RR Rating and Reactions: VIlla v Notts County

[BOF]

*Graham Burke.

[JoeParker91]

Just got back from the game, certainly got my monies worth, haven't been that entertained by Villa for a long time. 

 

We looked awful at the back which was no surprise looking at the team; Baker was horrific, I hope he goes on loan asap. Carlos did his best out of position but I hope he never has to be used at centre back. Richardson was are best defender. 

 

Veretout never stopped running and didn't give the ball away much. He certainly grew into the game and did a pretty good job at winning the ball back. Grealish and Gil were both superb, gliding past their players at will. Grealish shaded the two as he got two assists, just wish he'd shoot a little more, was willing his long range open goal to go in. 

 

Adama was so exciting to watch. I've never seen a player so keen to run at his marker, he must of gone round him around 10 times. I think he passed it once and his final ball was great but the kid is so explosive and raw, it's incredible. I just hope some of you miserable bunch enjoy him and don't get onto his back, hope the injury isn't serious. 

 

Sinclair made another case that he should be played upfront, certainly ahead of Gabby, although he was on the wing today. He gets into some great positions in the box and really has an eye for goal. I don't think I can remember him ever putting a cross in the box. 

 

Finally, although he did great for the 4th goal, Cole was unbelievably bad. He lost the ball 3 times with his first 3 touches, in dangerous areas and continued to give the ball away. He was also saved a couple of times by the referee, his legs have gone for me although like I said, his one good contribution was excellent.

 

Great game, bring on the Blues.  

[villarule123]

Thought Grealish, Gil and Sanchez were the best players on the pitch. Jack is just a magical player, can't believe he STILL couldn't get a goal though.

 

Adama - Yes he is exciting and yes he will be a great player but I thought he was a little too greedy, I could count on my one hand how many times he passed the ball, he must have had more failed dribbles than passes tonight. BUT, it seems he is unstoppable most of the time and he is incredibly fun to watch. Great skill, unreal pace and once he matures with his decision making etc he will be a top player.

 

Baker was dreadful as ever, it says a lot when Sanchez the midfielder is showing him up in his own position.

 

Ayew was awful in every aspect, a shame as I thought he might get a goal or two tonight. 

 

All in all a good night and well worth the £15.

[tsimutv]

Trouble after the game with the noses

[Daniel]

Summed it up pretty well, Joe. I was also impressed with Veretout, he has an amazing engine on him. Also agree that Cole was pretty bad.

[Stevo985]

 

Adama - Yes he is exciting and yes he will be a great player but I thought he was a little too greedy, I could count on my one hand how many times he passed the ball, he must have had more failed dribbles than passes tonight. BUT, it seems he is unstoppable most of the time and he is incredibly fun to watch. Great skill, unreal pace and once he matures with his decision making etc he will be a top player.

 

That sums it up.

 

I might give him the benefit of the doubt on the greed thing though. I got the impressions, especially first half, that the team instructions were "give it to Adama and let him run".

Everyone seemed determined to just give the ball to him and let him run.

 

So yeah I agree he needs to work on his decision making, but I just wonder if, given the opponents, Tim maybe had a hand to play in that.

[andym]

i think stevo's write up is bang on.

 

we created way more and deserved to win overall. we should have scored a few more really.

 

grealish, gil and cole (after he got up to speed) were a cut above, showing some great movement, passing and skills.

 

i thought sanchez was excellent, and showed the other defenders up, he cleaned up the others' mess time after time. Baker is tough, brave, and wins a lot of headers, but he is not smart enough. silly fouls, switched off for the penalty (played an aimless forward ball then stood there admiring it while his man ran in behind), and kept running out of position to try and win headers.

 

i thought considering at times he was playing on his own in midfield, veretout was very good. looked much more confident and prepared to make some driving runs forwards, and showed great fitness - was still going strong in the last minute.

