please log in to view this image Venue: Villa Park Date: Saturday 24th August 2024 Time: 17:30 GMT Overall Record Wins: 87 Losses: 71 Draws: 45 Last six meetings Arsenal 0-2 Aston Villa Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal Arsenal 3-1 Aston Villa please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Good ebening guys. So it's game week two and you face your old manager who won more games against you last season than he won for you as your manager . Both side will be confident after wins last week and there are no injury concerns although Jesus's may not yet have recovered from the on field rectum exam he recieved by the Wolves player (there is an arse joke in there but that would be a cheap shot)...in his defence the Wolves player suffers from a severe split personality disorder and believes he's James herriot. (One for all you old bastards out there). There are rumours flying around than Jenas was sacked by the BBC for filming himself banging one out on a gooner shirt to replays of one of his goals against arsenal while screaming "oi ... pep's cone boy.. **** you "... but in fairness everyone knows that the twat is way too boring to do that. And any further proof is needed that God is a gooner ****, news is out that Dominic £60m ..you ****ing wot? Solanke is out injured ... after going all of last season uninjured. No wonder his son was crucified
Rumours circulating that Jesus will be missing the game with a groin injury. I don't know how much more evidence we need that he cannot be relied on. It would be absolutely insane for us to not bring in a forward this window. I really, really hope Arteta's press conference earlier was a bluff and that we are working in the background to sign a forward.
Hmm I dunno. I think when you have players who are constantly coming down with new injuries it's the clubs fault more than the players Tomiyasu, Partey, Jesus etc.. for me it's clear the demands are too much on these players. The coaching and S&C work is there to get the players ready to play - if they are constantly breaking down, either ether's an issue with the rehab protocols they are using or the volume is just too high.
Possibly, but I also think players can decline physically when it comes to rapid directional changes or collisions and tackles. There can also be some biomechanics factors related to body mechanics and previous injuries making a player more vulnerable. I don't necessarily believe it's always on the club. Either way, regardless of the reason, it doesn't change the facts - we need another forward.
This is the actually job of a good S+C coach - you identify imbalances and weaknesses and set about fixing those issues.
HT. 0-0. Quite a cagey, intense game. Pretty even affair. I feel like we've been quite risk averse and are taking too many touches on the ball. To be fair, Villa have been very well organised OOP. They've been switching from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-4 to a 4-2-3-1 when we have the ball and depending on who the pressing trigger is. We've lost the ball carelessly a few times in our own half leading to transitions that Villa almost scored from a couple of times. Gabriel is mightily fortunate that Watkins missed that sitter because there was absolutely no need to shield the ball with his back to goal. He should have just cleared it. I know he was complaining about it being a foul, but it wasn't. Apart from that Saka chance which Emi made a great save from, Havertz's half chance and that Partey shot, we've not really tested their goal too much, despite all the ball we've had. Havertz keeps drifting wide with White but it is impacting our box presence because we don't really have anyone occupying their CBs. We need to play the ball between the lines more. There's not enough urgency when we have the ball. Villa have been too comfortable.
Also, why is Rice playing so high up? Almost as a second striker? Martinelli is having to do too much. We need to fix that left-hand side pronto.
Martinelli needs to work on his end product - which is weird because when he first burst on to the scene for us it seemed like his finishing in particular was very clinical
Raya, that's a huge save from Watkins. But shocking defending, why is there two Villa players free there?
He's giving fouls for literally any time we try to challenge a Villa player. So frustrating that he's ruining the momentum of the game for nothing incidents.
Villa been the better team this half. They've had all the chances in these opening 15 minutes of the second half. We seriously need to do better.
Martinelli has been frustrating all game. I know it's difficult with the lack of combination play on the LHS, but he's making the wrong decision every time. He should have released the ball there and we would have been through on goal, yet he was hogging onto it.
Yeah - I see why Arteta is playing him as he clearly needs games to find his old form back but.. we need Trossard on.
