Phumfeinz Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubtGin Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Still unbeaten !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post VillanousOne Posted July 23, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted July 23, 2016 (edited) Positives: The defence looked composed and organised, good to see Baker and Elphick playing well. Gollini looked ok also. Ayew and Grealish had some nice moments. Nice to see Tsh and Green. Negatives: The first half was awful, so many sideways passes, no movement or urgency, we looked the same as last season, uttlerly clueless in the final third and reliant on Hutton as an attacking force (gulp). Aside from the goal there was nothing to convince anyone we could be contenders for anything other than most boring team of the season. I know it's a friendly and we got the win but my god we still need new players Edited July 23, 2016 by VillanousOne 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newry_Villan Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Hopefully the manager will have noticed our midfield is weak. Although Nantes are poor they are better than the teams we have already played. So hopefully he will now do something about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deamie Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 (edited) I thought ayew and Gueye were the 2 standout players for us...Baker had a decent game at c/b alongside Elphick although Elphick had a few hairy moments giving the ball away out of defence. Gestede scored.but thats all he did all game really....great knockdown by Baker at the far post from a Grealish corner. Badly need a proven championship striker who is more mobile than Gestede. Edited July 23, 2016 by deamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackbauer24 Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Squad hardly changed, Villa play basically as awful as usual. Not exactly a shocker there. Poor amount of possession, no ideas when we did have it and very few shots. Deja vu. There is ZERO threat going forward, this squad is going to find it hard to score goals unless we get reinforcements in quick. The entire midfield is weak and easily pushed off the ball, they also can't take a player on. The attackers (especially Ayew and Grealish) offer promise but have such poor decision making. The defence still look shaky and I don't think Elphick looked anything special at all. Positives; Gollini looks solid, is vocal and commands his area. Green looked energetic and showed some good touches. Then there was... err... it was sunny...the stream didn't crash - well done Villa! We are a million miles away from being ready. It's what I feared, there is so much to do and a simple change of manager and atmosphere isn't enough to turn crap in to diamonds. I sincerely hope Amavi and Traore are closer to fitness than it seems. I also hope we have at least three first team players on the verge of signing, preferably a two strikers and a creative midfielder. No, you can't read too much in to a friendly but that was terrifying - anything like that in two weeks and we're certainly not going to be contesting even playoff places. Scary. Not sure if Nantes are a good team or that was even their first team, but Villa made life very easy for them. I hope it's an eye opener to those people who still think it's only tweaks we need. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardiffGreens Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said: Where is this game? I only turned on during the 2nd half as I was out, and to be honest I spent more time trying to work this out (and work out what the crashed spaceship behind the pitch was*). It looks like there are a couple of training pitches beside the main stadium (google mapage) - so it might have been the eastwards one that was hosting the game? *Its a multipurpose sports hall called "The Saucer" And no, I do not see anything wrong with spending my Saturday evenings like this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNeeUs Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 After watching today's performance I just hope The Championship level is far worse than I anticipate. Two weeks to get some noticeable outs and some creativity, fight, destermination, skill in the final third. Goalkeeper, defence, defensive midfielders adequate at level we are at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciggiesnbeer Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 33 minutes ago, jackbauer24 said: Positives; Gollini looks solid, is vocal and commands his area. Green looked energetic and showed some good touches. Then there was... err... it was sunny...the stream didn't crash - well done Villa! Pretty sure that was Nantes's excellent stream today. AVTV is yet to be seen under the "new" org. We will see how well it does.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Well we didn't lose.... But I personally found it a very dull game from what I saw. Lots of sideways play with very few moments of attacking threat. Seriously hope we can get a few more players in, who can make make us more of a threat. Otherwise it'll be a long slog of a disappointing season with the current bunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Gestede=goalmachine=oursaviour=#whoneedsanewstriker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted July 23, 2016 Author Share Posted July 23, 2016 Obviously veretout isn't wanted, so why play him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 20 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said: Obviously veretout isn't wanted, so why play him? This match was agreed last season as part of his transfer deal (Nantes though they would be getting a home preseason friendly with a Premier League club at the time :P). Maybe Veretout was supposed to get some match time at his old club? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Nantes are absolute shit even if just a friendly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 4 hours ago, Zatman said: Nantes are absolute shit even if just a friendly Worse than Telford or bristol rovers? Clean shit a win who cares if its a friendly. Need to get in habit of winning again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 My thoughts/Ratings from yesterday: Firstly I was very surprised by the starting line-up due to the inclusions of Veretout, Gestede and Gana. However considered that RDM picked the players with Ligue 1 experience (adding Ayew, Cissokho too) for that very reason. First half we had spells of decent possession but yet again we lacked any real attacking threat, due partly to an immobile forward and also lack of creative nous higher up the pitch. The only time we added any pressure was from set-pieces but these did not amount to much either. Defensively we started shakily but fair play to the back five (including Gollini) they grew as a unit as the match went on. Second half and the inclusions of Grealish, Tshibola and Green made us a lot better but still lacked that extra something in the final third. Gestede cannot lead our line next season, regardless of his goal scoring previously in the Championship - he is too slow, lacks awareness and cannot hold the ball up for others to join the attack. We need a striker with pace. Also, our full backs yet again appear to be our attacking width and whilst both showed desire for the cause yesterday, neither are totally proficient at regularly putting good crosses in (it would probably help if there was a target to aim for in the box though!) I'm not convinced we deserved the win, however we certainly didn't deserve to lose either. Ratings: Gollini - 7. Had a couple of regulation saves to make but his command of the area and claiming crosses was very promising. Hutton - 7. Showed a lot of desire to get up and down the pitch, crossing lets him down but at least he's trying. Elphick - 7. Very promising, always talking and directing the defence. Dare I say it, a leader at the back. Baker - 7. Didn't do much wrong, landed on his arse a few times but did well. Good header to assist the goal too. Cissokho - 7. Like Hutton, got up and down the pitch and tracked back well when Nantes countered. Westwood - 6. Neat and tidy but didn't influence the game Gana - 6. Started badly but much improved as the game went on. Surprised he didn't recieve a card for several bad tackles. Veretout - 4. Anonymous, disinterested and uninfluential. Played one great ball but too fast for Gestede. Ayew - 7. Always willing to get on the ball but tries to do it all himself. Better in the 2nd half with others around him. Bacuna - 6. A typical Bacuna performance, glimpses of good stuff but lots of nothing too. Wasn't booed too much either. Gestede - 6. Slow, immobile and unaware of whats around him. Prodded in the goal but didn't offer much else. Subs: Grealish - 7. Got himself involved and tried to get things going. Got on the wrong side of the ref who gave him nothing. Tshibola - 7. A promising 45mins from the new boy. Put himself about and always around the ball. Green - 8. Was given an opportunity and took it. Always wanted to take his man on and put a ball in. Hats off - he did well Bennett - 6. Only given 10 minutes but he wasn't Sinclair! So no Gabby, Lescott, Richards at all and Sinclair didn't get off the bench - another promising part of the game! (also good that Lyden made the bench) Overall it again highlighted our need for creative players (with width) and a faster striker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodytom Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Feel sorry for anyone who went because nantes is an absolute shithole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 1 minute ago, Woodytom said: Feel sorry for anyone who went because nantes is an absolute shithole. Fortunately the game was played in Saint-Nazaire, about an hour from Nantes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Which was a one horse town with no horses... land I got peppered sprayed to ****, my face is still on fire now, shocking "policing" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 10 minutes ago, villa4europe said: Which was a one horse town with no horses... land I got peppered sprayed to ****, my face is still on fire now, shocking "policing" Heard there was a bit of 'trouble' - what happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts