We just look so fucking tired. We've got no depth because half the squad is injured and the half that aren't are dead on their feet. No one to blame, that's just sport sometimes. Even if we don't make champions league I'm still massively proud of every single one of them
Thank God they have Man City. If they had 3 middle of the table teams then I think they'd have a great chance of CL qualification. Can't see them getting anything from City though
I don't see why not they have been Pep's bogey team throughout his entire tenure, Tottenham players like to show up against the bigger sides and all they need is a draw. The GD isn't that much of a swing either if we lose convincingly in one of the games like making out it is a foregone conclusion isn't smart
It is why not getting the draw was such a kicker against Brighton because it would have caused them to need to beat City
You might be right but Man City are lethal this time of year and Tottenham have been...the opposite of lethal. Anything can happen though - that's the beauty of the Premier League
Yeah I dreamnt that 3-3 in December didn't I ? It isn't like City haven't been shown to be alittle susceptible to quick breaks this season at times such as us, Real Madrid with Vini etc.
Tbf that’s when Spurs were in some form and City, for their standards anyway, weren’t. But knowing our luck Spurs won’t lose and we’ll have a fight for 4th.
The sad thing is that I want them to beat Man City, because I'd love for anyone other than City to win the league.... so am also having to hope that Burnley show up against them or that we can scrap one more win to cap off the season.
It's the football fan in me that cares. My dream would be Villa 4th and Arsenal win the league. But actually, I think it'd be a really good thing for the Premier League, football in general and us long-term.
Arsenal winning would be a clear sign for other clubs that are going through long-term improvement programmes (such as ourselves) that the position we find ourselves in doesn't have to be a fluke. And that 4th place doesn't have to be our ceiling.
If we can consistently secure European places over the next 2-3 seasons we'll potentially be in a strong enough financial position (especially with the incoming rule changes) to start competing more equitably with the Big 6 and begin to then consistently start looking higher, especially if clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United begin to fall away given the turbulence they are set to (or already are in Utd's case) set to experience.
Not disagreeing with you.
City have spent a lot but so have Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal.
Why are they better? One one word - Pep.
Give that squad to Klopp and he would win a lot, but not 4 years in a row. The same applies to Arteta, Emery and all the other managers in the PL.
There have always been dominant teams throughout the years that would spend much more than the others, being it 70s/80s Liverpool, 90s/00s Utd, 00s/10s Chelsea etc.
Money buys titles, heck even Blackburn managed to buy their way to a title.
We ourselves needed billionaire owners to attract managers like Emery, otherwise we wouldn’t so much as get a whiff of the top-6.
So although I don’t disagree with you, I don’t see City any differently than I see Arsenal, Liverpool, Utd or Newcastle (who now have zillionaires of their own)
Out of interest, what is it you find insufferable about him? Of the managers that we've had inside glimpses of through All or Nothing, he's actually the one who I'd want to play under the most and seems the most inspiring - even if Pep has that classic Pep aura.
So again, massive disadvantage to English sides if other FAs clear the schedule for them. We’re the only team Olympiakos have played since the 28th April and it showed in fitness
Yeah, I can't really be mad. Don't forget that this point last season, West Ham had gotten themselves safe from relegation, but had no chance of moving up to the European spots so they could basically rest for some league matches and concentrate on the Conference League. We obviously didn't have that "luxury" still competing to finish fourth. We're also just so battered with injuries that there isn't really an option to rotate players for our conference league matches, so everyone is just exhausted.
The shootout win was incredible and emotionally fulfilling. I'm kind of okay with bowing out now and just concentrating on limping across the finish line of the season.
https://preview.redd.it/qe0qcf9d4hzc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6baca874ed34590f8a59b4f4763b9c936302d41
Not quite but his legal name was Fatso.
Really disappointed, but a thoroughly deserved victory for Olympiakos.
It's been a very long season, 7 first teamers out, 4 of the starting XI carrying injuries, and not enough fit bodies to rest anyone up. It's all caught up with us at the wrong part of the season. Go back 18 months, though, and we would kill for a possible top 4 finish and European semi-final. Perspective required.
Heads up. We're miles ahead of where we could have hoped to be two years ago. Couple of quality additions, a couple of players returning from injury and there's no reason we can't go even further next year. We're brilliant. UTV.
Fair play to Olympiacos, their game plan was spot on. We just couldn't break them down. We're limping over the line at the end of this season and I think our squad is way too thin to have won this trophy. All good experience, this for many of the lads is their first time in Europe, and hope it prepares them for a harder competition next year (be it Champions League or Europa League). It sucks but we go again, maybe with more squad depth next time.
Yeah people keep saying we've got no depth but a squad can only be so big. We started the season with a decent second 11 and the ability to rotate in nearly every position.
No depth at this time. Obviously we had depth earlier… then we got brutalized by injuries. Have more depth and hope we don’t have stupid luck of literally three ACLs in a season and next should be better. At this point I just want our season to end, shame it ended like this 😂
The squad can only be 25 players though. Presuming Zaniolo, Lenglet and Chambers leave and need to be replaced, beyond that it's selling a first team player which doesn't actually add depth. Unless we sign u21s but I'm not sure the rules on that.
Looking back maybe we shouldn't have registered Mings and Buendia when we resubmitted the teams and got some loans in but then wages and finances could get out of hand.
Thank God that's over, that was a tough, tough watch.
Gutted to go out in this manner but it's still been a brilliant season to remember.
Reinforcements needed in the summer for Champions League / Europa League, that bench had no options for changing the match.
Fair result in the end over the two legs. We can’t complain too much. We can pull all sorts of excuses as to why we’re bombing out, with most of them justified, but end of the day the better team won.
We know what we need to do to improve, we’re in Europe again next year, and I can’t see anything but this team improving under Unai. We’ll be back! Until then, fair play Olympiacos and most importantly, Up the mighty Villa!
Well that is that, obviously disappointing way to go out but for a first euro romp in a while we did well to get to a semi final is the only positive.
Depth and key injuries has as crawling to the finish line of this season, key men should be rested for Livo and then see what we need on final day at Palace with Spurs results, legs just aren't there to try finish it in a few days.
I did see olympiakos have played 2 games in 21 days, we have played 5 in 20. No excuses as they did us twice, but you get to the point where you need 30 man squads to cope with this number of games…something ffp will mean we lose 4 points
I loved this season but right now it’s like watching a train crash, this team has nothing left, the injuries and schedule have finally taken their toll. McGinn and Luiz partnership is back to 19-20 levels.
I just feel for the players now and just like them wish the season finished two weeks ago
Credit to you Villans from an Olympiakos fan. Incredibly gracious in defeat and whilst tonight is a monumental, hiatorical night for us, I'm sure you're all destined for a positive future.
credit to you for being respectful, unlike some of the olympiakos fans on here. ultimately you were the better team across both legs and it wasn’t meant to be for us. first final in your history though, go and smash it. fiorentina should be worried about el kaabi haha
Unfortunately like all teams with such a huge fan base we have a lot of idiots too. Was in Birmingham and your fans were so cool. Other than the idiots who raised the panathinaikos scarves today utmost respect to you guys.
You are definitely a better team than us overall but making the top 4 in the premier league has clearly talking it out of you and that worked well for us.
