Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Swansea FAC

[chips'ngravy]

Not sure our defensive woes are going to be rectified by parachuting in a couple of new signings. Unfortunately, I think it runs deeper than that. Three of our back four are very experienced defenders. We should be able to fashion something more solid out of that than what we're witnessing at the moment.

[Nigel]

Thought Davis looked good when he came on, some nice touches, and forgot just how hard he is to knock off the ball!

....That would be exactly the opposite of Hogan then!

[Lerner's Driver]

Hogan, motm for his utter pointlessness. 

[Troglodyte]

It's matches like today's, although the result itself is relatively inconsequential in the long term, where you can see the legacy of our perennial absence of identity or playing style.

Young players don't seem to be able to slot into the team too well; they aren't prepared for the first eleven because we don't have an embedded style. The same can be said for squad players. There aren't patterns that they can fall back on and they end up looking completely lost. We always see this when they're thrown in for cup games. The only real exceptions in recent years have been Grealish, because he's an exceptional talent, and Davis, because his job has fit best into what little style we had under Bruce and it's a role that other players can play off relatively easily - not that that's a criticism, because I like him as a player and he's sure as shit a lot better than Scott Hogan.

It's also why we relied upon standout individual performances under Bruce and to an extent still have to at the moment, although I've no doubt Smith will continue to implement a much clearer style of play once the squad is right. This leads to the continual reemergence argument about how strong our squad actually is, and I can see why people say we've got the strongest squad in the division. I'd disagree with that personally based on our defence, but in many positions we have players who at this level are extremely good: Grealish, Bolasie, McGinn, Abraham could all start on a weekly basis in the Premier League. Arguments could be made that Chester, Kodjia, Kalinic (although he was disappointing today), El Ghazi, Tuanzebe and possibly Adomah could play in the Prem, too. Then many others are either promising youngsters (Davis, Bree, O'Hare) or solid players at this level (Lansbury, Elphick, Hourihane). However, some of those above are inconsistent and/or just aren't playing together as a team with a defined style of play. At least, for the first time in a long time, I feel like we're going to get that with Smith. It's just games like today where we see how far away from that we are, because of the sheer incompetence that's riddled the club at so many levels of management for so long now.

[TRO]

Nyland must be lying in his hospital bed looking at the ceiling with a big fat King (imperial)Edward on the go.

[Djemba_Villan]

Performance of a team who've just realised their talisman striker is off, and not even to a particularly exciting destination

Felt like a 'going through the motions' game...same old lazy dribble up the wing, pumping in an invited deep cross and hoping for something to happen. 

The only logic I can see to playing McGin today was to 'bed in' a back 6 i.e. McGinn, Back 4 and Keeper.

The 30k+ fans deserved more. We seemed like we tried to make something happen - even at 1-0 but just lacked any real spark. Just bang average players playing a bang average system with sub-par levels of energy to do anything different.

[TRO]

4 minutes ago, chips'ngravy said:

Not sure our defensive woes are going to be rectified by parachuting in a couple of new signings. Unfortunately, I think it runs deeper than that. Three of our back four are very experienced defenders. We should be able to fashion something more solid out of that than what we're witnessing at the moment.

I suspect you are right....but defence is the responsibility of the whole team.

When we watch the games we can clearly see the work off the ball is absent, its too benevolent as a whole....the collective approach is lightweight.

Its a big job, mate.

I hope Dean is up for it.

Edited January 5, 2019 by TRO

[romavillan]

1 minute ago, Dale said:

I thought Lansbury was the best player for us today. 

Yeah would have given him MOTM for us but not on for long enough and McGinn was the usual McGinn.

Lansbury if he can stay injury free can still be an asset and would be a Smith type player, Hogan was baffling today he's come off the bench and looked dangerous and got a big chance today and whilst we were poor all round he didn't look likely and his control was poor.

So many basic errors today, poor passing, movement, control... 

[Hanky]

What we all knew. A lot of players not good enough for where we want to be and we’re in serious trouble without Grealish and Abraham. Serious business needed in January. 

[Delphinho123]

7 minutes ago, jim said:

Abysmal.

As bad as anything under Bruce. Time to show us what you are made of Dean.

Do you think the reason it was ‘as bad as anything under Bruce’ could be that they are all the same shit players he left us with? 

[Troglodyte]

Oh and it's just a shame that instead of polishing turds like Hutton, Taylor, Higan and Whelan, we're actually just smearing them all over the place and creating a disgusting, noxious fecal mess.

[Davkaus]

I feel sorry for the 40k who turned up to watch that complete shite. 

[romavillan]

4 minutes ago, Troglodyte said:

It's matches like today's, although the result itself is relatively inconsequential in the long term, where you can see the legacy of our perennial absence of identity or playing style.

