Rightdm00

Blaming anyone on defense for this loss is daft.  We were setting our defensive line 5 yards in front of the 18 yard box in the second half.  Eventually even the best defender will make a mistake.  Engels and Mings both cost us a goal but that's fully down to the complete inability of our midfield and forward line to even give them a minutes time to regroup after a defensive stop. 

43 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Excellent in the first half. But as I've pointed out time and time again this season, he needs to get on the ball more, needs to both demand it more and get into better spaces. His levels also consistently drop after 70 minutes which to me suggests a bit of a conditioning issue - which in fairness is what a lot of our players struggle with indicating deficient S&C coaching.

I think it's partially conditioning but honestly his possession retention just stinks at this level.  He is a beautiful sight with the ball charging at the opponents box but he lacks the ability to lose his man if he receives the ball deep. He tried the butt/hip move at least twice in the 2nd half and both times he was easily dispossessed. 

In the future if we are protecting a lead sub in another MF and push him further forward.  When teams start pressing he is way to easy a target to pick on. 

1 minute ago, jim said:

Smith out of his depth I fear. Getting promoted with the second best squad in the Championship  and the Premier League is a whole different ball game. 
 

 

He looks it right now. Can he figure it out, sure. It's not all doom and gloom but man some of these decisions have really hurt us. The lack of subs, allowing his team to sit so deep.... That's the one that drives me mad. The naivety to think you can sit almost on your 18 yard box and defend for 30 minutes against an attacking team like Arsenal.  You can stay solid at the back without conceding that much of the field.  

Massive disappointment. Also the word was out there that Trez was a poor finisher but damn strike on the break in the second half was sooooooo bad. 

All three goals have such a variety.  Turn and swivel for #1, flashing across the box for a header for #2, and make sure you catch #3 a really nice solo effort.  Really shows off the variety of skills he has a striker. 

The advanced wingers/wide forwards aren't working. Jota has been good but the left side winger has been a passenger in almost every game.  Before we give up on the 4-3-3 I agree with the other posters now and think we should try Jack on the left side. I worry about him getting isolated but something needs to change. Our midfield is far to light weight right now. Whether it's over the top or through every team so far has managed to outplay our midfield.  Playing Jack out wide is less than ideal but until we can upgrade our wide options in the winter window it may be our best bet going forward. 

Doing the rewatch right now and Tyrone was downing a freaking Redbull right before kickoff.  That is the first time I have ever seen a professional athlete shoot a red bull right before kickoff.  Is this a normal pre-match routine or was he a little sleepy at kickoff.  

17 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

Don't be daft m8.

Everyone agrees he played excellent.

But it's a fair observation that he did try a couple of Hollywood passes too many, but he was excellent overall.

Just because people have a minor criticism from an overall excellent performance, doesn't mean we don't all love him....it's just a fair observation.

Maybe I came across a little too harsh.  Let me try it another way.  In American Football(NFL) you have to take a couple deep shots a game to keep defenses honest otherwise they just crowd out the short passes.  I feel that Mings was hitting many of those long balls under instruction from Deano.  Mings went deep and Engels kept it short or drove into midfield.  I think it kept the Everton back line from crowding out the midfield like Spurs did against us in the 2nd half.  

1 hour ago, Keyblade said:

What a performance. He was unplayable tonight. Had Yeri Mina ready to fight he was so frustrated.

I can admit in my younger more hot headed days I was a bit of a trash talker. Seeing Wes getting underneath Mina's skin warmed my heart. Love the all the different characters this team has. Ming's calm under fire, Mcginn the bulldog and Wes not scared of a soul. 

Edit: Mings has a home design business no idea how good he is at clamming

One game and Mings a hoofer and Hollywood passer. Against Spurs his "Hollywood" ball set Mcginn up for the first goal. He also had a couple pinpoint long balls versus Bournemouth. One of them the Bournemouth defender misplayed and presented Mcginn with a killer chance. Given Smith's after game comments it's obvious that's this a style of play they have worked on to counter act the high press. 

1 hour ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I loved how he ran to get Wesley out of the heat in the dying minutes there when they kicked down Trezeguet. Very good leadership

Second game in a row he's done that.  I think teams know Wes is a bit of a hot head. Ming's isn't about to let that happen. Love him. 

4 minutes ago, CosmicVillan said:

He's a unit...and a bloody good footballer

Yep another game where he holds off far bigger players with ease. Moise Kean almost ripped his jersey off of him and he looked completely unbothered. 

He was quiet on the ball but Everton went almost 2/3 of the game with no shots on target. That's on him and the back line. Excellent game. 

8 hours ago, Rossco76 said:

Can't remember which website it was but someone did a really good analysis of wesley's strengths when we signed him, and it wasn't headers!

He's very good at dropping deep, retaining posession, spreading the ball wide, sprinting into the box, pulling front post defender out of position before nipping in front to finish a low front post cross.

