Ratings & Reactions: Norwich v Villa

[7392craig]

3 minutes ago, Michelsen said:

Too many players lacking composure on the ball, too many poor decisions, too many players lacking that little bit of energy. 

Just shows that Smith has a lot of work to do before he gets us where he wants us to be, a lot of hours down at BMH to drill the required intensity, the right approach to passing and moving and the right decision making. 

We obviously have a goal keeping issue that needs sorting. Nyland played well apart from his howler, but he seems to make one of those every game. We can’t have that. 

El-Ghazi looked off the pace, Hogan didn’t even look like a footballer. 

It’s a setback, but it’s no disaster. We’ll get better, I’m sure. Norwich were excellent, too, probably the best we’ve faced all season. We missed McGinn’s energy and the difference between a Tammy Abraham and Scott Hogan up front today probably equates to about three points worth.

I agree, our passing is poor and they don’t react quickly enough with or without the ball. But you could see at times in the first half that we were attempting to pass and move. Coaching the team to pass is a new thing to them after two years of long ball, I think it’ll improve game on game.

[villa89]

12 hours ago, VillaCas said:

 Trying hard enough but slows play whenever he’s on the ball. 

Been a problem in his game for as long as I can remember. Hardly ever hits a one touch pass and usually takes four or five touches before he does anything. Something he needs to address badly if he is to achieve his potential. 

[westholmevillan]

Three points of note for me

1. Grealish is dog shite 

2. Nyland is worse than dog shite 

3. We're hopeless without McGinn 

4.  Smith is NO 'master tactician'...... Too many schoolboy errors.  And his poor decisions have absolutely no relevance to to the fact that he's only been here for a few  days....everyone here noticed so Smith should have noticed too!

 

Grealish and Smith are not beyond criticism just because they are 'one of our own!.....that's totally irrelevant!

 

 

[tonyh29]

11 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

We're a long way off the finished article, but we're not far off being competitive in my opinion.

 

8 new players and we are sorted 

[El Zen]

Just now, 7392craig said:

I agree, our passing is poor and they don’t react quickly enough with or without the ball. But you could see at times in the first half that we were attempting to pass and move. Coaching the team to pass is a new thing to them after two years of long ball, I think it’ll improve game on game.

I’m absolutely certain it will. Maybe not game by game, but over time for sure.

[terrytini]

1 minute ago, westholmevillan said:

Three points of note for me

1. Grealish is dog shite 

2. Nyland is worse than dog shite 

3. We're hopeless without McGinn 

4.  Smith is NO 'master tactician'...... Too many schoolboy errors.  And his poor decisions have absolutely no relevance to to the fact that he's only been here for a few  days....everyone here noticed so Smith should have noticed too!

 

Grealish and Smith are not beyond criticism just because they are 'one of our own!.....that's totally irrelevant!

 

 

Noticed what ?

[AJ]

Nyland was awful. He was so bad I think I would prefer Micah Richards in goal. In the match thread I blamed Hutton for the first goal, but in the replay, it was clearly Nyland with the clown shoes on. It would be nice if we can recall Steer.

Not just Nyland, but the whole team needs a serious attitude adjustment. I wont go so far to call them shit, because at times, they have shown that they can play, if not for us, but at least at their previous teams. Consistency and attitude needs to improve drastically.

It is not exactly an upset that Norwich won, but we had the ability to win also. We were one nil up, and all we had to do was keep focused and play for the full 90 minutes. This squad were incapable of doing that. I am confident that Smith can fix this.

[Delphinho123]

Bruce has left us with a god awful, ageing side that simply won’t be able to adapt to the way the new manager wants to play.

Smith has to find something in this lot to get them nearer the playoffs. I genuinely don’t know if that is possible. 

We deserved to get beat. Player ratings below.

Nyland - F****** rubbish. 

Hutton - Not good enough on the ball.

Taylor - Has been Rubbish for 2 years

Chester - Miss Terry much? Has been awful all season.

Tuanzebe - Brilliant tbf. Looks a player.

Whelan - Rubbish and old.

Hourihane - Panics on the ball. Rubbish

Grealish - Only player that can actually get the ball down and dribble / pick a forward pass.

Adomah - Predictable and rubbish.

El Mohamady - He tries, but he’s too old.

Abraham - Worked hard. You can see there is a player in there.

Super Scott - Special mention to this guy. F*** me he’s bad. 

We have nowhere near enough quality to finish higher than 8th/9th with this lot. Norwich showed us that tonight.

Who scouted El Ghazi by the way?!

[Vive_La_Villa]

Sheffield United aside that’s the best team we’ve played this season and we should have at least got a point. 

That and Tuanzabe are positives I can take from the game. 

[perchman]

Tuanzebe, MOTM again for me.

Though we looked a bit ropey, I enjoyed the first half for the fact that we kept sticking to the plan and not bottling after a couple of mistakes.

