Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Leeds

[villabromsgrove]

9 minutes ago, TRO said:

When you are sitting there watching the game and are 2-0 up, with a full house behind you,but realise you need another goal to be close to safe....something is drastically. wrong.

Spot on TRO, We started the second half positively going forward but our defensive frailties were glaringly obvious. I turned to my sons and said (while we were still 2-0 up)"  we need to score again or we could lose this".

It shouldn't be that obvious to amateurs like us .... our highly paid defenders and holding midfielder appear to have absolutely no understanding, no shape or plan!

[TRO]

6 minutes ago, WakefieldVillan said:

Disappointing result after being 2-0 up and never easy to take (thankfully I netted £650 for backing Leeds at 2-0) which as slightly softened the blow.

I think if we're honest they were the better side, although we have attacking players that can produce real class moments, they are further into Bielsa's tenure and that showed today, they also weren't missing a player of Jack's ability.

I said pre-match we would miss him, he draws fouls, keeps possession and we are a different proposition with him playing.

Losing Tuanzebe was (is) a big blow, Bree just doesn't look up to it currently (though not an easy game for him to come into), Hutton was poor (lucky not to concede a penalty) and I think that is the worst performance I have seen from Elmo in a Villa shirt. Defensively we are just all over the place at times. 

Not sure Smith made the right substitutions today, having said that, the ones that came on were poor, in particular El Ghazi and Hogan.

I think that is us done for automatics but I still feel we can go up through the play offs, just need 2 or maybe 3 additions to that bleeding defence! 

4/5

You backed Leeds to win at 2-0 up for a reason.....I am just hoping the powers that be can see what we see.....The problem was still there after we scored 2, that's poor play.

[PompeyVillan]

Given how poor we were at the start of the season it's a testament to our improvement under Smith that we're disappointed to be losing in the last minute against the top team. 

Equally, the disappointment is justified, we were horribly exposed at full back and our midfield were woeful at retaining the ball. Without Grealish we struggled to exert consistent control on the game. 

Equally we scored two good goals from open play. 

We really need some defenders and arguably central midfielders but I won't accept us rushing out and buying any old player to plug the gaps. I want us to take a measured approach and recruit players that fit Smith's system. 

Credit to Leeds, they've got some excellent young players and they're grinding out results with a less than complete squad, a bit like ourselves. They deserve to be top and I think they'll finish top. 

Edited December 23, 2018 by PompeyVillan

[The Fun Factory]

This could be a season defining game for us, in a bad way. Our defending is truly pathetic- what was Elmo thinking today? Chester is not fit for purpose for Smith's style of play playing from the back and Axel getting injured is not good news at all.

I did not feel even that excited at 2 up as I knew that we had to score another to win the game.  Our attacking is very good- premier league level I would say, yet our defence is properly National League standard.

I would say only McGinn goes away from that in having a good performance- and yet we very nearly got a point versus the best team in the league.Which makes it all the more frustrating. 

Notwithstanding that Leeds should have had a penalty today, I thought the refereeing performance was truly abysmal. His time keeping was odd as well- only 1 min for injury time in the first half?

This reminds me a lot of Bruce's first season and it could all fall apart very quickly within the next 3-4 weeks.  11th at Christmas- if anyone thinks we can make top 2 now they must be on crack.

Edited December 23, 2018 by The Fun Factory

[TRO]

3 minutes ago, villabromsgrove said:

Spot on TRO, We started the second half positively going forward but our defensive frailties were glaringly obvious. I turned to my sons and said (while we were still 2-0 up)"  we need to score again or we could lose this".

It shouldn't be that obvious to amateurs like us .... our highly paid defenders and holding midfielder appear to have absolutely no understanding, no shape or plan!

spot on you too.

I am hoping that enough has been seen, by them that matter.....outside McGinn and an early offering from Kodjia, no one was grappling or trying to win the ball....Leeds were first to most balls also and willing to scrap for it....it won the initiative in this game.

We look lightweight to me all over the pitch with just the odd exception and it has been so in so many games against the better opposition.....Its not just Leeds others have roughed us up in the same manner and it derails our better work.

Blues are a point ahead of us, they are no way better than us, but they have a edge that is willing to battle and scrap for the ball.....we need to find a similar edge or promotion will be just a constant dream, every season.

We have moments of sheer brilliance and then the deck chairs come out.... we cannot stand off opposition at the rate we do.....if we haven't got the personnel, we need to get some.

[foreveryoung]

We are obviously a good team now, as you can see particularly where the faults are. Bree, Elmo, Hutton are not on our level, they are Bruce's Villa and get shown up in this team now, which I guess is a positive.

Frustratingly for me is that if Elmo left that ball, it would have just gone out for a free kick with 30 seconds to go. Not sure where 5 minutes extra time come from anyway??

[foreveryoung]

Refreshingly the manager in his post match interview talks about exactly what we see.

Edited December 23, 2018 by foreveryoung

[TRO]

4 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Refreshingly the manager in his post match interview talks about exactly what we see.

and that is the main positive, i can take from the match.