It's all about timing and having a winger or full back able to beat his man. It'll come.

Yeah these ball's in the air are going to have to stop or at least slow down a bit.  We have no one to get on the end of them.  This happened in the Championship as well.  When teams bunkered down our only resort was to toss crosses into the box.  We never really tried to keep it on the ground and play through the middle.  I remember reading the same article on Wesley's strength.  He has a great first touch, can beat his man on the dribble and he showed the ability to post up and turn his defenders inside the box.  We need to try to keep it on the ground more going forward.  Play to Wesley's strength a bit more.  

5 hours ago, sexbelowsound said:

Don't think Wesley is the issue. We're not getting people around him quick enough and he hasn't quite found his rhythm yet with the wide men.

This pretty much.  On that ball over the top from Mcginn at the end of the first half it was Wesley and Trez versus 8 bournemouth players.  The bournemouth midfielders were actually looking around for Villa players to mark but our guys were so late arriving.  I'd be curious to see what our distance stats were for the game.  Bournemouth look to be very fit.  I know we cant get there all at once but we really need to raise our energy level's tracking back and breaking on the counter.  

22 minutes ago, Rob182 said:

Without the use of stats, studying or otherwise, here's my rough take on the 'Grealish was okay, but not good or great' opinion:

Last season, after Jack came back from injury, it was nearly always him or McGinn who looked like our best player. Mings also got a lot of plaudits, rightly, but I think I'm right in saying that Jack and McGinn were usually the best two.

Against Bournemouth I'd say that McGinn, Douglas (after the error), Engels, Mings, Elmo and Trezequet were all better than Jack. That's not to say that Jack didn't do good things, but I didn't come out of the game thinking that Jack and McGinn had ran the show, like I did for 80% of our 2019 Championship games.

Maybe it's because we've now surrounded Jack with better players? Or maybe it's because it's just one game (it's not fair to judge Jack on his creativity in the Spurs game where we were backs to the wall for so long), but I don't feel like he's looked like the £35m-price-tag Grealish that Spurs wanted, when he's been outplayed by £8-10m players in our line-up.

Of course, it's subjective, it's one game, stats will prove me otherwise yada yada yada. I'm just saying. Is it expecting too much, to want Jack to look like one of our best players? Maybe. But I didn't want Jack to step up and then look like just another lower Prem player, I wanted him to step up his game and run the show like we know he can.

Hand up I had some outsized expectations given Jack's dominance in the Championship.  I expected him to roll into the Prem skinning players for fun.  About halftime of the Spurs game I had completely readjusted my expectations.  The Prem is just a whole different animal.  Jack has played well.  Could he better, absolutely.   I have faith that Dean and the staff will find that extra level as the season progresses.  

2 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

**** hell lads

Dean Smith thread last week.  Hopefully we beat Everton and we can come back here and celebrate.  

Love how he wins pretty much every 50/50 battle in the midfield.  He is also much stronger than he looks.  He held off bigger players like Lerma and King with ease.  When you consider it was his Prem debut and within a minute your keeper gives away the worst penalty ever he had about as good of a game you can ask for.  

So, having rewatched the match I didn't see many negatives. Obviously the two mistakes so early is just something that can't happen in the future. Other than those 2 crucial errors I thought we barely put a foot wrong.    One thing I did notice that could be a slight worry going forward was our fitness.  We look absolutely done by the 80th minute. Bournemouth has some of the best running stats in the league but that's 2 games in a row we look dead on our feet when the game was on the line.  

Also, given that Aston Villa has been down in the championship for most of Bournemouth prem existence I had no idea how cynical of a team Bournemouth was.  The diving, play acting and time wasting was really over the top. Hearing about Bournemouth's attacking flair all week I expected better. 

Watching the Prime documentary on Leeds and Kalvin comes off so well in it.  If Leeds don't go up we have to go back in for him. He seems class on and off the pitch. 

1 hour ago, Larscapaldi said:

Was it no pen or debatable?

I definitely thought it was a pen.  It was shoulder to shoulder but he just ran him over. Judging VARs use this weekend the Prem is looking to minimize it's interference. It's gonna take a lot to overturn a refs decision on the field. 

No one has mentioned his assist for Mcginns goal. Looked exactly like the ball he played to Andre Green last year for another Mcginn goal. Love that both our CBs can hit a pass. 

Him and Mings together were so good. Throw in Heaton and we are going to shut out more than a few teams this season.  Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure Engels played that killer ball that put Trezeguet clean through in the first half.  All in all a great debut. 

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Me been looking quite a few forums of other teams, and it seems hardly anyone at all rates our summer business, and I kind of see where they coming from whilst not agreeing with them.

 

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A poor player who found a bit of form at Brentford. Nothing more to say really.

 

That's a really good point about them all bringing something different.  Konsa is great option when we are going to have a large portion of the possession.  You can then switch him out with a larger/more physical CB like Engels or Hause for a Steve Bruce long ball side.  Really good options to have.