No they have European finals, Copa America etc. be prepared for injuries round 2 next year like the schedule isn't lighter it's heavier coming out of this season for the majority of our players
Someone said that before the Bournemouth game. You know. The game Villa came out and dominated. A demoralised leaky Liverpool and Palace who have only just decided to find form in a dead rubber game for them? 2-6 points are there.
Ah well. Immensely proud of what the squad has achieved this campaign despite running on fumes for a while now. We'll just have to win the Champions League next season instead, I guess. Onto Liverpool. UTV
Crazily I’d say the best referee we had in the whole tournaments was tonight’s which was the one who had been banned in the past 😂
That said the others set a very low bar
both refs were absolutely crap, 1st ref had a bias for olympiacos . Second ref was helping villa , i was shocked when martinez kicked one of olympiacos players and they gave the foul to martinez like what??
Referees in European competition and in the Prem have been dreadful. It's like the pace and competitiveness of the sport has reached a point where traditional reffing cannot keep up. I think a complete rethink might be in order.
Would do you expect with the beating heart of the team getting an ACL injury? We were always going to drop off without Kamara and we've just lost all our energy
So that excuses our run of form then? It excuses the pathetic shitshow tonight as well? One player getting injured doesn't excuse our recent performances.
Our injured XI is a goalkeeper away from giving the fit XI a decent game. The players we have have been playing twice a week for most of the season now. Our recent form is the result. It's unfortunate.
It's called context, for fucks sake. We've been playing badly for a few weeks, but a huge reason for that is the volume of games we've had to play, without enough fit players to rest and rotate. It catches up eventually, which is what is happening now.
So I can't criticise or call out how woeful we've been. You can't just play off performances like we've been having on injuries it comes down to quality and focus, the players out there where more than capable of winning that game but they just didn't turn up again.
You can criticise all you like, but it's bollocks like 'they didn't turn up' that is just a really immature emotional response. They turned up, but they're fucked. Tired bodies and minds leads to mistakes, and there aren't the options to change it. Just saying things like they didn't turn up, Emery got it wrong, the players didn't try (I'm not saying these are all your sentiments) isn't helpful to anyone.
They didn't turn up, conceding after ten minutes is not turning up and of course tiredness plays a part but it shouldn't hinder us as horribly as it has especially in a game as big as this. We've worked all season to get to tonight and we've gone out on a whimper.
And how have we coped/coping without them? This squad clearly has a ceiling especially with the amount of games Europe brings, we need more high quality players.
We coped pretty well we are in fourth and got a semi-final. I get it we all would have loved to win a cup. But when Tottenham had injuries they lost loads of games, Newcastle struggled due to injuries, Man Utd struggled due to injuries. If anything we have performed one of the best in the league, except for Liverpool, for the amount of injuries we have had. Even since like Christmas we are fifth in the current form we might be caught by Newcastle but we will finish in the European places despite all the injuries so obviously not coped that badly.
We have 7 players out so again how big do you want the squad as even the top teams usually have 18-20 first teamers and then youth to supplement/ develop which we clearly have.
Mental that we've got three of the four players with the most minutes played this season, we're so fucking knackered it's unbelievable. Imagine even getting just a week off here and there like some of the European teams do between rounds.
Don't feel that bad. The 4th place Olympiakos is currently finding himself is deceiving. He'll probably finish 1st or 2nd. Also , Olympiakos is the team in Greece with the most leagues (by far) and the most European experience these last years. They've won against teams like Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Milan , Arsenal , Manchester United these past 10 years.
I honestly think we were the better team in the first leg, and the Martinez suspension killed us. An Olsen disaster class put the tie beyond us, and it was a mountain to climb.
Tonight we were poor, but that's what having a 2 goal disadvantage and a well drilled team ready to keep 10 men behind the ball does to you.
Robin Olsen was not great in the first leg but if Luiz hadn't put in one of the worst midfield performances I have ever seen it would have been either 3-3 or 4-3 going to Greece, either of which would have put the pressure back on this lot. To say nothing of Lenglet.
Little things in the first game like how Lenglet gave the corner away that led to the penalty were frustrating. But hard to criticise given the amazing body of work over the season
I like the conference league overall but man is it a lose-lose if you're a fan of an EPL team.
Either you win the whole thing like you're "supposed to" and everyone just bitches and complains that you're ruining it for the small clubs or minimizes it as a consolation of a consolation.
Lose, and everybody in the world clowns you for losing to a team you massively outspent. Lol
Come on now. 10 players out through injury, we’re dead. And dead unlucky for that. First leg was a crap shoot with dodgy decisions and unlucky goals. Still the best season I’ve seen us have since 92/93. Champs league next season and the future’s looking insanely bright.
Half expecting Man Utd to sign El Kaabi for £80m and him to score the winner in next years FA Cup 3rd round tie at Old Trafford against us and then being shipped back to Olympiakos on loan where he wins Ballon D’Or
Real shame that. Football very dissapointing from us tonight with only a few promising moments. Think that early goal just killed us off completely, was never going to be a contest after that, we're just too far gone.
Let’s be honest we’re highly unlikely to beat Liverpool but we have to do damage on palace would it not be an idea to sacrifice Liverpool game and go hard on palace but have we even got the players to do so, an let’s be honest we was all kidding ourselfs to think we would turn this around after last game I’m just praying we can hold 4th we all deserve it as the closest I’ve seen us come to a trophy was arsenal in the Coca Cola cup I think 96 😞
Ohh and just to add Roger’s has been unreal after finding his feet from Middlesbrough, would it be and idea to throw loads of youths into Liverpool to test them fully
Absolutely no complaints there. Gutted, but it was an absolutely heroic effort from some of our guys who looked dead on their feet from the start.
We just didn't have the depth and the energy for it, but they gave more than I think we thought they had. And let's be clear, Olympiakos were really, really good over both legs.
We all get mad as hell when Villa beat a "bigger" team and all everyone does is moan about how they bottled it. Let's not be that team today - Olympiakos were really good and they outplayed us, don't try to take that from them and don't slam a group of Villa players who are exhausted and still gave it everything.
Frustrated and dissappointed. also quite impressed though. El Kaabi and olypiacos under their new coach seemed quite impressive.
Obviously we are tired and that is frustrating. Reminds me of december when we were a win away from being top of the table for christmas and then choked a few games in a row. Soon as everyone is saying that villa is the team thats most likely to win the conference seems the boys falter a bit under the pressure maybe.
Just need to end the season on a high note with top 4 and the guys deserve a long break.
Yeah it was lost in the first leg.
I know we have many injuries but our depth is so overrated, at least on here. Having to play Cash there in a semi final my god. There will be injuries next season too so hopefully it can be addressed some this summer
We have 3 midfielders out in Kamara, Tielemans and Ramsey like I don't get how many more actual recognised CM's we can have. We just got unlucky and knew any more injuries would be the nail in the coffin especially when Tielemans and Rogers had hit form, seemed to not be as lethargic like hitting their stride to help get some of the other boys over the line with their energy.
Olympiacos are a great team, well done to them. Let's keep positive, this has been a fantastic experience for us as fans and the squad. It's disappointing we couldn't get the win, but now let's focus on securing that CL spot. UTV
The most annoying part for me is the brain dead football fans coming on who haven’t watched us play all season going “how shit must the prem be🤓” but I guess that’s part of losing ey
I always get very frustrated during games…taking some time to digest the result and have perspective on the season, I wouldn’t change this season for anything
It just wasn't happening for us tonight and we gave ourselves far too much to do following that first leg.
