Other PL Round 1 Fixtures - 6-7th August, 2022

[Dan+]

11 minutes ago, Stan said:

Gerrard first to get sacked? 

I reckon so. Expectations high at Villa and that result, while only one game is shocking and I can't see them being patient, particularly after being largely rubbish last season as well.

[Chickasaw]

4-1, I posted we should win it easily. What I don't want us to be is runaway leaders early in the season because teams which do that rarely last the pace, just keep pace with the top teams. Good start.

 

[OrangeKhrush]

1 minute ago, Dan said:

I reckon so. Expectations high at Villa and that result, while only one game is shocking and I can't see them being patient, particularly after being largely rubbish last season as well.

Sacking him early would be a bad mistake,  there are not many managers that can do that job.  It is one game but against a promoted club with the quality Villa have is completely unforgiveable from the players.    Bournemouth deserved it and they were not fantastic either.   Liverpool got sucker punched as well,  but I am sure Klop will let them know about it. 

[Dan+]

3 minutes ago, OrangeKhrush said:

Sacking him early would be a bad mistake,  there are not many managers that can do that job.  It is one game but against a promoted club with the quality Villa have is completely unforgiveable from the players.    Bournemouth deserved it and they were not fantastic either.   Liverpool got sucker punched as well,  but I am sure Klop will let them know about it. 

I'm not necessarily saying I'd agree with the decision but Villa seem a little bit basket case to me. Not scared to put the money down but I don't think they'll hesitate to act if they don't improve.

[Danny]

Villa's problem is that they have had no plan in buying attacking players. You don't need Ings and Watkins as both will demand constant playing time, you then have Coutinho and Bailey on the left who again both demand constant playing time...and if you play Coutinho in the middle then you have Buendia also who demands constant playing time.

The squad is far too stacked in certain areas of the pitch, you just need eleven players you want to play week in, week out and then impact subs/players who will look to push the starters but can't complain about getting benched. Consistency in team selections. Villa just constantly have Watkins, Ings, Buendia, Bailey, Coutinho, Ramsey etc rotating in and out, just an unbalanced attack.

[Reluctant Striker]

Yes, Villa's attacking options do seem a bit too patchwork to me. Signing Ings never really made sense to me. Coutinho & Buendia don't really fit Villa's customary counter attack style. And the players behind them are not dictating games. It feels every change of personnel has to also mean a change of formation or playing style.

There's likely something not as it should be when the 2 genuinely new signings are immediate starters.

I don't get at all how Ramsey retains a spot over Douglas Luiz. And I'm not sure it's been the right thing to have axed Mings as captain & from the team. But big choices need to be made at some stage, because phase 1 of the Villa return has perhaps already failed.

It is going to be a similar story to last season I suspect. Not enough has changed.

[Stan]

Forest  

 

[N U F C]

That was a good performance, pretty dominant from start to finish.

Never easy playing a newly promoted side first as proven today but they never really had a sniff. Good performance and onto next week.

[Danny]

Forests defensive structure on the counter was horrendous, only seen MOTD highlights but they’re all over the place. Always want a triangle of your wing back, winger and left or right sided midfielder on the side of the box. If you lack one or two of those players it means your centre backs have to cover more ground and it brings them out of position. Newcastle were exploiting that space pretty effectively.

[Dan+]

9 hours ago, Danny said:

Villa's problem is that they have had no plan in buying attacking players. You don't need Ings and Watkins as both will demand constant playing time, you then have Coutinho and Bailey on the left who again both demand constant playing time...and if you play Coutinho in the middle then you have Buendia also who demands constant playing time.

The squad is far too stacked in certain areas of the pitch, you just need eleven players you want to play week in, week out and then impact subs/players who will look to push the starters but can't complain about getting benched. Consistency in team selections. Villa just constantly have Watkins, Ings, Buendia, Bailey, Coutinho, Ramsey etc rotating in and out, just an unbalanced attack.

Yep. Totally scattergun approach in the transfer market. Spend a lot of money but do not spend it particularly well. Can see them doing an Everton in the next couple of years.

[Dan+]

Forest getting soundly beaten by an average side on the opening day is just the tonic. Their fans haven't changed one bit. Unbelievably delusional. But they will take a little while to get going I think with so many signings. I also think their strength will be at home - don't see them winning over 3 away games.

Well then, we are back tomorrow. The bulk of my excitement for it is actually because it's nice to get away from the poison of this summer we've just witnessed. Not a single new player in, our legendary goalkeeper gone, Ricardo back out for months, Barnes out a little while - barely a single positive you can take other than a couple of individual displays in the friendlies but we knew some of them were good. It's the kind of negative aura that can be largely forgotten about with a nice win and tomorrow is a good chance for one.

I think I just about fancy us. Beat Brentford home and away last season, 2-1 in both games, Maddison scoring in both, weren't convincing in either game but our superior quality shone through and in all honesty I see similar happening again.

Actually think the atmosphere will be decent. If there's one thing I can usually say for us it's that we often respond as a fanbase when we're being slated in the media. The absolute rubbish written about us in the last week, talk of relegation battles etc... totally ridiculous really. I don't pull punches on our issues but if we got relegated it would take an absolutely staggering level of underperformance. I've had to hit it home many a time last season but we were so much weaker than we're capable of and we still managed to come 8th. This team has good players in it. It'll also be helped by the club rearraging the Kop somewhat so that we have a designated atmosphere section down the front a little like Palace, which can only be a good thing. Finally, the best news to come out of the club in years including both the league title win and the FA Cup win - the clappers are gone!!!!

