Aston Villa vs Chelsea (FA CUP Replay) Wed 7th February 2024 20:00 GMT

[Bebe1980]

Strange we looked so good without our two most senior players.

Or is it?

Maybe they just don't fit in... square pegs in round holes and all that... Sterling continues to disappoint me - I think Jackson or Mudryk should get the nod ahead of him as they create a sense of danger... Sterling has a few goes and if it doesn't work out he seems to give up ... until subbed.

Silva... mistakes, slow, arm waving... great with his head but time to warm the bench for me and lets give the youngsters a chance to prove themselves

MOTD Hanson 1995 about Man Utd: "You'll never win anything with kids" and the rest is history

 

[STATS]

We need to build on from this win. No wonder we're better w/o T. Silva and Sterling.

Silva is probably one of the best CBs of his generation, but age is not just a number in football. An experienced CB can bring leadership and experience in the static moments, but other than that he is more of a pain in the ass as long as the team is trying to play on the front foot and not in a low block.

A win at Palace on Monday and a positive result at the Etihad would sky rocket our confidence before the League Cup Final.

I think that is a very tall order

Anything other than a thumping is decent for confidence in my opinion. Playing a fully fit City squad now. I don't expect anything from that game tbh. Just want to avoid a thumping.

 

[hephzibah]

I can’t remember the game where we played Palmer in the Gallagher position, but it didn’t work out. 

I think Palmer is great – can we say ‘generational talent’ yet? – and in a few years I think he could play that Centre mid role.  He is currently a kid who has barely played 30 professional football games total. So. Breathe. Give him time.

I have also been very critical of Gallagher. I have not questioned his loyalty or his energy as that is really beyond reproach.  I questioned his end product.  Now he has his first goal of the season I can see things going differently. It is a confidence issue. It is an issue of luck. But we saw against Villa those 3 midfield lads finally bonding – gelling – working – it really does take time for a bunch of players who don’t know each other to work it out, especially if they are young and they have never had to ‘work it out’ before.  

I mean now, when we get a free kick on the edge of the box, I am like, we have got a player who can do that. He has done it before and he will do it again. We have a free-kick specialist. That is a great asset.

Now we need to be able to score from corners. AND not concede from corners.

Why didn't it work out? He lost possession a few times, so you think it won't work out. He was probably not in the game that day, does it mean it won't work.

Some people already going for Gallagher in the starting line up, whether he is good or not, a player who for me is one of the most terrible players in that team.

Let Palmer be consistent in the midfield, the manager should prepare him. He will be ok there. I remember when Mourinho said "Oscar is my number 10".

That's the kind of thing Palmer needs. The midfield is a technical position. You can't be playing a player who is not technical in the midfield. Gallagher is so not technical to be playing in our attacking midfield, it's an abberation.

It's the job of an attacking midfielder to create chances for the attackers, Gallagher cannot create chances for the attackers, that is why I said Palmer can play there, it's better that Palmer plays there, than for Gallagher to be playing there.

It seems Palmer will be able to create chances. He can create chances for the attackers, this is why I said it is better we play Palmer than be playing Gallagher.

 

[Bebe1980]

Sample size for games without is maybe a little low, and I haven't looked into who those games were against. But this didn't make for pretty reading for Silva.


View attachment 24745

Could you ELI5 for me, thanks ?

 

[PloKoon13]

Probably worth noting that the seven games in question were:

Everton (A) (PL) - Lost 2-0
Palace (H) (PL) - Won 2-1
Preston (H) (FA) - Won 4-0
Villa (A) (FA) - Won 3-1
Wimbledon (H) (LC) - Won 2-1
Brighton (H) (LC) - Won 1-0
Blackburn (H) (LC) - Won 2-0
 

 

[Conte]

Probably worth noting that the seven games in question were:

Everton (A) (PL) - Lost 2-0
Palace (H) (PL) - Won 2-1
Preston (H) (FA) - Won 4-0
Villa (A) (FA) - Won 3-1
Wimbledon (H) (LC) - Won 2-1
Brighton (H) (LC) - Won 1-0
Blackburn (H) (LC) - Won 2-0
 

Opposition matters but we normally lose to the small teams, always knew thiagos pace would hinder us in a back four i dont know why poch kept insisting on it

 

[Gordon Bennett]

Could you ELI5 for me, thanks ?

In the 7 matches we've played without Thiago Silva we've won 6 of them and conceded 0.71 goals per game. This is significantly better than we've performed when he's been in the team.

The caveat is that Thiago is generally rested when we play against weaker opposition.

 

[Scott Harris]

Very good tonight. Energetic, attackers running at defenders with confidence, high tempo, fell apart a bit in the last 20 minutes. Don't make it a one off, don't get carried away and think everything is fixed, go and do it again and then go and do it again the next game too.

As expected, they couldn't go and do it again.