Aston Villa 2 Brighton 2 Post Match Thread.

[caster troy]

Konsa at right back has become a hologram in defence and where the ball goes to die in attack. Maybe it works against teams who dominate possession against us but today showed exactly the sort of game where it doesn’t work.

Barkley should have been on straight after Tielemans lung busting run forward that finished him completely. We didn’t do enough in the final third to create chances and it always looked likely they’d get another once Mitoma came on to target our right side.

[steamer]

We were crap
Customary , give them a head start.
Go in front, do not capitalise on possession
They bring on subs, we are like rabbits in the fucking headlights, panic sets in, lose possession, give the ball away, stand off from their forwards , surprise surprise, they equalise.
This team needs some serious new faces
Last year we pulled up trees to get where we finished. 4 wins in 14 this season is bottom half of the league form
Bit of a rant, but I am fucking angry !!!

[Beard82]

4 wins in last 14 league games yet still only 3 points behind 5th place Newcastle. Very frustrating but still half a season to go.

Yeah, its a bizarre season in that respect. No one other than Liverpool and Forest is being consistent at all. So we can definitely go on a run from where we are in the second half of the year and get at least Europa League back.

This one, I hate to say, is on Emery. The game was clearly drifting between 60-80th minute and he had no problem in bringing on Onana or Barkley earlier in the year for late game control, so why not now? It desperately needed it.

The other thing that is so apparent in comparison to last year is HOW we defend space... we've dropped the high line, which was very succesful, and are asking all our midfielders and centre backs to defend man-for-man and it just creates 20-30 yards between the midfield and defence, such a transitional game. This happened all match tonight. Teams have exploited that all season and it hasn't changed. Why? I get the needed to evolve year-on-year but this evolution was not the one to make. We may get better at it, but we're halfway through the year and it's not really improved.

This is not a manager who doesn't know how to fix it in my view, because **we played very differently last season**. It is a conscious decision to play this way and it could be reversed. I guess my question is - when does it get too kamikaze for Emery and he changes back to what is more familiar to him? Because the two goals we scored tonight should have been enough to win the game. We ship 2 goals a game and it is NOT sustainable.

I also genuinely don't think this is a 'Konsa at RB' or 'no right back' or 'not enough signings' problem. It is WHAT and HOW the players are being told to do.

I think your right - that’s part of the frustrations we are choosing to play like this and I am not smart enough to see why

[LeonW]

Bailey has had one good season out of four and last season he was on the bench largely  until December before becoming a starter.

[SoccerHQ]

Poor start. Disaster of a right hand side. Suddenly string a few passes together and look a very good side again either side of half time. Go ahead and then attempt to do the bare minimum to win the game with the same personnel that started and we drop points with goal conceded in last 10 minutes.

Pretty much the story of our season right there tonight in about 110 minutes and we had the usual questionable decisions thrown in for good measure.

Newcastle have far more momentum than we do currently as they're backing up good home results on the road and I fancy them to turn over Spurs so we're starting to fall off the pace now.

Really need to find some pennies down the sofa and get a couple more players in. Looked a bad one for Pau so another CB in is a near certainty now.

[kippaxvilla2]

Some of this team are just reaching the end of the cycle and we will need to build again in the summer.  Cash, Mcginn, Bailey, Carlos all need replacing or upgrading.

[Demitri_C]

I dont get why he didnt start onana today. With our defence issues surely he should ahve gone onana an d kamara again?

This team has so many issues. We are conceding too much and missing too many chances.  We had none of these issues at this stage last season

[TonyD]

Ollie needs to find his shooting boots.

[Legion]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cq8qg5ql1y2t

[VillaTim]

We have a significant defensive problem but I am more and more starting to think Emery doesn’t know how to sort it out.

So wasteful in the later stages of games and it just goes on and on.

I agree. Emery has no clue what to do, but Konsa simply should not be the RB.

Konsa is a horrific RB , no idea why Emery keeps the experiment going

[VillaTim]

Emery got the line up wrong (Konsa RB ? ) and got the subs wrong (too late) .
We are a mid table team again , it is what it is .
Don't disrespect the FA Cup Emery , it's all that's left now this season.

European Cup?

Come on , we have to be realistic , we aren't winning that .

[paul_e]

I dont get why he didnt start onana today. With our defence issues surely he should ahve gone onana an d kamara again?

This team has so many issues. We are conceding too much and missing too many chances.  We had none of these issues at this stage last season

because both of them are having their game time managed right now, Kamara because of his long-term injury and Onana because he's clearly had an on-going issue since early in the season.

On topic I don't think we have as many issues as you'd think. we have 1 massive problem which is popping up all over the place which is that, for whatever reason, we're playing like a team with no confidence in themselves. We're nervy and cautious in defence, which is leading to no one taking control of what should be simple situations, and we're hesitant in attack, trying to create the perfect chance instead of taking things early. The one player we have right now who is full of confidence is Duran which is why he stands out so much.

[Legion]

Emery got the line up wrong (Konsa RB ? ) and got the subs wrong (too late) .
We are a mid table team again , it is what it is .
Don't disrespect the FA Cup Emery , it's all that's left now this season.

European Cup?

Come on , we have to be realistic , we aren't winning that .

'Would you like to bet against us?'

[SoccerHQ]

I dont get why he didnt start onana today. With our defence issues surely he should ahve gone onana an d kamara again?

This team has so many issues. We are conceding too much and missing too many chances.  We had none of these issues at this stage last season

Been defending Onana recently elsewhere but he was terrible in his cameo, second to most balls and a terrible pass nearly gave them a goal on one of the breakaways.

I didn't get at all why we waited so late to make that triple sub. Brighton made their one just after we made it 2-1 yet we throw them all on as soon as it goes to 2-2 with less than ten left?!

People not rating the Maatsen signing but we're not really giving him much chance to prove himself are we? Digne was superb tonight but if there was a feeling he was starting to flag from all the effort he made why not make the sub a bit earlier and then there's still space for Maatsen to run into?

Personally I'd try him at LW against Leicester with Rogers suspended and Ramsey surely not ready to start.

[Dave]

Emery got the line up wrong (Konsa RB ? ) and got the subs wrong (too late) .
We are a mid table team again , it is what it is .
Don't disrespect the FA Cup Emery , it's all that's left now this season.

European Cup?

Come on , we have to be realistic , we aren't winning that .

The first and second favourites to win the Champions League will also be trying to stop us from winning the FA Cup as well.