The pressing was good which made Norwich look worse than they actually are. 2nd Half, it's clear that Smith was aware of the poor fitness levels and told them to not press so much or risk leaving too many spaces to play into....it just seems they backed off too much.

El Ghazi is poor on the left for sure and I exoected Hogan to prove a point tonight but alas....

 

Anyway, the over reaction is driving me insane.

[El Zen]

4 minutes ago, deeps said:

Is Collins left footed  

I seem to remeber he was right hoofed.

[GingerCollins29]

Norwich give their youth a chance. Coincidence? Particularly playing this style...

[rbcuk]

When you have a keeper that doesn’t command his 6 yard box, it doesn’t help

[villa89]

12 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

 Smith is NO 'master tactician'...... Too many schoolboy errors.  And his poor decisions have absolutely no relevance to to the fact that he's only been here for a few  days....everyone here noticed so Smith should have noticed too!

Jesus give the man a chance. Two of the substitutions were due to injuries and he can't be blamed for basic mistakes made by the players. 

[KJT123]

Also, I didn't quite understand the changes.

When Abraham got injured, I just presumed that we'd put Kodjia on. I'm up for giving Hogan a clean slate but Kodjia is so much better than him as a striker.

And then we took Hourihane off. Why not replace Elmohamady or Hutton? We needed Kodjia on the pitch but we shouldn't have taken off Hourihane - one of the few match-winners in our side. That last free-kick, or indeed the corner, would've been perfect for him.

[Spoony]

5 minutes ago, westholmevillan said:

Three points of note for me

1. Grealish is dog shite 

2. Nyland is worse than dog shite 

3. We're hopeless without McGinn 

4.  Smith is NO 'master tactician'...... Too many schoolboy errors.  And his poor decisions have absolutely no relevance to to the fact that he's only been here for a few  days....everyone here noticed so Smith should have noticed too!

 

Grealish and Smith are not beyond criticism just because they are 'one of our own!.....that's totally irrelevant!

 

 

Wow. Two games dude. Two.

[VillaCas]

8 minutes ago, terrytini said:

Early days or not Smith needs to have a better Plan B.

A touch unfair? He can only work with what he’s got and at the moment that’s not good enough. 

We need to stumble through to January and hope our new sporting directors famed contacts deliver the goods 

[Harry]

My take on tonight:

Massively missed McGinn and I would have started Bjarsson over the woeful Whelan.

Grealish is beyond awful at the moment. His corners fail to clear the first man, his free kicks offer nothing and he dithers on the ball always looking for the foul. I think the new contract has gone to his head.

That leads me nicely on to the refereee who seemingly allowed Norwich players to foul at will with just the occasional yellow card. Their one defender fouled Grealish for the entire game and got a yellow early on and nothing else.

Piss poor defending for both goals gifting them to a typical six yard box player who is pretty much a journeyman. Ironically he would walk into our side the way we played in the second half.

Probably the most annoying aspect of the game was the way that Norwich pressed our midfield and they just crumbled.

i think Smith now knows the size of the job. Pretty much everyone in a Villa shirt tonight needs a massive kick up the arse. They need to work harder and care more.

 

 

 

[Bunnski]

Wasn't happy to see Hogan come on instead of Kodjia and he did nothing to prove me wrong. Bad decision by the manager. We've a lot of out of form players and are in desperate need of more quality, at the back especially.

 

Tuanzebe motm

[WakefieldVillan]

I must have watched a different game to the majority on here, either that or I am easily pleased.

Look I hate seeing us get beat, like we all do, but anyone that thought tonight was going to be anything but a tough encounter needs a reality check.

Norwich are one of the form teams in the league, coming back off a decent victory at Forest, they've had a couple of years under Farke and have a system and style that was similar to what we are tryingto emulate, but Dean's had around 10 days with the team and getting his methods across. 

What I saw tonight was a team that started on the front foot as Saturday, tried to play out from the back, actually kept possession from throw in's, far less hoofballs.. yes it didn't all come off, yes we made mistakes but for me where in the right hands with Smith.

Equaliser was bad goalkeeping but we look vulnerable at all set plays something that needs addressing big time, second goal Chester has cost us and looked shaky all night.

The injuries went against us, I think in hindsight he would maybe have gone put on Kodija, but I think he maybe thought Hogan would defend better from the front (much like Tammy did in first half) but Hogan was poor. Think the second goal knocked all stuffing out my of us, but I hope we can keep pressing and looking to play moving forward. 

Positives; Tuanzebe looked very good tonight. Taylor is an improvement on the old Taylor.  Tammy worked tirelessly. Whelan was neat & tidy.

Negatives; Chester; looked knackered after 20 mins, Hogan; lost every 50/50, tammy's injury, El Ghazi; was poor (but not going to write him off after a few matches), Adomah; just doesn't do it for me, yet we somehow look more solid when he plays.

Verdict.. I don't think our players are as good as some of us think, yet the league isn't great overall and if we can stay there or thereabouts to the play offs by January then look to strengthen in certain areas we will be ok 

UTV