Line-up Schmeichel Söyüncü Evans Fuchs Ricardo Pereira Tielemans Praet Maddison Chilwell Pérez Vardy Substitutes Justin Albrighton Ward Iheanacho Barnes Benkovic Choudhury Ndidi injured in training yesterday and may need an op - a few weeks out if so. Interesting to see how we play in this one without him. Strong team though.
Unfortunate news regarding Ndidi. Pleased with a strong line up, didn't expect it wouldn't be though. Expecting a more difficult game than our league game but hoping for a good result tonight to take into the second leg.
Where do you start? Missed Ndidi but then Choudhury turned it round when he came on. Their keeper played well but we were also guilty of firing it straight at him. It was Norwich all over again, only Villa were more defensively minded. Given their smaller squad and injuries they were exceptional. We still lack that player that can play that key pass to unlock a defense. When team concede all that ground it seems our forwards don't make the runs to pull defenders out of position and create other openings. Have to say Grealish is worth the hype, a terrific player. However, a draw and second leg of a semi to come plus second in the league is a wonderful place to be.
Really frustrating, have to say their keeper and Mings player blinders and the park the bus tactic worked, we still don’t look good enough break it down albeit better than we used to be. Got to say that’s both games with them where they’ve really wound me up with their cynical time wasting and going down under every challenge. Our lads should have known better than to even breathe on Grealish because you know you’re just going to concede the free kick. We’ve handed the initiative to them and whether they like it or not, they should be favourites given they’ll be at home but that’s fine, at least they’ll have to come out and play not park the bus again. Can’t concede the first goal again though
Why do we always seem to struggle when the opponents have 10 behind the bus? When I played we were always told “not try to pass your way through 10 players because you will lose it”… try and mix it up a bit with few longer shots and you may get lucky with a blinder or even a defection or two they all count! Also not sure why Tielemans passing has been so poor recently but last night he passed straight to a Villa player 11 times that I saw in the first half alone! He was having another bad time maybe Rogers should have taken him off and left Praet on as he was looking very comfortable on the ball.
The first half was lacklustre, even though we had the possession and they couldn't get out of their half for the first 20 minutes, we did nothing with it. Tielemans and Chilwell had bad games yesterday, Tielemans was trying to make things happen from deep, but couldn't find the right pass and got overwhelmed in the second half. Chilwell needs to at least occasionally try to take on their wing back. Even though the result wasn't great, at least chances were being created, credit to Villa parking the bus so effectively. Still feel we are the favorites for the second leg, Villa aren't going to win if they only have 1 shot on target again.
I agree with Wizard that Tielemans and Chilwell had absolute shockers last night. We subbed our best midfielder of the 1st half and how the hell Chilwell played 90 minutes I will never know. Southgate was watching too!! We aren't out of it and I believe we'll do enough in the 2nd leg. Ndidi was sitting in his box behind SK4 and went mad when Nacho equalised.
Said to my wife before the Palace away game - watch Tielemans give the ball away twice in the first 5 minutes. He always does, but after that comes good. He just never came good last night. Chilwell playing wing back and not going down the line after the first 20 minutes was unbelievable. It was already packed in the centre without him making it worse. Disappointing night, but cant see villa sitting back so much at their place. Was impressed with Grealish last night - the maturity he showed in frustrating us.
Is Ben Chilwell fulfilling the potential he appeared to have a couple of seasons ago? Personally I've been disappointed over the last 12 months. Doesn't show enough desire and ambition to get past an opponent and to the bye-line despite his pace and usually good delivery, and is not the most reliable of defenders particularly at the back post due to his lack of height (although I do realise that really isn't his fault!).
I’ve never been convinced by his defending. He’s good going forward but Wednesday proved he still needs to up his game in our half.
Really? Suprised to here this, personally think he’s probably the best left back in the league! (... outside of Liverpool)
He gets most of his plaudits for his crossing and assists. His actual defending isn’t really anything much above standard. He still has plenty of time to learn though.
He has age on his side, but it doesn't seem (to me, at least) that he's still developing. Ross Barkley had the same problem. I had high hopes of his partnership with Barnes on the left flank, but both of them appear to suffer from lack of self belief and ambition.
Agreed. Watch how many headed duels he wins, probably in the high 90%. The goal against Villa the ball was played past three other defenders before reaching their scorer and none cut it out. Going forward lately he has dashed up and then passed back but that is more because of a lack of movement from our front three. He is a top player and yet when there is a mistake he seems to be singled out. We should be celebrating another academy player playing for the club and England.
Re Chilwell, I think he gets a lot of stick (not from on here as the comments are fair) and he is only 22 and the England left back! I’ve never criticised him previously but tbf that performance on Wednesday was the most abject and pointless really of any I’ve seen for a long time. Not even pinning the goal on him but every time he just went backwards. Compare that to Ricardo who tries to stretch his man and go down the wing. For the record I think Chilwell has all the ability locked away that Ricardo has, he just seems unwilling to. Confidence?
I think you're right, John. It is confidence. We saw him beat his opponent many times when he first got into the team. Now, he seems to want to play too safe. If he could take his lead from Ricardo then we'd have full backs to match Liverpool's. He shouldn't be afraid to take chances and try to get past his man. He's usually got Wilf to cover him if he loses it. As for his heading ability, he wins a lot of challenges in midfield when the ball is coming straight down. When it is pinged across the goal and the attacker is coming from behind that is another thing altogether.
He had another absolute horror show yesterday even in relation to the rest of the team.. Just nothing came off for him, every pass went out of play or to a Southampton player including for their first goal. Looks shot to pieces at the minute the lad