We did not deserve to leave without a single point.
The moment that changed the game was the penalty that wasn’t awarded. It was in the 55th minute. Had we been awarded that, the whole game changes.
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Villa did not look that good but we were soft, lead by our Captain, who would have been back with the ladies at the village in the Viking days. I love his offensive talent but he is a liability in the midfield and needs his other midfielders to do the dirty work he can not do. Basically Villa bullied us and we spent too much time rolling around on the ground. I hate that part about football and our players but this is what Arteta has given us. This is where I am not sold on Arteta and it is in player selection and management of subs off the bench. As to his comment of being proud of the performance, is he serious?
That’s why we bought Rice and Kai, to add physicality to the midfield.
Unless it’s a community shield, there’s no evidence to suggest that Mikel will agree with you. Or martinelli in that position furthermore.
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Rice is an upgrade and Kai is a work in progress? We need a finished product midfielder that is physical and offensive. Fofana or something in the vein would be perfect. Rice needs to work on his attacking midfield play but has been fantastic for us.
since day one I could tell, Ode-Rice-Kai is the midfield trio that Arteta wants.
just nobody expected that Kai needs that much time to blend in.
Rice, however, made his impact immediately.
I agree but is Kai the best we could have got for 65 mill? I hope they are having a good look at Fofana because he is a monster.
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It can’t be. Zinchenko is not good looking!
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Which Fofana are tou talking about and how many times have you seen him play? Have you used him in FIFA by any chance?
Fuck me I wish we had the refs from the SPFL down here. They give Rangers a penalty every weekend.
So much so penalty to Rangers is a meme up here
I missed the last 20 mins as I had to shoot to visit family but sounds like I didn’t miss much. Upon reflection I know it’ll come across as so prematurely spoilt but I can’t help but not shake off my frustrations at that result.
On the basis of gameplay we definitely deserved at least a point but our inability to tuck away chances will eventually cost us in coming up short for the title again. I think we all feel some what annoyed at our final third performance today but the goal we also conceded merits criticism too. How we allowed Bailey that much space to run and how McGinn was even allowed to turn and shoot for the goal was piss fucking poor.
Yousef Fofana out of Monaco and I am 60 and the only game I can half ass play in Battlefront. FIFA would be too hard for me. I think there are a lot of people that rate him and he is a French international and they have a hell of a lot of midfielders competing for spots (Greisman, Touchanmeni, Camivinga, can’t name them all).
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it is all hypothetical.
Someone is cheaper and someone is better.
We never know unless that player really play for this team under Arteta.
Will Maddison flourish in this team, maybe, or maybe not. God knows what will happy if we have Ode and him on the same lineup.
Will Fofana do good here? This is not fantasy manager or football manager.
We can even mention what if we get Haaland and will we score a lot?
On paper, yes, but does he fit Arteta’s tactics and requirement? Will he have good chemistry with us? Who knows?
Reality is, Kai is improving game by game and start contributing.
He knew Rice before (through Mount), and now his teammates have good relationship with him.
So, he has the platform to do good and do better.
Does he worth 65m? Only the club can answer that, not the fans.
I agree Kai is improving but if we can get Fofana, a natural midfielder, for 65 mil who would you take? To me it is a no brainer but I am not sold on Arteta and the players he/Edu pick.
And of course the fans can evaluate. We don’t have to sit back and accept everything they do as what is actually needed. It may not make a difference.
Sure we can discuss anything here, but I am not going to waste time on something that hasn’t happened and what if.
You are correct, we don’t necessarily need to agree of what the club/manager/coach/director does, at least I don’t quite agree of the treatment of Ramsdale. I don’t agree that we spent money on someone that is marginally better (or just about the same).
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Just my final thoughts on the game and soon to be reaching the halfway point into our season now.
We went to two of the toughest grounds in the world so far and despite losing, on both occasions we were the superior side it required some crucial refereeing errors to occur for us to even lose in the end.
I was very pessimistic going into this match because I’ve seen what Villa can do when they’re high on confidence at Villa Park.
Off our away record this season, I do actually feel more confident going to Anfield, OT and Etihad next.
Our creativity is slowly coming together again and we are starting to generate lots of chances again. We did that today while also maintaining a great stability at the back against a side that’s very dangerous on the counter.
Had we had our shooting boots today as well we might’ve been talking about a pummeling from us to them.
Still things to iron out but we’ve just entered December. This is not when we need to peak and there ain’t no gonna be no “running away with the league” from any team this season.
I believe City, Arsenal and Liverpool will be the main challengers eventually and I feel the business done in January will turn out pivotal on who goes the extra step and wins the league.
Needless to say, we can’t relax in January, leave it late and just pick from what’s left.
Exactly the reason I am still pissed off with this performance. Villa were nothing special and we threw away 3 points. Yes, decisions didn’t go in our favour but we had enough situations that should have lead to goals or at least good attempts at goal but we always found the wrong pass, wrong touch, wrong decision which made their life easy.
Just an incompetent display, especially by the forward line. We have to fix our goal scoring problems. For the chances we create, we should be scoring way more goals and putting teams to bed. But almost every other game we play becomes a nervy affair.
The narrative after this game would be all about how great Villa were but it should be about how wasteful we were and how Villa should have got FUCKING hammered.
I am still seething.
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Frustrating game. Ode and Jesus need to do more in crucial moments. We were better side but football does that sometimes. Can’t overreact. Just need to keep focusing one game at a time. Thought Kai looked bright. Zinny starting to annoy me.
Marti was the worst among the front 3 IMO