The Hawk

Yeah everybody, don’t forget about laying into 21yr old Douglas Luiz who made a mistake. Honestly...

A draw away to a team that has W19 D1 L0 is pretty optimistic

I’d sooner hand out a red for Cresswell than I would for Mee. Cresswells was studs up and feet off the ground, seems a lot more reckless than Mee’s which seems more forceful than uncontrolled. Such a grey area for referees as VAR can only intervene if it’s to give a red card and if the ref is blowing for a foul there it’s usually a red card or not a foul at all. Rarely if ever see yellows given there.

Red card worthy? I’d hate to be a defender if so

Agree - although in Mee’s defence he’s done it in the “fairest” way possible in that it was a fifty-fifty ball that was there to be won rather than a tackle from behind as some are claiming. The fact that Wes has come away injured makes it seem worse, but his leg was unfortunately planted awkwardly and resulted in a hyperextension. Plenty of similar tackles occur where the players get up straight away and get on with it unscathed (if a little rattled). Theres a camera angle of the tackle filmed over by the touchline where it occurred and you can clearly see Mee had all eyes for the ball whereas generally if the intent is to seriously injure you usually see the perpetrators take a glance to see where their victim is right before making the challenge.

I suggest you watch the footage again...

It’s certainly a tough one to call and is bound to have many different opinions on it. Having watched it about 10 times from a number of angles myself, my conclusion is that Mee was entirely going for the ball although probably wasn’t concerned if he cleaned up Wesley in the process. In the context of the game (2-0 down at home and in all likelihood receiving a rollicking from Dyche at half time), it’s the sort of committed challenge that you’re expected to make in that situation as a centre half otherwise you’re labelled as “not up for the fight”. I’d expect Mings to do the same in that situation and certainly wouldn’t have those tackles in the same bracket as ones that the likes of Kevin Muscat and Vinnie Jones would regularly make where the intent was clearly to injure.

Gutted and frustrated about the injury but I personally don’t think the challenge warranted a red card. It was a solid challenge that caught Wesley in an awkward position and seemed more unfortunate than outright malicious. If Mings had made the same challenge on Chris Wood and had been sent off I would certainly feel hard done by.

Hate the idea of playing Taylor as a wing back. In this system the wing backs become crucial to our width and Taylor is not someone we want on the ball...

Luka Jovic loan listed by Real Madrid.... wishful thinking for a 6 month stint?

Everyone’s body language is different yes but an individuals body language and performance are closely linked. El Ghazi is in the poorest run of form he’s had for the club since joining and it’s no coincidence that he’s playing with a sulk and showing little desire. A weak mindset will always lead to a drop in performance. Trez looked as if he was gassed whereas El Ghazi looks lazy. Again, not defending the effectiveness of Trez’s running but with a bit more match fitness and time in the side I think we will see an improvement there whereas I can’t see where the improvements going to come from with El Ghazi unless his attitude changes. Just doesn’t seem like a man you’d want next to you in the trenches.

Agree with you here. Everything about El Ghazi’s body language at the minute stinks and he’s really starting to rile me up. Say what you want about Trez (and I’ll be the first to say his performances haven’t been great) at least you can see the passion in him and he seems to really have bought into the club and the battle were in. Watch the reactions of the two players when we scored - says it all.

Of all the reasonable options available to us at the minute, a loan till the end of the season for this man would be easily top of my list. Wonderful touch for a big man and could see him linking up so well with Grealish. I know the board don’t want to go down the loan route but if we’re as straddled by FFP this window as some would have us believe, this would be a very shrewd short term solution to our woes up top.

No thanks.

First time I’ve really liked him. We all know he’s wonderful technically but today he showed heart, determination and a real engine to run out the game. Gave away a couple of silly fouls and had a few poor touches but if he plays every game with this aggro and grit I’m sure he will be a wonderful asset.

Agree with you there!

Was he a lone striker at Brugge or playing in a 2? He’s effectively a Heskey without the aerial ability to me.

Absolutely gutless first half. Disgraceful body language, no willingness to close down and zero threat on the ball. ... and that’s not even mentioning his “defending” for that corner!

For the record I think Neil Taylor makes Wesley look like Pelé himself. I took your comment more as a stab at Neil Taylor’s character which I may have misunderstood. Personally I’ve never had a problem with his application, it’s just that he’s so woefully bad as a footballer that he makes it seem like he isn’t trying even though he is. I don’t think he chooses the easiest option every time to hide, I think he chooses the easiest option because he knows he can’t do anything constructive with the ball and has probably been instructed to pass it off to someone who can.

Of course he does, he’s just rubbish.

Agree with all of this. Wesley definitely didn’t start that move, it was Grealish who started that move from a creative perspective. That being said, I don’t think Wesley is as bad as some have made him out to be but he is still so far off what’s currently required.

Exactly. Let’s not blame the manager for the sake of blaming someone. El Ghazi was at fault for the first anyway and the second was a sloppy corner.

You could see smith yelling “keep the ball” to kodjia when he was being subbed on. Clearly the idea was for him to waste time with his feints and dribbles and hopefully earn a free kick in the process to see out the game. It didn’t exactly work, but I don’t necessarily think that’s Smith or Kodjia’s fault. Just didn’t go our way. Hauling Wesley off for Konsa would just invite pressure onto us so I think yours is a pretty silly idea and to blame the manager is equally silly.

The combination of Neil Taylor playing and the 10 men behind the ball tactics of Wolves nullified his effectiveness in my opinion. He was forced to run into the channels on the left to offer an option for Taylor as everyone on the pitch knew Taylor wasn’t going to exploit any space on the left, and I think that pulled him away from the edge of the area where he’s most dangerous. Whenever he did receive it from Taylor there was just a wall of Wolves defenders blocking any cross.

So we’re laying in to Mings now? The guys been a nothing but a colossus for us since joining and leads the league for blocks, but when he makes his first couple of errors in a Villa shirt these past couple of games suddenly he and the 7 million pound Belgian masterstroke we’ve been praising all season aren’t premier league class? I love this forum.