Ratings & Reactions: Arsenal v Villa

[turvontour]

3 minutes ago, CosmicVillan said:

I expected us to lose but having it snatched away hurts more than just getting a pasting

We are still a new team, so I expect things like this to happen especially away at the big clubs. I still think we wil be okay, Smith teams tend to go winning streaks ..as well as winless ones.

We aren't a poor team, we are just naive and it's costing us at the moment. We've been in every game we played and we've had good spells in all of them, it's just we lack that Premier League experience and our ' young and hungry ' meant we didn't bring anyone in who had that much.

  

It's odd isn't it how we have been winning for the majority of both the games away at Spurs and Arsenal, but then gone on to lose. And that oddly feels worse than losing 4 or 5 nil.

However, that's the positive I take from this and from the season so far, is that we are more than involved in every contest.

[Villarocker]

2 hours ago, Nigel said:

Hate to say, that was on Smith.

Mcginn was out on his feet, why wasnt there any substitutions? 

I can understand the natural way the game went to drop deep to protect the result but things needed refreshing.

We had it in us to hold that then.....so frustrating!

Great Post this ^^

McGinn was shattered and needed replacing but it didn't happen and as a result we were overrun. For Deano to then complain about how deep we sat worries me as he should be seeing why that's happening as its happening and making changes accordingly. 

[VillaFaninLondon]

We've competed in every game so far this season, but managed to lose four times. I don't think we lack quality, but we definitely need to tighten up our game management and a lot of that comes down to Deano. Shouldn't have gone as defensive as he did against 10 man Arsenal, we needed to go for the third to kill the game off. 

 

Next three games imo are huge:

Burnely (h)

Norwich (a)

Brighton (h)

 

Need to be winning those games before a tougher run starts in late October. I'd take a 1-0 scrappy win in all three. Anything less than 2 wins from those games will not be good enough.

[choffer]

What a horrible feeling. A good few positives in the game but you could see us dropping deeper and deeper in the second half. We need to get past this feared mentality and keep pushing on when leading. 

The number of times we were exposed on the flanks was worrying and while it was great to see Wesley get a goal, he doesn’t yet look like the answer. 

Villa fans were great though. Was tough sitting in among the Woolwich fans and even though I was sat on my hands for the most part, I got rumbled by my neighbours when our second went it. There really is so little atmosphere there though so top marks for our travelling support for bringing so much life to the game. 

 

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

First half was pleasing, was a bit end-to-end in those opening exchanges but we showed a lot more bite and promise than in previous weeks. It was a pleasant surprise, so imagine my joy at HT when we go in a goal and a man ahead.

Was watching with a gooner and told him I bet we still manage to **** this up.

Second half started just as I hoped, we looked like actually making the extra man count, Jack was running the show driving forward and picking the right passes at the right times. Even Mings was going on an adventure. We wasted a few openings but looked in control.

Then the penalty came which was Engels first error all game, he was brilliant throughout again I thought. It was a massive boost to go ahead again, great work by Jack, nicely finished by Wes. I thought we'd crumble after the first equaliser, so to get this reprieve reinvigorated my belief that we'll go on to pick them off and win.

Then the big error for me was bringing Elmo on. Should have come on for Guilbert who was allowing them too much space down their left to get to the byline too easily. Elmo would have been more disciplined and we still would have had Trezeguet's pace as an outlet to hurt them. This sub invited them onto us and we blew up in true Villa fashion throwing away what would have been an invaluable 3 points. So disappointed, its turned what would have been a lovely happy week of work into a shit sandwich. Really neeed to start learning how to see games out, especially against 10 men. Every point will be crucial this season and we've just thrown a load away again.

 

[Keener window-cleaner]

Very frustating, we should not loose leading and having one more player on the pitch for more than half of the match.

One of few times I'm critical to Smiths decisions, he should have made changes earlier, we were knackered. Hourihane and Lansbury are screaming to play and were full of running. Jack and McGinn can't be untouchable.

[Monsieur Hazdazler]

I’ve seen a lot of people blaming Smith for this one and I’ll admit that the slow substitutions in the last two games have been disappointing. 

I’ve just finished watching the game (repeat on delay as I live in NZ so watching it after waking up here), I knew the score before watching it as I get too stressed knowing the score is out there while watching it.

Immediately after our second we look pretty good for a few minutes, then we started to get put under a lot of pressure and Arsenal’s subs made a difference. Our lack of control of the game 11v10 was very concerning again.

