Ratings & Reactions: Arsenal v Villa

[TRO]

18 minutes ago, romavillan said:

WTAF at the bold bit? We could go weeks under Bruce before seeing the kind of attacking football we showed away at Arsenal. Yeah we sat back too much on the lead, but we got the lead in the first place and our second was awesome with Jack's run epitomising what we are about now. To call it a Smith delusion is mental, totally off the wall nuts.   

I think we have to be fair here.......Dean said we wasn't meant to defend so deep, but Bruce said the same at Wembley.

We as fans have to understand Managers instructions can only go so far. They can only set them up and guide them, the detail of decision making etc is down to them.....and if tiredness kicks in instructions go out the window and instinct takes over....that can be the danger zone with relatively new players to this league.

As an example :

When Pepe was asked what happened with the 8.... he said "its the players, they are that good"

Sometimes we as fans are very selective when to praise or criticise the manager.

I think Dean is still searching for improvement.....much too early to be over critical, as frustrating as it is......plus the most frustrating of all is, some of the stuff we are producing is perfectly good premiership standard.....but of course some is not, and still championship calibre.

However, I think until we get players playing better....he will struggle with 4-3-3....particularly away from home.

Hence why we are struggling for points.

 

Edited September 23, 2019 by TRO

[thunderball]

Calmed down from yesterday's disappointment. Upon reflection we can take great strength that we have been able to complete and this 11 will be competitive against most teams. And I am consoled that before the game I didn't expect us to win.

Still had our fair share of bad luck with poor reffing calls and mistakes being punished. I think we will pick up and points will follow, and there is a long way to go and hopefully reinforcements in January. I think we will improve as the team continues to gel and there are other stories at other clubs yet to unfold.

This month is very, very important, we need to get results now. I really hope that Wesley finds a bit of confidence in that goal.

[VillaFaninLondon]

2 hours ago, flashingqwerty said:

You must have missed the multiple posts from people saying DS is out of his depth, etc.  He is starting to lose the fans.

His decisions have cost us directly in at least 3 games now, and they are the same mistakes time and again.

Perhaps i'm being overly negative, but ive not seen any real improvement over 6 games, and that worries me.  Not that we are playing badly, but we reach 60 mins, players are clearly tired, which in itself shows a bigger issue, but DS then waits another 20 mins to do something about it by which time we've slipped a couple of goals and the game has gone.

Its frustrating.  If we fail to pick up points against our direct rivals (i.e. Burnley) then where will the points we need to stay up come from?

4 points from 6 games is only marginally better than our relegation season.  DS needs to start learning, and fast, or it'll be too late.  Not to mention his dillusions about our 'attacking intent', which, quite frankly, isn't evident on or off the pitch.

Tend to agree, even if it is still very early in the season. DS looks tactically naïve and it isn’t the first time he has as Villa manager (remember our woeful run of form between December and March last year when Jack was injured). He needs to sharpen up tactically because we need to start winning football matches. Arsenal have a very bad defence and we let them off the hook yesterday when we were 2-1 up, should have continued to get at them and made bold attacking subs earlier in the game to kill the game off. Trying to preserve a lead against Arsenal is not the same as doing it against Championship teams or lower level PL teams, Arsenal were always going to score. The last two games we’ve had a great opportunity to get 6 points and we’ve ended up with 1 – and we’re stuck in the relegation zone.

 

Next three games we must be winning at least 2, now is the time for DS to show he can manage at this level. These are massive games because Burnley, Norwich and Brighton will be in and amongst the relegation zone this season and it’s games like this we have to win, particularly the home games.  Fingers crossed DS can pull some results together because I really want him to succeed with us.

[choffer]

4 hours ago, John said:

Just watched MOTD 2. They all agree it was a clear penalty. VAR just backs the ref's decision, once again it has proved irrelevant that the decision made was blatantly the wrong one. That's two late equalisers and two points that we have been denied against Palace and now Arsenal!

