Ratings & Reactions: Villa v West Ham

[BennettVilla]

I would've taken a point before the game kicked off. They have some brilliant attacking players in the likes of Anderson, haller and lanzini. Even 11v11 it never felt like our defence was under pressure. We all love Mings but every game I just think Engels gets better and better. By far our best signing of the summer thus far.

Feels strange to say but I feel Grealish needs to be a bit more selfish and run at players more instead of looking to pass. Obviously on a case by case basis but there were times tonight where I felt a defender was rushing at him and he chose to pass where one of his touches could've drawn a foul. Maybe thats clouded by his poor passing tonight. 

Jota for me is not a winger and needs to play more central but I can't see that happening. Can the real Wesley please stand up. No, literally.

Strangest thing tonight which I'm hoping someone has the answer for, why did Declan Rice applaud the Holte end for a good 30 seconds? Im not confusing him for snoddy as his came over later. Is Rice a Villa fan or something? Or just trying to get fans on his side to keep his England caps up? Weird

I'll take the draw, G'night

[ChicagoVillan1983]

Was as the game. Felt like 2 points lost than a point gained. Inches away from a clinical goal. Didn’t feel at any point that West Ham were going to score... Was worried every time the ball came near Taylor.

Think Villa were unlucky not to convert a chance, although I feel they got worse when WH went to 10 men.

[turvontour]

1 hour ago, barry'sboots said:

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!

Did norwich match a top half side (Man City)? We need to win football matches.

[The_Rev]

We look like we couldn't punch our way out of a wet paper bag.  Really liked Engels again, felt that Mings and McGinn were decent, Jack blew hot and cold and Marvellous did well considering it was his Premier League debut and he's probably not match fit, but the attack just don't carry much of a threat. If they are going to be this toothless from open play then we really need to work on those set pieces.  

[Davkaus]

Just now, The_Rev said:

If they are going to be this toothless from open play then we really need to work on those set pieces.  

Sadly we have one player at the club who can take a decent free kick, and he's on the bench to make room for some passengers on the wings. 

[nick76]

Continue to be impressed by Engels

Getting really worried about our final third play, we look poor.  Not picking on any player, just as a team we struggle in the final third and I’m not seeing it getting better game on game.

[barry'sboots]

17 minutes ago, turvontour said:

Did norwich match a top half side (Man City)? We need to win football matches.

They didn't match West Ham in the last round of games!

[TRO]

2 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

Wow, so much negativity and over reaction. FFS people, we are a work in progress and we gave West Ham a bloody good test, Heaton was not troubled all evening. 

Yes we have work to do, and we lost the plot a bit after the sending off, we misplaced a lot of passes but these players have played 5 league games together and more than held their own against an established top half team. We had by far the better chances and on another day could have won that by a couple of goals.

It saddens me to see our fans tearing into our own players after a game. FFS get behind the team. This is a season of transition and we have a lot of work to do, but anyone would think we had just lost to Accrington Stanley.

The fans in the ground was behind the team at the end......This is a forum and folk are reporting on what they have seen.....not whats coming in the future.

However, you're right...west Ham would have gone 3rd had they won and it would have been 3 wins on the bounce for them.......but it doesn't take away some of the poor quality we managed to muster at times.

We must improve.

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

Not good enough to win......and not bad enough to lose, so probably a fair result.

I thought Wes worked very,very hard and with better wingers he will score.....but should have tucked Jacks cross away.

I think the wingers need to be much bolder and forthright in their approach, but In truth perhaps not quite good enough.....The front 3 certainly lack cohesion and understanding and positional play is suspect.

They have a better team, so we probably done well really.

Edited September 16, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

Question?

why do we never have a player near the half way line when the opposition take a corner or a free kick?......which would give us a ready made outlet ball and possibly drag 2 of their players out to chaperone ours.....not to mention a quick counter attack

Edited September 17, 2019 by TRO

[gurru991]

Engels & Mings were very good in my opinion, I feel they will only get better.

[LakotaDakota]

3 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

This, I don't think people understand how much we have achieved in such a short time and how much of an achievement staying up (which i thknk we will do) will be.

