Gab & Juls Show: Are Aston Villa Premier League challengers?

0:28I'm Gab, he's Jules. for Milan. But we're going to start down the road here at Stamford Bridge. Aston Villa beat Chelsea 2-1. They have now won 11 games in a row. I think it's something like 19 of 21 since September that they've actually won. Is this Unai Emery's genius? Was this Unai Emery's genius again? His dark arts? I think he for me made a mistake by not starting Onana in midfield, that Buendia, Tillemans, Camara was never going to work, even with Enzo playing in the double pivot with Caicedo, which is what Enzo Maresca, who was suspended in the stands, decided to do. And for an hour, really, there was only one team on the pitch, and that was Chelsea, who probably should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up easily by then.

1:20Could have had a penalty that we're going to discuss later. Took the lead and looked so comfortable until Emery realized that he had to change something and did so on the hour mark and to be fair to him his substitutions from Sancho to Onana to Watkins all worked really well but I think Maresca not responding to those substitutions also let his own team down right now Unai Emery is my coach of the year um I think it's undeniable we talked about everything that happened in the summer in Monchie leaving the start of season they have you I don't think anybody can argue when you have a team that's punching so far above their weight given everything they've been through.

1:58However, I can't really reconcile that first half in which Villa don't even manage a credible shot on goal of any kind. That's terrible. And you're playing Chelsea. You're not playing Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. The substitutions worked brilliantly and it wasn't just changing this guy for that guy because they said they also tweaked it. They moved Tielemans, I think, a little bit further forward. On the other hand, you look at his bench, and again, this is to praise Emery. Of course you're going to bring on Watkins. You're losing. Of course you're going to bring on Onana. Again, why he didn't start, I don't know, maybe the flu, whatever, but Amadou Onana I think is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.

2:49I'm a huge fan. but I think just as much was the Chelsea's collapse and the inability to play with the lead and look, maybe I'm being a bit biased here it's easy to pick on Maneska but I think you have a serious issue again, in the way this team was constructed you have an issue in midfield you've gone on about the Enzo-Caicedo partnership equally though, unless I want to put Cole Palmer on the bench I have to play or play him wide. I have to play those are the only two guys, those are my two best midfielders. Unless I want to bench Kassid or Enzo, which I'm not going to do. So at the back, Bernaud Bajajil, I think, is definitely responsible.

3:34He's one of the goals. Yeah, it's a mess, but it's a revolving door there, whether it's him or Fafana or Tosin. Chalaba is asked to carry that back forward because Colwell's out. And up front, the lap is a work in progress and or work not progressing, arguably Joe Pedro is not a center forward to lead the line on his own. And, you know, I don't like labels and Mark you is 19 and not ready. And so we can go back to, well, why did they send Nico Jackson away? Why did they build the team in this way? And what options does Maneska actually have to make things better? Because you can get away with a non-scoring center forward, a movement type Joe Pedro, if your winger score, but other than Pedro Neto, none of these wingers you know if you take Neto out of the mix, Chelsea's wingers have scored two league goals this season I know so I kind of want to give them the benefit I know, true I agree with you on this, we've said it already before on the show but I go back again to my Enzo points and I would have no problem for Enzo to be benched or certainly Enzo should never finish a game like this Fernandez you're talking about here not Mareseka to be clear yes sorry sorry sorry wondering yes yes or Francesco Lee um but but we've said many many times before Enzo Fernandez can play deeper in that double pivot role with Cayetido or Lavia whoever else you want in games where Chelsea will control and Chelsea will have the ball and he won't have to move too much blah blah blah once O 'Nana came on and and Aston Villa got better there was no room for him and yet he still finished the game in that position he was obviously this massive signing, one of the early signings, a signing that kind of came, I think, before Chelsea kind of did their pivot towards the, you know, Hoover up all the youngest town.

5:25They were still young when he came. You're very adamant about this, that he cannot play, you know, he can play against a bad team that sits back.

5:40I'm on the same page and I've been on the same page and I think Enzo Maneska is true because we've seen him in certain games where it's Rhys James or theoretically Lavia Andre Santos I think was supposed to fill some of those roles, he's not been good this year so we've seen less of that but you have a serious problem you have a serious problem unless you want to drop Colt Palmer or turn Palmer into a winger or a center forward even which I don't know that Palmer at center forward is a great idea I like him receiving balls in different areas and maybe if you had more prolific wingers Palmer could be the kind of center forward who drops off and lays off as it so let's park that where we're yeah that's not real Palmer is a winger Palmer on the right coming inside which we saw a little bit I think under Pochettino does that come into play to accommodate in so i don't have in so attend i don't i think you can do it at times you'd rather drop in so yeah i really do it's not not for every game because i think again they are games where you could have palmer in the turn enzo in that double pivot with kay cdo because kay cdo on his own can do all the dirty work and then enzo basically is another number 10 so you've got enzo and palmer as your two 10s if you want.

