Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Leicester

[TRO]

3 hours ago, PompeyVillan said:

Leicester look like the sort of team that we want to be. They move the ball quickly, they look dynamic and fast. They've got some classy players and they're feckin quick. Brendan Rogers is doing a magnificent job. I would be delighted to see that sort of football from Villa.

They are however, years ahead of us in terms of development. I'm confident that we can get to that level in a few years. 

This was probably the first result that I think could damage confidence. We were dismantled at home. The away fans were giving the olès. We didn't play well, we lost a few players to injury. 

It doesn't take a genius to spot that we concede far too many chances. We are too open. We don't defend well as a team.

I also was massively frustrated by our inability to keep the ball today. We were sloppy, but also impatient. That needs to improve.

I'm starting to believe that we made a mistake signing Wesley with the idea of him being our 1st choice striker. He works ever so hard but he doesn't seem able to make an impact on the game, maybe we need to be more direct to get the best out of him. The contrast between Vardy and Wesley today was not flattering for Wesley. 

It's also worth remembering that these players are still quite new to each other and they have not yet developed that understanding that gives continuity to performances. That's not giving them an excuse, but I certainly feel that if we can get into next season and remain in the Premier League, we'll be all the better for it. 

 

 

You clearly watch the game....even the manager himself directed attentions to the defending as opposed to the attacking.....we scored, we could have won 1-0

I understand development time has to be factored in and spending £130 mill  in one go was testament to how far we had fallen....I get all that, but....

When we get promoted, there is no trial run, to see if we are good enough.....we fought for the big league, now we are in it......and we have to FIGHT like **** to stay in it.....looking for softer games and platitudes of still developing will not suffice.

The manager has to develop a more ruthless streak with under performers and set a standard for which the players realize they have to achieve.....This is a dogfight and time on the ball is limited in this league, shape up boys.

[briny_ear]

7 hours ago, romavillan said:

Lots of overreactions. 

They are flying and have torn better teams than us a new one this season already. If AEG scores instead of hitting the bar, if Engels was ready to come on for Mings for their first then maybe we go in to half time at least level.

Not saying we deserved a point or anything but come on. We aren't shit, our objective this year is 17th or better. No need to panic, Smith is still great, we have some good players, we had a bad day then lost discipline and injury forced our hand on subs a bit but we aren't shit.

We now have a run of games where we can get some points on the board. 7/8 points from the next 5 games will see us on course for our objectives with the option to get a striker in Jan. 

Your argument seems to be: we aren’t shit, we just were shit today.

[14K_away]

Is it just me getting deja-vu of previous managers who simply cant hear what we are all screaming at them.
Respect to Wesley but he simply has not got his mojo going once (even when he scored) this season for us, even if he could win a few headers and hold the ball from time to time... nada..

Subbing Nakamba yesterday negatively changed the balance of the side and at that point, other than a brief surge, there was no way back, I have no probs seeing Trezeguet come on, but should have been him or JK replacing Wesley.

We have been playing with 10 men, all season, and it appears world+dog apart from DS know that.... please not again...



 

[lapal_fan]

I wish we had vardy, telimens and that Turkish guy in defence. Great players.

[gurru991]

50 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

I wish we had vardy, telimens and that Turkish guy in defence. Great players.

Most Premier league clubs would like to have those three players.

[AJ]

My first and probably only game at Villa Park. I would first say I fell immediately in love with the place. Walking up from the train station and hearing the Villa faithful in full voice raised hairs on the back of my neck. As I entered the stadium , I was greeted with hail from the heavens, and took the long walk up the stairs with ice in my hair. The pitch looked marvellous. This was going to be a wonderful day.

And then the game started. Oh dear. We were playing so poorly, I checked my ticket at half time in case I walked into the circus instead. Defending seemed optional, and taking a shot at goal seemed like the worst idea in the history of football. There seemed to be no structure, and a lot of the players needed to revisit what being a professional means. That was the worst they had played this season, and reminded me of our relegation season.

Despite the result, I am glad I went. Cant say if I would be back again, but if I could, I would. A bad day at Villa Park will still be better than a good day watching a crappy stream at stupid o'clock. We can turn this around.

UTV.

[PaulC]

6 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Don't see the issue with Vardy's celebration. Young and Gabby cupped their ears all the time to other fans after scoring in 08/09.

Vardy is just an incredible finisher one on one, you never expect him to miss.

Many thought he was a one season wonder, but he has got better with age. Best striker in the Premier League this season by a distance.

[zab6359]

We were very poor against a very good side yesterday, losing to them isn't the end of the world but the way we lost was very disappointing indeed, from the manager down we were poor, why can't we keep possession? And it's not just this game we give the ball away far far to cheaply. Our defending is woeful again not just this game but it really stood out yesterday, if we hadn't signed our signing of the season in Heaton we'd be even deeper in the poo right now. 

