Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Nottm Forest

[terrytini]

2 hours ago, hippo said:

Well they got there wish.

What on earth do we do on the training ground ?

Increase our points per game from 1.25 under Bruce to 1.85 under Smith ?

Increase our Goal Difference From Plus Zero per game under Bruce to nearly Plus 1 per game under Smith ?

Nearly all against top half sides as opposed to bottom half sides.

[terrytini]

18 minutes ago, TRO said:

but Forest are not crap....but the shipping of 5 at home is shocking.

Just one of those games.

[TRO]

3 hours ago, PieFacE said:

I think Forest are a good team. I can understand disappointment, but comparing that to how we were playing at the start of the season, it's a breath of fresh air. 

Let's not forget, our defense has been shambolic all season, Forest were clinical tonight and not every team we play will be. 

If we keep going at teams like we did tonight, we will win more than we lose.

there will be nights when we don't score as readily....if we defend like that get ready for a few defeats.

you cannot go up defending like that.

[TRO]

3 hours ago, MaVilla said:

well, we didnt lose, should have won, but we showed some fight to get back in it from 0-2 down, then went 5-4 up, and threw it away, lol whats going on

Fair play to AV, we are scoring goals, isnt that FOURTEEN goals in the last 4 games????

Chester.......urgh i really dont rate him tbh, Nyland ........urgh, and Hourihane, not keen on him in the DM role, yes he can pass a bit, but the last 3 or more games all i see him doing when he should be tackling/closing down is throwing his hands up, not getting in there or just shirking defensive stuff, i really dont see Hourihane working in that role.

I honestly think if we replace Nyland and Chester, get a new LB and a proper DM who can place a pass AND defend, we will be a force.

that's nearly half the team....but I don't disagree.

[Skills]

2 hours ago, srsmithusa said:

i don't like "no hamstrings left" Whelan, so I can sort of agree.  But I understood in this case.  Nyland showed his worst.  But the second biggest problem was that Hourihane is not at his best at DM.  We let several goals be passed into the net by midfielders running right past him.  in theory at least, and in practice, Whelan did prevent that from happening again.

TBF (or generous) to Whelan, I have never had a complaint with his effort.  He just doesn't have the legs any more, sadly.

i have a different take on this, although i agree Hourihane is not at his best as a DM, i thought Mcginn pushed out of the middle too much today.

Saw a few times Hutton and Axel yelling at him to come collect the ball but wasnt really making himself available as he normally does.  Can only think he wasnt 100% right today as he's been playing that box to box role and hiding Hourihanes weaknesses really well so far

Chester's form over the past two games is a worry. Not going to have a pop at Nyland, he just needs to get us to Jan with as minimal damage as possible

[TRO]

3 hours ago, romavillan said:

Well he can't fix it by changing the back 4 can he?

I think we could be overreacting a bit, they had 5 shots on target and scored 5. We gifted them goals and we created enough to win 3 games. Abraham should have got 5 himself which is an insane thing to be typing. Looking at how they scored, it wasn't just the back 5 either, Lolley was given way too much time and space every time more an organisational thing and midfielders needing to be more aware I guess. I'm sure Smith will be working on it to sort it out. I think January's transfer window might give him some more tools to do so.

**** great game though.

spot on.

[srsmithusa]

4 minutes ago, Skills said:

i have a different take on this, although i agree Hourihane is not at his best as a DM, i thought Mcginn pushed out of the middle too much today.

Saw a few times Hutton and Axel yelling at him to come collect the ball but wasnt really making himself available as he normally does.  Can only think he wasnt 100% right today as he's been playing that box to box role and hiding Hourihanes weaknesses really well so far

Chester's form over the past two games is a worry. Not going to have a pop at Nyland, he just needs to get us to Jan with as minimal damage as possible

Fair enough, but the guy playing McGinns usual role shouldn’t have to drop to help a more dedicated DM and both of their “passed in goals” went right past Hourihane. We miss Thor.  

