Aston Villa vs Manchester United - Sunday 11 Feb 16:30 | Vital Football

Aston Villa vs Manchester United - Sunday 11 Feb 16:30

crimsondonkey

crimsondonkey

Vital 1st Team Regular
I think this is a pivotal game which may indicate and determine where we land at the end of the season.

Villa have had a truly amazing and unpredicted first half to the season, but recent performances have been poor and begun to sow doubt in the minds of supporters.

Beating Manure on Sunday will go a long way to restoring belief that Villa could miraculously finish in the top 4 CL places come the end of the season.

Win and we will be 11 points clear of the red scum, with 13 games to go. Lose and this red thorn in our side could be only 5 points behind us and history warns us that they could put a run together and overhaul us.

Time to shake off the recent malaise and show our class and ambition. Over to you Unai and the players.
 
Another game I won't get to see (kicking off after midnight). That used to guarantee that we would be outstanding but I didn't get to watch Newcastle or Chelsea recently and they didn't go well.

It's almost as if me being asleep or not has absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the match.
 
Delighted to pass on the news that we’ve got our resident refereee in charge on Saturday…does he ref any other bloody games? Mr Robert Jones on the whistle ably assisted by David Coote on VAR. We’re in safe hands………:clown:
 
Langoe66 said:
Delighted to pass on the news that we’ve got our resident refereee in charge on Saturday…does he ref any other bloody games? Mr Robert Jones on the whistle ably assisted by David Coote on VAR. We’re in safe hands………:clown:
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May as well concede the game.

My blood pressure is up already.
 
Can't see anything but an easy United win here I'm afraid.

They seemed to have figured us out half way through the game at Old Trafford, and if this season has taught me anything it's when teams figures us out (Newcastle/Chelsea) we just don't seem able to tweak things and keep making the same mistakes.

Expect lots of diagonal long balls beating out high line for Rashford and Garnacho to run on to and lots of panic in the box. 3-1 to them. Sorry.
 
I'm expecting a very different performance and a big reaction. It was pretty clear the players were on "cup mode" on Wednesday and were certainly not busting a gut and playing within themselves - to instruction i'd say, conserve energy for Sunday. We've seen this already in Cup games this season. Very much depends what Utd team turn up though, they fluctuate from the sublime to the ridiculous this season, as we saw in the boxing day game. I think there will be plenty of goals and action (standby for a dull 0-0).
 
I'm just about getting over the Chelsea game. Following the Newcastle one it's set a slightly worrying trend. We need to be right at it from the start. Ramsey must start IMO. It would be nice if Torres can as well. UTV.
 
Silhillvilla said:
I'm expecting a very different performance and a big reaction. It was pretty clear the players were on "cup mode" on Wednesday and were certainly not busting a gut and playing within themselves - to instruction i'd say, conserve energy for Sunday. We've seen this already in Cup games this season. Very much depends what Utd team turn up though, they fluctuate from the sublime to the ridiculous this season, as we saw in the boxing day game. I think there will be plenty of goals and action (standby for a dull 0-0).
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Not sure I agree with players not busting a gut. Surely Unai would have just put out a weakend team and took the criticism on the chin.
 
wittonite said:
Not sure I agree with players not busting a gut. Surely Unai would have just put out a weakend team and took the criticism on the chin.
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I think the evidence is there - no press, no tracking runners etc , he likes his players to play games at the expense of training as he see's it more useful so a strong line up was expected plus we had so many injuries there was limited choice to rotate. He's on record saying it anyway. We played in a very similar mode vs Everton in the Carabao Cup, again it was a strong side who pretty much played it like a training game like we did on Wednesday. We will see far more intensity and running on Sunday .
 
I don't know what Emery asked the players to do or not to against Chelsea, but unless they press with greater intensity and work a lot harder to break down United's play, then we can look forward to another defeat on Sunday.

Villa need to stop them playing and then go forward at higher pace with tempo to their attacking movement.
 
We have had a very good season but my prediction was 5th even before a ball had been kicked so if we lose this one then there is going to be doubt if we can even finish 5th. It's a must not lose for me, and a win would really help for the run in given Man Utd (and Spurs of course) are the most likely side to overtake us.

Given the performance in the last game, I'm tempted to say ring the changes and bring in Diaby, Ramsey and Zaniolo for Bailey, Tielemans and McGinn, but maybe that is reactionary and we should stick with what we have to give them a chance to put it right. If Pau Torres is fit he has to start over Lenglet and hopefully Digne can at least make the bench as he must be close to a return now.

If we perform like we did against Newcastle and Chelsea we are obviously going to lose. If we perform like we did earlier in the season at home, where we blew teams away, we should win because Man Utd have a poor record away at top half teams. Seems we will have to start fast and score the first goal, because this team very rarely manages to come from behind and win.
 