I'm beginning to question the manager a bit now, I think because he's one of our own he's rightly or wrongly getting a bit more slack than most would, why didn't Guilbert start? he's our best RB was suspended for a game and should come straight back in even if Elmo had had played a blinder against Chelsea no room for sentiment start your best 11. DS's insistence on this 4-3-3 all out attacking football could be his undoing, Brendan Rodgers changed Leicesters formation during that game I don't see DS making those types of decisions it's all shit or bust score more than you concede football but with a questionable defense!  

If Kodj isn't good enough to come on for an under performing Welsey why is he on the bench? If DS has no confidence in him get Archer on the bench until Davies is fit!

Our discipline was shocking 6 yellows is unacceptable and Targett's with a different ref could have been a red! To many players throwing there toys out the pram and getting silly yellows, wtf did Wesley feel the need to smash Schmeichel into the netting idiot!

I'm a bit down on us right now, the next few games are massive.

UTV!

[villalad21]

Smith is actually doing more harm to Wesley than good by keep playing him. His confidence is completely shot. His team mates is starting to not trust him and the fans is starting to turn on him.

[lapal_fan]

3 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Smith is actually doing more harm to Wesley than good by keep playing him. His confidence is completely shot. His team mates is starting to not trust him and the fans is starting to turn on him.

I think if Smith had other options, then of course Wes would have been taken out of the firing line.  As it is, he hasn't (I think Davies would have been a really decent option in some of the games) and it's been very detrimental to Wes.  It's got to the point where I feel for him now.  Nothing is working and I can't remember the last time he had a shot, never mind a shot on target. 

It can't be good for him mentally walking out onto that pitch at the moment.  He needed easing into the league, not to be our only option.  

It's a shame as far as I'm concerned. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by lapal_fan

[VillaFaninLondon]

9 hours ago, lapal_fan said:

I wish we had vardy, telimens and that Turkish guy in defence. Great players.

That's what great recruitment does for you. Leicester signed those players for a combined £60mil. We signed Wesley, Luiz and Konsa for pretty much the same amount.

 

Our recruitment has been absolutely shocking over the years - off the top of my head, £12mil for Hogan, £14mil for Targett, £22mil for Wesley, £15mil for Kodjia, £7mil for Kalinic, McCormack for £12mil, Tshibola for £5mil, £6mil for Gestede. Even when we signed quality players like Amavi, Gueye and Traore we made them look ****. It just does my head in.

 

The only ones that have proved bargains I can think of are McGinn and Guilbert and possibly El Ghazi, Heaton and Hourihane. We’ve overspent on every other player, and I even include Mings in that. And we’re supposed to have a Sporting Director in Suso with links to Jorge Mendes – why is he not able to attract the type of players to the club that Wolves are attracting.

 

I'm clearly still very upset about yesterday's result but maybe it's time we stopped seeing ourselves as a big club and realised we've got mountains to climb before we get to Leicester or Wolves level. We're well off being the biggest team in the Midlands. And Wolves were in the bottom half of the Championship three years ago so it's time we stopped using the excuses that we're in a transition period because we've been saying that for 8 years ffs!

[romavillan]

11 hours ago, briny_ear said:

Your argument seems to be: we aren’t shit, we just were shit today.

Not really because we made a load of chances and looked very dangerous at times. We weren't at our best, we weren't as good as Leicester, we weren't shit though. We aren't shit, and losing to Leicester does not turn all the positives that have happened in the last 12 months to shit.

Have we said shit enough now?

[WakefieldVillan]

17 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Sharp versus blunt.

In general play, in the stuff that happens between the boxes, we matched them, we had plenty of the play and we created opportunities for things to happen in their box - they did the same to us - the difference tended to be that Leicester are a six foot hooded man with a straight razor in a badly lit alley and we're a four year old with a nerf gun at the wacky warehouse. They are clinical in finishing off attacks, they're quick, they're smart and they finish - they didn't misplace much in the final third and  the whole team plays to make sure the strikers can score goals. For us, we're the opposite, we're good at getting to the opposition box, but from there things break down, we overplay, we get clogged up, we don't threaten, the whole team plays to make up for our lack of threat  - for me, we matched Leicester outside of the final act of scoring goals - but it's the final act that counts and they were a class apart from us at doing it.

