alexf

We've seen it every time he's played in that position against varying levels of opponents. But every time his little flicks and passes around corners in that position with the pace we have around him now with Gordon, Elanga, Barnes and Willock. It's a real possible source of joy for us if he can get turned and release our runners now. Compared to him playing as the highest point and turning a defender and then having to try and run the ball himself. Early days but his new system looks fruitful and certainly allows us to get better use out of Gordon and Osula as Pacey runners further forward to chase and close down. Also means Elanga is getting more minutes to develop and improve.

Was so obvious Thiaw got booked on purpose. However if Botmans injured then not sure who plays at cb, could be Murphy but then was hoping he'd play in place of Hall.

Trippier looked like he was having a go at Gordon then as they went off. Bet Trippier was trying to say he should give the pen to Nick, but to be fair I don't mind Gordon's greediness there. He won the pen himself and he's the pen taker and we wanted to bury the tie tonight. I mean if it was Harry Kane , he isn't giving up the pen.

Easy as that 😅 Dan Burn with the great through ball lol Blistering pace from Gordon.

Really surprised no Ramsey if we are going with this system? Feel like Willock is more of a Woltemade alternative than a Ramsey alternative. Ramsey is probably best at receiving the ball deep under pressure in the absence of Bruno.

Must be so hard for him to give good performances when his body is failing him. Even when he does start to string games together and begin to gain some sharpness and form back, he then breaks down again. This might be a small short term injury but it's enough to have kept him out the last few squads and that disrupts his rhythm.

Was this guy for me. The kit, those boots, the way he played with such skill and speed. I was aware of him briefly before but was only 9 in 1998 so too young to appreciate and was harder to see foreign football back then. But after that world cup I was an ultra fan of his for life. Remember being gutted when all the final drama happened with him.

It feels a bit like an fa cup tie away to a championship team. Yes you feel you "should" win, but there is always an element of risk if there is travel fatigue, players don't apply themselves properly or give enough respect to opponents etc. Off the back of the last two away performances then I expect we will get a good result tonight. Also think based on the comments that Eddie will go as strong a line up as possible and attempt to get the tie over and done with this evening. But also wouldn't be shocked if it was a tricky game and we only managed a draw. A loss would be a real upset and a very disappointing result but I feel confident we will do the job.

or have long travel on a plane if he has back issues. We shall see I suppose been here before where Eddie downplays the problem and then he's out for ages. But if he's telling the truth then probably sensible to leave him out of this trip.

Arsenal reigning in luck again this season.

What date and which games does it fall between? The problem that media and idiot fans never appreciate is that these horrific cup draws in seasons like this where we already put on our feet just means we never ever get an easier game to rotate and go easy. I'd have given anything for the likes of Exeter or Salford at home just to give the main guys a few days off. City got both of the fuckers. Only silver lining for me is it's at home and depending on when it is we might have a couple back and then we owe them for the league cup where we again weren't able to put out our strongest performance as it came straight after that fucking 120mins in the Bournemouth match.

It's tricky though isn't it. Since we don't have a strong academy and/or Eddie doesn't trust them. Surely we can't keep playing Trippier every 2/3 days until Tino is back, then back to the same problem of rinsing Tino 90mins every few days til we break him again. But if we do heavily rotate after Qarabag for Man City away, since we always get thumped there anyways and they are coming into form now. Do we go as far as resting some senior players for academy players and risk an absolute walloping, which could dent confidence being built up the last few games. Or do we go with the same tired players, try to grind out a narrow loss and then hope we don't pick up anymore injuries or suffer too much the knock on fatigue for the next game. It's tricky either way and I guess just have to accept that players need to keep playing and we'll deal with the consequences of more injuries if/when they happen?

