Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace match thread | Page 39 | Vital Football

Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace match thread

Yep, plenty questioning the guy’s credentials when we were shipping goals for fun last season...8 clean sheets later this year and hardly a mention of JT....perhaps Shakespeare’s influence is the key to our defensive improvement as well..!

I am 100% positive that the defensive improvement is because the team have started defending from the front and harrassing the opposition when we don't have the ball, making them play quick balls they don't want to play.
 
When traore was sacrificed I thought wtf??
But they were exceptional. Led defensively from the front by Watkins who totally deserved motm even though he didnt get his goal.
All ten.....or eleven with konsa.....were at least 8 out of ten performances.
Tough run of fixtures now. But we have as many points as we had when we entered lockdown last March!
 
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El Ghazi knows what he is capable of and that's why he keeps on trying, if he can actually produce it on a consistent basis we've got one hell of a player on our hands, Still 25 and now is the time to press on, you can tell he's definitely got confidence about him, the tricks were coming out and he started to glide past players.

It was the same against WBA, late in the game after the peno when the hattrick was on he was driving at their defenders. He's a different player when he's in the mood.
 
Im amazed how much fitter we are this season? Last season we were done after 70 mins. Not this year. I suspect a great deal is going on behind the scenes we are not aware of.

I'd love to know how much of it is their mentality but thats something we cant quantify. The level of fight and togetherness was immense, contrast that with the Leeds game. We would have wiped the floor with them with todays performance. Anyway I dont think it is any one thing, I think it is confidence, coaching, fitness, togetherness and belief. I also think when you have players like Watkins who work that hard they demand that from their teammates too.
 
I'd love to know how much of it is their mentality but thats something we cant quantify. The level of fight and togetherness was immense, contrast that with the Leeds game. We would have wiped the floor with them with todays performance. Anyway I dont think it is any one thing, I think it is confidence, coaching, fitness, togetherness and belief. I also think when you have players like Watkins who work that hard they demand that from their teammates too.

Of all the teams I wanna see us hammer are Leeds and Newcastle. Can't wait.
 
Just wish the crowd could have been there yesterday.
Would have been so good to hear them serenade the tw*t Zaha towards the end.
Zaha, what's the score ?
Zaha, Zaha what's the score ?
 
Thank god for that, I was thinking why I am the only one not seeing Mings as the devil incarnate at the moment .
Not a Devil at all mate I just think sometimes he gets a rush of blood and thinks he's Jack.He obviously loves attention you can see that when he's walking round Bournemouth in his stinky strip but he just needs to get it into his head that being a central defender is not as glamorous as a centre forward or a majestic midfielder but it's just as important.Please just concentrate on defending our goal which he can be very good at and he will be a star.
 
Naive from Mings yesterday especially the second booking but find it difficult to criticise an ever present in our defence this season which before yesterday had kept 3 clean sheets on the bounce and 7 in total with the least goals conceded bar Man City. He ain’t been performing that badly has he? Mobility
lacking at times for sure and a seeming air of over confidence can sometimes lead to unnecessary errors but the level of criticism from a few is a bit OTT I think when you consider the stats above.
 
Watch the highlights and you won't see any highlights of mistakes from Hause or Konsa for that matter,.

1. Gets done by Zaha which was unacceptable when he had the better positioning and luckily Martinez saved him within the first few minutes.

2. Completely misses the ball in the 6 yard box and could of easily been another costly mistake.

3. First yellow was quite soft but when you're on a yellow you can't then shove a player down when you're the last man, no matter if you think you've been fouled, completely let the team down. 25 yellows in 140 games, supposed to be the vice captain and lead by example.

In other games he has at least 1 mistake in him in literally every game that I've counted numerous times to be costly, if it's not his turning away from the ball to block it it's his lack of trying use his head or take one to the face, his lack of finding a man with his long balls, or trying to take everyone on when being the last man.

Or like against West Ham a lack of organisation, always being way above the half way line, or getting McGinn to mark the tallest player on the pitch.

If he keeps it simple, play the simple balls, give the ball to players who can find a pass, who can take on players, focus on his organisation instead of trying to get on through balls in attack (WTF), stay back and watch out for the counter, that is his job.

People point to the clean sheets, I point to the defending from the top and Martinez, he has been our most important signing of the season, There's a bloody good player in Mings but at the moment I feel he is way above his station in an arrogant way, I make it sound like he is our worst player which he isn't, but as an England International, as vice captain as a central defender he has things to work on.