6:59That would work. But again, in games like this last 30 minutes against Villa, games against Arsenal, games against City, Enzo is just not mobile enough. He's just not hardworking enough, I think. He's maybe not physical enough, probably, to be able to win that fight in that midfield against Rice and Zubimendi, against Rodri, let's say, if he's fit, and somebody else. It's not just having a big guy there, because Caicedo is the Rodri or could be the Rice and stuff. I just don't think that... I think you'll have to carry Enzo in midfield in those kind of games. And I think Mariska sees it like us, hence why Rhys James is probably the most likely of partnership with Caicedo in those top games in Europe or in the league.

7:49But then that means Enzo goes to the bench. If you don't want Palmer at centre-forward, you don't want Palmer at right wing, and you're not going to drop Palmer, even though he hasn't really been at the level he was at before. I want to ask quickly about the penalty incident, which was glossed over last night on the FC show. Everybody seemed to agree it was 100 % a penalty. A ball comes in from the left-hand side. Ian Mattson is with Pedro Neto in a battle of the Giants at the far post. Yeah. Madsen's arm goes out to kind of, as you're taught to do, to check Neto's position. Neto's not, he's not looking at the ball, so he's obviously not intentionally going to handle it.

8:36On the other hand, the ball strikes his arm and gets it out of the way from Neto. And if he doesn't do that, then Neto's got a free goal.

8:48Philosophically, this to me is more of a penalty. His arm is out. I know. And he gets a big advantage from it, whether it was intentional or not. No, no, I can hear that. Absolutely. I thought that the way Madsen turns, and you're right, Cheikh's where his arm is dead because of the way he's defending. He's not really in an unnatural position because of the way you defend. And he doesn't even see the ball coming over his head. So I think he would have been harsh. I think he could have been given easily. You wouldn't have had a problem if it was given. No, but I also thought this was the right call.

9:20Or, put it differently, adding the ref doesn't give it like he didn't give it. You don't overturn it. I think he gives it. You don't overturn it either. I think that makes sense. Let's get to the Chelsea center forward situation because it is January. We've both been harsh Nico Jackson critics when he came in. We both recognized that he really improved last season. Now, did he improve well enough to be the center forward of a Champions League team? I don't know. But what I can tell you is Nico Jackson last season was a darn sight better and more productive than anybody who has played center forward for Chelsea this year.

10:03And I think part of it is Joe Pedro is not that kind of center forward. He's probably more of a second striker, number 10 type forward. And so inevitably, in games where he doesn't have the space, where he can't make his technical ability make the difference. I think he suffers against physical defenders. The lap has contributed nothing since arriving, which again, understandable. You're very young. You come from Ipswich, although he was at a big club before in Man City. You've had issues, the red cards, blah, blah, blah, injuries. That's fine. But Chelsea need to get into the Champions League now.

10:39They can't kind of wait on the lap and say, all right, that's fine. Let's write the season off and give the lap minutes and mark you whatever. But then why did they sign Joe Pedro then? Because they could not have signed him for, you know, playing as a 10 because you've got Palmer and Enzo really ahead of him in the picking order. If you had to pick, okay, my first number 10 is Palmer. If he's not there, I'll play Enzo there. And then if he's not there, I'll play. So you don't spend 50 million pounds on a player that is your third choice number 10. So you must have signed him to play number nine.

11:10I don't think so. I think in certain games, I think they said we can have him at nine. I think they thought that Joel Pedro could play wide in certain situations, and this is before they went on the spend. This is before they got Gittens and Garnacho and stuff like that, and all that went out the window. They still needed another forward because they weren't sure about the lap. So they didn't want to bring, as I understand, they didn't want to bring in somebody who was a lap type and could get in the way of the laps pathway. Because remember, Gu is also the lap type. I think it much worse, the lap type, but whatever.