Yep. Definitely not a penalty, that one 

 

[rjw63]

3 hours ago, Robtaylor200 said:

In the cold light of the day

We played Arsenal away from home. Bookies odds were fantastic for a win - It was not expected and Robbed by penalty decision again near the end  

Even though we were not expected to win we could have had a point , I do put most blame on DS for late subs, when we could all see the players in the middle were knackered

This is not the last game we will lose this season, but I still have faith that DS will learn from this and accept that there was more he could have and should have done 

He will keep us up by ensuring wins against the lesser teams 

UTV

2-1 up against 10 men, we should have got all three. I don't care if it was Arsenhole, they ain't all that. These balls-ups will really do for us if we continue them.

[rjw63]

3 hours ago, Robtaylor200 said:

In the cold light of the day

We played Arsenal away from home. Bookies odds were fantastic for a win - It was not expected and Robbed by penalty decision again near the end  

Even though we were not expected to win we could have had a point , I do put most blame on DS for late subs, when we could all see the players in the middle were knackered

This is not the last game we will lose this season, but I still have faith that DS will learn from this and accept that there was more he could have and should have done 

He will keep us up by ensuring wins against the lesser teams 

UTV

[spineynorman]

And the Arsenal winner should have been ruled out too because of the new rule about the attacking players not allowed to be within one yard of the defensive wall. Don't suppose VAR can check that either ?

[delboy54]

I think if we had lost by the expected 2 or 3  -  0 then I would feel a bit better about yesterday, but to lose the way we did......!

It was funny and predictable to read the VT melt down though . I also find it strange that some on here praise player A of having a good game  and yet another VT'r says player A had a shocking game. I suppose its all about expectations and view point I suppose.

Ok let us assume that DS has no experience  in game management, but next to him is JT, surely JT is able to advise what is currently happening to the team in the last 20 mins or so and take action?

I am not a tactics or team formation expert as some are on here, but following the game yesterday on VT it was obvious that sitting back and inviting Arsenal to attack was very wrong. I would like to think that DS and JT know more about football than me and yet we make the same mistake over and over again.

whisper it..."maybe we are not good enough either as a team or manager to cut it in this division, maybe we went up a year too early"

[Teale's 'tache]

I understand the frustration and the disappointment but there's a long way to go yet. It was always going to be a difficult start to the season because of all the new additions.

There's cause for concern sure, we need to manage games better, try to control games more, we need to be more ruthless, we need to have a bit more belief, and in truth we could do with a bit more help from the officials, seems weird to say that after they have sent off opposing players in the last two games but both refs then gave us nothing for the remainders of those games, maybe trying to even it up, then factoring in the non Billing red card, the non Lansbury goal and the none penalty in this game, we've been on the end of some real shockers so far and it would be nice if they evened up sooner than later.

I get the criticism of Smith but I don't think it's that straight forward, I think the players have a case to answer as well, they have to take responsibility for some situations, and make the correct decision more often, both individually and as a team. The subs bench isn't full of world beaters, making a sub is not guaranteed to impact the game in a positive way, I saw a stat during the West Ham game that we were joint top in terms of goals from subs over the past year, so Smith isn't a complete mug. He has made mistakes, and that is to be expected, he's new to this league too, how he reacts to those mistakes is going to be very important.

We've been competitive in every game, a bit of luck, or a decision here or there, and we could be in an entirely different position. We aren't terrible, but we aren't particularly good at the moment either. We're inconsistent, making errors, and disjointed, and it's going to be this way until we start putting together 90 minute performances, it's all fits and starts at the moment. Isn't that exactly what you'd expect from a team with so many new players and light on Premier League experience?

It's going to be a right scrap for us, for likely most of the season. I have faith they will come good, but there are going to be more bumps in the road.

