Ratings & Reactions: Brentford v Villa

[Kiwivillan]

4 minutes ago, gaffer85 said:

For everyone getting on smiths back what do you want to do 

His hands are tied at the moment with what he has to work with. The sad fact is our squad just isn't very good, there is no pace or energy in this squad.

As the old saying goes rome wasn't built in a single transfer window

And anyone saying he has to make what he has better is talking shite 

As another old saying you can't polish a turd

I've used the turd polisher saying just now on FB and repeatedly before Brentford match

[Nigel]

1 hour ago, AVTuco said:

Get out Smith. 

Ridiculous comment! 

The sort of short term, knee jerk thinking we can do without!

If tonight has told us anything it's a long term plan we are going to have to get used to. So be it!

[sne]

A few positives to take from the game after all.

For example, there are only 14 games left of the season. And my Saturday just opened up since I have the weekend off I was going to watch the game. I no longer feel the need to do that.

So there's that.

Other than that, piss poor, again.

[TRO]

32 minutes ago, Hornso said:

Watching us play Brentford at Griffin Park is like being waterboarded. 

For what it's worth I thought we defended pretty well tonight and we had two of, if not the best, chances to score but Adomah and Hourihane wasted them.

But like a few have said, massively rebuilding job ahead in the Summer. Out of our starting XI very possible only McGinn, Hourihane & Kalinic will be there on opening day next season.

You are right, we did defend better at times.....but in boxing terms completely outpointed.

[MikeAVFC]

Pitiful performance. Amazed that Brentford took so long to score.  Seasons a write off I'm afraid

[Stevo985]

Turgid.

We've been wank for weeks.

Lucky to not get hammered tonight.

[Stevo985]

1 hour ago, AntrimBlack said:

Remarkably, we are still only 7 points off the play offs.

Problem is, this team look unable to make up that ground.

And a few weeks ago we were only 3 points off. Then we were only 4 points off. Now we're only 7 points off.

And all the teams in the playoffs have a game in hand so it could very easily be 10 points off.

 

I think there is very very little chance of us making the playoffs this season.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Stevo985

[Only2McInallys]

Somebody earlier said there are reasons why our squad is shit and they don't blame smith or Bruce.

I think this is a accurate assessment .Its difficult to judge smith too harshly because he has players who don't suit his style.

Has he improved the playing style compared to Bruce - No

Are any players playing better under Smith than Bruce?Elphick?

Elgazi and Adomah are they any good.?On tonight's showing No

Our midfield lacks steel and creativityand  our defence can't bring the ball forward safely.

The strange thing is we have some really good players Mings ,McGinn,Abraham and goalkeeper.I thought Hutton did ok but the rest were poor.

[TRO]

I think the fans by and large are being kind.

I think we are a lot worse than we say we are.

Lee Hendrie's face on sky sports said it all.....flushed, angry and totally embarrassed.

[TRO]

2 minutes ago, Londonastonvilla said:

Somebody earlier said there are reasons why our squad is shit and they don't blame smith or Bruce.

I think this is a accurate assessment .Its difficult to judge smith too harshly because he has players who don't suit his style.

Has he improved the playing style compared to Bruce - No

Are any players playing better under Smith than Bruce?Elphick?

Elgazi and Adomah are they any good.?On tonight's showing No

Our midfield lacks steel and creativityand  our defence can't bring the ball forward safely.

The strange thing is we have some really good players Mings ,McGinn,Abraham and goalkeeper.I thought Hutton did ok but the rest were poor.

Its not any one man.....this is a collective problem

[A'Villan]

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

We look more like a team content with knowing they have put themselves in a good position to avoid relegation.

Disagree. To me we look like a team lacking in confidence and vigor rather than riddled with complacency and halfheartedness.

We've had continual major upheavals and have been on the peripheral of the Premier League for the most part of a decade now.

Smith turning it all around in under 5 months and making us a team that is a cut above on any given day is a difficult task.

Bruce finished 13th in his first season after being appointed a week earlier in the year than Smith was.

We lost 3-0 to Brentford in February 2017, lost 3-1 to Barnsley a few weeks after, whilst on a 5 game losing spree.

The following year Bruce had us as the 4th best team in the division. However unspectacular we were for most of it.

Today's game against Brentford was reminiscent of the first half in the POF against Fulham. They set the tempo and we bowed to their whims.

Difference being the timing of the goal was kinder to Fulham than it was Brentford.