[TRO]

3 hours ago, imavillan said:

from what i'm reading all 5 goals conceded are Nylands fault......

i have just watched the goals again and i dont get why everyone is blaming him for tonight, i really dont.....

Forest cut through our defense like a knife through butter.....

if you are playing in goal you'll be saying ffs Chester, Hutton Tuanzabe, Taylor put a foot in, oh and by the way McGinn, Hourihane, Grealish, track you man....give me some protection !!!!

 

 

 

 

we just failed to defend as a TEAM

[TRO]

30 minutes ago, terrytini said:

Just one of those games.

We just don't need anymore of them, defensively

[Skills]

2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

There's just too much. 

In the opening three minutes of the second half, we had three corners, there was a desperate clearance from under his crossbar from a Forest defender, we had two penalty shouts and shots from Grealish and McGinn blocked. That was three minutes.

It's frustrating, with the chances we had we should have scored more goals. We scored five goals. Those two sentences shouldn't belong together but they do. I'm not sure what the last one was disallowed for, I think we should have had at least one penalty for handball and I think Tammy should have buried the header just before halftime. On top of that, we had enough efforts on goal to win three games. It's frustrating, I'm frustrated, but I was grinning all the way home.

The two centre backs might take a lot of criticism tonight, individually I think Tuanzebe backed away from the ball for the second or third one and was responsible, but I don't actually think either of them defended all that badly, it's just that they were the only players that were interested in defending.

All of their goals seemed to come from players running through the middle of the park with no interference from our midfield - Grealish, McGinn and Hourihane aren't going with runners - there's not a naturally defensive bone in any of em. I think Hourihane dropped off a forward for the fourth when he should have been putting a challenge in, I think that's the only other one I'd put down to an individual. If we want this midfield, we need to put up with conceding goals. I want this midfield.

The keeper just isn't up to it and collectively we are just wide open at the back, but even with all that said, Forest scored with every single shot on target they had - they'll be as pleased with their five goals as we are disappointed with ours. There will be plenty of people who will be worrying about us tightening up at the back, who'll be concerned that you can't win games if you concede - it's true I guess, but it's not our defending that most concerns me.

What's very clear is that if you want to come to Villa Park and win, you need to bring ALL of the goals, all the goals you have, all the goals you've been saving up, all the flukey goals you've got and all the wonder strikes you have in you, because, we are going to score hatfuls this season. I'd back us to beat any team that don't score more than twice against us in the league. 

 

The front line of Abraham, Bolasie, Kodjia, Grealish and McGinn are a class apart from anything else in this league - they shouldn't be here. We will score five goals again this season. I can see us regularly scoring four. We're massively impressive going forward. I don't worry about us conceding, I worry about us switching off. Against sha on Sunday at 3-1 we took our foot off it and had a rest and they scored, tonight we did the same at 5-4 - Abraham dropped into midfield and everyone wanted a breather - we stopped and they didn't. It was made more obvious when we started up again after the final equaliser, put the ball in the net twice and created another seven hundred chances. That's the thing for me that we need to cut out of our game - if we play for 90 minutes we'll outscore anyone in this league. 

For their part, I thought Forest were lively - they're not bad at the back, they came into tonight's game on the back of three clean sheets, I thought Grabban was superb, Lolley played well and their number 10 was a handful - they played a part in a truly wonderful spectacle. While we're at it, I think their fans were the loudest I've heard at Villa Park this season. Fair play to em. We still should have won though.

As it was tonight, I think 7-5 would have been a fairer reflection of things. Which is a ridiculous thing to write. It was a ridiculous game. Following Sunday we're accidentally stuck in "epic" mode - we're the best watch in football, the most entertaining team in the all four divisions right now and we will score for fun. It's a little disappointing not to have won, but if you don't take some sort of joy out of nights like tonight I worry about you. 

Forest were a little lucky, we were a little unlucky, 32,000 fans were very lucky indeed. I'm not sure where we'll finish this season, although I'm increasingly convinced it'll be in the interesting part of the table, what I am sure about is that we'll get there in a massive storm of goals and excitement, and I for one can't wait.