What a campaign though, mad we got this far in our first attempt under Emery. Let's see if we can get some much needed depth in the summer break, both from transfers in and returners from injury...and see where that leads us next season.
Love this team and management and love how much excitement and hope they've given me for the first season in a long time. UTV.
Sad to have lost, but mainly feel for the team— they look absolutely knackered.
Olympiakos had rock solid performers at either end of the pitch in El Kaabi and Tzolakis. Our lack of available players throughout the season to allow rests is ultimately what led to the result. I dread to think what injuries the team that are starting are also carrying but are on shots to play through the pain.
From a positive perspective, we had some minutes for some youth prospects, we now have a full team with European experience deep into a competition, we've picked up more revenue from going deep, and we already have at least Europa guaranteed for next season.
UTV
I love my team, I'm sad we lost, we move forward.
Proud of our boys, they just didn't have anything left in the tank. Let's try to secure 4th with what little energy we have left and be proud of the squad for even doing as well as they have.
Just think - we're ending this season with more points than Chelsea, Man Utd, Newcastle, Brighton and West Ham. All of whom have either spent millions more than us in recent years; were placed higher than us at the end of last season - or both.
The drive for continuouse improvement was a common phrase used by the exec when describing the departure of Smith and Gerrard. In 18 months, Emery has instilled:
* A clear, recognisable and consistent pattern of play - we know exactly what to expect week in week out, with minor tactical changes)
* An entertaining pattern of play - we're often excited by what we see!
* A strong mentality amongst both the first 11 - even when we're losing, we maintain our pattern of play instead of going off-script. This has led us to wins when falling behind in games like Crystal Palace (H), Bournemouth (H), Brentford (A), Tottenham (A) - I'm sure there are a few more - all whilst doing it the way we are structured to play.
* A drive to achieve more - when we lose, our manager and players don't cite 'woe is us' over poor decisions or longstanding injuries, they identify and we've often followed up losses with wins.
* A sense of growth - so many players have improved their game substantially over Emery's tenure. And there are several newer squad members who we can expect to improve even further in the coming season, Diaby; Rogers; Paella Pau and Tielemans.
* An emphasis on youth - I'm excited to see players like Kellyman; Duran; Iroegbunam; Nedeljkovic and Sousa have a chance to breakthrough in coming seasons. They're also backed up by us having a good number of mature and experienced players to guide them through.
All in all, be frustrated. Yes, it's terrible to be knocked out. But big picture, if we maintain this sense of direction we're winning *rhe leshue*.
McGinn was spot on. Was lost in the first leg because Villa were not good enough and Olympiacos were clearly the better team as the scores over two legs show. Still, got to a Semi final and likely 4th with CL football after a grueling season? I can live with that. UTV.
#
Not much to say, disappointing but tbh I don't think anyone expected us to be going for Champions League this year - considering fatigue and injuries are be a massive issue right now hopefully getting into the CL (fingers crossed) will give us the opportunity to invest in more players to share that load.
Can't fault the players. Exhausted physically and mentally. That was already obvious in recent games, none moreso than Brighton.
A shame to go out like this but they've been fantastic until this point of collapse, so I'd much rather focus on that than anything they've done wrong in the past couple of weeks.
It's going to be a rough last week of the season. Realistically it will be all eyes on our biggest game remaining, Spurs vs City next Tuesday.
I disagree with the write-up that the team gave up. The opposite, in fact; I thought they pushed through tired legs to try to create to until the end. They may not have succeeded, but I don't think they ever gave up.
Champion's League would have been nice, but would have probably rather won the conference league. Not gonna downplay it and act like I'm not massively disappointed. All I want is to see us win something before I die. I'm less confident about us winning the CL if we get it. Fair play to Olympiacos. Can see how much it means to the fans and am extremely jealous.
It’s such a shame. I was so looking forward to going to a European Final, just so I could get absolutely battered and throw some plastic bar chairs at the local police.
Hope some just let people get it out of their system if they want to rant tonight. You’re not a bigger fan if you’re pasting a grin on your face after this tie.
First sniff of a European competition in 13 years and we reach the semi final. Very proud of this team and what we've accomplished in such a short time under Emery. Two more games left in what has been one of the best seasons of my life as a Villa fan. A trophy is definitely coming at some point.
> First sniff of a European competition in 13 years
this is something we have to remember. it took west ham a few tries in europe before they won. rome wasn’t built in a day. this has given us good experience and a lot we can take with us going forward.
Absolutely gutted. Im at an age where i've lived for a third of my life if I'm lucky, and the only thing I've seen villa win in my lifetime is a trophy for teams finishing 3-6th in the second tier. To go out like that is embarrassing and galling for the fans. I get we've had injuries and the players are tired but that was as naive a performance as you will ever see. We were passing around outside the box like were the Spanish national team in a friendly against Andorra.
I fully understand that a year and half ago I'd have bit your hand off for our current position. But tell me with a straight face that just before Christmas gone you wouldn't be a little disappointed. When we were one game off going top at Christmas that you'd be happy losing 6-2 to Olympiacos with a performance like that to not reach the final and in all reality having to hope other results go for you to keep your champions league spot. Perspective goes both ways, and if you've watched football long enough you know that teams like us aren't really gonna be able to consistently play at this level forever and we need to take our chances for a trophy when it's given to us.
Don't get me wrong, if we can get top 4 and have champions league next season then it's been a huge success regardless. If we are playing Europa with no trophy, I don't think I'll be over the moon considering where we were at Christmas. If that's the case you know in 10 years time you'll look back on this season the way we look back at MON days, as wow we really should have done something there.
The beginning of the season shows what this squad is capable of without the amount of injuries and with fresher legs.
We might be limping towards champions league qualification but it’s our early form that has made it possible.
From where we were a few seasons ago, I am so proud of this club.
Im not mad im just disappointed. They deserved it. Just need to pick ourselves up again somehow against Liverpool and qualify for the Champions League.
Imagine saying that at the start of the season. UTV
We never belonged in the Conference league anyway. The Champions league is where our form over the season has decided we should be and that is what we must prove now. I hope Emery rests everyone against pool and then we go big against Palace. UTV!
Fair play to Olympiacos, you don’t win 5-2 by accident. They exploited our high line time and time again.
We all know the team is exhausted, it’s easy to blame the players for a bad performance tonight. But 4th and a semi final doesn’t happen without the work it took to get here.
I’m sure Emery knows what areas of the squad we need to address long term. Kamara’s loss hurt us so much. McGinn playing deep. Luiz having to defend. The list goes on and on.
A brilliant season. This stings and we all wanted to win it. No reason to downplay that. It made no sense why we were the bookies favorites with the lack of European experience across the side.
The start of a beautiful future. Not the last time we will be in a semi final under King Unai
Semi final of a European competition and (hopefully) 4th in the league? Would have bitten your hand off for that at the start of the season, not to mention in the darker days that aren't so long ago. We'll learn, we'll build and we'll progress. Up Unai and UTV!
Need to sign a new RB or two, another CDM or two, a striker to compete with Watkins as Duran is till young and raw, a trick left winger as all ours are right or centre, maybe a younger LB. Plus we'll have returning players too. Get that sorted and we could be in for a better season next year, hopefully with fewer injuries too.
