Ratings and Reactions: Villa 0-3 Arsenal

[westholmevillan]

Calm down lads, its only Chelsea next

[westholmevillan]

Sanchez definetely well off the pace. Wont judge him on this performance though. Got a feeling that he was also affected by the virus as he looked very slow and lethargic, not at all like his WC performances...give the lad time!

[ismail-villa]

Just realised the title is wrong lol

[chappy]

Just realised the title is wrong lol

Haha me too! I should edit it...

Just so used to this title winning run of form!

Edit: hold on I got it right first time, someone has edited my post!

Edited September 20, 2014 by chappy

[GNeeUs]

Sounds like most the lads were under the weather.

Give the lads a couple days off and bring them back in on Tuesday PM. Hopefully Vlaar will be fit too by Chelsea… lets at least try and give them a run for their money!

[Danwichmann]

Obviously today was disappointing, but not the end of the world. Keeping perspective by remembering:

We've still had a great start to the season.

Aside from the 3 minutes we weren't bad in the first half, and second half was a not event for both teams.

I don't know how many players were effected by the virus but it must have had an effect.

Games like this won't define our season.

It's a shame that chelsea and man city are up next, but even of we repeat the same results it won't make it disastrous start to the season.

[Danwichmann]

Sanchez is obviously not ready but as his age it he needs to get up to speed by a kick up the arse as we can't afford to bed him in. On reflection one of N'Zogbia, Bacuna or Grealish should have started (although they may also have been sick) in his place and the formation shifted. Seeing Grealish come on and be composed, win a few free kicks and not waste the ball he'd have been my choice, I think he's as ready now as he will ever be without playing 90 mins of Premier League football

I really like Grealish but he was taking on Arsenal players in his own third when he had the chance to clear. Got away with it today but not convinced he quite has the maturity to be starting games yet. He will get there but I don't think we should rush him in and certainty shouldn't expect him to be any sort of messiah.

[benireduk]

Pretty disappointing. I take on board the the bug going round played a big part in the defeat but watching us today was dreadful bar the first half hour.

Second half Arsenal averaged 80% possession which is unforgivable.

I don't mind us playing defensively away at places like Anfield but we need to find a way to create more at home. We just don't get enough people forward. It's so predictable and negative.

[The_Steve]

Westwood was sick in the warmup. Andi was sick at half-time.

[adw95]

Thought we were very good until those 4 minutes, after which it was a no contest. If one of the 2/3 good chances went in we may have got something from the game but it wasn't to be. Averaging 2 points per game is a great start so this result isn't as bad as it looks in isolation.

[poitier]

At least we had two efforts on goal, that must boost our season average somewhat.

[smetrov]

Sanchez is obviously not ready but as his age it he needs to get up to speed by a kick up the arse as we can't afford to bed him in. On reflection one of N'Zogbia, Bacuna or Grealish should have started (although they may also have been sick) in his place and the formation shifted. Seeing Grealish come on and be composed, win a few free kicks and not waste the ball he'd have been my choice, I think he's as ready now as he will ever be without playing 90 mins of Premier League football

 

Yes ....it would seem that Grealish was deemed not ready - but Sanchez was .....not backed up by events on the pitch

[OutByEaster?]

I thought Sanchez did okay - not great, but I don't think he was bad, he needs to get rid of that extra touch they gave him in Spain - Cleverly made bad decisions on a number of occasions and I think he has much to work on too. 

 

I think we've learned that Grealish isn't ready to start games yet, he's got a lot to work on in terms of the defensive side of his game and he very nearly cost us a fourth goal with a really sloppy bit of positional play midway through the second half. He looks good on the ball and he's going to be a heck of a player, but I think we're using him the right way at the minute.

 

We'd persuaded ourselves about our invincible defence, and in fairness, with half an hour gone, I think we were starting to convince Arsenal too - they looked to be starting to question themselves - but the minute the first one went in, a bubble went pop, we panicked and they gained a massive boost of confidence - a combination of good play/poor play and circumstance which might actually do us good in the long term.

