Ratings & Reactions: Villa v West Ham

[briny_ear]

Jota is the only really big worry for me. Afraid he looks really off the pace and out of his depth in this league. Let’s hope his substitution tonight indicates Smith’s thinking about his seemingly automatic place in the team.

[Lerner's Driver]

Just now, TheStagMan said:

If you say so.

I do.

[barry'sboots]

I thought we matched a top half side - looked sharper than them until they went down to 10 men - who have spent a lot of money over the last few years.

Having said this, I am disappointed in Smith's lack of flexibility.  He is determined to stick to his 4-3-3 and our wingers just aren't doing it.  I would go 4-4(diamond)-2 and get an extra body in midfield ((Lansbury's energy for me) and push Jack higher off Davis and Wes - who would be a handful for 2 CB's.  Really needs Targett to come back in for this as Taylor offers nothing going forward!

[TheStagMan]

Just now, Lerner's Driver said:

I do.

Good for you.

[VillaCas]

Hard to know what some on here expect - I’m looking towards a long hard season and will be delighted if we finish 17th, therefore a point against a top ten team is fine with me. 

Defence and midfield look very decent and will keep us in with a chance in most games. We are not as strong upfront and I think we all knew that would be a issue before the season started. 

I’d imagine more re-enforcements will be drafted in in January but Clearly upfront is the most expensive area to improve and it may take some time (seasons) to get that right - in the meantime we need to grind out results and keep putting points on the board

[Lerner's Driver]

Just now, TheStagMan said:

Good for you.

Thanks.

[flashingqwerty]

Wes was poor, but the service to him was worse.

Grealish has all that talent, but doesn't seem to know how to use it.  Was the deepest of our midfield 3 most of the game.  Been poor all season, but particularly wasteful tonight.

Jota and El Ghazi just arent good enough.

We're a decent team, but we're lacking creativity and individual magic, and with Jack so deep i don't see anyone else producing anything.

Bring on the Jan window, another striker, another AMC and another winger AT LEAST.

We might survuve with what we've got, but they clearly arent up tp the tasks in the forward positions for me.

[brummybloke]

16 minutes ago, TheStagMan said:

Criticism is fine but our players are being torn apart in here tonight by our own fans. Expectations are far too high. This is going to be a rocky season with lots of ups and downs.

Do I think we will improve? Yes of course I do. I have seen enough in the games we have played to see we have good players all over the pitch. They have played 5 competitive games together and need time to gell. They will get better the more they play together. Most of these players have not played in this league before and are still adjusting to it. Time and patience is needed. Plus we will plug gaps in Jan.

Grealish, how was his passing tonight ? You think he was hitting his man every time ? It was probably getting towards 60 % it was that bad, and a decent amount of times was under no pressure.

Are fans not allowed to be disappointed in 1 game when a player didn't do the basics well ? 

No criticism allowed ? 

Or should we just keep making excuses when there aren't any for such a poor display of passing from someone who we know can play far better ?

He had a shocker tonight although compared to jota tonight, he was ronaldoesque.

You have your opinion great, others pointing out some were not good enough tonight when the game was there are also allowed to point that out.

Edited September 16, 2019 by brummybloke

[Chindie]

I'll take a point against this West Ham side.

We should have got more, we spurned a few good chances. But, equally, we made those chances, where at the start of the season, we wouldn't have. Defensively, we looked pretty solid. And we are still a work in progress, we'll keep getting better as things settle and players click and gel. We are still unfinished, unfortunately, however. We miss forward options - wingers and strikers. But, overall, theres plenty of positives to take from the game, it only leaves a sour taste because we had the chances to make more of it.

Heaton - had very little to do

Guilbert - quick becoming a favourite. You have to love a fullback that can lose the ball in midfield, chase back and win it back by his own box.

Engels - excellent. Calm, assured, stifled West Ham.

Mings - As with Engels, though with more Blood and Thunder style. Great again.

Taylor - Taylored. Not as good defensively as he has been this season so far, had a few cock ups. Also provided a collectors item Good Cross late on.

Nakamba - Good debut. He has energy, spark, drive, good feet, some aggression, a bit of skill. He misplaced a few passes, but all in all a good debut.

McGinn - Ran and ran, had a few shots, one of which just whistled wide,  put himself about. Standard McGinn performance. Won't be in his highlight reel but not a bad one either.

Grealish - Involved in pretty much everything again, but is falling into the trap of trying too hard and making dumb errors when the easy thing is the right move. He's still making the moves, but he's cocking them up. Equally, put in some cracking passes and really, really should have scored.

Jota - Not a game to remember. Not bad per se, but his lack of pace and strength cost him too often.

Wesley - Possibly his worst game so far. Missed a couple of good chances, went down too easily at stupid times too often, didn't get involved like he has done before now... He has ability, but we aren't making the most of him and he needs to get better.

El Ghazi - a bit of a stinker. Lax defensively leading to a completely stupid coming together with Mings, which has to stop now, poor touches all over the shop. Equally, had a few chances, bravely went in against Fabianski... not quite there yet somehow.

Elmohamady - Came on, got fouled leading to the red, and didn't really do much else to catch the eye.

Luiz - Put in a brilliant deep cross that Grealish just failed to convert, and didn't have much else in the little time on the pitch he had.

