PSG v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[darren woolley]

An early goal against them next week then who knows they are a good side though.

[Baldy]

I've had a premonition that we'll win the second leg 4-1.

Anyway. Not wanting to second guess Emery, we'd have been better served with Watkins starting up front and going route one. PSG clearly press from the front and the best way to deal with that is a hardworking nuisance forward and pop it over the top to turn the opposition. You may lose possession but it's better to do that up the field than near your own box.

Agreed. Apart from losing, the most disappointing thing for me last night was the lack of effort from Rashford on a forward press or putting a strong challenge in. Everyone else worked their nuts off.

Reminded me of Gabby towards the ends of his career. Lots of 'token' efforts to challenge (amble towards opponent and shake hips) and a sprint every half hour. We need more from Rashford and he does have it in his locker. 

[aj2k77]

It's probably put the tie beyond us but we definitely will give it a go and if it's the end of a magnificent campaign there's memories that will last a long time. Their speed of execution was a step up from anything I've seen last night so to still be in the tie is a positive.

[Rory]

That was the best team we've faced this year, Kvara's the best player we've faced this year, and it's OK to lose sometimes.

Wheyyy, Monty!

[VillaTim]

Don't think we played badly as such but we weren't tight enough at times and our ball retention was very average . Goal 1 for example he has too much space and time to get a shot away . They probably played as well as they have all season and in that sense we may have played them on a bad night. Before the game their commentary team on PSG TV were saying how in the mood their players , fans everyone felt 

[stevo_st]

I think Kamara should have come off when Onana came on. He looked like he was blowing the last 10.
Love him to bits but his lunge to try an intercept rather than running back into to cover might have help keep it at 2-1 if he had the legs

[ChicagoLion]

You could see they targeted our right, part of the problem is Rogers not being great without the ball. It’s a shame that Garcia isn’t available as he offers much more than Cash.

[VillaTim]

Not sure why we chased the game at 1-2 . We perhaps should have sat back and kept it tight and seen it out.

[Somniloquism]

Not sure what you are blathering about now, but the 3rd goal occurred when we were sitting back and keeping it tight to see out a 1 goal deficit. It wasn't a break out from the edge of their box like the second one started from.

[kippaxvilla2]

https://x.com/fbawaydays/status/1910057376499298529?s=46

[eye digress]

Agree with AV82FC's ratings, by and large.

Would emphasise that they were fearful of Rashford, and even though he was a marginal presence, especially in the second half, you could see why. He's a Rolls of a player, a thoroughbred. Was the first time I'd seen him in the flesh, it really struck me.

Onana did us a lot of good when he came on, and instigated the only period of sustained possession we had in the game.

It was unfortunate that, having taken off the specialist RB, Disasi was turned so easily by Kvara and within minutes.

[rob_bridge]

The score early v them narrative is a bit of simplistic view.

We need to make sure we don't concede and try force them on the backfoot during first half.

Maybe start Ollie and Asensio ahead of Rashford and Jacob. Fuck knows what we do at right back mind.

[Dave]

How Arsenal beat them 2-0 earlier in the season is beyond me. I'm sure Unai will be having a GOOD look at that game (and their defeat to Bayern) to see how it was done.

They've been playing in a completely different way since December when something clicked with how they play.

It would be like Simon Rusk poring over videos of our defeat in Brugges for clues on how to play us on Saturday.

[Somniloquism]

Just to point out they conceded from the first shot on target so must be shit.

[Dave]

F365 match report feels like it could easily have been written by someone on here who was watching the TNT feed.

“Do not go for a punditry job because I could be out of the game!” Rio Ferdinand told Prince William after the Prince of Wales analysed the task facing Aston Villa ahead of their clash with Paris Saint-Germain. We think we speak for everyone watching TNT Sports’ coverage on Wednesday in hoping against hope that his Royal Highness hands in an application.

Before Youri Tielemans found Morgan Rogers to open the scoring at the Parcs des Princes in the 35th minute, Aston Villa had enjoyed one touch in the Paris Saint-Germain box – a harmless Jacob Ramsey cross after Gianluigi Donnarumma came and flapped at a free-kick booted into the box from 40 yards away. It was exactly how Unai Emery dreamt it.

Attempt to play this PSG at their own game and his side would have been destroyed. The best bet – the only bet – was to stay in the game and hope for a moment. PSG had by that point had 19 touches in Villa’s box, as well as eight shots and 297 passes to Villa’s 97. The hosts were dominant but had been kept at arm’s length by a side playing better without the ball than they were with it.

There didn’t seem to be any particular press trigger to spark John McGinn’s charge at the seemingly indomitable Nuno Mendes, rob of him of possession and knock him off his feet – the Scot had clearly decided having chased his tail for half an hour that he would at worst take man, with ball an added bonus.

He used it brilliantly, finding Marcus Rashford, who waited for Youri Tielemans’ inside run beyond him, before the Belgian played the ball across the face of goal to where he knew Morgan Rogers would be, because Rogers is almost always where he’s needed. Almost.

He’ll get closer to Desire Doue next time. The young Frenchman took full advantage of the couple of extra yards he was granted by Rogers to front him up, cut inside and whip a stunning off-balance shot in off the underside of the bar as Emi Martinez did that crouched look over the shoulder thing goalkeepers do when facing unstoppable efforts.

It was a very good goal from a very good player, we’re not saying it wasn’t or he isn’t, but our enjoyment of that moment, Doue’s performance and the experience of watching this game in general was checked by the orgasmic howls of the teenage gamer on co-commentary, to the point where we were begging Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to stop embarrassing opponents to avoid further anger-inducing soundbites. We’re all being merked.

“Ally, the stud roll, the stud roll. Disasi left the building,” Rio Ferdinand said as Kvaratskhelia turned Axel Disasi inside out to score the second majestic PSG goal of three on the night, as we cursed TNT Sports for the lack of the stadium sounds option provided by Amazon Prime, whose coverage requires no such alternative.

Because we aren’t forced to listen to a grown man talk about football like he’s a 16-year-old selling bodybuilding supplements on TikTok shop. If Ferdinand wasn’t being paid handsomely in a punditry career acting as an extension of his 2006 World Cup Wind-Ups show he would be be making ‘Welcome to Manchester United: All Skills and Goals’ videos on YouTube and finger slapping while filming himself opening packs of panini stickers.

He loves football, which is great. We love football too. But we love football far less when hearing Ferdinand ooo-ing on the brink of climax after a wonder-goal when what we actually want is at most a few words from the commentator after nothing at all from anyone as we take in the noise from the fans and the joy of the players while we come to terms with what we’ve just seen.

Which was brilliant. PSG are a very, very good football team, excellent with and without the ball, made up of extraordinarily talented footballers who have a very good chance of winning the Champions League thanks to the work-rate and commitment to a philosophy that was so often lacking in previous groups of extraordinarily talented footballers they’ve had over the last decade.

At 2-1 we didn’t quite fancy Villa to progress but it felt like a result Emery may well have taken at kick-off ahead of the second leg at Villa Park, but the stoppage-time third for PSG was a real gut punch.

It was our favourite goal though. Not because of the perfectly-weighted defence-splitting pass from Ousmane Dembele or the chop back from Nuno Mendes from his favoured left foot to his right before sweeping his shot over Martinez, but because it was preceded by four very welcome words from commentator Darren Fletcher to afford us some peace as the game reached it’s conclusion: “We’ve lost Rio now.”