closed Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa

[communicate 2,703]

I will definitely rest puli against villa. Play Giroud with werner, cho on the right. Havertz will play, the rest depend on fitness.

[DanP2311 65]

Hate to say it because he is the preeminent offensive threat, and he tracks back better than the other wings, but playing Pulisic 2 days from now is not smart.

[ccheongf 211]

Chelsea is easy to BEAT.

1. Rigid in their own zone and so Predictable.

2. Fullbacks dictate the game instead of midfielders.

3. All players rooted on their spot instead of running to open space or run to collect the ball.

~~ a. Fullbacks + keeper love to kick among themselves instead of quickly passing the ball forward.

~~ b. Midfielders dnt run to collect the ball and  then move forwards to attack.

~~ c. Same as midfielders, forwards rooted at their spots and not running to open space for balls.

[Blue Armour 4,164]

7 hours ago, Jason said:

Am assuming the other starting winger would be Pulisic. God bless his hamstring...

 

Hope CHO can finally deliver a good WC performance when starting against a good team.

Too many times we've seen him do fine in a cup game or as a sub, but then perform below par when starting against a top side.

 

[Blue Armour 4,164]

Sigh...not even sure what team is going to take to the field. Is Silva going to start again?

If the team was below par and ragged against Arsenal, how are they going to perform with just 1 day of rest?

If both full backs were fit, I wish Lampard had rested either James or Chillwell. (The former could have used some rest, considering how rusty he looked)

Not comfortable with Emerson and Azpi starting together again. Not against a team like Villa.

[Vesper 27,310]

Aston Villa – fit, fresh and now a team to be feared

https://theathletic.com/2285304/2020/12/27/aston-villa-dean-smith-anwar-el-ghazi/

 

Aston Villa are quickly becoming a match for all; the big boys, the bottom teams, local rivals, and now the wily and seasoned sides.

Games against middle-ranking, established Premier League outfits caused promoted Villa problems last season. Not now. They were even able to play a full half without the dismissed Tyrone Mings and still managed to not only see out this latest win but extend the margin of victory, too.

To put it simply, the fresh, youthful legs of Villa got the better of Crystal Palace’s ageing squad. When the youngest team in the division came up against the oldest, there was a clear winner. Another win, another clean sheet, and another 16 attempts at goal.

That their 3-0 Boxing Day win was screened free to the nation live on BBC was an additional advertising bonus. Those who were not aware of Villa’s qualities are now.

Even Auntie Margaret will recognise Anwar El Ghazi next time out, and for those of you who did not see the full 90 minutes, he is the one who channelled his inner Cristiano Ronaldo to smash in Villa’s third goal in style.

This is officially Villa’s best start to a Premier League season and they are showing no signs of slowing up.

For a young side — yesterday’s starting XI had an average age of 25 — they have the guile and know-how of an experienced group.

They cover some serious ground these days, but can also wear teams down with the constant probing. Ollie Watkins defends from the front and really sets the tone. That was the story again versus Palace.

During the half-time interval, head coach Dean Smith said to the 10 men that if he could choose any player in the division to lead the line for the second half, it would be Watkins. Although the striker did not score on the day, he created all three goals, hit the woodwork twice and was a real handful throughout.

One impressive aspect is how Villa were still able to record 39 per cent possession for the game despite going a man down just before the interval. Bertrand Traore’s opener gave them something to cling onto but there was always a desire to get more and the second-half goals from Kortney Hause and El Ghazi were deserved.

Mings had a bad day, from allowing Wilfred Zaha through at goal early on to his eventual dismissal, when he became tangled up in two challenges with the Palace dangerman in the space of six minutes.

Both bookings appeared harsh. Did he really do anything wrong in the first altercation, where all he appeared to do was lift an arm to keep Zaha at a distance? And was he fouled first by the attacker before carelessly bringing him down to stop an attack soon after?

Either way, Mings will know he messed up. It was a rare stumble by a player who is usually measured and composed, but it did not matter in terms of the final score.

Villa showed incredible guts to continue attacking even after they were at a numerical disadvantage. They purposely targeted a Palace rearguard (the goalkeeper and back four) that had an average age of 31.6 years because they knew they had the legs to rip them apart.

Smith set up extra fitness sessions during the first lockdown, and those hard yards have set the tone for this vibrant new approach.

“I know we are fitter than last season,” he says. “We worked on getting the players’ running numbers higher — the high-speed distance and sprinting.

”You can see from the counter-attacking aspect of our game just how fit we are. But there’s also a great maturity in the team, even though we’re the youngest group in the Premier League.”

There is also a sheer willingness to keep the ball out of the net — their total of eight clean sheets is the best in the division, even though most clubs have played more than their 13 games.

Right into the last minute, when the game was done and dusted, there were disagreements over the direction of an Emiliano Martinez goal kick.

