Ratings & Reactions: Chelsea v Villa

[foreveryoung]

19 minutes ago, The_Rev said:

Rode our luck, but boy did we weather a storm tonight. I think the lads will take some confidence from the fact that we were still in the game at the death because in years gone by we'd have been annihilated in a fixture like this. I think Engels comes back into the team vs Leicester, maybe Luiz gets a start too. Overall I'll take the 2-1 on the chin. Glad Tammy didn't celebrate either. 

I'd give Heaton the credit, 3 cracking saves kept the score down, rest of the team bar a few looked lazy.

[VillaChris]

3 minutes ago, screwdriver said:

chelsea are under a transfer embargo and have had to promote lads from the academy to fill gaps.

Their star man Hazard left in the summer. They've lost the previous two. rookie manager who we beat 3 times last season I fancied a win tonight. Other teams have gone on the road and come back with big scalps.

If you look at it like this they were "there for the taking" tonight.

However they have an amazingly expensive spine like Willian who is not far off world class. Kante one of the best DM's Aspilaqueta who is an experienced prem player and a couple of others.

But when are we going to get a big scalp under smith? or are we the classic flat track bullies?

When we play them at VP?

I think we'd have got a win v Arsenal or Man. United if we had played them at VP first half of the season. Just unlucky with the fixture list, nothing much you can do about that and it might work out long term o.k given we've played most of our hard away games already.

[KenjiOgiwara]

The performance and result wasn't bad at all. Obviously it can get better when you lose, but Chelsea is a very good team.

My main gripe and anger about the performance is that the weak stuff I've seen from other matches still is not fixed. Wesley still isn't dropped despite being absolutely dog shit. When Jack has to drop deep our attacks collapse before they start. Mings keep doing the Tyrone Beckenbauer bullshit which just isn't needed. 

In fact the only positive I can think of regards to this is that the first sub was for once made early by Smith, which was the right call. 

[smg]

23 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

The inconsistency of a squad is always down to the manager. We can never change our game, it was exactly the same in the first half as it was in the second. Wes needs to be subbed we can all see, i'm starting to worry, as in reality Chelsea are not the team of old and yet again they were there for the taking. Someone needs to learn quicker, someone needs to get tough and it's not the players.

Shit who is this someone ? I’m guessing the physio. What do you think

24 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

 

I 

[VillaChris]

10 minutes ago, Dale said:

We did miss Guilbert, a lot! He's a real gem of a player. Hoping El Ghazi will be back on Sunday too. 

Yep, people seem to think we have this amazing squad but in reality while we're stocked well in certain areas like CB it's more potential and it also gets exposed when we play really good teams like tonight.

To be competitive week in week out at this level we need our first 11 out on regular basis while we build up the squad level. When we lose Gealish we get Wolves away. We lose AEG and Gulibert, we get Chelsea away performance.

Look tonight and we're losing 2-1 and only attacking sub we chose to put on was Jota who is very unproven at this level.

Hopefully injuries and suspensions won't bit too much over December as we have winnable games.

[terrytini]

4 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

Agree they weren't there for the taking, that is ridiculous because they were the better side with better players, but... I do kind of understand the gist of what was being suggested in that despite that superiority, we stayed in the game and had the chances to nick a point we wouldn't have deserved, so it does feel like a missed opportunity. I think I'm just peeved at the 'almost but not quite' vibe of this year because it would be easier to process if we were just shite! As it is, it's hard to know if we are genuinely forming into something useful or just a lopsided mix of good and bad.

I understand your view....but for me what you’ve mentioned is the hub of the whole season, namely..

...Whether on those occasions we “stay in the game” and fail to get points is frustrating/ negative/ a failing or whether for a newly promoted team it’s often going to be all you can ask for.

Im of the latter view.

If we were NOT competing, I’d moan. But I’ll never complain ( this season) just because we fail to secure points.

We need as fans to keep our eye on the ball.....10/11 Wins, an average of a Point per game, good results against sides in the bottom half.

We've played 7 of the Top 10 in our 8 Away games. That’s a great chunk to get out the way.

[GingerCollins29]

Meh. Better team won. Jack was good, not outstanding, so he stands out for a poorer performance. Wesley, connor and targett poor. Thought mcginn was better than last couple games.

So many poor touches and misplaced passes. Konsa poor tonight. Luiz a bright spark. 

Don't get the hype about mount. Free hit unmarked to score a good goal. Tammys layoff exactly what we need from wes. Mount was anonymous bar his goal

[foreveryoung]

1 minute ago, smg said:

Shit who is this someone ? I’m guessing the physio. What do you think

I 

Just never seem to see a reaction from the players, subs still suspect, same old mistakes,  defence has gone very shakey, need any more?