My main concern at the moment is fitness, we seem way behind on fitness, compared to pretty much every team we've faced. It gets to an hour gone in a game and we don't seem to have enough left in the tank to have an impact on the game. I'd love to see some stats on this, are we running too hard the first hour? Do we cover more ground than other teams? Is the system asking too much of some players in this League? We're 6 games in now, you'd of thought even if we weren't 100% at the start of the season we should be by now, do we do enough fitness work between games? Worrying...

 

[Herman22]

Time for us all to look forward now. The next three games in the league will, in my opinion, tell us a lot about where we are going this season. 

Burnley at home will be a tough test. We all know what they bring and Dyche will have them well organised and they carry a threat with Barnes and Wood up front. At home I'd expect to get something from this. 

Norwich away is a game we need to target. Yes they beat City at home last week but they are no world beaters and we are a very different team from the one we were last season in the Championship. 

Then we have the int break and Brighton at home. Another game we have to be targeting for 3 points. 

We have City away after that so the less said about that the better. 

But we should be looking at 6-7 points from the three games and start moving ourselves up the table a bit. 

I still have full faith in DS, UTV! 

[ThunderPower_14]

2 hours ago, thunderball said:

Calmed down from yesterday's disappointment. Upon reflection we can take great strength that we have been able to complete and this 11 will be competitive against most teams. And I am consoled that before the game I didn't expect us to win.

Still had our fair share of bad luck with poor reffing calls and mistakes being punished. I think we will pick up and points will follow, and there is a long way to go and hopefully reinforcements in January. I think we will improve as the team continues to gel and there are other stories at other clubs yet to unfold.

This month is very, very important, we need to get results now. I really hope that Wesley finds a bit of confidence in that goal.

 

Yep, this is where I am as well. We were well on top and creating good chances before they went down to 10 men. We led twice. Yes, we blew it by not making timely subs and inviting pressure, but we might be starting to settle a bit on the attacking end. Grealish made some excellent runs. Trez makes us so much more dangerous. Hopefully Wesley gets a lot of confidence from the goal.

 

We just need to a good half like that into results.

[flashingqwerty]

3 hours ago, TRO said:

I think its a bit premature to start turning on him....but he has to be prepared to change things.....because, right now, we are playing naive football.....good on the eye, poor on points.

I have reservations about the simplicity of Bruce being overly defensive and Smith being overly offensive.....The middle has to be tightened up.

If Dean thinks, we need to go to Arsenal and score 3 or 4, I worry for us...its fanciful.

Like boxing you throw punches and you defend punches and you have you know( make decisions) WHEN to do both.

Honestly Tro, do you feel we were overly offensive at Arsenal?  Or indeed in any game this season?

Personally i think that our lack of attacking intent, certainly against Arsenal and Spurs, is what cost us those games.  We dropped so deep and stopped trying to retain possession and drive forward.

He talks a lot about always attacking and playing on the front foot to always look to score more goals.  I see very little of it on the pitch.

[flashingqwerty]

3 hours ago, romavillan said:

WTAF at the bold bit? We could go weeks under Bruce before seeing the kind of attacking football we showed away at Arsenal. Yeah we sat back too much on the lead, but we got the lead in the first place and our second was awesome with Jack's run epitomising what we are about now. To call it a Smith delusion is mental, totally off the wall nuts.   

Listen to jis comments about how he doesnt believe in putting men behing the ball dropping deep, etc. And how we are always on the front foot looking to attack.

I'm sorry, but what he says and what i see on the pitch are 2 very different things.

Yes, occassionally, we play on the front foot, but certainly not to the extent DS claim. And who mentioned SB? And WTAF has he got to do with DSs comments versus what happens on the pitch?

My point is DS talks a good game, but what he talks about doing has been less than 10% of the football ive seen since promotion.

If we were playing the type of football DS talks about and losing by 3vor 4 every game i'd be less concerned than where we are, as offensively i think we've been relatively poor and have relied heavily on our defence to bail us out.