For all the additional running, it is not just aimless sprinting into space, either. The movements are careful and considered. Villa had the highest dribble success rate in the Premier League (66 per cent) at time of writing and, on average, they are having more possession in matches this season (50 per cent) compared to 43 per cent last time.

The cold, hard statistics do not show the amount of work this team is getting through, though.

Take the recoveries and interceptions numbers. Villa are not stacking up favourably in comparison to others but what is not measured by readily-available numbers is the way their players are backing each other up.

Look at how Douglas Luiz nips in either side of the back four to mop up when he is needed. The perfect example came in the 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion last weekend, when he bulldozed his way into Grady Diangana after the wide man spun away from Matt Targett in a rare break upfield.

Or how about when Jack Grealish missed a chance just before half-time against Palace before tracking back to win first the ball, and then a foul.

It was nice to see Villa turning to the dark arts somewhat in the second half, too. El Ghazi won clever fouls, the backline refused to be beaten — Targett in particular — and there were occasional examples of running down the clock.

If there was a sight to sum up the way Villa got under the skin of their most recent opponents, it was Palace manager Roy Hodgson sat slumped in his dugout chair, resigned to becoming the latest victim to this evolving side.

He had his Palace players — starting XI average age of 29 — training on Christmas Day and then sleeping over in Birmingham the night before this game, but it was all in vain.

“I didn’t see the 3-0 coming,” he admitted.

Not many will have, but Villa won’t stay under the radar for long if they continue this form.

[Jase 43,479]

Villa's league results this season have been weird. 

- When they have not conceded, they have won 7 out of 8 games. Drew 0-0 in the other game.

- When they have conceded, they have lost 4 out of 5 games. Beat Liverpool 7-2 in the other game.

[Jase 43,479]

6 hours ago, communicate said:

I will definitely rest puli against villa. Play Giroud with werner, cho on the right. Havertz will play, the rest depend on fitness.

I won't be surprised if Lampard starts Havertz out wide again.

[Special Juan 27,102]

I reckon he is going to go Giroud up top, Callum right and Pulisic left and drop Werner

[killer1257 3,282]

Hope Mount is on the bench. But obviously will not happen [emoji23]

Gesendet von meinem VOG-L29 mit Tapatalk

[Laylabelle 9,296]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

Villa's league results this season have been weird. 

- When they have not conceded, they have won 7 out of 8 games. Drew 0-0 in the other game.

- When they have conceded, they have lost 4 out of 5 games. Beat Liverpool 7-2 in the other game.

They better not do that to us lol. Was funny when it was Liverpool this wont be!

Thought this be a harder game then Arsenal..now looking like a sodding mountain to climb. Hopefully we show fight this time rather then be chasing shadows

[chelsea_4_eva 1,142]

huft... i dont know anymore... still not over that defeat to arsenal.. gonna take a couple of days...

[Special Juan 27,102]

Just now, Mana said:

Nah. Have you forgot Abraham scored? Abraham will start.

Goal masked his performance, it was shite again. For a bloke who's 6ft plus he's shite in the air and with his head.

If we are going to continue with this spam way of playing....ball out to Reece and whip it in time after time we need a proper physical player in the box, that player isn't Tammy it's Giroud

[MONEYBALL 20]

I'd like too see something like this,                                    Mendy

                                                                  Azpi - Christensen - Rudiger - Chilwell

                                                                      CHO - Kante -  Gilmour - Pulisic

                                                                                 Abraham - Giroud

   The success of this 4-4-2 is supported by the capacity of the 2 wingers for helping the 2 center mildfield players

 

 

 

[Jase 43,479]

28 minutes ago, MONEYBALL said:

I'd like too see something like this,                                    Mendy

                                                                  Azpi - Christensen - Rudiger - Chilwell

                                                                      CHO - Kante -  Gilmour - Pulisic

                                                                                 Abraham - Giroud

   The success of this 4-4-2 is supported by the capacity of the 2 wingers for helping the 2 center mildfield players

Two target man upfront? LAMPARD-BALL YOLO!

[Stats 6,980]

1 hour ago, Mana said:

Nah. Have you forgot Abraham scored? Abraham will start.

It is about keeping the team fresh. Giroud will start this one I am 100% sure. Especially as he hasn't participated in our last 2 games now. It is a 48 hour turnaround so Abraham will start from the bench. CHO on the other side and possibly Pulisic but whether Lamps feels he is able to start a game within 48 hours after playing the full 90 against Arsenal remains to be seen. Think Werner will be a sub.

[communicate 2,703]

6 hours ago, Jason said:

I won't be surprised if Lampard starts Havertz out wide again.

Probably Werner on the left, cho on the right. Havertz with kova or mount.

Lamp need to rotate more, play azpi, play cho more. We probably don't have any undroppable except kante (no other option). 

[Special Juan 27,102]

We can't be dropping Pulisic, as of out of all that shit yesterday he looked like the only one barring CHO who was going to do anything.