 

No complaints from me, they were the better side on the day, and they are a better side in general, but I think we've got something to work with here when everyone is well and fit. 

[nokesy]

We were due a heavy loss, come a week early imo.. typical how we build abit of momentum then vlaar gets injured and baker gets a stomach bug, that being said arsenal were there for the taking first half hour, the goal woke them up and we should have taken our chances. Not worrying we got ten points on the board and can take a couple losses. UTV

P.s sanchez? Oh dear...

[OutByEaster?]

One other thing I noticed - Senderos was absolutely berating himself for the first goal - he was furious with himself. I'll get another look later I guess, but from seeing it live, it didn't look like he was particularly to blame, just that we'd been caught with a higher line that in the rest of the half and exposed. Anyway, I think it affected him a little for the second goal and I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else thought the first goal was down to him? 

[David-Copenhagen]

I thought Sanchez did okay - not great, but I don't think he was bad, he needs to get rid of that extra touch they gave him in Spain - Cleverly made bad decisions on a number of occasions and I think he has much to work on too.

I think we've learned that Grealish isn't ready to start games yet, he's got a lot to work on in terms of the defensive side of his game and he very nearly cost us a fourth goal with a really sloppy bit of positional play midway through the second half. He looks good on the ball and he's going to be a heck of a player, but I think we're using him the right way at the minute.

We'd persuaded ourselves about our invincible defence, and in fairness, with half an hour gone, I think we were starting to convince Arsenal too - they looked to be starting to question themselves - but the minute the first one went in, a bubble went pop, we panicked and they gained a massive boost of confidence - a combination of good play/poor play and circumstance which might actually do us good in the long term.

No complaints from me, they were the better side on the day, and they are a better side in general, but I think we've got something to work with here when everyone is well and fit.

Sorry but I thought that Sanchez was abysmal. The commentators said they had never seen so bad a CM and I would have agree. They even speculated that he was only kept on after that first half to give him a chance to make a slightly better impression and to not rock his confidence too much, but it did not help at all - I really hope he was sick too, because that was bad and it highlighted just how good Westi is.

[nokesy]

I thought Sanchez did okay - not great, but I don't think he was bad, he needs to get rid of that extra touch they gave him in Spain - Cleverly made bad decisions on a number of occasions and I think he has much to work on too.

I think we've learned that Grealish isn't ready to start games yet, he's got a lot to work on in terms of the defensive side of his game and he very nearly cost us a fourth goal with a really sloppy bit of positional play midway through the second half. He looks good on the ball and he's going to be a heck of a player, but I think we're using him the right way at the minute.

We'd persuaded ourselves about our invincible defence, and in fairness, with half an hour gone, I think we were starting to convince Arsenal too - they looked to be starting to question themselves - but the minute the first one went in, a bubble went pop, we panicked and they gained a massive boost of confidence - a combination of good play/poor play and circumstance which might actually do us good in the long term.

No complaints from me, they were the better side on the day, and they are a better side in general, but I think we've got something to work with here when everyone is well and fit.

Sorry but I thought that Sanchez was abysmal. The commentators said they had never seen so bad a CM and I would have agree. They even speculated that he was only kept on after that first half to give him a chance to make a slightly better impression and to not rock his confidence too much, but it did not help at all - I really hope he was sick too, because that was bad and it highlighted just how good Westi is.

I agree i havnt seen a worse cm performance for villa in quite a while, nerves? Match fitness? Over hyped? We will see which one I guess

[poitier]

I don't think Sanchez was quite that bad either. Yes, he obviously isn't up to the pace of the PL yet, got caught on the ball and made some very poor passes, but looked like a decent player having a bad game rather than a bad player.

[OutByEaster?]

In fairness, I did have a fair old hangover! 

 

I'll watch it again at some point and see if I wasn't paying attention.

[David-Copenhagen]

I don't think Sanchez was quite that bad either. Yes, he obviously isn't up to the pace of the PL yet, got caught on the ball and made some very poor passes, but looked like a decent player having a bad game rather than a bad player.

Lets hope so.