MrLoverLover said:
We have had a very good season but my prediction was 5th even before a ball had been kicked so if we lose this one then there is going to be doubt if we can even finish 5th. It's a must not lose for me, and a win would really help for the run in given Man Utd (and Spurs of course) are the most likely side to overtake us.

Given the performance in the last game, I'm tempted to say ring the changes and bring in Diaby, Ramsey and Zaniolo for Bailey, Tielemans and McGinn, but maybe that is reactionary and we should stick with what we have to give them a chance to put it right. If Pau Torres is fit he has to start over Lenglet and hopefully Digne can at least make the bench as he must be close to a return now.
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You may have a point , but Zaniolo has done absolutely nothing to warrant a starting place.
 
I want to beat these red scummy bastards so badly it's probably best I don't say anymore otherwise I'll just end up ranting.
 
Silhillvilla said:
I'm expecting a very different performance and a big reaction. It was pretty clear the players were on "cup mode" on Wednesday and were certainly not busting a gut and playing within themselves - to instruction i'd say, conserve energy for Sunday. We've seen this already in Cup games this season. Very much depends what Utd team turn up though, they fluctuate from the sublime to the ridiculous this season, as we saw in the boxing day game. I think there will be plenty of goals and action (standby for a dull 0-0).
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I don’t get this cup mode bollox. Chelsea played the best they have for probably a year in what was reality their cup final, maybe continuing upto the final. They have shat the league and according to the press players and the manager were in last chance saloon. We had a poor game with a whole second choice defence in situ, Martinez apart. I was slightly encouraged that we kept going and Diaby made a difference and got a goal. Emery will no doubt be on his lap top late into the nights, he has 2/3 big decisions to make.
 
MrLoverLover said:
We have had a very good season but my prediction was 5th even before a ball had been kicked so if we lose this one then there is going to be doubt if we can even finish 5th. It's a must not lose for me, and a win would really help for the run in given Man Utd (and Spurs of course) are the most likely side to overtake us.

Given the performance in the last game, I'm tempted to say ring the changes and bring in Diaby, Ramsey and Zaniolo for Bailey, Tielemans and McGinn, but maybe that is reactionary and we should stick with what we have to give them a chance to put it right. If Pau Torres is fit he has to start over Lenglet and hopefully Digne can at least make the bench as he must be close to a return now.

If we perform like we did against Newcastle and Chelsea we are obviously going to lose. If we perform like we did earlier in the season at home, where we blew teams away, we should win because Man Utd have a poor record away at top half teams. Seems we will have to start fast and score the first goal, because this team very rarely manages to come from behind and win.
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I have to laugh about dropping Bailey - he has to start. I can see the same team, maybe Torres in for Lenglet if he is ready or JJ to give us more in midfield where he can carry the ball.
 
sirdennis said:
You may have a point , but Zaniolo has done absolutely nothing to warrant a starting place.
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It's to ring the changes because others didn't perform and I think he's been unfairly judged. With him starting in the league this season we've won 5, drawn once, and lost once (at Forest which IMO was a fluke). He misses chances and he hasn't lived up to what we were hoping for, but neither has Diaby and Ramsey has been off it this season too. I just think we should judge all equally and our record when he's been in the team has actually been very good and I don't think that's coincidence. The only alternative for that role is Rogers and he didn't even stand out in the Championship so I'm not keen on that idea.
 
tarzansbrother said:
I have to laugh about dropping Bailey - he has to start. I can see the same team, maybe Torres in for Lenglet if he ready.
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To be honest it was just an idea, I would probably keep the same team too except Pau for Lenglet if he's fit (praying he is). If things aren't going right though Unai needs to make changes sooner and not when the game is effectively over. I'm hoping for a much better performance and to hopefully at least draw the game.
 
MrLoverLover said:
To be honest it was just an idea, I would probably keep the same team too except Pau for Lenglet if he's fit (praying he is). If things aren't going right though Unai needs to make changes sooner and not when the game is effectively over. I'm hoping for a much better performance and to hopefully at least draw the game.
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I don’t mind admitting - I think Bailey is quality and easily our most dangerous player. Who is behind him in the team does seem to have an effect, he has limited mileage to burn, that can’t be used defending.
 
tarzansbrother said:
I don’t get this cup mode bollox. Chelsea played the best they have for probably a year in what was reality their cup final, maybe continuing upto the final. They have shat the league and according to the press players and the manager were in last chance saloon. We had a poor game with a whole second choice defence in situ, Martinez apart. I was slightly encouraged that we kept going and Diaby made a difference and got a goal. Emery will no doubt be on his lap top late into the nights, he has 2/3 big decisions to make.
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It really wasn't.
 
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