11:50So they didn't want that. They wanted somebody who was a different profile. I mean, this was their thinking. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember, too, they need an alternative to Palmer. Enzo, yes, maybe he's more effective at 10 with his runs. I mean, personally, I think Enzo's best in a 4-3-3 where he's one of the inside midfielders and runs forward. Ainslow doesn't have the creativity, the passing that Palmer has, the goals that Palmer has. Joe Pedro potentially has that. I think that was their thinking. But the situation we're in now where the lap is not contributing and you can't contribute, I think this is where you really have to question whether they should bring another forward.

12:31So they let Jackson move on. I said at the time, Nico Jackson's progressed. Yes, Nico Jackson can play wide for you as well. Remember, it became so imperative to have, you know, somebody with Sigitin's profile, left side, blah, blah, blah, whatever.

12:48I think they need somebody up front because it's important to finish top four. Yeah. And you cannot have this situation. Joel Pedro's also had injuries and whatever, as has Palmer. I don't think bringing Jackson back, I think, I don't think it's something they're going to do because Jackson moving to Bayern with that, with a big loan fee, that was about balancing the books again because they have perpetual financial stability rule issues. Also, Bayern could potentially say, yeah, what do we need this guy for? You know, Leonard Carl's a real thing and Musiala's back. But still, if you're talking back up, center, forward, you know, it's him, right?

13:30The one guy, and maybe you can introduce him a little bit more. We've talked about him before on the show. So Strasburg fans, of which there are many, will know who he is. Emmanuel Emega turns 23, or is already 23. Yeah. Scored, I think, 24 goals last season for Strasburg. He's joining Chelsea in the summer. Yeah. Is there any reason why he can't come over sooner? Unless there's something in the contract or the pre-contract that they've all agreed. I'm sure you can change considering it's the same owners. Yeah. I can't see why unless you don't want to weaken Strasbourg for that second half of the season in Europe or in the league.

14:09Although they already have in Panickeli a very good replacement who scored a lot of goals already in Ligue 1 in the first half of the season. But, and again, I'm not sure if Emega right now is ready for this kind of level. Chelsea, Champions League football. He's just made his debut for the Netherlands, for example. He's never played in Champions League football before, only Conference League this season. But he's certainly a very confident guy, as we've seen already. So he would probably fancy the challenge and feel like he's ready for it. He's been outstanding since he moved from Australia to Ligue 1.

14:47Really, really outstanding. And again, Ligue 1 is not the Premier League, but he's been incredible in his pace and all the runs that he makes. He's finishing, he's good. He's very confident. So with the ball, dribbling abilities, no problem. It's just how quickly can you get to that level? He's not a the lap profile center forward from what I've seen of him. He's just a better version. He's not a target man. Well, but he doesn't have physicality in the lap. No, no, yeah. But he is a proper center forward. Yeah, yeah. You know, he's less technical Lewandowski type. Yeah, probably something like that.

15:25and maybe not as good in the air. I don't think he's as tall as Lewandowski. No, but yeah. But he's a real center forward, unlike JP, unlike Joe Pedro. And then you use Joe Pedro as your game changer or whatever. I think this would make a ton of sense if you can't spend money, and I don't think you necessarily should spend money, if you're Chelsea. And I think that would move the needle. Speaking of moving the needle, if you're Aston Villa, again, another team that's had all sorts of financial stability rules problem, you had whatever chaos they had in the summer Monchi leaving Evan Gasson and Bizeau coming in really not much else and guys who haven't really contributed Harvey Elliott's contributed even less if you're Emery should you go upstairs to Mr.

16:11Cavill and say like hey this is the situation now I think we can win the title but even if you don't believe me I know for a fact we can get you back in the Champions League look at the table However, I'm in a situation now where if Morgan Rodgers gets injured, I need cover. I need cover. And as long as we're alive in Europe, my squad is really stretched. He has better covers than Buendia or better covers than Guisson or Sancho. Yeah. So we need an upgrade, right? We brought in Elliott as cover and he's contributed nothing and our price maybe should send him back to Liverpool. Can we do something?

16:45Would you do it? Would you spend? Yeah, if they could, I would, for sure. I don't think they can. that their wage bill is already massively high compared to their revenue, like a crazy number. The loans for Elia and Sancho is because they just could not sign players, not just them too, but players overall permanently either. So I don't know how much financially they can do and it's not what they've earned in the Europa League so far that could change this. You could gamble, I guess. You can gamble on the fact that if you get in Champions League next year, top four, Or realistically, I mean, given it's a Premier League, we're talking top five.

