Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Norwich

[VillaCas]

2 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

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 

You didn’t ask a question? You said we had problems out wide and in CM which I agree with - we are below par in many positions. 

[M_Afro]

1 minute ago, VillaCas said:

You didn’t ask a question? You said we had problems out wide and in CM which I agree with - we are below par in many positions. 

We are not where we need to be but the players are clearly lacking confidence. We have a young inexperienced team who will improve in time. Hopefully we stay up but even if we don’t the young lads will be all the better next season for the experience.

[VillaCas]

5 minutes ago, nick76 said:

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.

It’s obviously a bit of both. 

I keep watching goals in various matches and thinking “can I imagine Wesley scoring that one?” and almost always the answer in “No”

I just think he’s hopeless - we need to agree to disagree i think

Happy Christmas Dude

 

 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

17 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

I actually want him to be dropped just so we can turn into  this brilliant team a few are implying we would do suddenly.

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[It's Your Round]

We won. It wasn’t pretty and we rode our luck. But we won. Three points is massive, regardless of how bad we were. 
 

Let’s just hope that a win gives them some sort of boost going into Watford, because a win there would likely see us back out of the bottom three. 

[pintpotvilla]

Only been twice this season but 2 wins and no goals conceded ( don't know how though ).  I realise the team as a whole are short on confidence but with the obvious exception

of Grealish the outfield players are just not good enough for this league. It doesn't mean we will go down, many sides have stayed up through true grit but we don't show much

of that either. We desperately need a proper hard defensive midfielder ( Nakamba & Luiz just cannot do the job ) Awinger who can make chances and a striker who can put them

away. I felt a bit sorry for Wesley today, he actually held the ball up better and played 1 or 2 really good through balls, but he's paid to score goals and he's not a natural striker

I still think when Mings is fit we should go 3 at the back - we just give too much space to the opposition. We are so open to counter attack when we have the ball high up the pitch

We try far too many 50/50 at best passes and constantly give it away. Oh well 3 points anyway today, here's hoping the tide will turn UTV

Edited December 26, 2019 by pintpotvilla

[VillaCas]

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I actually want him to be dropped just so we can turn into  this brilliant team a few are implying we would do suddenly.

That’s not my opinion and I’ve not seen anyone else saying this either. 

We have a number of positions that need improvement. Wesley is the most pressing

[tinker]

Nakamba offered nothing but panic , he needs to be dropped . Elgahzi........he didn't fancy it and wanted off , what the f**k was that all about? Jack and Heaton battled, Wes and Douglas never went missing . Very lucky today , Norwich lack quality and will definitely be one of the 3 to go down , we just need another 2 to join them .

[Junxs]

Trez and El Ghazi have both been very poor for a good few weeks now. . Its bad enough playing with one of them but both is ridiculous, the amount of times they both give it away with very little pressure makes me so angry. 

I'd bring Kodj and Jota in for the next game. Need to freshen things up with only one day off in between

[Junxs]

57 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

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.

Actually we only got 15 from the first half as today was the first game of the 2nd half of the season (game 19)

We need to start getting some points and become ruthless, its ridiculous that we have thrown away 13 points from winning positions.

[Robbie09]

El Ghazi is either 2/10 or 8/10 - for the last few matches it’s the former. Trez is a consistent 3/10.

It’s no wonder Wes is so ineffective when those 2 are up top with him.

Both Konsa and Hause were very good however if Mings is fit for Watford I’d put him back in to deal with the physicality of Deeney.

 

 

[Delphinho123]

Just got back from the game. I’d be very upset driving home to Norwich this evening, they were the better side for the most part and deserved at least a point. The through ball from Buendia alone in the first half was worthy enough to win the game!

Villa. We’re poor in too many positions to avoid relegation. Our central midfield is a huge worry as both Nakamba and Luis don’t look good enough to dominate matches. The wide players look average at best and the striker just doesn’t do what a striker needs to do. Unless we sign at least 3 players in January I just don’t think we have enough to survive sadly. 