[KenjiOgiwara]

I think we have improved heaps and bounds under Smith. I am not feeling that promotion is impossible. Keeper is sorted and defenders are guaranteed to be next ones in. We will improve even more in 2019 and there's no reason why we can't win the playoff matches. If anything the only disappointment to me is what has happened to Chester. **** knows if Terry carried him all last season, but he looks like half the player he was. 

[striker]

Villa’s left hand side was wide open so Leeds took full advantage of that throughout the game. What was Hutton doing standing off so much?

Like everyone else I always felt Villa needed a third goal and when they didn’t get it at the start of the second half you just knew what was going to happen.

All credit to Leeds though. By far the best team Villa have played in the Championship this season.

[Stratvillan]

42 minutes ago, villabromsgrove said:

Spot on TRO, We started the second half positively going forward but our defensive frailties were glaringly obvious. I turned to my sons and said (while we were still 2-0 up)"  we need to score again or we could lose this".

It shouldn't be that obvious to amateurs like us .... our highly paid defenders and holding midfielder appear to have absolutely no understanding, no shape or plan!

There's a plan and a shape, but based around the defenders actually playing like professional footballers. 

Theres no way that smith would play at least 3 out of that back 4 if he had any choice. The back up when fit, are probably worse. 

[Stratvillan]

 I think we'll be even more of an attacking threat when we sort out our defence. Imagine having 2 full backs who engaged the forwards instead of running away. Imagine having a flint type defender who would actually attack any crosses / corners. I thought when smith took over if we were within 7/8 points of the playoffs come Jan 1 we were in with a real shout, I think that's where we'll be. 

[foreveryoung]

5 minutes ago, Stratvillan said:

 I think we'll be even more of an attacking threat when we sort out our defence. Imagine having 2 full backs who engaged the forwards instead of running away. Imagine having a flint type defender who would actually attack any crosses / corners. I thought when smith took over if we were within 7/8 points of the playoffs come Jan 1 we were in with a real shout, I think that's where we'll be. 

Agree here chap. At least with Smith if we do get better players in he will know what to do with them. Unlike Bruce who would turn Salah into a holding midfieler.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Leeds deserved the win, they were relentless and determined, something instilled in them by Bielsa. We got lucky on numerous occasions, most notably the Whelan handball. We looked tired and it showed up badly second half, they had the posession and double the passes, etc on our patch in front of a full house so fair play no complaints over the result from me.

Awful defending for all 3 goals, huge disappointment we allowed a last minute goal like that to happen when there was a simple throw in to contain at the other end of the ground. With that our unbeaten run comes to an end and we go into this "easier" run still without Jack and Axel too. We will concede and lose more points over the next few games with the defence in the state it is. Thankful we're still in with a shout of playoffs following those fixtures, we did well but got shown up today by a good side.

[sheepyvillian]

Granted, we got beat and it  left me sick as a pig . I thought Leeds were class throughout the whole game and deserved their victory.  You usually get what you deserve in this game. We played our part in what was a pulsating game, a shame our defending proved to be an Achilles heel, yet again. Let's not get too downbeat, we've got to bounce back as quick as possible, it's not a time to wallow. I'm quite confident we'll be in the mix come the end of the season.

As for Villa fans who bet on us to lose, I don't care how you dress it up, shame on you. Nothing more than blood money.

[BigAl]

Today is a blessing in disguise ,we need defensive reinforcements badly and today only magnified that ,we have all been saying all year that we haven’t enough cover at the back  ,our full backs don’t suit  Smith’s system they don’t offer enough going forward and have been badly exposed at the other end our wingers don’t suit the system either as there work rate isn’t high enough and that’s most important  in a high press.Adomah has been a huge loss bigger than Grealish imo his work rate and energy has been missed in the flank and he always gets back to double with the full back which is vital ,Smith has proven himself to be shrewd in the transfer market and hopefully we will be a lot better position come the end of Jan ,there is a long year there yet but today was a eye opener for us all no doubt .

[dnmacf]

1 point or 0 point, disappointing when you've been 2-0 up at halftime. The late winner from them is sickening but that will happen from time to time playing top sides. That's football. Positives, we were in the game and created chances. Gave them a proper match and their top of the league right now so realistically we're not far off their level, if not equal. We've got our issues though, that's been clear for a while and they need to be addressed in January. We've already been making moves, bringing in another option in goal. Need more options at the back. Will be interesting to see how the new team, sporting director and management trio go about it. I have confidence we have the right people in place to resolve the issues which lost us three points today. 

[MikeAVFC]

Our attack is top 2 standard, midfield probably top half/top 6. Our back line and goalkeeper is bottom 5 standard. We all know where the problems lie, and it needs sorting desperately in January.

[fifamad]

5 hours ago, Mantis said:

Pathetic. Our defence is relegation-level.

Agreed

[srsmithusa]

3 hours ago, pacbuddies said:

Further along than we are! We were in the play off final last season and they didn't even make the grade ffs!

So you think we’ve been steadily building a system for weeks and we’re farther along in that process than they are?  

No, you don’t.  So I’m not sure why you are acting scandalized.