[KJT123]

I didn't watch the game but from everyone's comments, it seems as though we played quite well. So how on earth did we end up drawing 3-3 after ninety minutes? Were they three flukey goals or was it down to poor tactics and individual errors?

Gil, Grealish and Traore surely have to start vs Sunderland? Perhaps with Sinclair or Gestede up front. Defence will be better with Richards back in there and Amavi on the left hand side.

Lots of negativity in the match thread tonight but scoring a few goals will perhaps get the confidence up a bit.

[OutByEaster?]

I'm not quite sure where to start.

 

I guess first up, you'll see better teams play at Villa Park this season - better Villa teams and better opposition, you'll see football that's technically better and you'll see games that are at a higher level. What you won't see is a game that's more entertaining.

 

First up, when you pick a team that plays 4-1-4-1, that second four are supposed to be midfielders - there's always a worry with 4-1-4-1 that you end up with a 4-5-1 that nullifies the opposition and makes games dull. In order to counter that threat, we pretty much played 4-1-5 from the off.

Tim was clearly worried that the threat of a dull game might still exist however and decided to put Sanchez into the back four just in case.

 

Playing 4-1-5, even against lower league opposition is likely to mean that your defence is occasionally overrun and you concede goals. It's reckless at best and foolish at worst, it's not clever management. It's not. Tim, stop giggling.

 

What it also means is that you're going to create chances, according to the beeb, we had 31 efforts on goal - that's more than during the entirety of Paul Lambert's reign and more than Darren Bent had during his time as a Villa player. I think they've underestimated the count.

 

This game had eight goals and I'm not exagerrating in saying there could have been eight more, it had two penalties, one of which (ours) was a little dubious and three other good shouts, two of which were for us and should therefore have been given. It had a player that should have been sent off and a few who might have been booked. We could have scored four in the last five minutes of regular time, we could have had five or six in the second half of extra time, I didn't feel safe with a two goal cushion and two minutes left, it was joyous madness. It had saves, it had misses, it had end to end play,it had music, laughter and dance*.

 

*(sort of)

 

Sinclair had a hat-trick and could have had six, Grealish should have had a hat trick and came away with his egg still intact, individually there were good performances, one in particulat that sticks with me.

 

Adama Traore is an alien, he moves in a series of small explosions at a speed that I'm unable to process, the full back should have been sent off for several hacks at him, I hope he's okay. There are two things I like about Adama Traore, the first is that every eleven year old in that stadium wants to be Adama Traore, that's how they want to play the game - the second is that he makes me feel like I'm eleven when he picks the ball up.

 

The back four were all okay, Sanchez was surprisingly good as a centre back, the two full backs were solid enough whenever they ventured back into their own half and Baker was good in the air. They were out of position a few times, but then that happens when you don't have a midfield in front of you.

 

Veretout was excellent, sharp, energetic, sensible and good with the ball, a great advert for normal football.

 

Grealish was silky and inventive and Gil complemented that, but I don't think we'll see them together too often. (No Tim. No.) Bunn was okay, Kozak did a good job when he came on, I thought Cole was very good, maybe his best for us and of course Bennett scored a fabulous winner after dribbling past four players; which was the only logical way for a game like that to end.

 

Only Ayew remained a concern and my biggest concern with him is his lack of pace - early days yet though still.

 

There were moments of sportsmanship, Burke's superb goal got a round of applause around the whole ground and Grealish was greeted like a hero in front of the away fans, there was aggression in the tackle, there were handshakes and hugs on the pitch and off it - mostly what I'll take from this game is the smiles on peoples faces all around the ground, the laughter as another chance went by or another save was made, people just enjoying it. The reminder that a fabulously entertaining game of football can be just that; fabulously entertaining, without the stress, the dread, the pain and the anguish. This is as much fun as I've had at Villa Park in years and I loved it - sometimes we should remember that this is a game and that sometimes carefree abandon is okay - football after all should be an exciting, joyful addition to our already happy lives right?