While Bruno is out I think we should persist with this set up now for the foreseeable. Will be great for his development and he will grow into the position. He has great vision and weight of pass and as mentioned before, if he beefs up abit and gets stronger so that he's impossible to knock off the ball without fouling then he could be an incredible link player. Also think he will actually get more goals this way than if he was upfront alone. Will mean he will get more cut backs and rebounds etc falling his way if he follows his through passes into the box. It's his first season, there are teething issues, but in no way can anyone describe him as a flop or anywhere close. Sure he hasn't fit but he's part of a team that needs to go through a transition and find it's new best system. Clearly the last few games have shown we are finding a more effective way to get more out of the likes of Gordon, Elanga, Ramsey, Tonali and Nick than the rinsed out flat 433 we're used to.

Can see us going back in the summer. Would suit all parties. However if they quote anything silly then they can fuck off. Looked decent in both games against us in the cup and we are I need of fresh blood at GK. Pope and Ramsdale are not the long term solution.

Wasn't in the game much at all but was hard to tell if that was heis fault or his team mates. He seemed to make some positive movements but then the pass was played the opposite of where he wanted it. Maybe just needs more game time for the team to link up better with him. However there was also his one attempt that ballooned out for a throw in which was pretty embarrassing. But then looked like he got told he was coming off in 5 mins and needed to empty the tank and start closing down. He did that really well and showed he and Gordon could alternate as that fast high press option while Wissa is injured/shite, with Wolte continuing in the withdrawn role.

Didn't see any of the studio chat but doesn't surprise me.

Danny Murphy slagging him off consistently last night. I'm 99% sure he thought he was supposed to be playing in the 9 and was dropping deep of his own volition. He was so obviously player Infront of the two midfields in the ten with Osula and then Gordon ahead of him. Yes he still could do better to be a little more advanced at times but he was playing the role and for the most part doing it well I thought. Showed better strength and link play and he has looked better every time he has played that position compared to no.9. Might have to accept that like Joelintons we bought him for one position but he's going to excel in another.

That's usually after one game though. This time he's put in 4-5 decent games now and is hopefully putting some form together. However I still always half expect to see him hobble off. Was stunned when he came out for the 2nd half against spurs when it looked like he'd knackered himself in the first with some kind of injury.

That Abraham goal I was calling offside in real time from the TV angle as it happened was so obvious. The lines man is looking along the fucking line from a static free kick. If you can't get that right then you have no chance with the fast moving non set piece offsides. There was another blatant one in the first half aswell that he didn't flag and it let to a passage of sustained attack from them and we had to get bodies in the way and eventually went for a corner. Burn just looked flabbergasted at lack of flag again, must be so hard as a defender when you have done your job perfectly and are let down by awful officiating. Not surprised Ramsey lost his shit after the 10th or so shit decision by that same linesman.

Yeah quietly become a useful player again for us. That's all we needed him to be but his levels fell way below that after that first major injury and then all the subsequent issues he's had after. First time for a long time he looks physically anywhere near his 22/23 form. He's not as quick as he was but he's got that confidence in his body back and that is contributing to his better performances. Hopefully he can keep improving and stay fit now for the rest of the season.

I didn't see where he was or if view was blocked but surely the linesman normally would be the one to tell them it was in the box. But yeah you're right was poor all round

All mainly circulated around that one linesman. Boarding on corruption the way he gave every decision to Villa including those two massive moments that should have been obvious to everyone in the stadium. However the ref was also miles away from loads of decisions and seemed like he was guessing and most the time those guesses were villas favour.

Definitely going to need to learn to win without him then in the league, otherwise it could be a pretty bleak end to the season. Did say when he went down, this could end up costing us more than the points we've just gained. Hopefully Miley and Joelinton can come back and help plug the gap, but he'll still be a big miss obviously. Will probably lead to more experimentation with Nick in the no.10 role I suspect.

It was an awkward incident and probably ties into him rushing back from his previous injury. It was mentioned he said he had never had an issue with hamstrings before, which is believable with his lack of pace. However the pain he seemed to be in immediately looked reminiscent of when players "tear" their hamstring. If it is torn then that's atleast 3 months. If were lucky then it was a weird combination of cramp and the impact causing his pain and he might have got away with a strain which would be a few weeks instead. Instincts say unfortunately it looked like a bad one.

We had to play Paul Dummett and Matt Ritchie in games in 23/24. So we had it worse