Just now, evissy said:

So now we have to hope Liverpool win the next two matches; today and Wednesday. If they do City have nothing to play for against us.

City have nothing to play for anyway, Liverpool have already won the league, I don't think it makes any difference. 

20 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

Barkley the unsung hero today, gave us a threat from midfield. Had it not been for him running in and occupying one of the defenders Pulisic would not have been free back post to knock it in. 

Barkley has been really good in the second half of the season, he's making a strong case to be a starter.

30 minutes ago, bluedave said:

f**k me that shouldn’t have been as close as it was. I’m a nervous wreck every time there’s a set piece against us. Feels good to have the football back though and to start off with a win.

Both games against Villa this season were very close. They just seem to win the midfield for one cross and from that they score it's really frustrating to always fear for that one chance that they will get.

Barkley has been really good in the second half of the season, he's making a strong case to be a starter.

In front of Ruben for sure. Gilmour is very easily thrown in there as well.

Happy with the win, especially with all of our top four rivals bar Wolves dropping points. Still, with Man City coming up on Thursday we'll struggle to get anything out of it unless the performance improves drastically.

Our centrebacks are just not good enough, it's as simple as that. Ideally, neither Rudiger nor Christensen should be anywhere near the first eleven and we need to address this issue in the transfer window, I hope Frank realizes that and Marina is working on something. Also, even with this not so great personnel we shouldn't be so vulnerable at the back and whoever is in charge of defensive part of training needs to be replaced by someone who knows what the f..k they're doing. I dread every set piece we concede and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

RLC looked rusty and slow, he needs time to get back to his best, so for now he'd probably be better off coming off the bench. Subs in a form of Pulisic and Barkley worked well, James on the other hand looked lost and conceded possession on three different occasions in a row in a matter of a few minutes, thankfully it didn't cost us anything, but that wasn't pleasant to watch.

We still have trouble breaking down packed defences and our fullbacks still struggle to cross the ball properly. Happy for Giroud, his hard work paid off and hopefully Pulisic will get his confidence back after coming back from injury. Mount was lively and Willian worked his socks off.

Edited June 21, 20206 yr by abramovich

Christensen, while technically a good player, really lacks aggression and awareness. For the goal, he was casually strolling back while the villa players were free. Not good enough. 
 

We should cash in if Barca are still interested (though I doubt it). 

Look at the difference in that game when we throw in the cross; 6-7 Villa players in the box against 1-2 Chelsea players. They cross it is one v one whether it is 3 v 3 or 2 v 2. This is down to tactics more than Christensen or Rudiger ability. Granted someone like Van Dijk wins 100% if those balls.

My guess is that it's obvious to everyone now that James isn't THAT comfortable playing some position other than his own full back/RB position. He was all over the place.

2nd half we seemed better. But you could tell we thy we looked rusty in some parts of our play. Rudiger seemed very dodgy at the back, Ruben is definitely lacking match fitness.

 

 

16 minutes ago, Slojo said:

City have nothing to play for anyway, Liverpool have already won the league, I don't think it makes any difference. 

If City beat Burnley and Liverpool fail to win once either now or Palace we will hand Liverpool the title if we beat City.

6 minutes ago, abramovich said:

Happy with the win, especially with all of our top four rivals bar Wolves dropping points. Still, with Man City coming up on Thursday we'll struggle to get anything out of it unless the performance improves drastically.

Our centrebacks are just not good enough, it's as simple as that. Ideally, neither Rudiger nor Christensen should be anywhere near the first eleven and we need to address this issue in the transfer window, I hope Frank realizes that and Marina is working on something. Also, even with this not so great personnel we shouldn't be so vulnerable at the back and whoever is in charge of defensive part of training needs to be replaced by someone who knows what the f..k they're doing. I dread every set piece we concede and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

RLC looked rusty and slow, he needs time to get back to his best, so for now he'd probably be better off coming off the bench. Subs in a form of Pulisic and Barkley worked well, James on the other hand looked lost and conceded possession on three different occasions in a row in a matter of a few minutes, thankfully it didn't cost us anything, but that wasn't pleasant to watch.

We still have trouble breaking down packed defences and our fullbacks still struggle to cross the ball properly. Happy for Giroud, his hard work paid off and hopefully Pulisic will get his confidence back after coming back from injury. Mount was lively and Willian worked his socks off.

slow down mate... have you been watching the other matches aswell... It will take time for match sharpness to kick in.  I would make opinions on players and their future closer to match 36/37.

2 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

My guess is that it's obvious to everyone now that James isn't THAT comfortable playing some position other than his own full back/RB position. He was all over the place.

His performance reminded me of Billy against Sheffield .. in a tight game best not to sub folks even for time wasting. He did struggle but what was Azpi thinking overlapping in the 92nd minute.. !!

44 minutes ago, SFL82 said:

If 5th gets CL I really hope wolves get it 

thats if we secure 4th right?  lol

Well, it followed a similar pattern , lovely football, tons of possession, but their keeper hardly worked at all.

They sling in a cross and it's a goal.

