Monaco vs Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[eamonn]

There's no way that performance was worse than Bruges. We actually created a few chances last night. In Bruges, a couple of first half efforts aside, we were desperate.

Emery shrugged off the tiredness excuse but I guess he's not the one doing all the running! He's always welcomed more games in Europe. Got the impression that he was a bit pissed off with the journalists questioning him over the result and tactics. A kind of "Look how far I've taken Villa in two years! Top 8 in the Premier League and knock-outs in the Champions League is more than any of you can expect!"

Of course it doesn't work quite like that as expectation builds and the media/fans express surprise and disappointment at our inconsistency. But that's what happens when you're a big boy.

[Brazilian Villain]

Yeah, Bruges was worse than last night.

[simon ward 50]

The reality is at the start of the season we all knew CL knock out qualification would be a stretch for the current squad? They all need more European experience!

[JUAN PABLO]

Why did Rogers play If he was sick?    why he left him on for that long too.

[Matt C]

Such a frustrating watch. Emery looked thoroughly pissed off not just with the team, but himself too for falling into the two strikers trap.

[aldridgeboy]

Monaco is a concrete shithole, Benidorm with money is how my son described it. You’d think 1000 Villa fans were about to launch a full scale military assault on the Princes Palace with the level of policing we were met with. I think Max on VOT described it as they just don’t want Football fans at all and go out of their way to make it as miserable experience as you’d imagine. Yet another ground where you’re lined up to be sniffed by dogs, searched as if you’re part of a terrorist cell, have to hand in your Battery pack then go through same sniff and search as before all while being watched by a small regiment of tooled up to the max French Riot police. Oh and the ground is a miserable soulless dump with about as much atmosphere as a Church Fete. It may have an iconic design but I thought it was crap. There were toilets but not enough for 1000 people, the catering was absolute shite as like many others I think I have now eaten the driest Ham Baguette ever made. And to cap all that off we were absolute shite, with a sub Bruges performance that was so insipid I think my eyes started bleeding.

All in all Monaco can stick itself right up its own tax dodging overblown sense of self important not as nice as Nice arse. The ******.

See you all on Sunday.

Agree with all of this. Reminded me of Bescot.

But I did enjoy the ham. baguette. In fact I had two !

[eamonn]

Why did Rogers play If he was sick?    why he left him on for that long too.

Our gameplans revolve around him. In the last 12 months he's become fundamental to how we play which is fantastic for him but a little bit worrying for us given how reliant we've become on his abilities.

[Chris Smith]

We just made too many mistakes last night both individually and collectively. Their goal came about from a needlessly conceded corner following a mistake by Mings. We constantly gave away possession, missed decent chances and were regularly bullied in midfield. To compound it the manager made the wrong substitutions although lack of options limited his choices.

However, new signings and players returning from injury should give us a lift in coming weeks and I reckon at the start of the season we’d have all settled for having a home game against Celtic to ensure qualification.

[tomd2103]

There's no way that performance was worse than Bruges. We actually created a few chances last night. In Bruges, a couple of first half efforts aside, we were desperate.

Emery shrugged off the tiredness excuse but I guess he's not the one doing all the running! He's always welcomed more games in Europe. Got the impression that he was a bit pissed off with the journalists questioning him over the result and tactics. A kind of "Look how far I've taken Villa in two years! Top 8 in the Premier League and knock-outs in the Champions League is more than any of you can expect!"

Of course it doesn't work quite like that as expectation builds and the media/fans express surprise and disappointment at our consistency. But that's what happens when you're a big boy.

I was thinking this morning that although last night was disappointing, we've got to keep in mind where we are.  I expected this season to be tough, but come February we're still very much in the mix to finish in the top 8 of the Champions League and also to finish in the Champions League positions in the Premier League. 

9 of the starting XI last night were at the club under Steven Gerrard and although we've got a few injuries, I think that just serves as a reminder of just how much the financial restrictions have hampered us, especially when you look at the clubs we are competing with. 

[john e]

The four most influential players in our team are Martínez Torres McGinn, Kamara
Mainly because there is no natural replacements for them

Two of them were injured last night and we struggled and we’ll continue to struggle because what McGinn and Torres bring nobody else can at the moment,
The progressive play of Torres moving the ball forward playing out from the back and the drive and physicality of McGinn

In my view we’d have won last night with those two players
Obviously that’s just my opinion it’s subjective because it can’t be proved

[Chris Smith]

The four most influential players in our team are Martínez Torres McGinn, Kamara
Mainly because there is no natural replacements for them

Two of them were injured last night and we struggled and we’ll continue to struggle because what McGinn and Torres bring nobody else can at the moment,
The progressive play of Torres moving the ball forward playing out from the back and the drive and physicality of McGinn

In my view we’d have won last night with those two players
Obviously that’s just my opinion it’s subjective because it can’t be proved

As you say it can’t be proved but I agree with you, John.

[London Villan]

If we sign Bade I think we saw the defensive understudies on show last night. Particularly for European games.

Malen coming in will also hopefully take the pressure off Rogers too.

[wince]

The injuries really undid us last night. I do think we are in a loop as we need have position in the prem to get back into the champions league whilst still being in the CL trying to get CL football again next year. With the injuries we have, it was always going to be a big ask. I dont think we will get out of the play-offs if thats the way it goes down. We are just too stretched. Sad thing is we may see a weakened team against spuds when the FA cup might be the only realistic chance of winning anything this year. We shall see but no need to panic just yet. A bad day at the office.

[Nii Lamptey]

Got home about 11am this morning.... On reflection, it was bad. We had chances, but we should have had a LOT more.
I can't remember so many Villa passes sold short in 90mins.

Bailey - Lost what little shred of patience I had with him last night. I was firmly in the camp, 'he'll come good', but how much MORE time does he need? He'll be retired at this rate!
Konsa - Seems to avoid a lot of negative press amongst the fanbase, but he's not played well for literally ages! Never gets tight to his man anymore, always takes 2-3 touches to do what could be done in 1, waits for that 2nd bounce and will always look for that 'safe' pass to Mings, Big Emi or Cash.

Only positive last night was Buendia - Thought he did well.

For what was a great trip to the French Riveira, the boys had to go and fucking spoil it. Fuming.

On a plus note, did I read correctly that the playoff games are sandwiched around the Spurs FA Cup game too? If so, last night's performance/result has put the kybosh on not one, but TWO cup tournaments! FFS

[Rico]

We looked so disjointed last night. It was like the defence and the midfield were playing to a different set of instructions.
The defence were passing the ball slowly from left to right, and then when pressed hurriedly passed the ball into midfield where inevitably our players were already being marked and then lost the ball. The forward line were mainly cut adrift from the rest of the team.

I've seen it so many times in the past, that when a team starts slowly it's difficult to alter the pace of the game and you find yourself on the back foot for large periods of the game.

I know Emery's mantra is keep possession, but sometimes I feel we need to get out of the traps a bit faster.