[southcoastvillan]

Didn’t see the game so can’t comment but aside from that I can’t abide by the whole ‘rip up the plan and start again’ and ‘we need a clear out’ and ‘it’ll be better when smiths had a couple of transfer windows’ bollocks. These people expect the stars to align, everything to go our way magically somehow. Football doesn’t work like that. Hey it’s great that we’ll shed some utter dross deadwood players in the summer but guess what we’ll also be losing Abraham, Mings and most likely grealish, just how last season we lost sonograms and terry. The churn will continue to happen. Do people think cardiff hatched a 5 year master plan of ins and outs to crack the league last year!!! No!! They got the best out of what they had and fostered a team spirit and way of playing that was much greater than the sum of their parts, why oh why can we not aspire for that. We need to stop waiting for something to happen and get the best out of what we have, and that starts with the manager!!! Earn your money smith. 

[TRO]

11 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

Disagree. To me we look like a team lacking in confidence and vigor rather than riddled with complacency and halfheartedness.

We've had continual major upheavals and have been on the peripheral of the Premier League for the most part of a decade now.

Smith turning it all around in under 5 months and making us a team that is a cut above on any given day is a difficult task.

Bruce finished 13th in his first season after being appointed a week earlier in the year than Smith was.

We lost 3-0 to Brentford in February 2017, lost 3-1 to Barnsley a few weeks after, whilst on a 5 game losing spree.

The following year Bruce had us as the 4th best team in the division. However unspectacular we were for most of it.

Today's game against Brentford was reminiscent of the first half in the POF against Fulham. They set the tempo and we bowed to their whims.

Difference being the timing of the goal was kinder to Fulham than it was Brentford.

That has been in so many games since the Albion game....have they all lost confidence because Jacks out.

What we look like is in our own perspective....I have no idea what has gone wrong....but I think it is more serious than we all think.

It is unusual to have so many lacking confidence at the same time, because this team has so many players playing well below their capability, for whatever reason.

We allow teams to take up the initiative and stand off until we pick pocket the ball as opposed to fight for it ( mcGinn exception) in a combative manner...when we eventually get it we lack ball control to secure it and the pass is usually given away cheaply.....its a recipe for disaster.

That game tonight would have resulted in at least 4 against , against a good team.

Ps and i was pretty sure the 3 in the final minutes of the Sheff Utd game, was not going to turn things around.

Edited February 13, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

12 minutes ago, southcoastvillan said:

Didn’t see the game so can’t comment but aside from that I can’t abide by the whole ‘rip up the plan and start again’ and ‘we need a clear out’ and ‘it’ll be better when smiths had a couple of transfer windows’ bollocks. These people expect the stars to align, everything to go our way magically somehow. Football doesn’t work like that. Hey it’s great that we’ll shed some utter dross deadwood players in the summer but guess what we’ll also be losing Abraham, Mings and most likely grealish, just how last season we lost sonograms and terry. The churn will continue to happen. Do people think cardiff hatched a 5 year master plan of ins and outs to crack the league last year!!! No!! They got the best out of what they had and fostered a team spirit and way of playing that was much greater than the sum of their parts, why oh why can we not aspire for that. We need to stop waiting for something to happen and get the best out of what we have, and that starts with the manager!!! Earn your money smith. 

Its hard not to see your point.

We have had John Terry, Robert Snodgrass, Lewis Grabban, Jack Grealish, Tammy Abraham, Yannick Bolassie,John Mcginn,Sam Johnstone,James Chester, Jonathan Kodjia, Scott Hogan, Albert Adomah

All these players have not played for us at the same time, but built " Names" for themselves, even if not worked out.....and still we can't make a meaningful challenge on the league title.

something IS clearly wrong.

where we go from here, I have no idea.

We have sacked the last manager.....we can't keep doing that.....this one has to work it out.

[A'Villan]

8 minutes ago, TRO said:

That has been in so many games since the Albion game....have they all lost confidence because Jacks out.

What we look like is in our own perspective....I have no idea what has gone wrong....but I think it is more serious than we all think.

It is unusual to have so many lacking confidence at the same time, because this team has so many players playing well below their capability, for whatever reason.

We allow teams to take up the initiative and stand off until we pick pocket the ball as opposed to fight for it ( mcGinn exception) in a combative manner...when we eventually get it we lack ball control to secure it and the pass is usually given away cheaply.....its a recipe for disaster.

That game tonight would have resulted in at least 4 against , against a good team.

Ps and i was pretty sure the 3 in the final minutes of the Sheff Utd game, was not going to turn things around.

Bruce started his tenure with a near 60% win rate which lasted for almost two months before declining.

Then this time two years ago we lost 5 on the trot including a 3-0 to Brentford and a 3-1 to Barnsley. Far worse than Smith has seen.

