Smartin

8 hours ago, Dillon66 said:

I was at the game too....and we definitely were not class. We controlled the game for large parts of the match mainly due to the fact that they were poorer than we were. Kamara and Bailey were dreadful and could rightfully have been hooked after half an hour. We brightened up a fair bit in the second half, Buendia was excellent, JPB caused problems, Digne and Tielemans pretty decent too. Funnily enough, I didnt think the ref was over biased towards them - he gave us plenty of fouls whereby we hung onto the ball too long to invite a challenge, then we promptly fell over much to Valencia's ire.

A good day overall though, the Mestalla is an iconic old lady of a ground.........but those effing stairs up to the stand ! Something else indeed.

I was at the game too and am really surprised you say that about Kamara. I thought until he went off he was probably our best player! Made some excellent recoveries, always being in the right place at the right time and was comfortable in possession.

Bailey was awful and Pau wasn't much better. Looks very uncomfortable at left back. No surprise when it was those 2 making way at half time. Looked way better with Digne and Buendia.

Definitely werent class, but a well controlled performance. We had way more quality than them

Are we all in agreement that Jack is carrying an injury then?

3 hours ago, MaVilla said:

wow.....Long literally scored with his d*ck.....

What a time to be a Villa fan

They don't call him Long for nothing.

My coat I will get...

My take was he took a pretty innocuous looking hit to the head and was lying off the pitch. We are waiting to take a corner, AEG rolls a good 3 metres back onto the pitch so we can't take our corner. Mings runs over not very happy and seems to be telling him to get up or roll off. He is getting treatment and Grealish comes over pretty much begging him to get off the pitch. At this point he is getting treatment literally straddling the line, but it takes him a few minutes to react to Grealish and budge himself the few inches so he is off the pitch. Weird.

Edit: This was obv supposed to be replying to someone to asked what had happened with Anwar.

So low on confidence (and ideas) its embarrassing.

That AEG thing was a bit weird wasn't it. Doesn't seem to be well liked by the same team mates he got promoted with last year.

A real shame but what an opportunity for Tom. Great job.

Theo has done us a massive favour there

Tactics way off today. Marv and Luiz back to being weak as in midfield. Looking for positives are that I think we will continue picking up points at home and I thought Davis did well when he came on, and Samatta is decent.

Guilbert had a shocker. Did he actually manage to get a cross in?

We just can't deal with teams that press well at all. They have targeted Hause so much. As soon as the ball goes to him they are on him. Midfield non-existent.

BUT as long as Jack is on the pitch we can get something. Samatta looks like the kind of player who can make a difference as well.

3 hours ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

The signings this window make sense. It's absolutely obvious we are restricted from spending due to FFP, so I won't go batshit over the signing of a championship reject. 

Pitarch has not disappointed or impressed so far. I'll give him another year I reckon. 

That's good of you

I had him on FM16 and he was a decent backup option... quite the endoresement I know. I should also caveat that by saying that Zivkovic was a 30 a season striker in my same team.

Massive win. Massive performance. Marvellous my MOTM.

Does anyone have an opinion on our recruitment?

4 minutes ago, avfc1982am said:

I'm just going to put this out there now. What did people expect anyway?? We've become a team scared of our own shadow. Even the manager is going the same way.. Playing 3 CB's and 2 DM's at home against Watford is nothing short of treason in my book. What happened to the attacking philosophy bs banded about. 

What other midfielders would you have us play?

1 minute ago, Laughable Chimp said:

Drinkwater dribbled past 3 times in the first half, more than any other player on the pitch.

I thought he was much better (not hard I know). Distributed well and dictated the play at times. Was well positioned a lot of the time too. Just still not fit, and using our 3 most important games to play someone into fitness is a massive risk.

Frustrating. Thought our general play was good until they scored, playing out easily and playing at a good tempo without every creating ANYTHING. That is a bit problem though. I really miss Wesley. I think Nakamba has had a good game and I actually think Drinkwater has too. Hause has had a bit of a shocker and Trez is just ineffective. Hopeful we can turn this one around though. Had to be Deeney didn't it!

Edit: It would also help if our full backs could cross.

9 hours ago, penguin said:

They brought in Drinkwater so all bets are off at this point,

Didn't Nakamba also do the same thing?

I'll take that point but we made Davy Propper look like KDB for most of the game, which is concerning. Start with Vassilev if we have to. We must have an actual striker up front. Nakamba literally hiding behind Brighton players instead of showing for the ball is pathetic. Drinkwater needs to get up to speed fast. Grealish saves the day. Don't understand all the stick that Targett gets. Apart from 2 or 3 dodgy defensive displays I think he has been one of our better signings.

1 minute ago, supermon said:

But what on earth is Dean coaching? Can keep buying player after player but this team can't string any passes together.

Dean Smith will relegate us. There is no chance we can survive playing this way. What difference would it be if we had Samatta, Piatek, Callejon on the pitch if we cant keep possession. Feel sorry for Grealish he doesn't deserve this

We can't keep possession because we don't have a midfield. Nakamba has been hiding all game and Drinkwater is way off the pace. Can't pass to someone if nobody is showing for the ball. We miss Mcginn so bad.

Ive never known a team to be able to get further and further away from the opposition goal whilst in possession as much as us. It is a real talent. Also, our ability to give the ball away in our own half. A real winning combination.

2 hours ago, LoughboroughLion said:

I agree - but there's two sides to this story I think. Marv yes, but I think Luiz is a lot better at it.

He shows for the ball, receives it and looks then to distribute. When we play 5 at the back, there is such a gulf between defence and attack that he can only really pass to Jack or go backwards - when Jack is marked it's pretty difficult for him.

If we're to play 5 at the back and retain the ball, the wing backs need to show for it a lot more, one of the wingers need to drop back slightly and Marv needs to improve. We're moving in the right direction with it, but a few tweeks are needed in midfield so we don't just keep inviting pressure. 

Prime example was when he got caught with the ball for their goal, he doesn't want to keep passing backwards, but nobody is showing for the ball. 

I think you are spot on with this. It was very difficult being a CM in that game. Leicester pack the midfield and press so well. There was often just nobody close ahead of them showing for the ball. It worries me that we can't make those kind of adjustments in the game for some reason.

2 minutes ago, andym said:

Good half, but that is a pathetic miss by Konsa at the end, simply has to score

Really harsh that! He leaped like the proverbial salmon.

Some real Sunday League passing but we have competed well. Looked a different team after the goal. Solid half from Nyland. We look way more solid in this formation but so often it looks like we have nobody in the middle of the park.

Just now, villalad21 said:

Losing 3-0 to a 10 man Watford.

Players won't be able to recover after this. Mentally they will be absolutely shot. Most of them will most likely lose their trust in Smith.

 

You say that, but if Southampton can recover from losing 9-0, we can recover from this... can't we?

The indiscipline shown today by our youngsters is not a good sign at all. Worrying times!