just because we've made their goals look easy, they have worked their asses off all game.

Sub everyone good. Live to fight another day.

game over

Look how hard they work on the counter, and how hard they work to win the ball back when losing possession. Their CBs haven't had much to do, but Liverpool are definitely not in 1st gear.

If we can hold on until 85th minute and then manage to find an equalizer so Liverpool have very little time to find another goal we might get something here. Score too early and Liverpool will assfuck us.

That timed jump from Burn

Assuming Pope is starting from now on, I hope to god he plays himself into form ahead of the cup final.

I long for the days when we were solid at the back. So many soft, early goals against us this season.

You know Villa are in the gift giving mood when even Nketiah scores

Interesting match from a strategic/tactical point of view considering the upcoming final. How will Howe and Slot approach this game? Try out something new as preparation but risk giving up a potential advantage? Set up as normal despite it possibly not being optimal? I feel our chances of winning the cup are reduced if we do well mid-week, and higher if we have something to avenge.

Shola played a fair amount of games out wide too, as crazy as that sounds.

It's like some people are seeing him play for the first time every week Yeah, his decision making can be questionable, yeah, he isn't the best passer, yeah, he isn't the best dribbler - but he never gives up, works hard both ways, gets into good positions and contributes with a decent amount of end product whether its goals or assists. Turned 30 ~two hours ago too. Happy birthday juicy!

Feel a lot better and validated after hearing how dissapointed Howe was with that 2nd half too. 3 points the most important thing obviously but we can't let the players heads fall (or move over to thinking about staying in shape/be healthy for a cup final or whatever it is that lowers our level so much) with 40 minutes left of a game.

I don't think he's necessarily stagnated, but I think teams have sussed out that Tino isn't very good with the ball and as a result they trigger their press when he receives it. If he has time to start running with the ball he can be quite good at dribbling at speed though, so it's a double win in a way to do it.

I recognize this is 100% the right take, but still I can't help not feeling it right now

Been a couple of times this season where we've been playing well, leading fairly comfortably and we seem to, by instruction, to give the entire initiative over to the opposition team and rely on our defensive structure. I really don't get it.

It's a fantastic 3 points, but it doesn't feel good after that 2nd half.

Completely justified for a person in the crowd to jump the ref here.

come on Eddie. You need to do something here.

Could do with the crowd waking up to wake the players up too.

For sure, in part at least, but I don't believe for a second that Howe intends the team to become so passive.