Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Bournemouth

[Sulberto21]

I don’t think Benrahma would’ve made too much of a difference for us. The gap is a mighty chasm between the Premier and Championship. He has struggled every time he has played in the French top division. I will always believe attacking reinforcements should come from the premier league, la-liga or the bundesliga. The French and Dutch leagues have players who will be successful here but are very expensive. 

It will be interesting to see how Targett and Guilbert do.   

[AntrimBlack]

The players are getting a real schooling in this league. I believe they will improve as they get used to the pace and quality of this league, but we do have glaring problems.

Wesley is showing what we all expected - that he is not good enough. Big mistake, as most of us thought, not getting in a decent striker. I think we will have to splash out on a top class one in January.

Jota and El Ghazi are just not good enough. We will probably need two more able wingers in January

Although defence is important, we needed our full backs to be more aggressive and to get more balls into the box. Bring in Targett and Guilbert.

Last season it was our attacking and aggression that carried us through - we are afraid and defensive in this league. We must change that mindset. There is no point in being defensive and losing anyway. It is not working and we need to give it a go.

We make mistakes and give goals away. We really must stop the errors. They get punished in this league; it is very unforgiving.

And a special mention for Grealish, who has been awful in the first two games.

However, it is early days and hopefully we will improve, but what I saw out there today was a team in disarray. Honestly, I am a little worried; I would take 17th now if it was offered.

[Paul33]

17 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

we desperately need to get some points on the board before it's too late.

Really ?

We are a team containing players who either have little or no Premier experience mixed with new players who haven't even played in this country before ...... the adaptation needed is huge and WILL take time. All we need to do is improve game on game both individually and as a team unit and we will be okay.

Forget the utter garbage about top-ten finishes, our goal is solely to stay up ...... not make Europe. There is enough quality in the squad but we need to get the mix right in the starting XI and individuals need to adapt fast to to both the pace and physicality of football at this level.

I'm still confident we'll get there but it will take time and we, as fans, mustn't start panicking this early in the season and putting pressure on players.  

Edited August 17, 2019 by Paul33

[thunderball]

9 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

I didn't say he was the answer, I referred to our flaccid options. He would have been an option. Doesn't look like we have any dangerous ones at the minute.

I’d agree with that, but I think we need some real gold. I think we are three good forwards short of a decent squad.

[Lord Willard]

Jesus the negativity in this thread , chill out boys Were some fans expecting 6 points already? Two games into the season. This was never going to be easy, we're still finding our feet. Thought we deserved something from the game. Just wasn't going to be our day but plenty of really good football though. 

We were the better team for 78 minutes. Gifted them a penalty in 42 seconds and a mistake from Luis (who I thought was brilliant btw) got ANOTHER lucky deflection off Mings to hit the post and go in. 

Elmo did okay, Taylor defensively was very good, still offers zero in attack. Would like to see Targett start our next game. 

Trez looks bright, needs to work on his strength but he'll adapt. Wesley is getting better, glimpses of talent there. 

We're unlucky to be 2 games in with 0 points. It'll come. 

 

[Keyblade]

Thought we looked as good and comfortable as we looked in the Championship. These are the games we would have won 2-1 there, but were it not for 2 moments of madness we probably would have been a 1-0 victory after patiently trying to break down a resolute Bournemouth defence. Very encouraged by our last 2 performances. Luckily the fixture list has been relatively kind to us, so we have time to get on the right track.

[sharkyvilla]

7 minutes ago, Awol said:

I have no idea how Bournemouth started the 2nd half with eleven men. 

It's always a tell tale sign when a manager has to hook a player off at half time that he should have been sent off already.  Nonetheless, even against 10 men it's hard to overturn a 2-0 deficit you've basically gifted the oppo.  That's where the game was lost.  The gameplan itself is pretty good but I think we need Hourihane's set pieces as we look like we will struggle to score a huge amount.

[il_serpente]

After a preseason of great movement on and off the ball we've resorted to playing fullbacks who don't overlap much and relying on crosses, often from deep.  And we're not getting anyone in the box to get on the end of them except for our lone striker who, for a big man, does not seem to be very good in the air.

When we were chasing the equalizer we were much too slow, both in moving the ball forward and in players moving on and off the ball.  Bournemouth had plenty of time to get back and keep their shape.

El Ghazi has been poor.  Perhaps start Elmo on right wing with Guilbert overlapping and Elmo tasked with covering defensively when he does.

