skell

53 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

They are not excellent they are a bog standard mid table side. If we have aspirations to try and qualify for Europe these games have to be home bankers. Which I presume will be the target (arguable if its realistic) for next season.

Sorry. That quote smells of arrogance. The last time I looked we were also of the same level. I have watched Palace a few times and have been impressed . Solid and creative. Next year, assuming we make a couple of good signings we should be looking to win these games. Home bankers ? That's stretching it alittle.

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Another thing.

While today was indeed  POOR.

I find we have a sense of entitlement when it comes to certain opposition.

As if we are the only ones with a PlayStation controller.

Palace are a decent side, on our day we are a decent side.

Two mid table teams. Our main downfall is our lack of physicality, this makes us panic and almost forget how to pass ffs.

Our head to head this season is we've won one, and drawn one.

Spot on. Until we have the players who are more physical we will struggle against teams like palace. 

2 hours ago, TomC said:

I’ll start off my repeating what I said in the match thread…we had two problems most of the match…

1. We gave the ball away cheaply.

2. We couldn’t get the fullbacks forward, in part because we couldn’t hold the ball, in part because they had players pinning them back. This meant that Dougie and McGinn had to play very wide, which left a gap in the middle, which meant that Coutinho had to come back deep and get the ball, which meant that everyone was spaced out too much and it was hard to link up.

The JJ-for-Naka sub changed the game. Not only did JJ give us an extra attacking edge, but, more importantly, Dougie was able to handle the deep distribution. Dougie is not a natural DM and is not the answer in the middle in a 4-3-3. But we miss his distribution when he’s not there. He’s a natural alongside a pure DM in a 4-2-3-1.

Despite some criticism of Coutinho in the match thread, I thought he did a good job of distributing the ball from deep when he was stuck doing that. It’s just that he shouldn’t have to play that role.

Cash had one of his best defensive games of the year.

Digne made our goal and had a good game overall. A definite upgrade from Targett.

Chambers looked better than Konsa again.

Ings left his shooting boots at home again.

McGinn played well and was heavily involved…but also was lucky not to get sent off given some of his tackles.

Watkins got outjumped for the header that made their goal, but he’s not defender, so I’m not going to be harsh on him about it.

Emi1 bailed us out several times as usual.

Palace are a better defensive team than I realized.

 

I think Palace are an excellent team. We had plenty of the ball but made stupid.passes. nakamba and mcginn more.guilty than most. I suspect Gerrard is waiting for a strong central midfielder before ih plays emi and Phil together 

11 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

I'm not having it. We were continually being walked through by the opposition even under DS. Some of these players just don't have the minerals for a battle when their backs are to the wall. 

I agree same smith problems. When you say we dont have the fight I'm not sure I agree. It's simple mistakes, and ability only. But he needs to shore things up next gaame

13 minutes ago, TRO said:

The other 50% is the sloppy goals we give away, from unforced errors...without them, we would have won 0-1.....The misses then get written off as one of those things.

The first thing a football team needs to do, is learn how to win 1-0.....and then add goals for entertainment value and confidence.

This is a huge part. We compete well then give away a ridiculous goal. The other teams then sit back, we make an error and they hit us.on the break. Midfield stability so important and I can only see a transfer window sorting that

30 minutes ago, TRO said:

......again.

Well we will. A defensive midfielder, a good one, solves so many problems.   Clearly  watkins and McGinn are not top 6 quality. They need replacing too

1 hour ago, rbcuk said:

Shit again, sick of seeing McGinn starting yet again, never known a player to give it away as much in a game as he did today

He is out of his depth on a possession team. Great when we have to win the ball back. Not a long term option for me

On 21/03/2022 at 11:20, TRO said:

I thought we had spirit against Southampton by why the sudden change, in mentality and intensity.....if they can do it in one game, why not more.

Arsenal had an arduous game in mid week, but they "looked up for it" more than we did......we just stood off.

Yep. Gerrard alluded to that in his interview. They are technically better than us and the players gave them too much respect

13 hours ago, TRO said:

I'll be honest Nick.....its that part the worries me.

I see so many teams in this league, who have it.

I saw Leeds come back the other night against Wolves, to secure their win after a woeful first half......I asked myself, would we do that and I couldn't see it.

