Ratings and Reactions: Villa - Swansea

[taktical]

It was about 50:50 in chances, they managed to score one of theirs. On another day it might have been the other way round.
We seem to be very shaky at the start of games, takes some time for that anxiety to settle.
Some of the ref's decisions were baffling.
Sanchez did ok for about 10 mins then disappeared from the game. Can't afford to have him in a 2 man central midfield, should have played 3 to begin with.
Overall the team performance was good, but individuals made the odd mistake, wrong decision, missed a chance etc. Apart from Delph who was magnificent throughout.
Wasn't a bad performance by any means, we pressed them right to the end, heads didn't drop after conceding. There's still encouraging signs, but we are leaving it late to ensure safety.

[choffer]

Thought Clark was motm for me. Delph too came out with credit but I'd have preferred him to play a bit more advanced so his excellent work would have had more of an impact in the final third. Nonplussed by the choice of subs. It was there for the taking but the subs were just like for like.

Still, some positives compared to a lot of what we've endured in the past couple of seasons but I don't think we've anything like turned a corner yet.

[rjw63]

I went for Clark too, he been terrific lately. All the defence were good apart from 87th minute. Zog had a nother good game looked dangerous and up for it, sadly Sinclair was invisible. Referee, after ten minutes where he seemed OK, turned into a knob of the highest order. Any tackle or challenge we made was a foul to Swansea. clearing in the woods.

[ozvillafan]

Clark gets it. Was good all match and some important blocks. Couldn't match Gomis' pace at the end, though he did his best to put him off.

 

Sinclair tried too hard to score against his old club.

 

At home, though, were teams sit deep and give us more time on the ball we really need Gil or even Cole in a free role at the expense of one of our strikers.

[onmeedson]

Swansea were just a better side than us and the Montero introduction just sealed it for them. No brain in our side again and the lack of leadership showed with so many players acting as individuals, we need team players now and not blind alley runners. Fernandes for Swansea looked totally in control and organized this is what we need.

[PompeyVillan]

It's funny watching match of the day last night, I felt if Okore or Vlaar were marking Gomis, he probably wouldn't have scored.

Out paced, and out strengthed. Reads the game well and has become a sharp interceptor but still lacking physically for me. The real issue is that he's a squad player at best and the supposedly first team defenders are perennially injured.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I voted for N'Zogbia, in case anyone is interested in knowing who that was!

[icouldtelltheworld]

Disappointing to lose but we were unlikely to win 4 in a row. We were outplayed entirely in the first half, which is a slight concern because that seems to be becoming a theme - it's good that sherwood can motivate a team at half time but I don't think we were set up well to start the game yesterday.

I really enjoyed the second half though, thought we were unlucky not to score, there were a few occasions where the ball just didn't quite sit up for an attacker, on another day gabby scores and I thought Sinclair was unlucky with the one that fell just behind him. He was too selfish throughout though. I felt like I was watching two pretty evenly matched teams, which is good because I think this squad should be competing with the likes of Swansea in the league. They looked a bit better throughout but they've been playing attacking football a lot longer than our squad. Think we'll be fine and wouldn't bet against us winning one of the tougher games in April.

Edited March 22, 2015 by icouldtelltheworld

[Hiney]

We didn't deserve to win yesterday and were beaten by the better team overall but was still a blow to concede so late. Let's not under underestimate Swansea though, they are a good team and hard to beat and it was never going to be an easy game.

Delph was excellent as was Clark.

We have to hope QPR and Hull both lose this afternoon and we are as we were, would have been nice to have widen the gap from the bottom 3 and it really does make the QPR game a must win

[Marka Ragnos]

We suck, as far as PL clubs go. I think we'll escape relegation, but we don't "deserve" to, whatever the **** that means. The suckiness of a few other PL teams is all that may save us.

 

I am looking to this summer's transfer window now. I think Tim's a good manager, but PL is hard!

[jackbauer24]

We are where we are for a reason. People assume we were just going to go on a run but I had my doubts. Worryingly we could struggle to pick up many points for a few games now.

 

NZogbia and Bacuna are prime examples. They've been highlighted as reinvigorated players but I never saw that - I just see very good players 4 times out of every ten matches. They aren't consistent enough and having both increases the chance of them both going AWOL in the same match like yesterday.