17:20Yeah, yeah. I think the lead over is what, four points? I don't have a table in front of me. I think they're sixth clear. They're sixth clear of fourth? Yes, I think something like that. I'm probably maybe sixth or seventh clear of fifth. So you're in a situation where you can make the argument, let's eat this up. Yeah. And then it'll pay for itself a year from now. Although, yeah, they've done it before though, right? Only a few seasons ago. and yes, they went to the Champions League and they went to find the Champions League, but they're still in a very precarious position right now. So I think they'd be, I would think they'd be cautious, but yeah, you should go.

17:57And even the number nine position, because a year ago, Watkins wanted to leave and they could easily have agreed a deal with Arsenal for him had the price had been right. And John Duran obviously, you know, left the club. Then he's Malen, your backup, who is a bit hot and cold at times. you've got Guisson who can play there. Watkins on Saturday comes on for the last 30 minutes, touches the ball eight times in the Chelsea box. Four of those eight touches are four shots, four shots on target, two goals. The first one is lucky, and there's even a double touch on that one. But Emery seems to be up.

18:33If you also, people above Emery say, listen, we can't invest. We can't spend money. We don't have it. It's too dangerous. our wage bill is already 90 odd percent of the revenue it's just crazy you have to do with this but so far every problem that this Aston Villa team has Emery found a solution whether it's Buendia off the bench to beat Arsenal whether it's Watkins off the bench to beat Chelsea Malin off the bench to win at Brighton the starting 11 the Camara goal against Wolves all of that where you don't know where it's coming because they are they're not playing well not great stats are not great.

19:07I don't know how sustainable this is. The other line numbers are not good. Yeah, I don't know how sustainable it is, really. But in those 11 games in a row, or 19 and 21, like you said, which is probably even more impressive, they've had one good half there, one good 30 minutes there. But overall, they haven't been the best even. So I don't know if they can continue that. But there's also a second half of the season where Emery keeps doing what he's doing and they win the title. It's happened before. It's happened before.

20:01Thank you. Take it up. All right, enough Villa. How about some quick hits instead? Let's go, Gab. Arsenal stay top with a 2-1 win over Brighton. Jules, if they win the league, especially by two or fewer points, we may remember that David Raya saved off of Jankouba Minte as a turning point. Yeah, we could. I was at the game, and I was right in the line of that shot and the incredible save. And maybe Arsenal still win it, even if he goes to 2-2. But that was an incredible save in a game with Arsenal. I thought we're good. controlled it all apart from those 10-15 minutes like they had against Wolves as well where they drop control, they're not sure what to do, they can't keep the ball and then Brighton who are really good attacking wise, not so much defensively but I was really impressed with some of the movement and the play that Brighton had Arsenal were still worthy winners I find it interesting just about Brighton because I wasn't there, I watched it on television and I thought until sort of the midpoint of the second half I thought Brighton were really poor, and I thought Arsenal had them in their pockets and wasted chances.

21:10But you said they looked good throughout? Yeah, even in the first half when they were under pressure. Because it's a different experience when you were there. Yeah, yeah. They were good in the first half. They were a bit naive. They're a very young team. They go and press. They run a lot. Too much. They give you space. They give you, for a team like Arsenal, everything that you love. And Arsenal could have been 3-0 up at halftime easily. The changes at halftime in TV made a lot of sense, again from Herzlouk, probably got his team selection wrong. The back five made sense, although it was the first time he did it this season.

21:41But they took a long time to work out that they had an extra man, even in their build-up phase, to use a bit more. That was the second half was better. But yeah, I think Arsenal were still the winners again. But I like this Brighton team going forward. Defensively, they've got issues because they're too attacking. I go back to the Raya thing. since narratives matter, especially in this country, if he doesn't make that save and they drop points and they slip in the second place, Arsenal over the past three, four games haven't been, I think, as good as they looked before. With some exceptions, although I thought Udegaard was really good in the first half.

22:18All of a sudden, things can spin out of control very, very quickly. You've got the witch, Unai Emery, coming over to do his black magic. I think, honestly, this was so big. And I have to say, I was not a Raya guy when they signed him at all. But what he's contributed this season, I think, is on a par with Declan Rice and anybody else you care to name in that team. Inter end 2025 leading Serie A with a 1-0 win away at Atalanta. Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal. Ballon d 'Or, Lautaro, to you. Okay, so you can look at this, see the highlight and say, oh, Inter were lucky because Jim City made a very rare mistake which gifted them the Lautaro goal.