 

Then on the way home, the draw was made, and the game reminded me that it's not that, that it's something else altogether. 

 

A brilliant fun night has been had at Villa Park. An altogether different brilliant night awaits us.

[rodders0223]

One goal Hutton was arsing about, the other goal a stupid penalty and a worldie. It was quite strange. We dominated, as we should though.

[rhyscartwright_avfc]

Went to the game. Overall we played alright. Won in the end due to superior fitness levels, thus being able to create more.

Bunn - Couldn't be blamed for 1st (looked like slight deflection from where I was) and 3rd (great goal). For the pen it was Baker who let the guy in behind, needing him to rush out. Was slow off his line at times. Few good saves though.

Richardson - poor as ever. Never closing down the winger, letting the cross come in. Not bad going forward.

Baker - Worst player for me. So flat footed which causes him problems with ball over his head and balls not exactly to his feet. Full blooded challenges as always.

Sanchez - played really well I thought, in not his normal position. Had to cover for Baker a LOT. Needed to push forward with ball though when space in front rather than pass and pass back.

Hutton - solid as you expect. Cuts in too much though. At times, all was needed was simple to Adams, instead cuts in on left, think did this and lost ball for their 1st.

Veretout - can't say I noticed him in 1st half. Grew into game. Linked well with midfield.

Gil - Class touch, didn't create too much of note but was able to turn players and get us moving forward. Went off near end with tight muscle I guess as he pulled up slightly on 1 sprint.

Grealish - he loved this game and you could tell. Created goals, should have score himself. Same as gil being able to beat a man.

Adama - Class. Not only beats a man like Gil/Jack but then sprints away from them and does it again. Went off injured after being hacked down repeatedly. Hope he's OK.

Ayew - not great. Offside a lot. Didn't link up play much.

Sinclair - hat trick and should have scored another or 2. Needs to commit to running at people though rather than Grealish style dribbling, Scott has the pace. Poachers goals.

Kozak - held it up well, chance in last minute well saved.

Cole - kept things ticking, still has class touch.

Bennett - composed in possession. Good strike for goal.

Just need to mention Grealish at the end, went right over to applaud Notts fans, got a raucous reception off them. Obviously a club close to him after last year.

[Stevo985]

 

Adama Traore is an alien, he moves in a series of small explosions at a speed that I'm unable to process

This genuinely made me lol.

 

I might put it as my signature

[OutByEaster?]

Another positive is that Tim learned a valuable lesson tonight and got away with it. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE LOWER LEAGUE OPPOSITION. Also, don't take the piss with your formation. Hopefully he'll know himself that he got away with it and will be less likely to do that again.

 

I'm not sure I agree, I suspect he knew the lesson in advance. I suspect that he'll have the seen the game going pretty much the way it did and that he'll have enjoyed it as it happened. We could have won that 1-0 with a solid shape - I think he'd have been bored. I'm coming around to his way of thinking.

[vivahate]

I think tonight was the first time I've ever seen the Holte End sincerely clap an opposition goal.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I'm not quite sure where to start.

I guess first up, you'll see better teams play at Villa Park this season - better Villa teams and better opposition, you'll see football that's technically better and you'll see games that are at a higher level. What you won't see is a game that's more entertaining.

First up, when you pick a team that plays 4-1-4-1, that second four are supposed to be midfielders - there's always a worry with 4-1-4-1 that you end up with a 4-5-1 that nullifies the opposition and makes games dull. In order to counter that threat, we pretty much played 4-1-5 from the off.

Tim was clearly worried that the threat of a dull game might still exist however and decided to put Sanchez into the back four just in case.

Playing 4-1-5, even against lower league opposition is likely to mean that your defence is occasionally overrun and you concede goals. It's reckless at best and foolish at worst, it's not clever management. It's not. Tim, stop giggling.

What it also means is that you're going to create chances, according to the beeb, we had 31 efforts on goal - that's more than during the entirety of Paul Lambert's reign and more than Darren Bent had during his time as a Villa player. I think they've underestimated the count.