Overall, would have been at least a point but for 2 early brain farts.  Work needed in the final third, but we had enough to have won this if not gifting them a ridiculous head start.

Finally, is it just me or does Harry Wilson look like the kid everyone hated in school?

[jim]

Very poor and a reality check. 

Lol, at those who predicted a top ten finish. 

 

Edited August 17, 2019 by jim

[DaveAV1]

I didn’t see the game, or even get chance to follow it. However it sounds like we had a slow start and that cost us. We’re just 2 games in and there seems to be a lot of people almost writing some players off already. I recall people doubting Benteke was a PL player after the first 4 or 5 games. 

If we had spent £500m on world class players it would still have taken a lot of them time to settle and gel. Before the season started most people were saying it will take time, we need to remember that. 

[PieFacE]

7 minutes ago, Paul33 said:

Really ?

We are a team containing players who either have little or no Premier experience mixed with new players who haven't even played in this country before ...... the adaptation needed is huge and WILL take time. All we need to do is improve game on game both individually and as a team unit and we will be okay.

Forget the utter garbage about top-ten finishes, our goal is solely to stay up ...... not make Europe. There is enough quality in the squad but we need to get the mix right in the starting XI and individuals need to adapt fast to to both the pace and physicality of football at this level.

I'm still confident we'll get there but it will take time and we, as fans, mustn't start panicking this early in the season and putting pressure on players.  

This is exactly where i'm at.

[Lerner's Driver]

8 minutes ago, thunderball said:

I’d agree with that, but I think we need some real gold. I think we are three good forwards short of a decent squad.

One is hard enough to find let alone three.

[Brumerican]

35 minutes ago, thunderball said:

Really don’t see how you are so critical of Jack, and I’m not a fan boy. It’s like you are watching different games. He’s been OK but can improve. Got the assist for the goal.

I thought he hid when we needed him and nothing seemed to go his way at all . Missed a sitter and seemed off the pace.

[Rugeley Villa]

I don’t think we played bad, but gave two silly goals away again. Defensively I thought we were decent, but got let down by the midfield again. Luiz played well, but got caught three times, which cost us. McGinn was very good again . Grealish although gets on the ball has no end product for us. Wesley played better , but as the game went on he got weaker. Trezeguet was decent again. I enjoyed the game, and I’m still not convinced we will go down . There is enough about this team that I saw today that tells me we will be ok. Need a goal scorer in January though . Taylor has a decent game , but I would have gone with Targett today as he’s better linking up and going forward.

[Brumerican]

44 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

Didn't think he was that bad at all. 

We ain't good enough for him to be average and I don't even think he was average today .

His off the ball movement was non existent for most of the match.

[Rugeley Villa]

I thought we had to get a goal before halftime as Bournemouth were more open first half.I knew they would get men behind the ball second half and make it harder for us. We struggled at times to break them down . 

[Rugeley Villa]

Grealish just didn’t do enough today. And you cannot say the opportunity wasn’t there for him either. Wesley was too deep at times too. 

[il_serpente]

Before we panic too much, remember that even if Chelsea gets a point or 3 against Leicester there will still be 3 teams below us in the table on GD, including an established side who battled for Europe last year and has not scored a goal yet.

[thunderball]

I can see I am going to have to stay away from here for a while. Not sure what a lot of you expected, and don’t seem to be able to see beyond the score line which is distorting your view. Two crazy errors one of which was a wild deflection and they sit back and defend. Look at our stats, we hardly struggled to make an impact. We are improving, we finished 5th in the Championship last season.

This is going to take time, but we have the quality with plenty more to get on the pitch yet, and we will add in January when we know what we need.

[nick76]

Lost the game in the first 12 minutes and then were the better team for the rest of the match with just no ability to score the goals needed unfortunately.  I’m surprisingly not as disappointed as I thought I would be because I can see upsides.

We need to cut out silly mistakes and we need to be better in the final third.

Mings and Engels were great again and I can’t believe I’m saying that considering they have conceded 5 goals in two games but they were.

We need Jack desperately but he was poor again today.  He’s not my scapegoat before anybody says anything as there was other problems but we need him to perform for this team to click.

We might rue not getting another striker in.

still think once we settle and gel a bit better we have a decent team and IMO we were the better team today.  We need to cut out mistakes, gel a bit and figure out how to score some goals.

Great goal by Luiz though.

Edited August 17, 2019 by nick76