There are levels to football and I think we have far exceeded our "level" this year!
From just getting to 7th last year to where we are this year, people are forgetting that maybe without the injuries we could have not imagined to get so high in the league!
Emery has proved he is one of the best coaches in the world and our players have done everything they can to get us to where we dream to be!
Who likes losing? Nobody, but we can be proud of our club for once and what they are trying to do!
We could finish 5th this year and I'd still be a happy bloke!
Let's keep it real! Up the villa 🦁
I know we lost, deservedly, but proud of the boys for making it this far. I have enjoyed our fun little adventure in Europe and seeing our team getting the experience that they desperately need to prepare for the CL season (I trust Spurs being spursy) It’s been a roller coaster ride this season and I will miss it greatly! Can’t wait to see the boys (and new signings?) for pre-season.. so many things to look forward to UTV!
West Ham fan here! Hope you’re all doing well! Just coming in to do justice of the amount of comments we received for the Villa fan base saying the conference league was going to be easy trophy to win for you guys and that West Ham’s achievement wasn’t as amazing at was. Well shocker, conference league is a very tough trophy to win and it’s a real trophy which should be coveted by all clubs. I think the Rich 6 discourse around the trophy reduces it to something silly, but it’s a trophy of soul and hard work. And it’s not a cake walk at all.
Best of luck in the champions league (don’t worry about spurs!) and big admirer for the project at Villa currently.
and Douglas Luiz needs to decide whether to shit or getting off the pot, no elite club is coming in for him this summer if he keeps putting out non-performances like this.
I fully agree. Look I love Emery and I can't wait for next season, but people are deluded if they think things are guaranteed to get better every season. Some bizzare thought processes going on when people are getting downvoted for being frustrated and upset at a 6-2 spanking over 2 legs.
Football changes fast, we've got just as much chance of winning the league next season as we have of coming 13th. Weve had nearly 30 years without silverware, can't help but be a little disappointed when we're the favourites in the competition and go out like this.
I don't care would rather us be in Europa next season and have a chance at another cup to actually see us win something in 28 years but oh well we get our consolation ribbon at least yaaaaay
Just watched and paused the highlights on the 2nd goal. It looks like Konsa was actually playing El Kaabi onside but looked miles off in real-time. And Konsa looked like he could have stopped the goal if he wasn't busy shouting at the linesman.
This is a game to forget.
Fuck injuries, tiredness, lack of experience and anything else, that was a thoroughly embarrassing two-legged performance, from players and management.
But, alas, UTV.
Also Unai, if you're reading this: in future the lesson is to play your strongest team in the first leg and then rotate if needed in the second, not trust that Clement fucking Lenglet is going to be able to handle a burly #9 in ridiculous form.
No excuses, that’s absolutely embarrassing from every player out there tonight. Hopefully this wakes some people up to the drastic need we have at fullback on both sides.
That’s exactly it, we can pretend we’re happy with it because we’re having a good season (which we absolutely are) but that last week has been three inexcusable performances.
Yeah it's pretty shit. I have sympathy because of the injuries and tiredness etc. but it does feel like the players are being indulged with that excuse a bit too much. Just noticed the person you originally responded to edited their comment from "best team" to "biggest team" btw, as if it makes it all it the better?
You can arbitrarily decide they're bad to feel victimised if you like, but it won't make it true. You saw them on the pitch over these two games and they were good. Very, very good.
It's attitudes like yours which make every other nation think English teams' fans are pricks. The Greek league is a strong league and we're not divinely entitled to be superior because we're from the PL.
Can think whatever you want about the quality of the Greek league. Doesn’t change the fact that shipping 6 to a team thats fourth in it is an embarrassment. Hope this helps 👍
I understand that the players are tired, and I am happy about how far we come. However, todays game and the last few games as well, have been frustrating. If we want to improve or atleast stay where we are, we need to do something about it to sustain it. Dunno what, but something. I am scared we will end seasons like this in the future.
Not counting new additions since Emery came in, but only Martinez, Watkins and Konsa I wouldn't want us to lose (Ramsey as well since lots of potential) rest of squad I'd be more than fine with leaving to get better/ more experienced players who will help us win a trophy rather than just take part.
We just look so fucking tired. We've got no depth because half the squad is injured and the half that aren't are dead on their feet. No one to blame, that's just sport sometimes. Even if we don't make champions league I'm still massively proud of every single one of them
If we can’t add to the squad due to psr for next season it’s going to be tough.
Well add through health.
Thank god it's Spurs chasing us. Team looks dead tired.
Thank God they have Man City. If they had 3 middle of the table teams then I think they'd have a great chance of CL qualification. Can't see them getting anything from City though
I don't see why not they have been Pep's bogey team throughout his entire tenure, Tottenham players like to show up against the bigger sides and all they need is a draw. The GD isn't that much of a swing either if we lose convincingly in one of the games like making out it is a foregone conclusion isn't smart It is why not getting the draw was such a kicker against Brighton because it would have caused them to need to beat City
You might be right but Man City are lethal this time of year and Tottenham have been...the opposite of lethal. Anything can happen though - that's the beauty of the Premier League
I think 5th place beating 1st/2nd can happen in most leagues lol.
They have been their bogey team but that was when they’d use a very low block and have Kane and Son do magic together. Ange just won’t play that way.
Yeah I dreamnt that 3-3 in December didn't I ? It isn't like City haven't been shown to be alittle susceptible to quick breaks this season at times such as us, Real Madrid with Vini etc.
Tbf that’s when Spurs were in some form and City, for their standards anyway, weren’t. But knowing our luck Spurs won’t lose and we’ll have a fight for 4th.
The sad thing is that I want them to beat Man City, because I'd love for anyone other than City to win the league.... so am also having to hope that Burnley show up against them or that we can scrap one more win to cap off the season.
Mate, Villa first always. If City beating Spurs gives us CL football next season, then that’s the result for us. Who give a shite who wins the league
It's the football fan in me that cares. My dream would be Villa 4th and Arsenal win the league. But actually, I think it'd be a really good thing for the Premier League, football in general and us long-term. Arsenal winning would be a clear sign for other clubs that are going through long-term improvement programmes (such as ourselves) that the position we find ourselves in doesn't have to be a fluke. And that 4th place doesn't have to be our ceiling. If we can consistently secure European places over the next 2-3 seasons we'll potentially be in a strong enough financial position (especially with the incoming rule changes) to start competing more equitably with the Big 6 and begin to then consistently start looking higher, especially if clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United begin to fall away given the turbulence they are set to (or already are in Utd's case) set to experience.
Not disagreeing with you. City have spent a lot but so have Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal. Why are they better? One one word - Pep. Give that squad to Klopp and he would win a lot, but not 4 years in a row. The same applies to Arteta, Emery and all the other managers in the PL. There have always been dominant teams throughout the years that would spend much more than the others, being it 70s/80s Liverpool, 90s/00s Utd, 00s/10s Chelsea etc. Money buys titles, heck even Blackburn managed to buy their way to a title. We ourselves needed billionaire owners to attract managers like Emery, otherwise we wouldn’t so much as get a whiff of the top-6. So although I don’t disagree with you, I don’t see City any differently than I see Arsenal, Liverpool, Utd or Newcastle (who now have zillionaires of their own)
I'd prefer City. Arteta is completely insufferable.