However for me the biggest issue in the last 25mins was the defensive line dropping really deep rather than the lack of subs. Mings and Engels really need to get the defensive line higher up the pitch and multiple times they were just walking the line out. The gap between them and midfield was too big and it left the midfield open - the defenders have to realise that, it’s basic game sense not Smith’s management. If we had brought on two subs in midfield earlier I honestly think it would have made no difference.

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 hour ago, turvontour said:

It's odd isn't it how we have been winning for the majority of both the games away at Spurs and Arsenal, but then gone on to lose. And that oddly feels worse than losing 4 or 5 nil.

However, that's the positive I take from this and from the season so far, is that we are more than involved in every contest.

The season we went down we would get spanked in these games and lose against weaker teams by the odd goal.  If we play like we did today we will have a good chance of winning our next 3 in my opinion. 

[PaulC]

We are in the bottom 3 but have played two of the big clubs away from home and were done out of a point at Palace. Not sure what we expected with a bunch of new signings. We have been competitive in every game. 

[flashingqwerty]

3 hours ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Aside from Smith's criticism isn't it individual errors once again? First Engels then Minds.

Thing you need to look at what caused the individual errors.

For Engels, its because the midfield put up no fight to prevent the runners,; grealish for me doesn't do enough in that midfield 3 and needs to be moved out wide or pushed up as the forward of a narrow mifldfield 4 (diamond) and for Mings, the whole side was dead on its feet and subs should have been made at least 15 minutes earlier.

Fact is, with better off field decisions, those individual errors dont happen.

[flashingqwerty]

Lose the next game and things are going to get very difficult for DS

[deeps]

The old cliché, “arsenal is arsenal”. But, I got to question Dean and his lack of subs. 0-1. 10 men. Go for it. Going for it is what fr is up. League up or not, continue the trend. 
 

I live in Islington and I’m embarrassed as hell. 

[turvontour]

31 minutes ago, flashingqwerty said:

Lose the next game and things are going to get very difficult for DS

Really, why? Not like we're cut adrift and getting smashed in every game.

If we'd held out for another 10 mins today we would have been one point off 7th. 

[MadridVilla]

Bitterly disappointing to lose in the manner we did, given the man advantage and having the lead into the last 10 minutes. I'm still positive about Smith and the players, there were just a number of mistakes out there that were punished and that is the reality of this division - you cannot afford to do what Villa did today if you want to stay up.

It's so frustrating because it seems like every week we keep shooting ourselves in the foot - we should have picked up points against Arsenal, Bournemouth, Palace and Spurs and yet we didn't manage any. My worry is that at some point if this trend of dropping easy points carries on, the rot will set in and there will be a belief that this team is destined to fail despite the performances justifying points. We will start to believe there is some fatal curse preventing us from seeing games out and causing referees to consistently make inexplicable decisions and VAR not intervening. 

Fans calling to DS to go need to take a long hard look at themselves. May I remind everyone with a short memory that the man was a hero in everyone's eyes only 6 games ago and he has not even been at the club for 12 months. This is a club that nearly ran out of cash only last year and the turnaround to be promoted the following season showed an unbelievable amount of progress alone. We entered the league by replacing half the squad and in many cases the performances have warranted more points than we have. I've thought right from the first game of the season that Villa are 80% of the way there - against Everton it all came together and they showed what they can do. Come the second half of the season, I believe that Villa will be firing all cylinders and with a couple of new faces in January (particularly a striker) we will start to pick up those lost points from these early games. I would give Deano the whole season, and if he takes us down it is not necessarily the case that other managers would have kept us up anyway. I'm not saying Smith is perfect or blameless because he has made mistakes, but I do still believe he is fundamentally a good manager. I don't disagree with his starting 11, his formation or his style of play - there are just issues with substitutions and game management that need to be addressed. He is learning the hard way not to make those mistakes again in this league.

Still staying positive despite today's result. 5 or 6 points from the next 3 games and everything starts to look rosy again, and that is very doable imo. Keep the faith.

 

 

[deeps]

Next 3 = 7 points min for me. 
 

that handball is killing me though. 

[ozvillafan]

Excellent for 70 minutes.

Dire for 20.

Smith had to make subs to respond to Arsenal. He didn't.

Even so, the team failed at simple game management:

- Don't muck around in your own box

- Slow the game down and keep your passes simple

- Shield the ball when in trouble, drawing a foul especially as Arsenal were increasing in desperation.

Some truly horrible stuff in the final minutes.