I'm not saying we are a bad side, but I do think we are too easy to play against.

To be fair we did against Manchester United. I think we have fight in the team, we lack confidence going forward as players like McGinn and watkins are not technically good enough. As a result we are more.withdrawn knowing the ball will change ha ds quickly 

5 minutes ago, RichW said:

The last 2 games I feel have given a bit of a reality check in how big the gap is between Villa and the top 6/8 sides. We’ve played West Ham who were missing Bowen and had a tough away game mid-week to Sevilla and then had a couple of players go off injured during the game and we have just played Arsenal who had a mid-week game against Liverpool and were missing Ramsdale and Martinelli. We’ve lost both and deserved to lose both when you could argue that it was a good time to play either of them. 
 

Was glad to see Buendia back in the starting line up but seems now that unfortunately we are starting to see that both he and Coutinho can’t play in the same team so I’d imagine Buendia is going back to the bench as no way Coutinho gets dropped.

Wasn’t confident of getting anything before the name but I didn’t expect a performance to be that bad. Arsenal weren’t great but we just rolled over for them. Feel like I’m repeating myself every week but the midfield is just not good enough and I’m starting to get frustrated that Mcginn seems to be undroppable, I’m trying to think how many times this season have I thought Mcginn had a really good game?! Ramsey I can understand being inconsistent as he is a young player but both him and Mcginn both need some serious competition next season as it looks like they got their guaranteed place in the line up for the rest of the season.

Biggest concern now is how many of these “on the beach” performances will we get 

 

 

 

If we revert to a 4 2 31 we can get coutinho buendia and Bailey in that starting team

2 hours ago, Lochheads twin said:

Well that was disappointing!

• Disappointing I could not get to the match today (Quarantine )
• Disappointing performance
• Disappointing result
• Disappointing that Buendia & Coutinho can't seem to play in the same side
• Disappointing that changes were not more timely!
• Disappointing Ramsey was not rested earlier.
• Disappointing Sanson can't get a place in the the team 
• Disappointing that referees seem to hold Villa players to different standards for awarding yellow cards.
• BT Sport Arsenal love-in was also very disappointing.

So there it is, very disappointed. One of the many feelings on the Villa roller coaster.

Onwards!

Do you think we could play 4 3 3 with buendia in middle 3 and couthino in forward 3 or the other way round 

18 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

Watkins isn't good enough for us to progress into the top 10.

It won't be a popular opinion but neither is McGinn. Those 2 should be sold.

Agreed. Bench is the best place for them.  But we.need.to replace them first.

1 hour ago, The_Steve said:

Starting formation wrong, improved with two wide attackers. A better half but we started far, far too slow and made it easy for Arsenal.

Laughable ref. No penalty was a disgrace.

We are in for a big summer as I don't see a few names being here - notably, Ollie, Luiz, and Traore.

Young went from one of the worst on the pitch to the better ones.

Felt Emi should have saved Saka's shot.

JJ very poor.

I agree, but they only leave when we find better players. That's the tricky part

On 27/02/2022 at 08:10, Delphinho123 said:

My player ratings. For what it’s worth.

Martinez - 7
Digne - 7
Mings - 8
Konsa - 7
Cash - 7
McGinn - 9
Luiz - 5
Ramsey - 6
Ings - 5
Coutinho - 6
Watkins - 5

I thought all 3 subs played well. Sanson was busy and all action and Iroegbunam completed a few passes and got his toe in a couple of times. Young worked hard.

A fairly average performance in truth but it was nice to compete for 90 mins for once. We weren’t brilliant for any particular spell but more importantly, we weren’t poor either which is what’s been happening in the last few weeks.

A new striker and at least one central midfielder in the Summer is vital for progression. 

Yep i agree with the signings. We can raise a lot of money if needed. Sell Luiz targett trez Keinan ings and spend it all on a DM and striker

17 hours ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

We’ve had quite a lot of possession today and against Newcastle without creating anything. Hardly any shots on goal. So in these games I can’t see it make much difference.

As for earlier games, I agree.

True but it would stop us being so easy to go through. Hopefully!