This game had eight goals and I'm not exagerrating in saying there could have been eight more, it had two penalties, one of which (ours) was a little dubious and three other good shouts, two of which were for us and should therefore have been given. It had a player that should have been sent off and a few who might have been booked. We could have scored four in the last five minutes of regular time, we could have had five or six in the second half of extra time, I didn't feel safe with a two goal cushion and two minutes left, it was joyous madness. It had saves, it had misses, it had end to end play,it had music, laughter and dance*.

*(sort of)

Sinclair had a hat-trick and could have had six, Grealish should have had a hat trick and came away with his egg still intact, individually there were good performances, one in particulat that sticks with me.

Adama Traore is an alien, he moves in a series of small explosions at a speed that I'm unable to process, the full back should have been sent off for several hacks at him, I hope he's okay. There are two things I like about Adama Traore, the first is that every eleven year old in that stadium wants to be Adama Traore, that's how they want to play the game - the second is that he makes me feel like I'm eleven when he picks the ball up.

The back four were all okay, Sanchez was surprisingly good as a centre back, the two full backs were solid enough whenever they ventured back into their own half and Baker was good in the air. They were out of position a few times, but then that happens when you don't have a midfield in front of you.

Veretout was excellent, sharp, energetic, sensible and good with the ball, a great advert for normal football.

Grealish was silky and inventive and Gil complemented that, but I don't think we'll see them together too often. (No Tim. No.) Bunn was okay, Kozak did a good job when he came on, I thought Cole was very good, maybe his best for us and of course Bennett scored a fabulous winner after dribbling past four players; which was the only logical way for a game like that to end.

Only Ayew remained a concern and my biggest concern with him is his lack of pace - early days yet though still.

There were moments of sportsmanship, Burke's superb goal got a round of applause around the whole ground and Grealish was greeted like a hero in front of the away fans, there was aggression in the tackle, there were handshakes and hugs on the pitch and off it - mostly what I'll take from this game is the smiles on peoples faces all around the ground, the laughter as another chance went by or another save was made, people just enjoying it. The reminder that a fabulously entertaining game of football can be just that; fabulously entertaining, without the stress, the dread, the pain and the anguish. This is as much fun as I've had at Villa Park in years and I loved it - sometimes we should remember that this is a game and that sometimes carefree abandon is okay - football after all should be an exciting, joyful addition to our already happy lives right?

Then on the way home, the draw was made, and the game reminded me that it's not that, that it's something else altogether.

A brilliant fun night has been had at Villa Park. An altogether different brilliant night awaits us.

One of the best posts ever written on VT. Take a bow OBE.

[heid3ster]

Really appreciate the write-ups from everyone who was at the match. Pleased to hear that Veretout had a good game and especially about the interplay between Gil and Grealish.

[BOF]

Another positive is that Tim learned a valuable lesson tonight and got away with it. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE LOWER LEAGUE OPPOSITION. Also, don't take the piss with your formation. Hopefully he'll know himself that he got away with it and will be less likely to do that again.

I'm not sure I agree, I suspect he knew the lesson in advance. I suspect that he'll have the seen the game going pretty much the way it did and that he'll have enjoyed it as it happened. We could have won that 1-0 with a solid shape - I think he'd have been bored. I'm coming around to his way of thinking.

Then here's to us all being gibbering wrecks by season's end.