 

 

 

100% this!

it was we climbed everest when we went ahead then admired the view for too long.   Need to instill a killer mentality into the team and not take the foot off the gas particularly at home against 10 men.  On field leadership issue? 

[SirSteveUK]

3 hours ago, PompeyVillan said:

Hutton is so limited going forward

Really ???  LOLOL

[terrytini]

5 minutes ago, TRO said:

We just don't need anymore of them, defensively

I’m not sure there is any reason to think there will be.

Forests defence is even better than ours but they conceded 5....I don’t think they will be too concerned either

Our defence under Smith has been fine by and large, and any shortcomings look like being nullified by our attack.

Theres a lot of high scoring games in this League, and with how Smith sets us up we will be involved in many of them.

 

[terrytini]

37 minutes ago, TRO said:

there will be nights when we don't score as readily....if we defend like that get ready for a few defeats.

you cannot go up defending like that.

You don’t think Forest will go up then ?

Stoke and Boro for Automatic ?

[sir_gary_cahill]

It was a great advert for The Championship, every shot seemed to lead to a goal, very enjoyable watch. In order to get promoted, we’ll obviously need to defend better, going forward we’re a dream. The standout performers for me were Tammy Abraham who scored 4 goals, he was outstanding tonight, easily a Premier League striker in my opinion. Other standouts were Yannick Bolasie who had their full back on toast, was a threat at every opportunity, he’s easily a Premier League quality winger, seems to be over his injury problems.

[blandy]

8 hours ago, peterms said:

It's an innovative approach to foreplay, I'll give you that.

Fiveplay 

[Nigel]

3 hours ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

It was a great advert for The Championship, every shot seemed to lead to a goal, very enjoyable watch. In order to get promoted, we’ll obviously need to defend better, going forward we’re a dream. The standout performers for me were Tammy Abraham who scored 4 goals, he was outstanding tonight, easily a Premier League striker in my opinion. Other standouts were Yannick Bolasie who had their full back on toast, was a threat at every opportunity, he’s easily a Premier League quality winger, seems to be over his injury problems.

Every shot from them did go in!

I cant get onboard with this 'great game' attitude. 

Here are the stats from the game 

Quote

26            Shots             8

12         Shots on target          5

88%       Pass Success %       78%

79%       Aerial Duel Success    21%

10            Dribbles won         5

24          Tackles          16

63%        Possession        37%

 

In every respect that should be a home hammering!

[Vive_La_Villa]

7 hours ago, TRO said:

I hadn't a clue what I was watching, it was a defensive nightmare.

Tro I’m glad you feel the same way. As entertaining as it was I don’t wish to see that again. A few solid comfortable wins will be better for the heart. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

6 hours ago, Skills said:

Grealish, McGinn and Hourihane aren't going with runners 

Great all round post but this part really hit the nail on the head.  We can’t play with those 3 in the middle against a fast counter attacking team. We saw what happens. 

To be fair to smith because of injuries I didn’t have much choice. Whelan doesn’t have the legs anymore. I think Thor would have started had he been fit. 

Maybe an area that needs addressing after goal keeper and defensive cover.

edit: I just realised I quoted a quote : response was meant for @OutByEaster?

Edited November 29, 2018 by Vive_La_Villa

[Wainy316]

Defending is boring anyway

[Herman22]

I don't get why Nyland is getting all the abuse for us letting in 5 goals. Besides the last one, he didn't have a chance. All four defenders were a shambles for 90mins. I think the chief culprit was Hutton, it was great to see him getting forward but woefully out of position for at least 2 of the goals. I still think we need to replace Nyland in Jan, the lad is a liability but to blame him for the 5 goals last night is a joke. 

The positive is you can't knock the lads' spirit on the pitch, 1-0 down, 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 down and came back again and again. What was disappointing was that we couldn't hold out at home against 10 men.