[Lucas]

Chuffed to collect three points on the opening day, after the season we had last year, you want to get those points on the board early and gain back confidence.

Crowd were magnificent. Really dragged the players through that, such a different atmosphere to the cagey, nail biting one's of last year. Understandable.

Wolves are a horrible side to play, but have to say, we had a really uncomfortable spell in the 2nd half where they put us under serious pressure and we saw it out.

Amazing what a difference it was to have a fit Patrick Bamford up top. Completely different. Just wins the ball, holds the ball up, brings others into play, good novement, honestly when you have seen half a season of Dan James playing up there lost, its a very welcome sight.

Brendon Aaronson looks exactly like the player Marcelo Bielsa wanted last year with Conor Gallagher. He's just buzzing around everywhere and I felt gutted for him the winner was an OG and not his.

Of the other new boys, Kristenssen had a very solid game at RB, really liking him especially going forward. Adams and Roca were what I'd say solid 6/7 out of 10's in midfield, did the job but nothing special.

100% need a Left back though. We kept getting exploited there playing a centre back and others will punish us. 

[Honey Honey]

10 hours ago, N U F C said:

That was a good performance, pretty dominant from start to finish.

Never easy playing a newly promoted side first as proven today but they never really had a sniff. Good performance and onto next week.

That was the easiest game we'll have all season

If I didn't know any better I'd think they were promoted from League Two not the Championship 

[OrangeKhrush]

11 minutes ago, Honey Honey said:

That was the easiest game we'll have all season

If I didn't know any better I'd think they were promoted from League Two not the Championship 

In fairness to Forest they look like a team with like 10 odd new players in it,  they looked disjointed and out of sync.   To our credit we didn't let them get into the game.   I also think Dean Henderson like Lingaard looks like a bullet dodged.    Henderson just looks like a player with shattered confidence. 

The game also highlights why we need a James Maddison like midfielder,  a guy who can pull strings and hit them in at a good clip,  while Joelinton was again class,  his inability to score was there again,  that miss was really poor after doing all the hard work.   Willock and Longstaff are great depth to have and both played well when coming on but between J7, Longstaff and Willock if you get 10 goals you are lucky.    We need a 10+ goal/assist midfield puppet master that just opens games up and takes the weight of Wilson and Wood.

It is also a massive season for ASM,  he needs to break out this year,  he is averaging 3 goals and 3 assists a season which for his ability is pretty bad.

[Stan]

That corner routine Forest tried

 

[Honey Honey]

I thought Henderson looked alright on my dodgy stream. I think he'll be good for them.

[OrangeKhrush]

8 minutes ago, Honey Honey said:

I thought Henderson looked alright on my dodgy stream. I think he'll be good for them.

The Schar goal was goalkeeper error,  a Keeper should never be beaten from the half channel at 23 yards near post,  that is completely indefensible.   He also almost turned an almiron cross into his own goal and just looks to be so iffy on the near post side. 

[OrangeKhrush]

13 minutes ago, Stan said:

That corner routine Forest tried

 

they clearly watched The waterboy the night before.   Coach Klien said I could,  Coach Klien said I could. 

[DeadLinesman]

16 hours ago, OrangeKhrush said:

I think we dodged a bullet with dean henderson,   he was at fault for both goals,  there was no way Schar should have scored from that far out beaten near post.

Nah mate, best thing since sliced bread. Far better than De Gea as well. All the dressing room leaks at United and Twitter Stans told me…..

[Danny]

Big game today, we lost to Leicester twice last season (one of the only teams we did lose both games to) so I'd be happy with a draw today. Expect the team to line up as below:

 

Raya

Hickey - Jansson - Mee - Henry

Jensen - Norgaard - Janelt

Mbeumo - Toney - Wissa

 

Away from Ivan Toney the one to watch today going forward is Yoane Wissa, he's had a really good pre-season and has looked sharp and fit. He was never really 100% last season, was quite stop start for him yet he still scored 10 goals in all comps. Might take a few games to get into the swing of things is the only problem, but he should still be a threat.

Outside of that we have Josh Dasilva on the bench who will most likely make an appearance in the second half, he's been out for so long it's mainly a case of easing him into the team and letting him try and find form. He was our second best attacking player outside of Toney the season we went up and a real miss last season, but today might be a game too soon for him.

[N U F C]

3 hours ago, Honey Honey said:

That was the easiest game we'll have all season

If I didn't know any better I'd think they were promoted from League Two not the Championship 

I agree but I think they’ll get better, probably a good time to play them in hindsight.

[Danny]

5 minutes ago, N U F C said:

I agree but I think they’ll get better, probably a good time to play them in hindsight.

One constant about a Steve Cooper side is that they are well drilled, especially in defensive positions. They'll definitely get better, but whether they'll get better in time to stay up is a different question.

[Honey Honey]

Maybe we are just a top 4 team, in which case nothing Forest can read into that game 

[Danny]

Team news as expected 

 

 

[Danny]

A pretty strong Leicester side, Fofana included... @Stan @Dan