The positives today. Grealish is just Grealish. Mesmeric. Hause and Konsa were solid, Hause especially who I thought was MOTM. The fullbacks were decent enough. Heaton made a few superb saves but his kicking really lets him down, anyone else notice this? Reminded me of Bosnich a bit. Every part of his game is brilliant but he could barely clear the halfway line with his kicks.

A fantastic 3 points but a very average performance. 

 

[OutByEaster?]

Style was of no importance today, we needed to win and we have.

I thought that whilst there isn't a lot of confidence, there was plenty of effort and commitment - Heaton, Hause, Konsa and Grealish had good games and I thought both Brazilians played a big part in the three points too - Luiz worked harder than I've seen him before and while Wesley doesn't look like he's going to score a goal again this season, he works really hard; he chases, he presses, he competes, he's physical, he does loads of centre forward stuff really well - he just doesn't look like he knows he's playing as a centre forward. Elmohamady was decent too I felt, he competed and did some sensible experienced things. 

Beyond that, Targett is better than Taylor but shouldn't be a Premier League starter, I've been a little bit disappointed in him, Nakamba was hit and miss and the two wingers proved again that if we can stay up then they should also both be starting games next season from a seated position. 

Hause's aerial dominance late on was very important for us, as was Konsa's pace mopping up in the first half and it's good to see Hourihane come on and deliver that bit of magic he seems to have over Norwich, but the difference ultimately today was Grealish and his bit of extra quality.

The celebrations at the end were good to see, that feeling will only help them get better and a bit of confidence will hopefully go a long way. It was great to see Jack pull them all into a little huddle on the half way line when the whistle blew and give them a pep talk - it's not Henry V, but a little bit of "You were f***in' brilliant. Come on!" can go a long way.

And yes, it was just Norwich, and yes they didn't look great, but I don't think I care - we needed a win desperately. For me, this one is a relief, a massive relief - and it looked clear from reactions on the final whistle that the players felt the same. Hopefully we can now go on and battle Watford to start to pull ourselves out of this mess.

Oh and finally, I've seen that Cantwell boy on MoTD and thought he'd looked a good player on the ball with a bit about him - they'd clearly edited out what a whinging little shit he is though. What a performer; whingeing at the linesman, falling over holding his face at a passing fly, whingeing at the referee, trying to get involved in little slappy fights after we scored, he never shut up - he looks the type of player who might cry on the bus on the way home.

I hope he does.

 

 

 

[mole86]

2 minutes ago, Junxs said:

Actually we only got 15 from the first half as today was the first game of the 2nd half of the season (game 19)

No

[Vive_La_Villa]

Shit performance but 3 points and that’s what counts right now. 5 point gap over Watford and one point off 17th. We’re not playing well right now but well in the mix to stay up. That’s what counts. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

19 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

That’s not my opinion and I’ve not seen anyone else saying this either. 

We have a number of positions that need improvement. Wesley is the most pressing

In my opinion, big, strong midfielder and wingers would make the team, AND Wesley better.

However, i've also been critical of him myself today.

We definitely need a striker but I think we need to address the support system (And the actual system) more importantly.

Also baffles me how opposition teams have so much time and space around our box.

I do understand the importance of a CF to the overall team but I think we are neglecting all other areas of the pitch to single him out.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Took my cousin to the game today (neutral) and he thought Wesley played well but was massive isolated.  Considering support he gets he really did his hit today. 

[OutByEaster?]

4 minutes ago, Junxs said:

Actually we only got 15 from the first half as today was the first game of the 2nd half of the season (game 19)

19 is the last of the first half of the season. 1-19 is nineteen games. 20-38 is nineteen games.

I think we'll need 37 to stay up, possibly 38 - so we'll need to be one or two points better in the second half of the season than we have in the first half.

 

[Junxs]

2 minutes ago, mole86 said:

No

oh yeah, today was the last - ignore me lol

[OutByEaster?]

Just to add to the stuff above, for me, if we stay up we'll need two wingers, two full backs, a centre forward and a "big" central midfielder - in that order.