Davis - Came on, put himself about for 5 minutes, and that was it.

[Lerner's Driver]

1 minute ago, VillaCas said:

Hard to know what some on here expect - I’m looking towards a long hard season and will be delighted if we finish 17th, therefore a point against a top ten team is fine with me. 

Defence and midfield look very decent and will keep us in with a chance in most games. We are not as strong upfront and I think we all knew that would be a issue before the season started. 

I’d imagine more re-enforcements will be drafted in in January but Clearly upfront is the most expensive area to improve and it may take some time (seasons) to get that right - in the meantime we need to grind out results and keep putting points on the board

Not sure anyone expects anything much particularly - they'd be foolish if they did. We all know it's going to be a slog. As such, it's only natural to identify our weaknesses and express our opinions on what needs changing.

[ciggiesnbeer]

I was really impressed with our players commitment. Arguably they were trying too hard. Anyway I am a happy camper. Great to see the crowd also appreciate the lads efforts at the end.

[ciggiesnbeer]

5 minutes ago, brummybloke said:

Grealish, how was his passing tonight ? You think he was hitting hit man every time ? It was probably getting towards 60 % it was that bad, and a decent amount of times was under no pressure.

Are fans not allowed to be disappointed in 1 game when a player didn't do the basics well ? 

No criticism allowed ? 

Or should we just keep making excuses when there aren't any for such a poor display of passing from someone who we know can play far better ?

He had a shocker tonight although compared to jota tonight, he was ronaldoesque.

You have your opinion great, others pointing out some were not good enough tonight when the game was there are also allowed to point that out.

He said himself he had a bad game , should have scored and he personally got worse after the red card.

He he already more critical about himself than most fans. I applaud that in our captain. Its as it should be.

[TheStagMan]

14 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

Thanks.

You're welcome

[Made In Aston]

I think the criticism of Wesley is a bit harsh. He was isolated most of the game because Smith hasn't found a way to get support to him. That said, he could have done better with the rare moments when he touched the ball. 

[Made In Aston]

23 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Guilbert - quick becoming a favourite. You have to love a fullback that can lose the ball in midfield, chase back and win it back by his own box.

This was probably the best bit of play all game. I gave him MOTM, as he stopped Anderson getting into any type of rhythm all game. He looked quality all night. 

It did get me thinking about how good it would have been to have amavi on the other side to balance it up. 

Edited September 16, 2019 by Made In Aston

[rbcuk]

Definitely 2 points dropped, talking of dropped we need to drop Taylor ASAP he is a waste of space going forward, even defensively he was crap tonight 

[Nigel]

43 minutes ago, Bunnski said:

Judging on our last two matches we look like relegation candidates, hopefully something clicks over the next few weeks and we show a big improvement.

We are relegation candidates!

[Hanky]

This is about what I expected so far. In fact, Mings and Engels look the real deal at centre half, and a decent debut from Nakamba bar a few loose balls.

Missing that cutting edge in the front three positions. Feels like McGinn and Grealish are trying too hard to create something when it should be the wide men getting involved. Both were too far apart in the last ten minutes. 

[ozvillafan]

We look like a team that has only played 5 games together. Who'd have thought?

Credit West Ham. They were the better side off the ball than they were on it - which is why it was no surprise that having only 10 men made little difference. Rice and Noble did an excellent job in midfield stopping the likes of McGinn and Grealish and closing down at every opportunity.

We haven't quite clicked yet:

- Passes going astray all over the pitch

- Runs into dead ends or into a gang of defenders

- Zero service to Wes, who barely got a touch

Even so, I like what we are trying to do - we just aren't there yet.

[KentVillan]

One thing I thought: West Ham had done their homework on our players.

There were lots of little moments where one of our players would do something with the ball and the West Ham player seemed to anticipate it. I think this caused a lot of our misplaced passes, as our players were forced into doing something they didn't really want to do.

A good example was when Jota broke down the right, and Wesley started making the same run he made for the Everton goal. The West Ham LCB suddenly realised what was happening and moved to shut it off.

But I also thought El Ghazi had been completely worked out.

This is the thing at this level. One dimensional players get found out. Jota, El Ghazi, Taylor, Wesley are all a bit too predictable, and a well drilled side will have done their homework, and will be ready for it.

I'm also perplexed by Smith's attitude towards Hourihane. I thought 11 v 10 with space in midfield against tired legs, this would be an ideal scenario for Hourihane to pop up with a late goal.

Positives from this game:

• Heaton, Mings, Engels, Nakamba looks like a spine that will keep clean sheets. This will be vital if we're to stay up.
• West Ham are a good team with a top manager, and will beat better teams than us.
• We are creating goalscoring chances. Not as many as you'd like, but enough to be winning games if we start putting them away.
• We didn't allow them many realistic goalscoring chances (better performance defensively than against Bournemouth, Everton).

Negatives:

• We are very dependent on Grealish and / or McGinn firing. When they both have an off day, we look very poor.
• Lack of a genuine backup option for Wesley means we're putting an awful lot of pressure on a 22-year-old who managed 10 goals in the Belgian league last year.
• Outside our defence, we lack an awful lot of game intelligence. Just loads of poor decision making from the front 6. Wesley, Engels and Heaton (and Neil Taylor actually, tbf) look like the only grown ups on the pitch. This will hopefully improve as the season progresses.