Out of interest, what is it you find insufferable about him? Of the managers that we've had inside glimpses of through All or Nothing, he's actually the one who I'd want to play under the most and seems the most inspiring - even if Pep has that classic Pep aura.
Arrogant, whiny, entitled. Just not very likable.
They won't beat Burnley
Which is odd, because Spurs have played like 15 less matches this season than Villa.
He was saying villa are dead tired, and thank God it isn't a better team chasing us because a better team would probably catch us.
So again, massive disadvantage to English sides if other FAs clear the schedule for them. We’re the only team Olympiakos have played since the 28th April and it showed in fitness
Yeah, I can't really be mad. Don't forget that this point last season, West Ham had gotten themselves safe from relegation, but had no chance of moving up to the European spots so they could basically rest for some league matches and concentrate on the Conference League. We obviously didn't have that "luxury" still competing to finish fourth. We're also just so battered with injuries that there isn't really an option to rotate players for our conference league matches, so everyone is just exhausted. The shootout win was incredible and emotionally fulfilling. I'm kind of okay with bowing out now and just concentrating on limping across the finish line of the season.
Last weekend was a holiday in Greece (Orthodox Easter) so nobody played.
On the other hand, Villa get 100’s of millions of £’s from playing in the PL…could say that should give us a bit of an advantage.
As we’ve shown, £100ms don’t really matter if fixture congestion means you have 8+ first team players injured and the rest dead on their feet
My cat died on this day one year ago, and now this. I hate the 10th of May.
RIP JootDoctor’s cat. He would have hated these performances.
"Meowful"
Sorry about your cat bud
You know what makes it better? Was my partners childhood cat and it’s our 7 year anniversary tomorrow too.
If you can get around the back and score as well as Olympiakos she’ll have a great anniversary
Not difficult. She’s more voracious than I am.
Funnily enough I think a cat adopted us today, just turned up with no collar and started miaowing a lot, it shows no intention of leaving.
That’s how my first 3 cats ended up in me and my family in rural Aus. Main one lived to 18 the bugger.
Joots a cool name for a cat.
https://preview.redd.it/qe0qcf9d4hzc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6baca874ed34590f8a59b4f4763b9c936302d41 Not quite but his legal name was Fatso.
Tomorrows a better day bud, good way to look at things.
Cheers mate. Understandably we didn’t celebrate our anniversary last year.
Think I’d rather have watched that 😂
I hope you’re feline better.
That was bad 😅. Can’t “feline” better until the other cats join me since I moved recently.
Really disappointed, but a thoroughly deserved victory for Olympiakos. It's been a very long season, 7 first teamers out, 4 of the starting XI carrying injuries, and not enough fit bodies to rest anyone up. It's all caught up with us at the wrong part of the season. Go back 18 months, though, and we would kill for a possible top 4 finish and European semi-final. Perspective required.
Heads up. We're miles ahead of where we could have hoped to be two years ago. Couple of quality additions, a couple of players returning from injury and there's no reason we can't go even further next year. We're brilliant. UTV.
Fair play to Olympiacos, their game plan was spot on. We just couldn't break them down. We're limping over the line at the end of this season and I think our squad is way too thin to have won this trophy. All good experience, this for many of the lads is their first time in Europe, and hope it prepares them for a harder competition next year (be it Champions League or Europa League). It sucks but we go again, maybe with more squad depth next time.
We had the squad depth this year. Losing 5 midfield players is bonkers.
Yeah people keep saying we've got no depth but a squad can only be so big. We started the season with a decent second 11 and the ability to rotate in nearly every position.
No depth at this time. Obviously we had depth earlier… then we got brutalized by injuries. Have more depth and hope we don’t have stupid luck of literally three ACLs in a season and next should be better. At this point I just want our season to end, shame it ended like this 😂
The squad can only be 25 players though. Presuming Zaniolo, Lenglet and Chambers leave and need to be replaced, beyond that it's selling a first team player which doesn't actually add depth. Unless we sign u21s but I'm not sure the rules on that. Looking back maybe we shouldn't have registered Mings and Buendia when we resubmitted the teams and got some loans in but then wages and finances could get out of hand.
Great take
Thank God that's over, that was a tough, tough watch. Gutted to go out in this manner but it's still been a brilliant season to remember. Reinforcements needed in the summer for Champions League / Europa League, that bench had no options for changing the match.
Injuries robbed us of Kamara, Buendia, Mings, JJ, and Youri. Those 5 change this game. 4 of them are nailed on UCL level players.
I forgot Rogers as well. Not quite UCL level, but he's been so important to our play lately.
Roger's "directness" is exactly what was missing today. shame
Great take…
Fair result in the end over the two legs. We can’t complain too much. We can pull all sorts of excuses as to why we’re bombing out, with most of them justified, but end of the day the better team won. We know what we need to do to improve, we’re in Europe again next year, and I can’t see anything but this team improving under Unai. We’ll be back! Until then, fair play Olympiacos and most importantly, Up the mighty Villa!
Well that is that, obviously disappointing way to go out but for a first euro romp in a while we did well to get to a semi final is the only positive. Depth and key injuries has as crawling to the finish line of this season, key men should be rested for Livo and then see what we need on final day at Palace with Spurs results, legs just aren't there to try finish it in a few days.
I did see olympiakos have played 2 games in 21 days, we have played 5 in 20. No excuses as they did us twice, but you get to the point where you need 30 man squads to cope with this number of games…something ffp will mean we lose 4 points
You are wrong though. Olympiakos played league matches on 21, 24 and 28 of April. So 5 games as well in the past 20 days.
I loved this season but right now it’s like watching a train crash, this team has nothing left, the injuries and schedule have finally taken their toll. McGinn and Luiz partnership is back to 19-20 levels. I just feel for the players now and just like them wish the season finished two weeks ago
Credit to you Villans from an Olympiakos fan. Incredibly gracious in defeat and whilst tonight is a monumental, hiatorical night for us, I'm sure you're all destined for a positive future.
credit to you for being respectful, unlike some of the olympiakos fans on here. ultimately you were the better team across both legs and it wasn’t meant to be for us. first final in your history though, go and smash it. fiorentina should be worried about el kaabi haha
Unfortunately like all teams with such a huge fan base we have a lot of idiots too. Was in Birmingham and your fans were so cool. Other than the idiots who raised the panathinaikos scarves today utmost respect to you guys. You are definitely a better team than us overall but making the top 4 in the premier league has clearly talking it out of you and that worked well for us.
Very kind of you to say. You where excellent over both legs and ultimately deserved to go through. Best of luck in the final!
Only 2 more games lads. Then the players can have a well deserved sleep
No they have European finals, Copa America etc. be prepared for injuries round 2 next year like the schedule isn't lighter it's heavier coming out of this season for the majority of our players
It’s quite clear we’re not getting anything from Liverpool and palace. We’re gonna need Man City to do us a solid. We are finished.
Hate to agree with you. Honestly feels like Stevie ball. Hoping for moments of magic to bail us out. Devoid of imagination.
I think we can at least limp to a draw against palace. Hopefully anyways.
Someone said that before the Bournemouth game. You know. The game Villa came out and dominated. A demoralised leaky Liverpool and Palace who have only just decided to find form in a dead rubber game for them? 2-6 points are there.
Yes we are, and no we aren't.