In the first half we huffed and puffed and eventually got a goal we deserved through Grealish, I thought 2-1 was a reasonably fair reflection of things and I felt we were still in it - we opened the second half well and then after four minutes gave away a corner on the break and decided not to mark the most obvious threat that Leicester have from set pieces - game over on 49 minutes. It was the worst bit of defending I've seen at Villa Park for years - a corner floated over to the man everyone knew the corner would be aimed at and him allowed to head unchallenged and unmarked into our net. It finished things - sometimes even when the opposition have advantages, you still have to not beat yourself.

I thought tactically our style suited them more than theirs suited us - we try to play with the ball and get high up the pitch, they break and murder you with pace - and whilst Jamie Vardy may be a truly repugnant piece of human filth, if you give him space to run into he'll score goals for fun. We gave him space all day. They're smart, they play with seven behind the ball then break with two very quick strikers and a clever attacking midfielder in Maddison and they're hard to stop without numbers staying back - it's a good system - most teams leave more men back, which is one of the reasons that they have such a good defensive record. They're hard to attack because you need to stay nervous about the counter and we attacked more than most teams will, largely because we have to attack twice as much as most teams do to score.

Wesley, Wesley, Wesley. It's now been at least two whole games since I can recall our only passable striker having an effort on goal - that's not two games since he scored, that's two games since he tried to score. He works hard at times, he can be a nuisance to defenders - but he's not a goalscorer and he's not a goalscoring threat - and we desperately need someone who is. Kodjia was always selfish and unreliable, he's now also old and disinterested, Davis is injured - which means we either have to stick with Wesley for the next four or five games until we get to the window - or we have to find a system that doesn't need a striker - neither of those things sound like a good idea to me. It's a big problem.

It was a strange game - I thought in some ways the 4-1 scoreline flattered them, but then it's also true that they could have scored another two or three quite easily - if we'd made anything of our huff and puff it could have been different - but we didn't and more worryingly perhaps we can't.

Their fans were very good on a strangely quiet day at Villa Park - they were very respectful of the applause for Ron Saunders at the start of the game and earned the right to be annoying at the end, it's a great time for them and they're enjoying it. They're really well organised and whilst Brendan Rodgers is a weirdo who you wouldn't leave alone in your house, he's proving a very good football manager. Good luck to em.

We got a bundle of things wrong, tactically and in our play and we were punished. On top of that we've further exposed a massive glaring weakness that we don't have the ability in our squad to address. It's been a difficult day. I don't think we need to panic, thankfully we're now through a very tough group of fixtures with a much friendlier looking set of games ahead of us; I still think we'll be fine this season. 

Leicester will make the Champions league on this showing, we'll stay up reasonably comfortably I think - but to make this game different next season we're going to need reinforcements at the business end, because today was pat-a-cake against a dagger.

 

 

 

 

Summed up to perfection

[TRO]

17 hours ago, thunderball said:

Hope we have big plans for January, and early January too.

I wouldn't bank on it.

we need some inspired signings....not necessarily big money, but characters.

However....Interesting how many young players Leicester have.

[AntrimBlack]

20 hours ago, Robtaylor200 said:

I agree and I'm 62 

Well, I'm 76, I've seen some shit players in my lifetime, and he is certainly one of them.

[villalad21]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

we need some inspired signings.

Do you remember the instant impact Robbie Keane had on us when we signed him? He inspired us.

I believe we need something similar this season.

[babyblue]

You remind me of us when we got promoted. Clearly got the makings of a good team, but somehow need to find the right combination of ingredients for it to click. We nearly got relegated with that though, it was only the signing of Huth and going three at the back that made it all click and the rest is history. 

Finding a mobile striker who can finish would be top of my list a the moment, you created problems (not sure how much of that was our new system, which gave so much space to overload out fullbacks). But without a reliable striker to get on the end of them, I can't remember Wesley even being close to getting on the end of anything. 

[TRO]

1 hour ago, babyblue said:

You remind me of us when we got promoted. Clearly got the makings of a good team, but somehow need to find the right combination of ingredients for it to click. We nearly got relegated with that though, it was only the signing of Huth and going three at the back that made it all click and the rest is history. 

Finding a mobile striker who can finish would be top of my list a the moment, you created problems (not sure how much of that was our new system, which gave so much space to overload out fullbacks). But without a reliable striker to get on the end of them, I can't remember Wesley even being close to getting on the end of anything. 

Wesley is clearly an issue of priority.......not sure it will just go away on its own.

equally, not sure if its as bad as Hogan or McCormack....but Jesus, we have had our unfair share of duds.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

Well, I'm 76, I've seen some shit players in my lifetime, and he is certainly one of them.

I think its a master plan so the big teams don't come in for him.

On par with Libor Kozak

Edited December 9, 2019 by TRO

[Robtaylor200]

22 hours ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Did you go to school with Charles Darwin? 

I taught him all he knew