Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Norwich

[VillaCas]

5 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I disagree. Our play is all about our wide players delivering. All 4 of them were poor today. Wes ran the line ok but he was totally feeding off scraps.

Four games without an attempt on goal but it’s everyone else’s fault?

[VillaFaninLondon]

I feel relieved we won, but we got out of jail today. Norwich were the better side and if it wasn't for Heaton we probably would have lost. 

 

Still a lot of issues with our side and we're not playing like a side with any confidence whatsoever. Hopefully that win can change things but really we have to add some quality in January if we want to stay up. 

 

We desperately miss Mings, really hope he's back for Watford.

 

 

[DaveAV1]

I think what that proved today was that we have a lot of average players. The only real quality comes from Jack and Tom. The rest have to be playing at their best for us to really compete and get consistent results. 

We must add quality to the team in January. Outfield there’s only Jack that provides us with any inspiration and who is able to elevate the players around him. I know we’d like to add about 5 quality players next month but that ain’t gonna happen. If however we could find one or two real quality players, we all know the positions, that could be massive for us. Imagine another Jack on the pitch and a proper striker, it could transform us. Not easy to find, but we must try. 

[M_Afro]

Just now, VillaCas said:

Four games without an attempt on goal but it’s everyone else’s fault?

Do you disagree then?

Anyway I don’t really want to get into an argument. We won. Merry Christmas mate.

[LondonLax]

5 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

Four games without an attempt on goal but it’s everyone else’s fault?

It’s super frustrating that he’s not in the box where you’d want him but instead playing the position of a No.10, looking to spray passes.

I wonder if he’s been asked to play that way but I can’t imagine that’s what it is. 

Edited December 26, 2019 by LondonLax

[sne]

We only attempted 363 passes compared to Norwich 498 and only made 266 of them compared to 414 for Norwich.

73% vs 83% and in the attacking 3rd the % is much worse for us.

Only Newcastle and Burnley pass the ball less than us, we've turned into a non possession team somehow.

Movement off the ball is terrible and we lack patterns and understanding between players. 

This was 3 much needed points but also ultimately only papering over some massive cracks.

[Eastie]

Scrappy win but we will  it - trez is not good enough and kodjia would offer more even in a wide role than trez , feel smith got his selection wrong today again , no need for nakamba and luiz v Norwich - Would have left nakamba out - doesn’t really inspire me with hope for the Watford game but at least we showed some fight today to hold on .

could be a huge win for us hopefully .

[MaVilla]

If we had beaten Southampton we would be 14th now.

Cant use excuses any more though tbh, at the half way point in the season we are in the relegation zone and not good enough.

Need probably 3 serious signings early in jan.

Need a big and strong DM, a winger and a striker, all of which need to be signings who can go straight in to the starting 11.

Without those we are in big trouble imo.

Seems we will need to break the 40 point barrier to stay up, which means 23 points minimum from the second half of the season, as we only have 18 from the first half, a repeat of the first half of the season puts us on 36 points and almost certain relegation.

[VillaCas]

8 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

Do you disagree then?

Anyway I don’t really want to get into an argument. We won. Merry Christmas mate.

We have average players all over the pitch but if you gave me a choice of who I would replace first for maximum improvement I, like the vast majority of supporters, would choose Wesley hands down

[a m ole]

Wes hasn’t been good but a lot of the time today he was chasing back and then getting absolutely nothing from Trez and El Ghazi. Elmo going forward plays the easiest short ball making the wingers come backwards or plays it back to Konsa under pressure and makes it so easy for teams to press and win it back.

Grealish didn’t just play well but dragged the rest of the midfield through that game, great attitude from him today.

Konsa and Hause were very good.

[WakefieldVillan]

I get the feeling some posters are actually disappointed we won that, but I will leave that there!

We were fortunate today, we didn't play well collectively and Norwich can consider themselves unlucky not to have come away with at least a point. But... today was ALL about the 3 points. Nothing else really matters. Confidence is low, the pressure was on and it was never going to be a performance of free-flowing football. So what?! At least the application was there which is the bare minimum we expect but didn't get last week.

Grealish MOTM again (running out of superlatives for him!) closely followed by Hause who was solid throughout - which seems an odd thing to say bearing in mind the chances Norwich created?! Heaton was very good, but made saves I would expect him to make, Konsa played well as did Conor when he came on. Great block on the line by Luiz who also worked tirelessly but needs to stop conceding needless free-kicks in dangerous areas which just invites pressure. 

Our weakness yet again was in wide areas, I don't like knocking our players but Trez and El Ghazi were ridiculously poor today. I really hope we get a late xmas present in a Benrahma or Bowen.

Anyway, much needed 3 points. Hopefully gives us confidence to kick on again.