[Jimzk5]

Reminded me of the Leicester game, had numerous chances to put the game to bed and ended up with nothing

 

[rubberman]

Massively disappointing to end up with nothing from where we were, but I still feel that we are competitive in every game.  Have to start cutting out the clangers, getting a few decisions going our way and getting more clinical, but we aren't far off.  We knew it would be tough - and it is.  

Still think we have enough to stay up.

And quick message to Dean - practice 11 v 10 a bit this week please.

[PrimevalVillan]

One thing I will bring up on the glass half full side is even we mostly took it to palace when we were down a man, ourselves. We should never have committed the mistakes which led to all 3 goals yesterday but you have to give Arsenal credit for continuing to press, out working us at times and forcing those mistakes. 

[smokingzen]

The Arsenal penalty wasn't a penalty, the goal they scored from the free kick should have been disallowed for interference with our wall, and we had a stonewall penalty disallowed.

So whatever the pros and cons of our play, inept refereeing cost us 3 points yesterday.

[TRO]

4 hours ago, flashingqwerty said:

Honestly Tro, do you feel we were overly offensive at Arsenal?  Or indeed in any game this season?

Personally i think that our lack of attacking intent, certainly against Arsenal and Spurs, is what cost us those games.  We dropped so deep and stopped trying to retain possession and drive forward.

He talks a lot about always attacking and playing on the front foot to always look to score more goals.  I see very little of it on the pitch.

I wouldn't say overly offensive, but too open........If you see the better teams ,they keep the ball much better than us and are miserly at giving it away cheaply as opposed to our benevolence.....we let teams back in much too easily.

FWIW I don't think we have enough players who are natural tacklers.....obviously Nakamba and Luiz are still to settle in, fingers crossed.....we need a Gareth Barry type in the middle.

We were leading twice?......So I think we do have an offensive tendency in our make up and to be fair the 2 goals were premiership cred.

No, I think our main problem is we lose the ball too easily, subsequently puts us on a back foot....you cannot attack without the ball, not being smug......Many factors can contribute to that, but its been around us for some time.

Our passing and moving is inconsistent and too easily disrupted.....give us space and we will play, deny us space and we struggle and lose the ball to stronger and more proficient opponents.....I think we are lacking pace in the team too, in a general sense.

 

[VillaCas]

This time last year the team were 13th in the Championship under Steve Bruce and were booed off the pitch after losing 1-2 at home to Sheffield Wednesday 

Just 12 months later we have a young passionate manager who is a fan, a young developing squad who are trying to play attractive attacking football and we are playing in the PL after an amazing record breaking run and an incredible play off final victory

What a turn around - We should be eternally grateful to DS for the incredible job he has done in a few months and we should be right behind him as he tries to steer a path to safety in the PL - season after season we begged for a team that even if they didn’t win would at least play open, positive football - we’ve got one now and are we happy? Are we f***!!

Dean Smith has a free hit from me this season - and if we should go down ( which I don’t think we will) he will have my full support to bring us back up next season

Im absolutely shocked at the level of criticism after the Arsenal game and I’d be ashamed if DS or one of the players were to read the comments - unbelievable 

Edited September 23, 2019 by VillaCas

[Only2McInallys]

Some posters on here have said they could have taken defeat better yesterday if we had played poorly and lost 3-0.

I disagree I thought there were many positives from yesterday especially in the first half ; Grealish is getting back his form of last year,McGinn being McGinn,Marvellous steady performance and Trezeguet and Elgazi both showing good touches.

There were negatives but I feel more confident over that performance compared to Palace game.We lack some steel but this is early days (Marvelous 2nd game,Guillbert 3rd etc)

Completely overhauling the squad and trying to establish ourselves in Premier league is going to be a huge task.I am pleasantly surprised about how many of our signings are settling in quickly and I think Smith is on the right track.

I will not be surprised if we are in the bottom 3 at Christmas but hope fans stay patient.A few additions up front will help us to survive.