 

Benteke looked lazy then got injured. Cleverley should have been replaced by Westwood as Sanchez is really appalling. Sinclair was incredibly selfish as he wanted to impress former employers and Gabby had a quiet game too. Bad day at the office all round.

 

Main problem is we haven't got many days at the office left and people's complacency we're going to be fine worries me. We're three points clear. Three. It's nothing, I'd be worried if we had all rubbish teams left to play whilst our rivals played Champions League teams - these kinds of margins are too small to be so relaxed about it. We're in big trouble and we could be even worse by end April.

[Condimentalist]

It's funny watching match of the day last night, I felt if Okore or Vlaar were marking Gomis, he probably wouldn't have scored.

Out paced, and out strengthed. Reads the game well and has become a sharp interceptor but still lacking physically for me. The real issue is that he's a squad player at best and the supposedly first team defenders are perennially injured.

 

I think that's very unfair. He's been excellent this season and fully deserves to be first choice, although you may be right that in that particular instance Vlaar and Okore would have fared better. 

[Marka Ragnos]

We are where we are for a reason. People assume we were just going to go on a run but I had my doubts. Worryingly we could struggle to pick up many points for a few games now.

 

NZogbia and Bacuna are prime examples. They've been highlighted as reinvigorated players but I never saw that - I just see very good players 4 times out of every ten matches. They aren't consistent enough and having both increases the chance of them both going AWOL in the same match like yesterday.

 

Benteke looked lazy then got injured. Cleverley should have been replaced by Westwood as Sanchez is really appalling. Sinclair was incredibly selfish as he wanted to impress former employers and Gabby had a quiet game too. Bad day at the office all round.

 

Main problem is we haven't got many days at the office left and people's complacency we're going to be fine worries me. We're three points clear. Three. It's nothing, I'd be worried if we had all rubbish teams left to play whilst our rivals played Champions League teams - these kinds of margins are too small to be so relaxed about it. We're in big trouble and we could be even worse by end April.

 

Mostly spot-on, telling it like it is, although I don't agree with the Tekkers assessment, and I don't think many people here "assumed" we'd have a long run. You've got some posters here who have practically given their lives to thinking about Villa year in and year out, and I don't think, as a whole, they're so naive. I think the problem with Tekkers is deeper and not to do with motivation. Something going on there, something sad and complicated.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Plastic Man

[The Fun Factory]

Does anyone know yesterday's attendance was? I was not at the game and cannot find the attendance recorded anywhere on the usual sites (AVFC match report, Guardian, Telegraph, BBC sport)

A bad result but good news everyone else lost. If only we were 2 points better off by drawing v Stoke and Swansea.

[TRO]

I thought the best team won.

 

Technically they were superior and their movement off the ball was much better than ours, they seemed to have the extra man in most of the encounters.

 

They also seemed to be quicker thinking than us and read the next move much better... we toiled whereas they showed composure.

 

We do have a long way to go and Swansea showed just that.

[TRO]

We are not great in possession of the football.

 

while this continues and it still is early days.....we need to rely on the counter attack for points.

 

Until we are able to prove comfortable with the football we will struggle at home.

 

Swansea denied us space , like a fire is denied oxygen....and we failed to produce anything like the form of late..... we need to learn how to operate under these conditions.

[Marka Ragnos]

I thought the best team won.

 

Technically they were superior and their movement off the ball was much better than ours, they seemed to have the extra man in most of the encounters.

 

They also seemed to be quicker thinking than us and read the next move much better... we toiled whereas they showed composure.

 

We do have a long way to go and Swansea showed just that.

 

This is utterly depressing reading.

 

Worse, it's true.

 

Please tell me lies instead, "We have great players," and all that.

[villa_shere]

A game ruined by the ref, he made so many bad calls it was unreal. The game never got into a flow due to it stopping every few minutes.

Swansea were the better team, Gomis missed some easy chances and kept us in the game.

We threw it away at the end as we did against Stoke. Thats two more points we could have had. But I was glad to hear Sherwood highlighting this and not just playing the old "we were terrific" line.

We need to find a point from Spurs or Man Utd to try stop the rot of a run of 3 potential losses going into the QPR game.

[Stevo985]

If anyone is surprised at Sherwood playing someone out of position, then ask a Spurs fan about that.

[AvfcTheObsession]

Who did he play out of position? I've seen a few comments like this but he had to play Hutton LB and Bacuna RB as Cissokho, Lowton and Richardson were all injured.