There is a but to this though, I know it is only 5 games and things take time to gel etc etc but 13% of the season has gone already. We have earned less than 1 point per game on average so far, We have failed to score in 40% of our games & are averaging less than 1 goal scored per game. If that continues over the course of the season we will be going down. You can't win games if you can't put the ball in the net & with our attacking options being so completely woeful i can't see it changing anytime soon.

Sure we are creating a few one off chances here & there but we are not creating any sort of sustained pressure on anyone. In 5 games this season we have managed to win a combined total of 14 corners, 10 of them were in one game (bournemouth).

We created the better chances tonight if nothing else but the finishing & decision making in the final third was generally awful.

4 teams averaged less than 1 goal per game last season. 3 of them went down. After 5 games this year again only 4 teams have less than 1 goal per game. We are one of those 4.

It's still early but there is reason to be concerned.

Edited September 17, 2019 by LakotaDakota

[AstonMartyn88]

1 hour ago, BennettVilla said:

Strangest thing tonight which I'm hoping someone has the answer for, why did Declan Rice applaud the Holte end for a good 30 seconds? Im not confusing him for snoddy as his came over later. Is Rice a Villa fan or something? Or just trying to get fans on his side to keep his England caps up? Weird

Think I read somewhere he was due to come on loan to us at the start of last season then the deal got canned. Might have been in this month's FourFourTwo

[TRO]

14 minutes ago, LakotaDakota said:

There is a but to this though, I know it is only 5 games and things take time to gel etc etc but 13% of the season has gone already. We have earned less than 1 point per game on average so far, We have failed to score in 40% of our games & are averaging less than 1 goal scored per game. If that continues over the course of the season we will be going down. You can't win games if you can't put the ball in the net & with our attacking options being so completely woeful i can't see it changing anytime soon.

We created the better chances tonight if nothing else but the finishing & decision making in the final third was generally awful.

I concur.

I was amazed that in the dying seconds Taylor chose to punt a speculative ball back, when it was easier to have a crack at goal in the opposite direction.

Its this pusillanimous decision making that is hampering us.

Edited September 17, 2019 by TRO

[bannedfromHandV]

I thought it was an odd game, scrappy and slow tempo from both teams.

McGinns energy levels seem to be dropping, doesn’t quite look the same player but hard to tell if that’s just because of better calibre opposition.

They were there for the taking before they went down to 10 men, the game was crying out for energy up top and the Davis substitution was 20 minutes too late.

[Junxs]

Surprised theres no discussion about the Mings/El Ghazi incident here.

Gotta say I'm not sure what El Ghazi did wrong, the ball was in the air and looked like Neil Taylor was going to chest it but misjudged the flight of it and messed up - El Ghazi was expecting Taylor to take control of the ball and perhaps stayed up a bit in anticipation for an outlet pass, thats what I would have done in that scenario. How was he to know Taylor was going to make a massive misjudgement and gift possession away. Thought it was incredibly harsh for Mings to have a go at El Ghazi there, if anything he should have been having a go at Taylor for messing up. El Ghazi should definitely not have tried to nut Mings though!

[Junxs]

Wow, cant believe I'm the first to give the ref a very poor rating, most have given him a good/average.

Firstly when McGinn was through on goal and the ref gave them a free kick, the linesman didnt flag as he saw no foul, and replays showed that their defender just slipped - no foul. McGinn was clean through on goal - shocking decision, why not let it play on and come back to check if there was a foul on VAR if you are not sure (obviously can't have been sure as replays showed it was just a slip).

He booked Mings for a nothing challenge, and also Grealish for his first foul. Noble clearly dived looking for a penalty, and should have been off for a 2nd yellow there an then;  doesnt matter that it was the first half. Last week Grealish got booked for alleged diving, so Noble should have been off by the letter of the law. 

As for their sending off, we might feel we deserve the rub of the green - but 2 wrongs dont make a right, Elmo went down far too easily and it was barely a foul let alone a 2nd yellow. 