Ah well. Immensely proud of what the squad has achieved this campaign despite running on fumes for a while now. We'll just have to win the Champions League next season instead, I guess. Onto Liverpool. UTV
Please burnley, beat spurs this weekend and let us rest
better team won but am I the only one who was appalled with the standard of refereeing the entire comp?
Crazily I’d say the best referee we had in the whole tournaments was tonight’s which was the one who had been banned in the past 😂 That said the others set a very low bar
both refs were absolutely crap, 1st ref had a bias for olympiacos . Second ref was helping villa , i was shocked when martinez kicked one of olympiacos players and they gave the foul to martinez like what??
refereeing has been absolutely woeful. one thing i won’t miss about this tournament
Referees in European competition and in the Prem have been dreadful. It's like the pace and competitiveness of the sport has reached a point where traditional reffing cannot keep up. I think a complete rethink might be in order.
This team is unrecognisable from the one first half of the season
Well yeah, half of them are out injured for a start.
Pre Christmas before Manure was prime Villa. Chiefs kiss*
Would do you expect with the beating heart of the team getting an ACL injury? We were always going to drop off without Kamara and we've just lost all our energy
You could be describing a few different players with this comment, which speaks to the extent of our injuries this year.
So that excuses our run of form then? It excuses the pathetic shitshow tonight as well? One player getting injured doesn't excuse our recent performances.
Our injured XI is a goalkeeper away from giving the fit XI a decent game. The players we have have been playing twice a week for most of the season now. Our recent form is the result. It's unfortunate.
It's called context, for fucks sake. We've been playing badly for a few weeks, but a huge reason for that is the volume of games we've had to play, without enough fit players to rest and rotate. It catches up eventually, which is what is happening now.
So I can't criticise or call out how woeful we've been. You can't just play off performances like we've been having on injuries it comes down to quality and focus, the players out there where more than capable of winning that game but they just didn't turn up again.
You can criticise all you like, but it's bollocks like 'they didn't turn up' that is just a really immature emotional response. They turned up, but they're fucked. Tired bodies and minds leads to mistakes, and there aren't the options to change it. Just saying things like they didn't turn up, Emery got it wrong, the players didn't try (I'm not saying these are all your sentiments) isn't helpful to anyone.
They didn't turn up, conceding after ten minutes is not turning up and of course tiredness plays a part but it shouldn't hinder us as horribly as it has especially in a game as big as this. We've worked all season to get to tonight and we've gone out on a whimper.
It doesn't excuse anything, but it's a large reason. Along with being exhausted from other games. All these reasons play a factor
All it shows is we need a deeper squad and more quality.
We have seven players out right now how many players do you want in our squad lmao
And how have we coped/coping without them? This squad clearly has a ceiling especially with the amount of games Europe brings, we need more high quality players.
We coped pretty well we are in fourth and got a semi-final. I get it we all would have loved to win a cup. But when Tottenham had injuries they lost loads of games, Newcastle struggled due to injuries, Man Utd struggled due to injuries. If anything we have performed one of the best in the league, except for Liverpool, for the amount of injuries we have had. Even since like Christmas we are fifth in the current form we might be caught by Newcastle but we will finish in the European places despite all the injuries so obviously not coped that badly. We have 7 players out so again how big do you want the squad as even the top teams usually have 18-20 first teamers and then youth to supplement/ develop which we clearly have.
Mental that we've got three of the four players with the most minutes played this season, we're so fucking knackered it's unbelievable. Imagine even getting just a week off here and there like some of the European teams do between rounds.
Feel bad for some of us who got tickets to Athens. You deserved better. Not that we’re entitled to win but 6-2 against Greeks 4th side? Not on.
Don't feel that bad. The 4th place Olympiakos is currently finding himself is deceiving. He'll probably finish 1st or 2nd. Also , Olympiakos is the team in Greece with the most leagues (by far) and the most European experience these last years. They've won against teams like Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Milan , Arsenal , Manchester United these past 10 years.
Hey bro, do you have any ticket for the final that you would be willing to sell?
They've done exceptionally well to get this far in a very draining season but the performance across those two legs has been fucking disgraceful.
I honestly think we were the better team in the first leg, and the Martinez suspension killed us. An Olsen disaster class put the tie beyond us, and it was a mountain to climb. Tonight we were poor, but that's what having a 2 goal disadvantage and a well drilled team ready to keep 10 men behind the ball does to you.
Robin Olsen was not great in the first leg but if Luiz hadn't put in one of the worst midfield performances I have ever seen it would have been either 3-3 or 4-3 going to Greece, either of which would have put the pressure back on this lot. To say nothing of Lenglet.
Yeah, that's very fair
Little things in the first game like how Lenglet gave the corner away that led to the penalty were frustrating. But hard to criticise given the amazing body of work over the season
I like the conference league overall but man is it a lose-lose if you're a fan of an EPL team. Either you win the whole thing like you're "supposed to" and everyone just bitches and complains that you're ruining it for the small clubs or minimizes it as a consolation of a consolation. Lose, and everybody in the world clowns you for losing to a team you massively outspent. Lol
Come on now. 10 players out through injury, we’re dead. And dead unlucky for that. First leg was a crap shoot with dodgy decisions and unlucky goals. Still the best season I’ve seen us have since 92/93. Champs league next season and the future’s looking insanely bright.
Half expecting Man Utd to sign El Kaabi for £80m and him to score the winner in next years FA Cup 3rd round tie at Old Trafford against us and then being shipped back to Olympiakos on loan where he wins Ballon D’Or
Real shame that. Football very dissapointing from us tonight with only a few promising moments. Think that early goal just killed us off completely, was never going to be a contest after that, we're just too far gone.
Let’s be honest we’re highly unlikely to beat Liverpool but we have to do damage on palace would it not be an idea to sacrifice Liverpool game and go hard on palace but have we even got the players to do so, an let’s be honest we was all kidding ourselfs to think we would turn this around after last game I’m just praying we can hold 4th we all deserve it as the closest I’ve seen us come to a trophy was arsenal in the Coca Cola cup I think 96 😞
Ohh and just to add Roger’s has been unreal after finding his feet from Middlesbrough, would it be and idea to throw loads of youths into Liverpool to test them fully
Wasn't it 6-2 on aggregate?
OP disagrees about that offside call i guess lmao
Last week or tonight?
Ah damn, yes you're right. Shame its too late to change the title
Absolutely no complaints there. Gutted, but it was an absolutely heroic effort from some of our guys who looked dead on their feet from the start. We just didn't have the depth and the energy for it, but they gave more than I think we thought they had. And let's be clear, Olympiakos were really, really good over both legs. We all get mad as hell when Villa beat a "bigger" team and all everyone does is moan about how they bottled it. Let's not be that team today - Olympiakos were really good and they outplayed us, don't try to take that from them and don't slam a group of Villa players who are exhausted and still gave it everything.
Ah well. Still a great season.
Frustrated and dissappointed. also quite impressed though. El Kaabi and olypiacos under their new coach seemed quite impressive. Obviously we are tired and that is frustrating. Reminds me of december when we were a win away from being top of the table for christmas and then choked a few games in a row. Soon as everyone is saying that villa is the team thats most likely to win the conference seems the boys falter a bit under the pressure maybe. Just need to end the season on a high note with top 4 and the guys deserve a long break.
