They think its all over it seems it is now and it is still only November!

It is hard to see us coming back from this sad, sad situation to retain our top flight status this time. Our absentee landlord has failed in his role as custodian of our football club and that will cost him financially and us in ways he does not or chooses not to appreciate. It looks like we are down before the Christmas decorations have gone up!  

This was a must not lose game that we lost. Watford beat us at Villa Park in the league for the first time since 1969. We have not won a game since the first day of the season in the league and have only managed two draws since then. Will we win one in what remains of this season let alone win enough games to keep us up?   

We are fast running out of games now let alone winnable ones. Watford was one of the games we really needed to win if we were to retain any realistic hope of adding another 27 or so points to the 5 we currently have. We are now faced with a need to gather points from games that we will start as heavy underdogs in as we did against Manchester City. Our next two games fit that description.    

We started this game well pressing our opponents from the start and looking like the home side for once. Watford took the lead totally against the run of play but we deservedly pegged them back before half time having shown a good response to going a goal down. We clearly had the better of the first half but we did not put away enough of the chances that we made and our defence showed the usual signs of frailty when they tried to hit us on the break.

The 8 minutes injury delay came when we were well on top. We were caught napping shortly after the re-start and the visitors took the lead again. We needed to kick on again in the second half but not for the first time this season we demonstrated the difficulty we find in performing at the same level for more than 45 minutes unless that level is an embarrassingly below par one. On the positive side we scored two goals at home. That should have produced a point at the very least but our defence conceded three to add to the four they leaked last week and you really cannot expect to win games when you are conceding goals to that extent.

We hit a late goal which did give us some hope of a grandstand finish during the ten minutes of injury time. We deserved to get something from this game but we failed to lay a glove on our opponents in stoppage time and they spent more time in our half than we did in theirs.                   

My player ratings from a game that has left us cast adrift from the rest of the league are:

Brad Guzan – 7 – Did well to block a 17^th minute Ighalo with his body but the same player turned the ball past him later in the same move after the ball ran to him off Clark. Brad did well to stop a Capoue shot with his legs on 24 minutes and he twice saved us from further embarrassment in stoppage time by turning Guédioura shots off target.                                                                         

Alan Hutton – 5 – Did well going forward and was brought down for the free kick that led to our equalizer. Put the visitors back in front on 69 minutes when he turned the ball past Guzan and inside the post in the process of taking the ball off Ighalo after Deeney had threaded a ball between Clark and himself. His heavy touch on 85 minutes also led to us losing the ball in the build up to their third and ultimately decisive goal.                                 

Kieran Richardson – 4 – Failed to get forward effectively enough and was again a cause for concern at the back.      

Michah Richards – 7 – MOTM – Led by example and scored a tremendous goal on 41 minutes heading a well weighted Veretout free-kick into the corner of the net. His goal celebrations showed how much this game meant to him and he gives an example other players need to follow.                                  

Ciaran Clark – 5 – Ayew touched a 39^th minute Veretout corner across the face of the goal which Ciaran hesitated to move towards and could only stab wide with an outstretched foot. He really needed to go for the ball that Deeney headed in on 85 minutes to seal our defeat which had unluckily bounced off Richards into his path.                         

Carles Gil – 7 – If only he could see out a full game. Worked hard, has a lovely touch and his creativity was much needed in Jack’s absence.

Jordan Veretout – 5 – Hit a sweet free kick for our equalizer and had a couple of other nice touches but he needs to try to impose himself on games more.

Carlos Sánchez - 4 – Lost the ball on the edge of his own box which led to their opening goal and was also dispossessed by Deeney on the edge of the box shortly afterwards. Not a good day overall for Carlos.                   

Idrissa Gana – 5 – Hit a nice shot just wide of the post on 27 minutes but needs to make a bigger impact on games than this.

Scott Sinclair – 6 – Forced a good save from Gomes on 31 minutes who turned his goal bound effort past the post. Made some decent runs yesterday and produced a better overall display than those of late.   

Jordan Ayew – 6 – Had a decent shot saved at his near post by Gomes in the 10^th minute and hit the bar with a header 3 minutes later from a Gil corner that was re-taken due to a coming together inside the box prior to the corner being taken. Really should have been on target when a 20^th minute Veretout shot fell to him but he somehow managed to screw the ball wide of the post. Had a 31^st minute punched away by Gomes who was grateful to see Sinclair’s header from the rebound go safely into his arms. Jordan curled a sweet shot into the corner of the net from the edge of the box on 89 minutes to give us a late second goal.            

Substitutes:

Adama Traore – 6 - Replaced Gil on 68 minutes. Gave us pace, urgency and a couple of decent crosses but he needs to look for a pass occasionally rather than to go it alone.      

Rudy Gestede - Replaced Gana on 82 minutes but was not on long enough to gather a rating.

Stay up Villa!

John Lewis