22:58and then at the end Lazar Samozic misses an absolute sitter and that was on his left foot as well that said if you actually watch the game Inter I thought were tremendous in the first half I don't think Atalanta had a shot on shot on target for the first half or something or the first half it's Atalanta without Ademola Lukman and whatever but still bro you have to keep this pressure on throughout you can't go to 4-5-1 at the end because Lottaro's tired and invite the pressure because that is when bad things happen. Inter can produce a 90-minute performance, and I'd like to see them do that. Your boy, Ryan Shirky, would have been my boy if he'd chosen to play for Italy, delivers big time for Manchester City, who went 2-1 away to Nottingham Forest.

23:44Yeah, goal and an assist. Great goal, although maybe a little bit lucky. Great assist for Ryan Ders. I think the doku injury is beneficial for Ryan, who plays a little bit more centrally when Foden plays a bit more wider on the left-hand side. It works for Rinders too, to be fair. But in that kind of form, he's incredible. He's a football genius. I've said that many times before. The problem with geniuses in football is that sometimes, well, not sometimes, it's too easy for them. And we wondered in France when he would finally make that step up of not thinking that things were too easy, but actually having better end product.

24:23And he seems to have it now. Seven assists of the season already in the Premier League, just in the Premier League, which is the highest number with Bruno Fernandes. I don't know. I know Pepi sometimes not happy with him because he still doesn't really fit in this system and the positional player at times when they play. But what a wonderful player and talent. This is really important because they go back to this. City are still not good defensively. Nico Gonzalez is still an issue. They're still one-dimensional with Haaland. Haaland has a quiet game like he did in this match. you need something else.

24:58And Shirky and Reinders, especially in the second half, provided that. And sticking with that game gab, Sean Dyche was furious that Shirky's winner stood despite Nick O 'Reilly appearing to toss Morgan Gibbs-White to the ground. Are you angry too? I was angry and then I saw the replay and I see that actually Morgan Gibbs-White is grabbing him and it's proper wrestling. Yeah, not obvious from the first angle. I presume that's what Sean Dyche saw. I am angrier about all the stuff that happened. You know, there's a corner kicks. I don't want to see this. It's like, oh, look, set piece. Oh, look, isn't he clever that he's running into the goalkeeper.

25:31He's setting a pick. This isn't football. This isn't why we watch the game. This is why we fell in love with the game. I don't know if it's getting worse or if it's just I'm more aware of it because there's more VAR. But this is not necessary. I wish this stuff would get cold. But yes, on this one, yes, no. I think Sean Dyche, when he sees it, will change his mind. Ruben Amorim finally ditches his 3-4-2-1 system for a more traditional 4-2-3-1. and Manchester United beat Newcastle 1-0 as Patrick Dorgu scores a worldie. Jules, coincidence? Not really, no. Causation, correlation, no? It was not that convincing, really.

26:04And to be fair, I think there was, at times, not really much between the two systems. But it's a very important win, I think, even if in the second half they were defending for their lives, which I guess you take pride of not conceding against Gordon and Volta Madder and, you know, etc. Bruno Guimares and all of that Newcastle team. It's a disappointing score and result and performance from a Newcastle point of view. For Mamarim, I'm not really sure what you take away from it because I'm not sure that 4-2-3-1 actually worked that great. Koulina wasn't good. Cescou wasn't good. Yes, you have a lot of players missing.

26:38Bruno, Amman and Mbomo, already just the three of them. Mount comes off at halftime. And I think Mamarim likes him a lot. So I'm not sure where you're going. But you didn't concede and it's a big win. He could have kept the system and just simply moved Dalo to the other side. So I think that's maybe a thing. But other than that, I don't know. And sticking with that game, Gab, Newcastle pumped 46 crosses into the box. And Voltemade and Wissak combined for one shot in the whole game. What does that tell you? It tells me that maybe we need to vary things, try a slightly different strategy. Look, Nick Voltemade, we told you this.

27:18the man may be the size of a building, but he is not a traditional center forward. In fact, there was that stat, which may be fake, but I'll repeat it because I've heard enough people tell it that he'd scored like one goal with his head in the previous two years or whatever. And now he scores a couple of goals with his head, many of them with his shoulder, like his bounces off his head. It's not what the guy does. So maybe don't pump so many balls into the box. He had zero shots on goal in 68 minutes. He can give you something different. That said, Newcastle played better than Newcastle deserves something from this game.