villa4europe Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 2 minutes ago, Tomaszk said: I would go as far today as saying Smith did nothing wrong tonight other than start El Ghazi. The players chucked one in tonight. It happens. Whether tiredness, fitness, I don't know. I'll keep saying it as well because I keep reading praise they don't deserve... West Ham very very average tonight. We were just horrendous. Martinez let two through him and Barkley/El Ghazi embarrassing. Agree with all of it apart from West ham being average Their positioning in defence and movement in attack was superb Their off the ball stuff was everything that ours wasn't, Lingard doing what Barkley should be doing in particular 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Cant blame the manager here, most of them were off it, even Emi, these games do happen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 2 minutes ago, Davkaus said: We absolutely are. I think it's fair to lay in to a performance like that, and being unhappy with it doesn't mean we're losing sight of the transformation of the last 9 months. It is important to retain some perspective though. Yeah of course. Tonight wasn't good enough. But its going to happen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommo_b Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Just now, DaveAV1 said: This bunch are 5th and have won 5 games out of 6. We should have got something out of the game at their place but tonight they were very good all over the pitch. We have to accept that we are still a team that is growing and we won’t be great every week. Very few teams are. From where we’ve come from we are doing very well. We didn’t play well tonight and some of that was down to how well West Ham played. Some games just don’t go well, even Emi made a costly mistake. It happens move on and let’s beat Arsenal on Saturday. Perfectly summed up, let’s move on and get ready for the next game. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMkali Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Just now, villa4europe said: Come on, el ghazi was terrible, off the ball movement and showing for the ball was non existent If we was crowded out by Cresswell name a time that he moved to find space? His laziness tonight after getting a chance back in was astonishing His laziness? He was pressing and sticking to his man defensively but you praise trez for doing that. El Ghazi went on the left but the same problem occurred. He received the ball mcginn, barkley and watkins sprinted away and was left with 4 players surrounding him so he couldn't do anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Just now, Zatman said: he got his defensive tactics spot on, 2 right backs on Jack, one to man mark and one to cover. I wonder will that be a new thing going forward Coufal will be following Jack into the shower next If teams start doing that, then we need to move him central quickly. I'll be honest, I'd like to see him there against arsenal 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 5 minutes ago, Tomaszk said: I would go as far today as saying Smith did nothing wrong tonight other than start El Ghazi. The players chucked one in tonight. It happens. Whether tiredness, fitness, I don't know. I'll keep saying it as well because I keep reading praise they don't deserve... West Ham very very average tonight. We were just horrendous. Martinez let two through him and Barkley/El Ghazi embarrassing. The El Ghazi one was strange. I know traore wasn't great in the last game but he's so much better than El Ghazi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Just now, DCJonah said: If teams start doing that, then we need to move him central quickly. I'll be honest, I'd like to see him there against arsenal I think starting El Ghazi might have played into there hands actually, Traore is a bit more of an on the ball threat and would have had more joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farlz Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Just poor tonight, I'll never understand the El Ghazi decision that should've been a sign of things to come. Not great at all the past two games. Performances have definitely dropped over the last few, I didn't think we were that impressive against Newcastle while we had that super first half against Burnley and then just completely lost it in the 2nd. Maybe the Covid break has hit us? I don't know but unfortunately performances have definitely dipped. We're still having a good season, all I wanted was no relegation worries and midtable which we will but just being so close to European positions raised my expectations probably a little high. We're not consistent enough for a real push yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danishlad Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 3 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said: Cant blame the manager here, most of them were off it, even Emi, these games do happen. of course you can. He ran them ragged against Saints. Put ElGhazi on the right. both big mistakes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 2 minutes ago, MotoMkali said: His laziness? He was pressing and sticking to his man defensively but you praise trez for doing that. El Ghazi went on the left but the same problem occurred. He received the ball mcginn, barkley and watkins sprinted away and was left with 4 players surrounding him so he couldn't do anything. The only explanation I have for this post is that you live in an entirely different dimension to me. He was absolutely terrible today. Smith subbed him at half time. Smith. At half time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillanousOne Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Teams have started to nullify Jack by sticking two or three players on him. Whether it's tiredness or just lack of form, the midfield three of McGinn, Barkley and Luiz is getting worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattVillaPortsmouth Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Saw someone call it in COVID thread - it’s this game and the Arsenal one were we were gonna feel the affects of the 10 days off due to COVID - should have switched it up, but we not in the league of winning all our games. WHU are a good unit this season. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Just now, Danishlad said: of course you can. He ran them ragged against Saints. Put ElGhazi on the right. both big mistakes Its their jobs to run, AEG on the right is a no go, ill give you that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Maybe crazy and I'm not a huge fan of nakamba, but I'd be tempted to change that entire midfield 3 for Saturday. Grealish, Sanson and Nakamba. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 These games will happen. They will happen again. That changes nothing regarding the absolutely incredible job being done by Dean Smith and his staff. We’re a very, very good football team that had an off night. Let’s not spend the next week second guessing and blaming the manager. The picture is so much bigger than the one game. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Central midfield is a real area of concern for us at the moment. Southampton and West Ham have played right through us in the last two games. I know some won’t like to hear it, but if we want to continue on this trajectory of improving each year, McGinn and Luiz will need to be replaced this Summer. Theyre good for a 8th-12th place finish but no better I fear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 2 minutes ago, Tomaszk said: I would go as far today as saying Smith did nothing wrong tonight other than start El Ghazi. The players chucked one in tonight. It happens. Whether tiredness, fitness, I don't know. I'll keep saying it as well because I keep reading praise they don't deserve... West Ham very very average tonight. We were just horrendous. Martinez let two through him and Barkley/El Ghazi embarrassing. Completely agree, we had one of those bad games that you have occasionally. I mean even Emi had a lower than usual performance with some of those goals but he’s been excellent otherwise this season. Just one of those games that happens. People on here argue about rotation or lack of it, we’ll Smith started El Ghazi tonight and he was non-existent first half. Smith just might not trust his back ups and based on that you can understand why. We are in the early stages of transformation where the first XI plus a couple are really good but depth after that is weak on quality. I think our first half of the season got some fans hopes up too much. We can’t rotate as much as others and sometimes that means we may look a little leggy. You have to give credit to West Ham, their defence barely gave us a sniff. I too didn’t think Smith do anything wrong tonight, maybe starting El Ghazi but he made good subs and we got back to 2-1 but then conceded a poor goal because of Emi. It wasn’t meant to be our night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penguin Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Teams doubling up on Jack isn't new to be fair, he is normally good enough to still take the piss when he has even 3 guys on him but they nullified him today from his usual self undoubtedly. That's when you need your other players to exploit the space it theoretically leaves but this just didn't happen, even Targett didn't seem to get any joy on the overlap. Said in the match thread that they really reminded me of his Everton side today. They burgled us in the first game but deserved winners today, combination of them playing well and us just not turning up. Not really much I'd blame Smith for, perhaps some players could have come off a little earlier when tired against Southampton? But who knows. I'd be surprised if there aren't a few changes against Arsenal even taking into account his "exhaustion" quote. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villan_of_oz Posted February 3, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted February 3, 2021 Geez, I wonder why our players looked tired tonight no idea, I just can't work it out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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