Monaco vs Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[nick harper]

Don’t think I’ve ever seen us play in that bad against a poor team.
I thought we would bounce back.
But you could tell the sands of time was slipping away as the game progressed.
Emi and Bailey should have been hooked at halftime
Real fuckin pisser of a game. 

I thought Buendia was our best player and created the two best chances we had that Bailey and Watkins should have scored from. Just ran out of steam understandably after an hour.

In fact, he was the only positive on the night. He still has a part to play and deserves more opportunities particularly when you consider the opportunities Bailey and Ramsey have had to play themselves back into form.

[martin o`who??]

I think if today learned us anything we need to play fewer games

if we arent careful we will....

[TonyD]

But ain’t football strange.
At the weekend we were great against Arsenal. 
It ain’t always gravy.

[Beard82]

I think Beundia, and maybe Cash the only players to emerge with credit.

[Beard82]

I think if today learned us anything we need to play fewer games

if we arent careful we will....

time and again this season we have struggled with the turn around - 2 big games in 3/4 days we cant handle

[VillaTim]

But ain’t football strange.
At the weekend we were great against Arsenal. 
It ain’t always gravy.

For about 20 mins we did well v Arsenal .

[TonyD]

Don’t think I’ve ever seen us play in that bad against a poor team.
I thought we would bounce back.
But you could tell the sands of time was slipping away as the game progressed.
Emi and Bailey should have been hooked at halftime
Real fuckin pisser of a game. 

I thought Buendia was our best player and created the two best chances we had that Bailey and Watkins should have scored from. Just ran out of steam understandably after an hour.

In fact, he was the only positive on the night. He still has a part to play and deserves more opportunities particularly when you consider the opportunities Bailey and Ramsey have had to play themselves back into form.

But I think JJ on for Bailey and Bogarde for Emi would have allowed Tells to get forward more and dictate passes forward.

[TonyD]

But my god our set pieces were Sunday league standards.
Just smash them into the box.
What happened to cool sexy stuff we used to try ?

[SoccerHQ]

Going two upfront must be the worst plan B since Chris Samba.

It should've been a straight swop as we were opening Monaco up but just couldn't get the final ball/shot right.

Instead Rogers went to the right and was completely hopeless for the last half hour, seemed to give it away every single time.

Would be starting Malen at the weekend and thought Buendia was excellent so surely he's well overdue some prem starts if we're in the play offs.

Not as bad as Bruges but a missed opportunity.

Their keeper and backline were excellent all game so a few of them worth a look for the future I think.

[Stu]

But credit to Monaco they defended bloody well.

They did the defensive basics well. I was impressed with their centre backs

They didn’t need to do anything other than the basics, they had us sussed out for pretty much the entire game.

[Percy McCarthy]

That should pretty much be it for Leon Bailey. Provided some good memories but is an absolute waste of space these days. And he was provided with ample opportunities to prove us wrong. Can't even be described as a squad player because he contributes absolutely nothing.

If we are determined to get some value out of him, maybe we should try last season’s approach - late sub appearances gradually improved him.

[aj2k77]

What the fuck are the players doing before kick off too? They always seem half asleep for the first 15 minutes.

[The Edge]

Our own worst enemy yet again. And a special mention to Bailey whose desire seemed woeful even by his own lamentable standards this season.

He couldn't even put any effort into coming off the pitch when he got subbed. We were 1-0 down not 3-1 up! He jogged off the pitch slower than a slow thing in slow town. He really does boil my piss sometimes.

[tomd2103]

End of January and February is looking horrible now. 

29th Celtic - h
1st Feb - wolves - a
9th Feb - Spurs - h
12th - play off 1st leg.
15th Ipswich - h
18th play off 2nd leg
22nd Chelsea - h

A win next Wednesday might well see us finish in the top 8 and avoid the play offs.  I think we've got to hope so as fears about this current run of games taking their toll   looked prescient in the 2nd half tonight.

[PaulTheVillan]

But credit to Monaco they defended bloody well.

They did the defensive basics well. I was impressed with their centre backs

They didn’t need to do anything other than the basics, they had us sussed out for pretty much the entire game.

Shame we couldn’t do the basics.