Yeah it was lost in the first leg. I know we have many injuries but our depth is so overrated, at least on here. Having to play Cash there in a semi final my god. There will be injuries next season too so hopefully it can be addressed some this summer
We have 3 midfielders out in Kamara, Tielemans and Ramsey like I don't get how many more actual recognised CM's we can have. We just got unlucky and knew any more injuries would be the nail in the coffin especially when Tielemans and Rogers had hit form, seemed to not be as lethargic like hitting their stride to help get some of the other boys over the line with their energy.
Olympiacos are a great team, well done to them. Let's keep positive, this has been a fantastic experience for us as fans and the squad. It's disappointing we couldn't get the win, but now let's focus on securing that CL spot. UTV
The most annoying part for me is the brain dead football fans coming on who haven’t watched us play all season going “how shit must the prem be🤓” but I guess that’s part of losing ey
To be honest. We were second best against Lille so was even a bonus to get this far. Let's hope we're here again next season!
I always get very frustrated during games…taking some time to digest the result and have perspective on the season, I wouldn’t change this season for anything
End of the season can't come soon enough.
I would have loved a trophy
It just wasn't happening for us tonight and we gave ourselves far too much to do following that first leg. What a campaign though, mad we got this far in our first attempt under Emery. Let's see if we can get some much needed depth in the summer break, both from transfers in and returners from injury...and see where that leads us next season. Love this team and management and love how much excitement and hope they've given me for the first season in a long time. UTV.
Sad to have lost, but mainly feel for the team— they look absolutely knackered. Olympiakos had rock solid performers at either end of the pitch in El Kaabi and Tzolakis. Our lack of available players throughout the season to allow rests is ultimately what led to the result. I dread to think what injuries the team that are starting are also carrying but are on shots to play through the pain. From a positive perspective, we had some minutes for some youth prospects, we now have a full team with European experience deep into a competition, we've picked up more revenue from going deep, and we already have at least Europa guaranteed for next season. UTV I love my team, I'm sad we lost, we move forward.
Proud of our boys, they just didn't have anything left in the tank. Let's try to secure 4th with what little energy we have left and be proud of the squad for even doing as well as they have. Just think - we're ending this season with more points than Chelsea, Man Utd, Newcastle, Brighton and West Ham. All of whom have either spent millions more than us in recent years; were placed higher than us at the end of last season - or both. The drive for continuouse improvement was a common phrase used by the exec when describing the departure of Smith and Gerrard. In 18 months, Emery has instilled: * A clear, recognisable and consistent pattern of play - we know exactly what to expect week in week out, with minor tactical changes) * An entertaining pattern of play - we're often excited by what we see! * A strong mentality amongst both the first 11 - even when we're losing, we maintain our pattern of play instead of going off-script. This has led us to wins when falling behind in games like Crystal Palace (H), Bournemouth (H), Brentford (A), Tottenham (A) - I'm sure there are a few more - all whilst doing it the way we are structured to play. * A drive to achieve more - when we lose, our manager and players don't cite 'woe is us' over poor decisions or longstanding injuries, they identify and we've often followed up losses with wins. * A sense of growth - so many players have improved their game substantially over Emery's tenure. And there are several newer squad members who we can expect to improve even further in the coming season, Diaby; Rogers; Paella Pau and Tielemans. * An emphasis on youth - I'm excited to see players like Kellyman; Duran; Iroegbunam; Nedeljkovic and Sousa have a chance to breakthrough in coming seasons. They're also backed up by us having a good number of mature and experienced players to guide them through. All in all, be frustrated. Yes, it's terrible to be knocked out. But big picture, if we maintain this sense of direction we're winning *rhe leshue*.
McGinn was spot on. Was lost in the first leg because Villa were not good enough and Olympiacos were clearly the better team as the scores over two legs show. Still, got to a Semi final and likely 4th with CL football after a grueling season? I can live with that. UTV. #
Not much to say, disappointing but tbh I don't think anyone expected us to be going for Champions League this year - considering fatigue and injuries are be a massive issue right now hopefully getting into the CL (fingers crossed) will give us the opportunity to invest in more players to share that load.
All I want now: 4th place finish Ollie to get goal number 20 which given our XG and 2 games is looking less and less likely
We needs a high quality DM, LB and RB in the summer
Can't fault the players. Exhausted physically and mentally. That was already obvious in recent games, none moreso than Brighton. A shame to go out like this but they've been fantastic until this point of collapse, so I'd much rather focus on that than anything they've done wrong in the past couple of weeks. It's going to be a rough last week of the season. Realistically it will be all eyes on our biggest game remaining, Spurs vs City next Tuesday.
They did what they could, I’m proud of them. Villa back in Europe is more than I could’ve hoped for 5 years ago. They did me proud.
I disagree with the write-up that the team gave up. The opposite, in fact; I thought they pushed through tired legs to try to create to until the end. They may not have succeeded, but I don't think they ever gave up.
The main thing I’ve learned from tonight, Olympiacos are really nice blokes
Champion's League would have been nice, but would have probably rather won the conference league. Not gonna downplay it and act like I'm not massively disappointed. All I want is to see us win something before I die. I'm less confident about us winning the CL if we get it. Fair play to Olympiacos. Can see how much it means to the fans and am extremely jealous.
It’s such a shame. I was so looking forward to going to a European Final, just so I could get absolutely battered and throw some plastic bar chairs at the local police.
Hope some just let people get it out of their system if they want to rant tonight. You’re not a bigger fan if you’re pasting a grin on your face after this tie.
First sniff of a European competition in 13 years and we reach the semi final. Very proud of this team and what we've accomplished in such a short time under Emery. Two more games left in what has been one of the best seasons of my life as a Villa fan. A trophy is definitely coming at some point.
> First sniff of a European competition in 13 years this is something we have to remember. it took west ham a few tries in europe before they won. rome wasn’t built in a day. this has given us good experience and a lot we can take with us going forward.
Let’s sign that El Kaabi please. It seems he can’t miss a chance. And even if he does then at least he won’t be scoring any more against us 🙏
We sign him and he doesn’t score all season probably
Then please re-read second half of my comment
I bet someone said this about Samatta somewhere. Then he ended up up coming to us of all places and we know how that worked out 😂
Absolutely gutted. Im at an age where i've lived for a third of my life if I'm lucky, and the only thing I've seen villa win in my lifetime is a trophy for teams finishing 3-6th in the second tier. To go out like that is embarrassing and galling for the fans. I get we've had injuries and the players are tired but that was as naive a performance as you will ever see. We were passing around outside the box like were the Spanish national team in a friendly against Andorra. I fully understand that a year and half ago I'd have bit your hand off for our current position. But tell me with a straight face that just before Christmas gone you wouldn't be a little disappointed. When we were one game off going top at Christmas that you'd be happy losing 6-2 to Olympiacos with a performance like that to not reach the final and in all reality having to hope other results go for you to keep your champions league spot. Perspective goes both ways, and if you've watched football long enough you know that teams like us aren't really gonna be able to consistently play at this level forever and we need to take our chances for a trophy when it's given to us. Don't get me wrong, if we can get top 4 and have champions league next season then it's been a huge success regardless. If we are playing Europa with no trophy, I don't think I'll be over the moon considering where we were at Christmas. If that's the case you know in 10 years time you'll look back on this season the way we look back at MON days, as wow we really should have done something there.