Young players don't seem to be able to slot into the team too well; they aren't prepared for the first eleven because we don't have an embedded style. The same can be said for squad players. There aren't patterns that they can fall back on and they end up looking completely lost. We always see this when they're thrown in for cup games. The only real exceptions in recent years have been Grealish, because he's an exceptional talent, and Davis, because his job has fit best into what little style we had under Bruce and it's a role that other players can play off relatively easily - not that that's a criticism, because I like him as a player and he's sure as shit a lot better than Scott Hogan.

It's also why we relied upon standout individual performances under Bruce and to an extent still have to at the moment, although I've no doubt Smith will continue to implement a much clearer style of play once the squad is right. This leads to the continual reemergence argument about how strong our squad actually is, and I can see why people say we've got the strongest squad in the division. I'd disagree with that personally based on our defence, but in many positions we have players who at this level are extremely good: Grealish, Bolasie, McGinn, Abraham could all start on a weekly basis in the Premier League. Arguments could be made that Chester, Kodjia, Kalinic (although he was disappointing today), El Ghazi, Tuanzebe and possibly Adomah could play in the Prem, too. Then many others are either promising youngsters (Davis, Bree, O'Hare) or solid players at this level (Lansbury, Elphick, Hourihane). However, some of those above are inconsistent and/or just aren't playing together as a team with a defined style of play. At least, for the first time in a long time, I feel like we're going to get that with Smith. It's just games like today where we see how far away from that we are, because of the sheer incompetence that's riddled the club at so many levels of management for so long now.

Yep, we're a few months in to the new regime and the way we've been handled since the reckless spegin of Randy and MON to try and break in to the top four has been horrific. Consistently successful sides at any level have all their ducks in a row off the pitch first and constant hard work by talented people bears fruit on it after a while. We need to give it time, no matter how depressing performances like today's are. 

[Delphinho123]

3 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Yeah would have given him MOTM for us but not on for long enough and McGinn was the usual McGinn.

Lansbury if he can stay injury free can still be an asset and would be a Smith type player, Hogan was baffling today he's come off the bench and looked dangerous and got a big chance today and whilst we were poor all round he didn't look likely and his control was poor.

So many basic errors today, poor passing, movement, control... 

Genuine question, when has Hogan come off the bench and looked dangerous? 

[Derryvillan]

McGinn apart they all lack energy.Adomah and Kodjia can bugger off.Jimmy Danger my stones.Thinks hes Messi rather than pass.Ref was shite too.About 4 times they caught McGinn late and as we had the ball he waved play on and did nothing.Taylor did it at the end and got booked straight away.

[chips'ngravy]

Moving forward and focusing on the positives. Lansbury made a real difference when he came on, threading a lovely ball through with his first touch, and would be a definite upgrade on Whelan if he can stay fit.

Davis looked a threat and offered us a real physical presence up front. If Tammy goes he's not going to be capable of replacing his goals on his own, but a partnership with Kodjia could prove fruitful. 

[briny_ear]

Not too bothered about going out of the cup but the nature of the defeat is very worrying, given the team that started could quite easily be one that would play a league match.

I hope at least some of the complacency about how easy it will be to replace Abraham has now dissipated.

[WakefieldVillan]

Didn't see any of the game but voted anyway because I wanted to see the other votes voted Lansbury MOTM based on the match thread, voted very poor for the manager based on the result and team selection.

Very disappointing day, hate going out of the cup so early

Was surprised with our line up, which looked quite 'strong' for a cup tie, but even more surprised by our opponents starting eleven, much stronger than I imagined it to be and knew prior kick off it wasn't going to be easy.

We need to remain positive as fans and get behind Smith, it's been a dodgy few weeks but I am sure he will turn it around and I suppose it is the league that is priority.

Looks like a few of the players have not taken their chance today and the consolation of our defeat today is surely the owners/gaffer will be in the market to improve us moving forward.

First move for me would be raiding Brentford for Mepham, Watkins & Maupay, give them Hogan as part of the deal. (I know it aint as easy as that, but we need to get players in and out!) And this is for another thread! 

 

 

[romavillan]

Just now, Delphinho123 said:

Genuine question, when has Hogan come off the bench and looked dangerous? 

Last few times he came off the bench he's looked bang up for it and made some great runs. 

[Skruff]

I don't understand why we kept persisting with playing Hogan. Utterly useless. Very rarely players see his runs and pass to him thru. And when they do he's way of pace anyways. He's very ineffective except making runs into the channels, and doesn't seem to be doing that very well either. 

McGin should have been rested. Would have been beneficial for rest of the season. 

I don't see the point of playing Hutton at CB. Might as well give Revan the experience. The result couldn't have been much worse(in hindsight). 

O hare showed some positive glimpses. But when missing for parts of the game.

Lansbury looked great. 

Davies looked good.