I don't want Smith out, far from it. But if its any consolation, to me the 4 year contract was a little premature.

[MaVilla]

we do seem to stand off players too much from what i have seen, almost like we show players too much respect, like when pulisic rand and ran towards goal and we just kept standing off, we need to be a bit more........combative?/dirty?, dunno........but we cant just let players do what they want.

Also, willian had the ball on the edge of the box, and the players literally stood there for 5-10 seconds, and let him just stand there, i think as part of our improvement, we need to be more.....in peoples faces.

for mounts goal we just stood off in the build up, similar for the other goal, just a lot of standing off.

i just feel like teams run through us at times.

Edited December 4, 2019 by MaVilla

[VillaFaninLondon]

We were really poor tonight to be honest. Chelsea should have won by a few but we got fortunate and also put in some last ditch defending to keep the scoreline low. 

 

I've been backing Wesley up to now but I'm starting to lose patience with him. He has to do so much more than he's doing now. When the ball goes too him he goes down far too easily and loses the ball and doesn't hold the ball up to get others into the game, not to mention his lack of goals (which would be ok if he was doing other things well but he's not). 

 

i thought Luiz did well when he came on and should start against Leicester, Hourihane was a passenger for most of the game and was anonymous. I'm hoping we can put in a really good performance and get a win against them, they're due a defeat, but we need to play 100 times better than we did tonight. 

 

In January, we really need to sign at least one quality forward player. I just don't think Wesley is the answer right now and if we had a Tammy-like striker we would be well clear of the relegation zone. Need to be putting all our efforts into finding that special no. 9, if we can do that we have a very good side. 

[ozvillafan]

I'm not sure I was watching the same game as a lot of people here. Chelsea were very good. We pressed well and defended well. It took a very well worked goal to defeat us. 

Luiz for Hourihane was a great sub and made a change in our game. Nakamba and Luiz should start every away game. 

Not sure what the hate was for Targett and Konsa. Wes was isolated and they set up to limit Jack - and it worked. 

They are just better than us at the moment. We did well to try and pinch a point and it took a great save to deny Luiz late. 

Onwards and upwards

[Lerner's Driver]

4 minutes ago, terrytini said:

I understand your view....but for me what you’ve mentioned is the hub of the whole season, namely..

...Whether on those occasions we “stay in the game” and fail to get points is frustrating/ negative/ a failing or whether for a newly promoted team it’s often going to be all you can ask for.

Im of the latter view.

If we were NOT competing, I’d moan. But I’ll never complain ( this season) just because we fail to secure points.

We need as fans to keep our eye on the ball.....10/11 Wins, an average of a Point per game, good results against sides in the bottom half.

We've played 7 of the Top 10 in our 8 Away games. That’s a great chunk to get out the way.

I mean, I know you are right. I do accept the principle of what you are saying. It's still hard to accept emotionally though, knowing we are actually not far off being a lot better than our points total suggests. 

[smg]

14 minutes ago, thunderball said:

Not sure what prompted this statement after that fixture and result: Chelsea away when they are in the groove?

We were always going to be in this position coming from how we got here (5th in the championship), but TBH we are close to doing something and it’s not even at the half way point. Everyone from 10th down is in the same boat and that’s no disgrace this season, it is VERY competitive. No one has embarrassed us this season, we are competitive. Not many other teams in the bottom half can say that. We have been far worse and avoided relegation. Granted we do need more forward options in January.

Post of the season take a bow sir.

[MadridVilla]

1 point off the bottom 3 now.

[terrytini]

6 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

I mean, I know you are right. I do accept the principle of what you are saying. It's still hard to accept emotionally though, knowing we are actually not far off being a lot better than our points total suggests. 

It’s better than knowing we are actually not far off being WORSE than our points total suggests, as has been the case for many years !

 

[smg]

No shit Sherlock, so ?

[terrytini]

8 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

I'm not sure I was watching the same game as a lot of people here. Chelsea were very good. We pressed well and defended well. It took a very well worked goal to defeat us. 

Luiz for Hourihane was a great sub and made a change in our game. Nakamba and Luiz should start every away game. 

Not sure what the hate was for Targett and Konsa. Wes was isolated and they set up to limit Jack - and it worked. 

They are just better than us at the moment. We did well to try and pinch a point and it took a great save to deny Luiz late. 

Onwards and upwards

You watched the same game as I did

[terrytini]

2 minutes ago, MadridVilla said:

1 point off the bottom 3 now.

Ludicrous.

[Nigel]

2 minutes ago, MadridVilla said:

1 point off the bottom 3 now.

You have to take this in context. We have had a tough period of games which will get easier.

[MaVilla]

We play Norwich, Southampton, Watford and sheff utd in December, these will be our crunch games, not Chelsea or Leicester.