3 hours ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

That defensive midfielder, would he make us create more qualified chances? That’s where the major problem has been today and against Newcastle.

Yes. He would. We would win the ball back quicker and have more.possession which should.equal more opportunities 

Just now, Davkaus said:

This was far from a one off.

True but without a defensive midfielder we are going to slip up in many games. Not much anyone.can do

41 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I'm not angry, we played realtively well. They got a goal on the counter which we always concede as we can't defend in transition. Players proving they are mentally weak. Leeds game blowing a 2 goal lead is Wolves mk2

Exactly this.  Let's not.overact. on another day we score first

3 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

In those first Gerrard games, the team had a much tighter shape and was dedicated to sitting back and defending. We also played against tough opponents so had very little possession.

I don’t think we want to keep playing like that, handing over possession and defend in a mid or low block, against bottom half teams. But we have gone towards a looser shape overall and I don’t think Nakamba’s prescence is the whole answer.

I also think we need a new defensive mid, maybe not Nakamba but someone with a broader skill set.

I agree Nakamba is not the answer but he is the sticking plaster we need right now. Long term We need a big strong ball winner there. Unfortunately watkins mcginn and luiz dont offer enough when we are in possession of the ball. It's a tricky problem to solve 

7 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

Nakamba has played 9 games at DM this season, we won 3 and lost 6. Average 1.78 goals conceded. One clean sheet.

Luiz played 14 games at DM this season, we won 5, drew 3 and lost 6. Average 1.43 goals conceded. Five clean sheets.

I'm pretty sure(without looking at stats) that nakamba best results were under gerard. He was a different animal . Under smith he was clearly told to stay out. Under gerard he was told to win the ball.  That's what we miss. Luiz is not a DM

1 hour ago, Sam-AVFC said:

If you think this is our first poor game under him then you are far more generous than me. Imo we've mostly been average or bad.

This is just the straw that broke the camel's back for me in turns of criticising.

I still have patience and look forward eagerly to see what we look like next season, but so far it has not been good enough.

Is it fair to say we have suffered significantly since nakamba got injured. We are dying for a DM. 

1 hour ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

This is the problem that won’t go away. It’s not that we aren’t big and muscular enough.

It’s the fact we can’t ever take control, keep possession and progress up the pitch by moving the ball. Our CBs aren’t ball players, nor is McGinn or Cash. Digne is too far away to be involved in the build-up. Too many are too poor in possession.

So instead we hoof it and chase second balls. Just like Burnley.

It's both actually. We need a beast in the middle to win the  all back.  We just dont do it. We also need players who are technically gifted. At the moment mginn and watkins look miles away from being gifted and subsequently lose the ball. 

6 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

How people can look at the performances of McGinn and Luiz tonight and pick out Luiz as the weakness is beyond me.

I thought Luiz played pretty well, I'd give him a seven, he was one of our better players on the night.

I'd give McGinn a three, it's the worst game I've ever seen him have.

 

Luiz was awful as a DM. We need a monster in there . Hes not that player. If we change him for bissouma the problem is solved and we can look forward to europe

7 hours ago, Wurzel said:

The reality is that in the Summer we need at least one quality central defender and a defensive midfielder to progress. It seems that the owners are serious about going for Europe and there are too many mid to lower Prem players at the club. That will probably mean some out goings. I wonder if Arsenal offered £40 million for Watkins if we would decline. Not sure if Ings has a future at the club either, so I wouldn't be surprised to see both gone in the summer and a bigger name coming in. If Utd offered £50 million for McGinn I think that would be difficult to turn down, and Luiz's future must be in question. I know this post sounds very damning but I sense that the owners are no longer going to tolerate mediocre, and with Newcastle looking like they are going to stay up they cannot wait to see if things improve with some of these players. I have a feeling it will be a very big summer both with incomings and outgoings.

I was thinking about who we could sell to raise funds  and on the list is targett, trex, el ghazi, luiz, ings it Watkins, davis. 90 million there at least. We wont miss them if we get a striker and DM 

4 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Shocked by that. I thought he was a beast. Odd lapse on the ball but he dealt with every ball they threw in to the box

He puts his body on the line but was going for everything,  winning nothing and leaving huge holes behind him. Naive. Calm down tyrone