07 Nov 2025 07:31:41
Morning.

Really odd evening. As many have said, focus ended up being far more on politics than on 90 minutes of action on the pitch. Never seen so many police at a football game, but they were very friendly and chatty. Protesting I saw was peaceful and engaging. But a really quiet and flat atmosphere both outside and inside the ground.

As for the game. Largely flat tempo and slow play. You could see, especially in the last 10 mins of the first half, that when we put our foot down, we could cut through them at ease. Shame we only did that in fits and starts. But, that said, in what was an incredibly awkward fixture for all sorts of reasons, we still won.

Shout out to the Dutch lads - Malen, Maatsen and Bogarde were the best players on the pitch for me. And we got to see a rare thing - a Villa penalty scored!

There is a player somewhere within Guessand. I can understand the critique he gets, but I feel that he will come good. This is based more on hope than evidence admittedly, but fingers crossed.

Lindelhof is not a RB. Far too exposed with him playing there against pace.

Poor Harvey Elliott. If he can't get a kick in that game then we've clearly given up on him. I wonder if there is something in the 'once he's played 10 games we have to buy him' rumour? Clearly Emery does not fancy him.

On to Sunday. Flat tempo and slow play will get picked off for fun by Bournemouth with their energy and non stop press. I'd expect to see a starting line up something like this.

Martinez
Cash / Konsa / Torres (fit?) / Digne
Onana / Kamara
Buendia / Rogers / McGinn
Watkins

Also Malen might start?

Great to see Youri back.

1.) 07 Nov 2025
07 Nov 2025 07:57:36
Great post.
Highlighting the positives and also identifying some of the issues, eg. slow play.
Guessand is surely a better player than we've seen so far and for £23m we should expect a lot more from him. Sometimes players struggle to settle at a club and this might be one of those.
The 'Elliott' question is an interesting one. Only Emery knows the truth, at the moment.
Sancho looked a bit better last night.

Bournemouth will provide an altogether different proposition.
UTV