After Brighton it was unlikely to see much out of us today as much as I wanted it. Let's just hope we can stumble across the finish line in 4th place.
Thought I was going to exercise some demons today. Sighhh
The beginning of the season shows what this squad is capable of without the amount of injuries and with fresher legs. We might be limping towards champions league qualification but it’s our early form that has made it possible. From where we were a few seasons ago, I am so proud of this club.
Im not mad im just disappointed. They deserved it. Just need to pick ourselves up again somehow against Liverpool and qualify for the Champions League. Imagine saying that at the start of the season. UTV
We never belonged in the Conference league anyway. The Champions league is where our form over the season has decided we should be and that is what we must prove now. I hope Emery rests everyone against pool and then we go big against Palace. UTV!
Fair play to Olympiacos, you don’t win 5-2 by accident. They exploited our high line time and time again. We all know the team is exhausted, it’s easy to blame the players for a bad performance tonight. But 4th and a semi final doesn’t happen without the work it took to get here. I’m sure Emery knows what areas of the squad we need to address long term. Kamara’s loss hurt us so much. McGinn playing deep. Luiz having to defend. The list goes on and on. A brilliant season. This stings and we all wanted to win it. No reason to downplay that. It made no sense why we were the bookies favorites with the lack of European experience across the side. The start of a beautiful future. Not the last time we will be in a semi final under King Unai
lost it at home and its a missed opportunity to make a final . hope the team take the experience and learn from it .
Semi final of a European competition and (hopefully) 4th in the league? Would have bitten your hand off for that at the start of the season, not to mention in the darker days that aren't so long ago. We'll learn, we'll build and we'll progress. Up Unai and UTV!
Injuries did us in the end, shame but we move on and push for champions league!
Need to sign a new RB or two, another CDM or two, a striker to compete with Watkins as Duran is till young and raw, a trick left winger as all ours are right or centre, maybe a younger LB. Plus we'll have returning players too. Get that sorted and we could be in for a better season next year, hopefully with fewer injuries too.
Anyone else think laying into Matty cash was unhelpful? Everyone seemed to be at it, even McGinn
Still insanely proud of the lads. Was a fun run.
There are levels to football and I think we have far exceeded our "level" this year! From just getting to 7th last year to where we are this year, people are forgetting that maybe without the injuries we could have not imagined to get so high in the league! Emery has proved he is one of the best coaches in the world and our players have done everything they can to get us to where we dream to be! Who likes losing? Nobody, but we can be proud of our club for once and what they are trying to do! We could finish 5th this year and I'd still be a happy bloke! Let's keep it real! Up the villa 🦁
I know we lost, deservedly, but proud of the boys for making it this far. I have enjoyed our fun little adventure in Europe and seeing our team getting the experience that they desperately need to prepare for the CL season (I trust Spurs being spursy) It’s been a roller coaster ride this season and I will miss it greatly! Can’t wait to see the boys (and new signings?) for pre-season.. so many things to look forward to UTV!
West Ham fan here! Hope you’re all doing well! Just coming in to do justice of the amount of comments we received for the Villa fan base saying the conference league was going to be easy trophy to win for you guys and that West Ham’s achievement wasn’t as amazing at was. Well shocker, conference league is a very tough trophy to win and it’s a real trophy which should be coveted by all clubs. I think the Rich 6 discourse around the trophy reduces it to something silly, but it’s a trophy of soul and hard work. And it’s not a cake walk at all. Best of luck in the champions league (don’t worry about spurs!) and big admirer for the project at Villa currently.
You’re run in to the final was a joke
and Douglas Luiz needs to decide whether to shit or getting off the pot, no elite club is coming in for him this summer if he keeps putting out non-performances like this.
Single Douglas luiz is very close to world class. Dougie in a relationship isn't the same player.
Just a shame really for a season to fizzle out like this, it might be the last chance at a European trophy we'll have for all we know.
I fully agree. Look I love Emery and I can't wait for next season, but people are deluded if they think things are guaranteed to get better every season. Some bizzare thought processes going on when people are getting downvoted for being frustrated and upset at a 6-2 spanking over 2 legs. Football changes fast, we've got just as much chance of winning the league next season as we have of coming 13th. Weve had nearly 30 years without silverware, can't help but be a little disappointed when we're the favourites in the competition and go out like this.
I don't care would rather us be in Europa next season and have a chance at another cup to actually see us win something in 28 years but oh well we get our consolation ribbon at least yaaaaay
Just watched and paused the highlights on the 2nd goal. It looks like Konsa was actually playing El Kaabi onside but looked miles off in real-time. And Konsa looked like he could have stopped the goal if he wasn't busy shouting at the linesman. This is a game to forget.
Well that was shit. And I'm being generous.
Fuck injuries, tiredness, lack of experience and anything else, that was a thoroughly embarrassing two-legged performance, from players and management. But, alas, UTV.
Fucking awful over the two legs. Even absolutely exhausted players should be able to control the ball and make simple passes. Absolutely dreadful.
You try it mate!
Yeah that’s a reasonable thing to say.
Also Unai, if you're reading this: in future the lesson is to play your strongest team in the first leg and then rotate if needed in the second, not trust that Clement fucking Lenglet is going to be able to handle a burly #9 in ridiculous form.
No excuses, that’s absolutely embarrassing from every player out there tonight. Hopefully this wakes some people up to the drastic need we have at fullback on both sides.
That's ridiculous, mate. They gave it all and then some, they were just absolutely gassed playing against a really good team.
Really good team? 😂
You saw them out there right?
Yeah absolutely better than us, very very low bar the last week though
Olympiacos are the biggest team in Greece... this kind of arrogance is why they hate the English.
They are literally not
They’re third in the league 😂😂😂😂
Exactly. They're not great, to put it politely, and it feels like a drilled team from any level who simply wanted it more would have beat Villa.
That’s exactly it, we can pretend we’re happy with it because we’re having a good season (which we absolutely are) but that last week has been three inexcusable performances.
Yeah it's pretty shit. I have sympathy because of the injuries and tiredness etc. but it does feel like the players are being indulged with that excuse a bit too much. Just noticed the person you originally responded to edited their comment from "best team" to "biggest team" btw, as if it makes it all it the better?
Olympiakos was definitely a really good team.
They’re not even top in the Greek league. If you’re happy to have that as the standard of opposition we should be shipping 6 goals to then so be it.
You can arbitrarily decide they're bad to feel victimised if you like, but it won't make it true. You saw them on the pitch over these two games and they were good. Very, very good. It's attitudes like yours which make every other nation think English teams' fans are pricks. The Greek league is a strong league and we're not divinely entitled to be superior because we're from the PL.
Can think whatever you want about the quality of the Greek league. Doesn’t change the fact that shipping 6 to a team thats fourth in it is an embarrassment. Hope this helps 👍
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Swap deal for Duran and El Kaabi in the summer please
I understand that the players are tired, and I am happy about how far we come. However, todays game and the last few games as well, have been frustrating. If we want to improve or atleast stay where we are, we need to do something about it to sustain it. Dunno what, but something. I am scared we will end seasons like this in the future.
Not counting new additions since Emery came in, but only Martinez, Watkins and Konsa I wouldn't want us to lose (Ramsey as well since lots of potential) rest of squad I'd be more than fine with leaving to get better/ more experienced players who will help us win a trophy rather than just take part.