UTV 

[nick76]

Jeez we are bad

Thank god for Heaton!

Class by Jack

Praise for Hause, thought he had a good game

Poor performances by Luis, Targett, Nakamba and Trez.

i can see Wes is getting a beating again on this board, thought he put great effort in.  Again awful service to him but disappointed no attempts at all.

Overall just can’t believe how bad we were and Norwich deserved the win but somehow we’ve nicked it.  Need more bodies in the Jan transfer window if we are to survive.

[Eastie]

1 minute ago, VillaCas said:

We have average players all over the pitch but if you gave me a choice of who I would replace first for maximum improvement I, like the vast majority of supporters, would choose Wesley hands down

Replace Wesley with mitrovic and we would be a far better team - could be worth the fee if it keeps us up 

[M_Afro]

6 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

We have average players all over the pitch but if you gave me a choice of who I would replace first for maximum improvement I, like the vast majority of supporters, would choose Wesley hands down

I think we have bigger problems out wide and now that SJM is injured in central midfield.

[VillaCas]

3 minutes ago, nick76 said:

i can see Wes is getting a beating again on this board, thought he put great effort in.  Again awful service to him but disappointed no attempts at all.

He’s never in the box or making the runs to receive the ball. AEG makes runs into the box and gets “service” 

I think he works hard,  but honestly if all that is required of a centre forward is to harry  and close down defenders and receive and layoff the ball in the middle of the park we could have stuck with Jordan Bowery and saved our £22m - he never ever (ever) looks like he’s going to threaten the goal. You can’t be happy with no goal in 11 and no attempt on goal in 4

[Darth Villa]

Didn't expect a classic today and wasn't surprised by the poor performance but we got the three points and that's all that matters. 

Heaton kept us in it, Hause was much improved and Hourihan proved again he has the hoodoo over Norwich.  Grealish superb and referee negligent again with regards to protecting him. 

Wesley did a lot more today in terms of work rate and I do feel sorry for him but he still doesn't look like scoring in a month of Sundays.  Mitrovic please... 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

14 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

If we had beaten Southampton we would be 14th now.

Cant use excuses any more though tbh, at the half way point in the season we are in the relegation zone and not good enough.

Need probably 3 serious signings early in jan.

Need a big and strong DM, a winger and a striker, all of which need to be signings who can go straight in to the starting 11.

Without those we are in big trouble imo.

Seems we will need to break the 40 point barrier to stay up, which means 23 points minimum from the second half of the season, as we only have 18 from the first half, a repeat of the first half of the season puts us on 36 points and almost certain relegation.

Prretty much this.

Would be even better if we could get a big, strong ALL ROUND midfielder.

[VillaCas]

5 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I think we have bigger problems out wide and now that SJM is injured in central midfield.

You’re absolutely wrong but you determined not to see it - if we had, for example, Benteke from a few years ago playing, the whole team would look miles better. 

CF is an absolutely key position and we’ve got ourselves a dud

I can’t remember a player being so poor for so long and still eliciting support....baffling

[M_Afro]

2 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

You’re absolutely wrong but you determined not to see it - if we had, for example, Benteke from a few years ago playing, the whole team would look miles better. 

CF is an absolutely key position and we’ve got ourselves a dud

I can’t remember a player being so poor for so long and still eliciting support....baffling

Obviously, in my opinion, you are wrong but we are clearly not going to agree. I notice you still haven’t answered my earlier question but never mind. 
 

Have a good evening 

[nick76]

1 minute ago, VillaCas said:

He’s never in the box or making the runs to receive the ball. AEG makes runs into the box and gets “service” 

I think he works hard,  but honestly if all that is required of a centre forward is to harry  and close down defenders and receive and layoff the ball in the middle of the park we could have stuck with Jordan Bowery and saved our £22m - he never ever (ever) looks like he’s going to threaten the goal. You can’t be happy with no goal in 11 and no attempt on goal in 4

See this is where we can agree.  As I’ve said in my prior post I’m disappointed with no attempts.  I’ve said before we need another striker in Jan(I said the same in Aug).  He did work hard today, he does drop deep...I think he feels he has to because Luis and Nakamba were basically two slightly forward central defenders.....against Norwich I don’t understand. So there was only Jack in the middle.  Trez and El Ghazi were wide.  
 

Has he been told to drop deep, does he do it naturally or is he trying to do it to keep in the game? I don’t know the answer to that.  What it means is that he’s never in the box which is a massive concern.  Also how many times do we get the ball into the box, it feels almost never.

i can understand people’s frustrations but feels a bit of a chicken and egg situation.  You and many seem to feel a better striker and we’d get more goals and I feel better service and Wes would score more goals and also have more confidence.