 

[PompeyVillan]

We punched ourselves out after 60 minutes. Up until then we did alright. We limited Arsenal to one real chance on goal. Our work rate was impressive. We played a decent mid block with the midfield working particularly hard. Trezeguet was literally everywhere, his enthusiasm is fantastic and he seemed to really want to make up for the mistake against Palace. 

Unfortunately, we didn't have much of the ball in the first half, so much of our work was chasing. And in the second half we lost the mental and physical battle. Arsenal looked like the team with the extra man.

But yes, the 60 minute mark was significant for me. We went 2-1 up and we started to look tired, both in the minds of the players and the legs. Trezeguet was rightly substituted, but I couldn't help but feel we should have been making another change in midfield. They are important players, but McGinn and Grealish can be substituted. Nakamba was looking a bit loose on the ball as well. The game became stretched and Guendouzi who's is odious and magnificent in equal measures, took a grip of the game, and didn't let go. 

I dunno, I think Hourihane could have come on much sooner. I wouldn't have been against giving Davis a game either, Wesley was beginning to lose his battles. We lost control of the ball, and we had to keep running, and we already looked spent. 

So when the second goal went in, you could see the third coming. As Smith alluded to after the game, all three goals were from mistakes. 

Partly it is down to inexperience. Not many of our squad have played in this league before, many are still getting used to their teammates. Partly we capitulated because our players are not as good as Arsenal's. Unfortunately we need to learn on the job, but without the luxury of time. 

A different challenge next Saturday. One that we would realistically want/expect/need to win. 

[DaveAV1]

I think Deano should have made changes earlier, but it was individual mistakes that cost us, from players that have been great for us this season. It happens. Perhaps tiredness contributed and so Deano has to take the blame there. 

However I don’t understand this attitude that because a team go a man down it’s a guaranteed win, particularly against sides that are currently sitting 4th and 5th. Just because Arsenal aren’t as good as they were, that doesn’t make them poor, especially going forwards. 

We’re just 6 games into the season and Dean Smith is just 6 games into being a PL manager. We’ve made mistakes, we’ve had to make far too many changes to the team in a single window. I think we would have signed more, but we’re mindful of making even more changes. Elmohamady still getting lots of game time I believe is a symptom of us trying to keep some existing players in the squad. 

We’ll learn and grow together, team, coaches, everyone at the club. Thinking that there won’t be some setbacks along the way is at least overly optimistic. What we must do is stick together, both on and off the pitch. Almost everything in life worth achieving needs to be hard fought for, football is no different. 

And having just watched MOTD, VAR being fit for purpose wouldn’t hurt either. Hopefully over the season it balances out, but it hasn’t done us any favours so far. 

[TRO]

3 hours ago, romavillan said:

The suicide and the mistakes are "a bit shit" yes. The difference with now as opposed to the other times when we've been more than a bit shit, is that we finally appear to be able to play football. We played some one touch stuff out from the back against an extremely talented footballing side and looked great at times. Under the last manager at a lower level we rarely looked capable of passing to each other. 

I didn't say anything about luck, I said we made some howlers at the back and against the manager's instructions we sat far too deep with 15 mins left winning 2-1. The Engels challenge for the pen was unnecessary he just had to shadow him until he ran into Mings, but I think he genuinely thought he could nick the ball. The Mings header for their second is a horrible mistake, even if he'd got it right it was a **** terrible thing to do to the fullback with a man on him, should have gone for a corner. Then the challenge for the free kick for their third was a gift, no need and even if it was harsh they give those at this level all the time. Free kick itself was special so hands up there but it should have been a consolation not the winner.

That  is why I'm positive, we are competitive against very good teams, we don't need to panic. I don't mind if we get relegated as long as we're continuing to build something for the future and we keep going out every week to win and play football the right way. The target this season is 17th, we actually look capable of achieving it if you ask me. The fact we are disappointed about throwing the game away away at the Emirates instead of trying to shrug off a 5-0 pasting to me is a positive. 

If the wall had of resembled anything like a wall, he would have had a difficult job.....instead, there was a gaping hole to aim for.

 

[TRO]

I was expecting to lose....but when I saw some of our play, I think we tossed it away and going in front twice just rubs it in.

Yet again a stone blind penalty....not sure how we manage to be this unlucky with official decisions.

The exchange between Mings and Taylor was so frustrating.....both were at fault IMO....mings should have headed out and Taylor was caught in the headlights too indecisive.

Its going to be a long season, if we keep pressing the self destruct button.

Edited September 22, 2019 by TRO