Overall though, well pleased with our football.  Frank identified the problem after Everton away saying we took too many touches and not enough shots .  Hopefully they'll get the message one day

2 hours ago, Osborne3 said:

BLM is a far left political group and should be kept out of football. They encourage the dismantling of the police and capitilsm and shouldn't be on any jersey. Load of sh*te. 

Actually, we had the same conversation today, political statements on vests etc get you a booking.

and look what happened to Leno when he bent his knee yesterday !

anyway , this thread is really for the Villa game mate, match chat etc,  dunno if there's somewhere else it could be posted ?

We need an absolute boss centre back to play with Tomori. Today was more proof of that.

1 hour ago, Jangz said:

not true.. he played much better than Rudiger... his passing was great today... always made the right decision.. On the goal we conceded it was on Kepa, Azpi for not setting up the wall right.. and Rudi for playing everyone onside.. While he did make that one mistake.. Rudi made atleast 2.. apart from giving the ball constantly away, giving so many cheap fouls too.. Remember these guys are coming back after 3 months everyone is rusty.. 

On today's performance he is way above Rudi in the pecking order.

I watched that Aston Villa goal highlight several times now and I suggest you do the same:

1. The wall, Kepa and Azpi had nothing to do with that goal. Aston Villa passed the ball from the free kick out wide to Grealish, two Chelsea defenders closed him down and he made a pass bakwards before it was crossed into the box.

2. Kepa had no chance to get to that cross, it was too far away from him and it came in fast.

3. Rudiger was on a line with the rest of our defenders for that cross.

4. Christensen is ball watching and way to slow to react on that second ball, could have made an interception.

5. Rudiger is desperatly trying to get to the ball and almost makes a save on the goal line, despite beeing in a worse position to prevent the goal comapred to Christensen.

--------

67:25  Christensen is again in no mans lands after a free kick, giving Aston Villas attacker a free header just above our goal

--------

86:40 Christensen with a huge miss inside our box, Aston Villa attacker puts his shot just wide of our goal.

I don't really rate Christensen or Rudigers passing today, there was almost no pressure on them and I know Rudiger still had a couple of bad misses that led to no danger. The only real danger was when we gave away those cheap freekicks close to our goal. We might as well have put out a cone instead of Christensen on those.

2 hours ago, BKLYNProdigy said:

Olly looks to be masquerading as Neanderthal man suspect he has respected the lock down and passed on his hairdresser. 

Hi all. Haven’t posted in a while. Want to give it a couple of games before saying much. bit of a lottery the first game back so can’t read too much into it.  All I’ll say for now is - delighted with the result and it looks like rating Christensen is getting even more lonely ?

Great win, big 3 points. 

Both centre backs were terrible, especially rudiger who is so poor on the ball, if it was zouma he wouldve been slaughtered. Christiansen was better on the ball, but his concentration wasnt right, and luckily it difnt cost us today.

That free kick kante gave away in stoppage time is why its better to have him there than jorginho at certain times, and i actually thought kante was excellent on the ball today, however when villa started to press high, we did struggle to play out, especially since kovacic wasnt there to drop back and offer another option. Food for thought though, and think we will see more of kante holding now RLC is back.

RLC was very rusty, and it will take time for him to trust his own body again, but great to see him back on the pitch.

Pulisic did well when came on, injected some directness, and did well to get onthe end of yhat cross.

Azpi somehow ended the game with 2 assist's despite wasting several opportunities in the first hour, with some pretty poor crosses. 

Referee was as bad as diving grealishs hair. 

Onwards and upwards good to be back.

Happy with the result, performance was decent apart from the usual weakness such as the inability to handle crosses, and lack of cutting edge in front of the goal. Considering the heavy schedule coming up, I could see the reasons behind the team selection. Players got much needed fitness, and we had the likes of Pullisic and Tammy on the bench to win games. It's like the first game in the season, can't be too critical on individuals, think there are more positives out of this game, not just result wise.

Good performance I thought overall.

Same defensive issues are there, not surprised by that or our lack of killer instinct up front.

What was particularly impressive was our level of fitness and link up play for me. Very high level.

Ruben needs games, of course he does, you expect him to come back at the highest level?

Thought Mount was excellent, as was Giroud. 

Good job team.

It’s been awhile. Had to watch the match on delay, but so glad to be back on the pitch. Must admit, I enjoy the fake crowd noise included in the US telecast. I think you can get the other version on the streaming version over here and both available in the UK obviously. It helps me forget there is no one in the stands so it seems normal watching the match.

Thought the team showed resolve in the second half to keep taking it to Villa with each possession. Pulisic gave us a boost. Glad to see RLC out there again. It’ll take awhile to get him back to top shape of course. Always glad to see Giroud get in. He works hard and I think he genuinely cares about the club and his teammates.

Obviously had our typical scramble moments at the back a few times, once costing us a goal. How long will it take Frank to get this area improved?

Good results for us throughout the weekend. We are in a great position to finish third or fourth if we can remained focused.

So glad to have games back on the calendar.

Come on you Chelsea!!

 

 

 

Family issue today so only saw the first 35 mins, here's the brief highlights and goals

https://www.avfc.co.uk/AVTV/2020/06/21/Highlights Aston Villa 1 - 2 Chelsea