I've done a bit of a tidy up but not going to issue any warning points on this one. Emotions are high so let's just tuck this year behind us and look ahead to 2021. I do request that posters not engage in deliberate baiting or name calling. You know who you are, what you do and why you do it. If you deliberately try to tank a thread, warnings will be issued going forward but really hope there's no need for this. You can use the hard ignore (hide the member's posts) or soft ignore (and not react). There's been a fair amount of trolling from various parties and would prefer to leave that behind us please. Will leave the thread open for now given the topic has reverted back to the football. Wish you all a better 2021 and hope we have lot's of good stuff to talk about in the very near future.
Played 8 backups against a Villa side that beat a Pool side 7-2 (Along with beating Leicester) and we drew, could've done better but Villa have been surprisingly good given where they finished last season. And about time Lampard started another actual winger instead of Werner as an out and out winger. It's also obvious that something happened with Tomori, but that he has yet to get any playing time is surprising.
My Madness match report today is the 1981 tune "Grey Day" In addition to the title summing up the current mood/form I also found some of the lyrics to be appropriate "I dream of people fighting me Without any reason I can see"
The Wee Scotsman has got some playing time under Frank and he will hopefully get some more time this season. Under a different manager it is highly unlikely that Gilmour would get any playing time. The winning mentality that a mercenary 1-2 season manager might bring in, would most likely mean the end for opportunities for the yoof.
That's an unacceptable excuse for me regarding a team with Chelsea's aspirations. 1 point from Arsenal and Villa is not what our target should be. I also saw the tweet you lifted this "8 backups" thing from and it's misleading at best. Let me try and guess the 8 backups y'all are referring to. Az is our captain and a regular starter last season. Christensen and Rudiger are regular starters for Denmark and Germany. Jorginho is a Italian international who started for them in their last match. Callum Hudson Odoi, OK, perhaps a backup. Giroud has been an on/off starter for us. And the starting striker for the world champions, France. Who are the other 2? Mendy? Starter. Chillwell? Starter. Kante? Starter. Pulisic? Starter. Mount? Starter. We didn't throw out a group of trialists. With the talent that was on the field (including the boy wonders of German national football - Werner and Kai, who were subbed in), that performance today was unacceptable, especially at home. Especially following the Arsenal shitshow. We fail to control games. We give away the ball so much. We let teams back in. We fail to make quick decisions. We are still letting in the same types of chances/goals we did last season.
Mid table mentality in some of these posts. The result, on the day, wasn’t bad. I don’t think anyone would argue that. What is bad how it all seems to go down. Slow, predictable transitions from midfield to attack. No play through the middle of the pitch. It’s terrible to watch.
Aston Villa once again, beat a Pool team that ran away with the league last season. They also beat Leicester and Wolves, one a team that won the league and has still been competitive despite losing their best players, another a team that's been in the top ten since they came up and has made deep runs in the Europa League. Azpi has not consistently started this season, Italy's talent pool is the weakest its been in generations, both Christensen and Rudiger are not regular starters with Chelsea, Giroud wouldn't be starting for France if Benzema wasn't blackmailing teammates. The only thing you've proved on here is that most of these people have been regular starters for their countries. They are not starters for Chelsea. Who said anything along those lines?
It's hard to see what Jorginho brings to the team. The 2 or 3 moments in a game when he is a "calming influence". don't make up for the rest. Maddening how in last 25min of a 1-1 game we are able to create so little
Grealish is a bit of a bastard. If he’s going to throw himself around like that, might as well give him something to fall about.
Our lot have about as much steel in them as baby poop. No shot you’ll ever see a nice lil “hey how are ya” scissor tackle to teach someone a lesson. Bunch of goodie goodies.
The most fouled player OR is that the most diving sneaky bastard player? He could wear some shin pads. He really is inviting somebody to break his leg. Also, his hair, makes the man-bun seem acceptable.
Maybe I've been around the game too long but it seems to me that some people fail to see how football 'changes' over time, to them Arsenal and United will always be the dogs bollox while Aston Villa will always be 2nd Division 'also rans'. Me on the other hand, I've seen a time when Chelsea were 2nd Division relegation fodder and Villa as the best team in Europe, I can 'see' how good teams come and good teams go. To some because they're Aston Villa they shouldn't have the 'right' to compete against an Arsenal or Chelsea, they should just know their place and 'roll over', to me though I can see that Villa are (like it or not) one of the very best teams so far this season, they ARE better than Arsenal - losing to Arsenal was unacceptable, drawing against a Villa side not so much. We played what is currently a bloody good team and we were unlucky not to pick up three points, that IS progress compared to the showing against a currently much weaker Arsenal team. In not sure what more Villa have to do around here to earn the respect their (so far) seasons performances deserve. I imagine that once upon a time (probably in the late 80's) there was a bunch of Villa fans 'disgusted' with the Villa team for only managing to draw against the bunch of struggling 'also-rans' that was Chelsea FC.
Aston villa won the European Cup. Arsenal have never done that. Man Citeh have never done that. What constitutes a big club? All the knee jerking expectations might be applicable in the FIFA Fantasy Games, but IRL (in real life) a deeper knowledge and understanding of the game is required. A greater understanding of time also.
I wouldn't say it is required, anyone can enjoy football for a wide variety of reasons, but it does add another dimension. My perspective of added appreciation goes the other way from top level success and towards the pits of despair that is relegation. Once you've experienced that as a fan (the prospect of going to anfield and old Trafford one year to places like Blundell Park the next) it puts things into a different light in perpetuity. There is nothing like it in football. It can be understood intellectually, but not emotionally and football is, for me, more emotional than anything else. It's like many things in life, you get more out of something that you have a richer experience of but it doesn't preclude you enjoying new things or others enjoying the things you've enjoyed for longer. If anything being free of that emotional baggage can make things easier to enjoy at face value.
Aston Villa, one of only 5 English clubs to be crowned European Champions (though 5 is more than any other country has managed), Villa are considered as one of the biggest clubs in England, the biggest club in the whole Midlands region, They've won the league seven times, the FA cup seven times, the league cup five times, in Europe the UEFA cup and of course the European Cup.
This is all debatable. The point is, these are all international quality players. Not scrubs. Your original line was that we threw out "8 (EIGHT)" backups to play Villa. I identified 6. Who are the other two?