Going back to the Noble dive for a moment, the commentator stated that it couldnt go to VAR as it doesnt get involved with diving incidents.. what the actual ****?? so if the ref had given a penalty there, VAR could not overturn it? thats shocking.

Can't believe most of you thought the ref had a good game judging by the poll.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Junxs
spelling

[VillaCas]

1 hour ago, LakotaDakota said:

There is a but to this though, I know it is only 5 games and things take time to gel etc etc but 13% of the season has gone already. We have earned less than 1 point per game on average so far, We have failed to score in 40% of our games & are averaging less than 1 goal scored per game. If that continues over the course of the season we will be going down. You can't win games if you can't put the ball in the net & with our attacking options being so completely woeful i can't see it changing anytime soon.

Sure we are creating a few one off chances here & there but we are not creating any sort of sustained pressure on anyone. In 5 games this season we have managed to win a combined total of 14 corners, 10 of them were in one game (bournemouth).

We created the better chances tonight if nothing else but the finishing & decision making in the final third was generally awful.

4 teams averaged less than 1 goal per game last season. 3 of them went down. After 5 games this year again only 4 teams have less than 1 goal per game. We are one of those 4.

It's still early but there is reason to be concerned.

Not wanting to appear argumentative, but if you started this season expecting us to be putting top ten teams under “sustained pressure” I think you were wildly over optimistic. I expect to feel “concerned” throughout the season

We are five games in, with a dozen new players, playing in one of the most talent packed leagues in the world - it’s going to be really tough going

Personally, I’m pleased with the start we’ve made - we haven’t been outplayed by anyone, we look very good at the back, we have a good attitude (and with a tiny bit more luck and we could easily have a few more points on the board)

I hope and believe that we can avoid relegation and if we can I’ll be well pleased

 

[AJ]

4 hours ago, Junxs said:

Wow, cant believe I'm the first to give the ref a very poor rating, most have given him a good/average.

Firstly when McGinn was through on goal and the ref gave them a free kick, the linesman didnt flag as he saw no foul, and replays showed that their defender just slipped - no foul. McGinn was clean through on goal - shocking decision, why not let it play on and come back to check if there was a foul on VAR if you are not sure (obviously can't have been sure as replays showed it was just a slip).

He booked Mings for a nothing challenge, and also Grealish for his first foul. Noble clearly dived looking for a penalty, and should have been off for a 2nd yellow there an then;  doesnt matter that it was the first half. Last week Grealish got booked for alleged diving, so Noble should have been off by the letter of the law. 

As for their sending off, we might feel we deserve the rub of the green - but 2 wrongs dont make a right, Elmo went down far too easily and it was barely a foul let alone a 2nd yellow. 

Going back to the Noble dive for a moment, the commentator stated that it couldnt go to VAR as it doesnt get involved with diving incidents.. what the actual ****?? so if the ref had given a penalty there, VAR could not overturn it? thats shocking.

Can't believe most of you thought the ref had a good game judging by the poll.

I gave the ref a " Good" rating, but to be honest, I cant stand the prick.

As for the overall consensus, I have a theory. After the corruption impersonating officiating during the last match, it would have been easy to expect an improvement. Lets say you were at a talent show, and you had to endure "The World's Tallest Midget", and the following act was an octogenarian playing the chorus to Nine Inch Nails " Closer" on the harmonica. Not great, but at least he made an effort, and much less fraudulent than the previous act. Mike Dean blew his notes at the right time.

This might be the case for some. As for myself, and more likely as well for many, he did have a good control of the game, and did allow it to flow. Mr Dean has a penchant for attention, but I believe he gave both sides a fair game. I don't like him, but credit was due. He gets my "Good".

[Mic09]

Some people post as if it's ok that we weren't very good in the final third because West Ham are good and because they will finish top 10.

No. We weren't very good offensively, and we wouldn't have scored against Derby yesterday or Norwich yesterday. We need to address that issue quickly.

It's 2 points lost, not 1 gained, and we really need to be picking these up quickly, especially considering we have had a relatively easy run in so far.