Bruce finished that season with us in 13th, his win rate being chopped in half from his initial results. What went wrong there?

Next season he went on to have us finish as the 4th best team, with a points haul that might gain automatic promotion in previous years.

Obviously there's a myriad of factors that are at play in determining how well a team gels and performs.

But, to put it in a nutshell, I think our recent 'dip' in form, like what happened under Bruce, can be considered growing pains.

It might be more serious than we all think, which would be unfortunate. I'd be curious to know why you are inclined to suggest that though?

I'm not concerned with the appointment of Smith or what he can bring to the table at this point, he's shown already that he can turn us into league leaders.

The next step is producing it over the length of a season and on any given day rather than for a short lived month or two, amounting to little.

Unfortunately, for me, there is a concern that the season that it comes together needs to be this one, due to circumstances outside his control.

But that is just a FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real) and not something I can really explore as I'm not informed on the ins and outs of behind scenes happenings.

 

 

 

[brummybloke]

3 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Right so absolutely dominated by a better team but had 2 good chances to score that the players fluffed. 

League position wise we were better, they out played us not because our players are rubbish, there's more than 11 to choose from, but a combination of players and tactics were yet again, not good enough.

 

When we played free flowing football it was down to Smith and his player selection and tactics, but when we lose or draw which has been A LOT in recent months, it's not his fault it's the rubbish players ?

 

I really want him to do well for a few reasons but he's getting worse each and every week results wise. There are no excuses unless we have half the first team out injured or the ref is clearly cheating.

We were out played for a few reasons, one being not one player could control the ball, couldn't judge a pass and couldn't judge when to carry the ball or pass it.

It was seriously that bad I honestly am thinking they train with different spec footballs than the matchday ones. 

 

I could control a fly away or what ever people call those cheap plastic footballs nowadays better than the players could tonight.

 

I thought the idea of training was to improve, not look worse each week ?

 

I'm not angry , I'm disappointed, Smith hadn't just let the fans down, he's let himself down *

 

*my nans words about me more often than not while I grew up.

[Kiwivillan]

5 minutes ago, brummybloke said:

League position wise we were better, they out played us not because our players are rubbish, there's more than 11 to choose from, but a combination of players and tactics were yet again, not good enough.

 

When we played free flowing football it was down to Smith and his player selection and tactics, but when we lose or draw which has been A LOT in recent months, it's not his fault it's the rubbish players ?

 

I really want him to do well for a few reasons but he's getting worse each and every week results wise. There are no excuses unless we have half the first team out injured or the ref is clearly cheating.

We were out played for a few reasons, one being not one player could control the ball, couldn't judge a pass and couldn't judge when to carry the ball or pass it.

It was seriously that bad I honestly am thinking they train with different spec footballs than the matchday ones. 

 

I could control a fly away or what ever people call those cheap plastic footballs nowadays better than the players could tonight.

 

I thought the idea of training was to improve, not look worse each week ?

 

I'm not angry , I'm disappointed, Smith hadn't just let the fans down, he's let himself down *

 

*my nans words about me more often than not while I grew up.

Smith 20 games 

With Grealish 5W 2D 2L

Without 2W 6D 3L

Yes without Grealish we have a mediocre bunch of players bar a small few. Many of our regular players are horrendous and I've said so time and again

Edited February 14, 2019 by Kiwivillan

[chrisvilla4]

I don't get this "we need certain players to play this way" or "the squad is too old/slow" etc.

Balls to that, they are paid a hell of a lot of money for what they do - or should be doing -and they aren't. A complete embarrassment. A footballer playing at a high level should be able to do just that - play football or at the least show motivation, desire and a will to win. We show none of that and it's a disgrace! 

[alreadyexists]

God that was appalling.

[Herman22]

I think tonight's game shows the problem with Villa at the moment. We were outplayed, outworked and generally outclassed. But we had two huge opportunities, if either of them hits the back of the net I think we win that game. We wake this morning say "we played shit, but got 3 points and that's all that matters". Instead, we are looking at another year in this shithouse league. 

The two people the chances fell to are interesting too. Albert hasn't scored in about a year and never looking like putting that one away. Hourihane is a good player but pace isn't his thing and he was always trying to get the shot away early to avoid getting caught. 

Last point, there is only one way to break a high press and that is to move the ball quickly and be brave in possession. Last night showed me that Elphick and Hutton cannot play in a team that keeps possession. I don't question either's commitment but if you want to keep the ball on the ground they aren't you men. 

Still 100% behind Smith, I'll start asking questions if we are in this position this time next year.