[HanoiVillan]

Just got back in from the game*, and it's funny how different people can have completely different perceptions of how people played. For me:

 

Bunn - pretty poor game, Guzan can sleep easy tonight. Made one or two regulation saves but didn't communicate well with defenders and the penalty was a ridiculous blunder

 

Hutton - he was at fault for their first goal, losing the ball and then failing to win it back, but otherwise solid defensively. However, we went through a miserable period when he seemed to be playing as a wingback, or almost as a rightwinger, and he really offers nothing offensively

 

Baker - everyone else seems to think he was shite, I thought he did well at the things he's good at (heading and out-muscling people) but he did seem to have problems communicating with those around him. Average for me

 

Sanchez - was outstanding, had no problems at all adapting to a different position and he was just so strong in the tackle, and everything was very well-timed. He seems to have started the season very well and I hope he works his way into being a first-team regular

 

Richardson - for me he was the worst defender, he got easily fooled by one or two very clearly telegraphed one-twos and lost the ball a few times. Not terrible, but he'd be no great loss

 

Veretout - I thought he was fairly poor in the first half, didn't get many tackles in, but he grew into the game and looked very solid by the end, I'm not worried about this lad at all

 

Gil - played deeper than I would imagine he's used to, but it worked and he was excellent. Less flashy than Traore or Grealish but still a very very good performance

 

Grealish - a special talent, I'd forgotten quite how good he is since the last time I saw him live. Two excellent assists and was just special to watch. The only criticism is the one we all know, he doesn't shoot when in a good position to do so, and when he does decide to shoot he takes too many touches. But take nothing away, he was man of the match

 

Traore - yes, he was a bit greedy but as Stevo says it really did look like it was a tactic to just pass it to him and then see what happened. I'd also say that he wasn't helped out at all by some really brainless movement in front of him in the first half

 

Sinclair - weird performance. How often do you see someone get a hattrick and yet for a lot of the game you thought they weren't playing very well? He showed good instinct to be in the right place for his tap-ins, and his running stretched them a lot, but he runs into trouble a lot with the ball at his feet. Can't argue with three goals though. 

 

Ayew - just hopeless, constantly offside, didn't read any of the attacking patterns, was often to be found hidden behind defenders when one of our many attacking midfielders was looking for a pass. I know it's early days, but he's not going to get an easier defence to play against all season in all likelihood, today really was a chance to get going and he just didn't take it at all

 

Cole - lost the ball too many times, but also made a few booming challenges and got a good assist, so a mixed bag

 

Kozak - totally showed Ayew up, solid shot at the end and should have had another chance when Grealish for once didn't get his head up and missed that he'd made a good run. Showed good positional understanding and is far ahead of Ayew for me, but the one drawback, crikey is he ever slow

 

Bennett - came on out of position as a defensive midfielder, looked good and scored a peach, great cameo, should be ahead of Richardson in the pecking order for me

 

Tim - job well done. Lots of people in this thread moaning about the formation, I don't know why. 4-1-4-1 in possession, going into 4-2-3-1 without the ball was how I saw it, and it's an acceptable formation, Arsenal used it in the run-in last season. Yes, we couldn't use it in the league because our defence isn't good enough, but for a home game against League Two opposition it was fine. 

 

Overall - great fun, best entertainment at a football match I've had for years. We were much more dominant than the scoreline suggests - they scored one with a wicked deflection, one from the penalty spot and one a lightning bolt that no-one could have saved, and teams won't always have that much luck against us. Many more positives than negatives for me from that game, I'm a happy man tonight. Only £17 for the Upper Doug as well, barely £2 a goal!

 

*yes, I'm now an ex-HanoiVillan

[NulliSecundus]

Really enjoyed that game.

Thought Richardson and Sanchez were good at the back. Veretout grew into the game. Grealish and Gil were great. Adama is a beast, hope he's ok. Joe Cole was also excellent when he came on (aside for the blocking a goal which I forgive him for).

Jury is still out on Ayew.

Yes they scored three but the deflection was wicked and Burkes goal was a worldie. Don't think I've ever clapped an opponent scoring but I did for that.

Lastly, what does Sinclair have to do to get in the team ahead of Gabby on Saturday?!

[Brumerican]

At no point in the game did i feel like we would lose . In fact everytime we went behind I tried to put a bet on Villa to win but couldnt get internet inside the ground.

In regards to Joe Cole you can tell his legs were heavy as his second touch was a tackle more often than not .