Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Norwich

[KentVillan]

2 minutes ago, srsmithusa said:

contrary to most VT’ers I think Nakamba is incredibly efficient and effective as a DM.   He’s the best we have at reading and breaking up play.  He needs to think a bit faster to know his outlets sooner.  But I think that could come with time.  

I also think Nakamba reads the game well, but he is letting himself down with his touch and passing under pressure. Clearly a good DM doesn't need to be knocking the ball around like Xavi, but there is a basic level of quality and consistency that Nakamba isn't currently displaying.

[TRO]

18 minutes ago, srsmithusa said:

I was too late in prematch thread.  I thought Konsa and Elmo came in because Engels and Gilbert got burnt by speed repeatedly.  Konsa has more speed and Elmo has more experience to anticipate better.  Konsa did very well,  Elmo had moments but as always he leaves opponents on the back post too open.  Heaton saved one sure goal and Luis the other.   
 

contrary to most VT’ers I think Nakamba is incredibly efficient and effective as a DM.   He’s the best we have at reading and breaking up play.  He needs to think a bit faster to know his outlets sooner.  But I think that could come with time.  
 

when house first came in at left back last year, I thought he was a disaster.  My apologies, sir, you have proved me wrong. 
 

Weslie is a great talent in the wrong team.  The other 11 play like he’s John Carew or Andy CArroll.   He ain’t that.  He’s closer to Romario (but taller of course).  Through balls on the ground he can be brilliant, but most balls are player to his head with his back to goal.  Either he needs to change his game (not likely) or the team needs to change to match his strength.  It might actually work for us to drop the wing play put jack and jota behind him telling them to hit the through balls early.  But the easier solution would be to replace him.  
 

jack did really well on the goal but Conor set it up and finished it.  
 

luiz seemed out of sync with the team except for that block.  AEG missed 3 decent opportunities.  Trez pretty much balanced promise with ineffective. 

I’ll take the 3 points and celebrate, but not hugely proud.  

I thought we had dropped the wing play?

[Blasterpocket68]

Think we papered over the cracks today , it was basically the Jack Grealish show that won this game  . Norwich were the better team IMO and we were lucky they didn't finish some of the chances they created. Haus has a good game but we still do not defend well as a team. At times it was school boy defending shocking. We have to improve  fast . 

[robby b]

We were lucky today, true, given that Norwich played better than us.:s And we now face the daunting task and high pressure of needing to win away at resurgent Watford on Saturday to climb out of the relegation zone, but... looking on the bright side, someone posted at the start of the season that with a bit of luck ten wins may be enough to stay up, and we've just got halfway to ten wins exactly halfway through the season. 

(And at least we're doing so much better than 2015/16!

• 2015/2016 -  3 wins from 38 games
• 2019/20 -  5 wins from the first 19 games).

[ozvillafan]

Maybe I watched a different match to everyone else.

Don't get me wrong - we were anything but great. But we were also coming off 4 straight defeats including a shocking performance just a few days ago against a relegation rival.

That considered, this win will go a long way to restoring confidence:

• A much needed win (we did the double over Norwich!)
• A clean sheet
• An improved effort from Luiz
• Some good link up play, showing that the ability is there even if the application is lacking

A few players let themselves down. Nakamba and El Ghazi in particular were not great. Other than that - I'm chuffed! Yes, we need performances like we were getting at the seasons start....

... but at this stage I'm just happy with results instead of performances.

[Kiwivillan]

2 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Smith won’t keep this lot up 

This lot is the issue. 

[chappy]

Heaton was my MOTM today.

Was another great performance from Grealish too. 
 

Watford will be tough, they’ve got the ostrich bounce

[Shomin Geki]

I always like when people do player ratings.  So I'll do some player ratings.  I hope my thoughts are sufficiently different to KentVillan's excellent summary.

HEATON 9 Arms as strong as a bear.  Ice-coldness personified.  Not only did he make some excellent saves today, but the saves were reassuringly excellent.  I do wonder if he should be bollocking the full-backs more for their frequently clueless vulnerability when 'defending' the far-post ball?

KONSA 8 Showed keen leadership, bringing pace, intelligence and daring to our back line.  Possesses the mixture of athleticism and poise that gives our defence a greater sense of coherency than it deserves.  A player quietly growing in stature.

HAUSE 6 A noticeably uncultured footballer, unfortunately, frequently swinging aimlessly with his lazy Putter of a left foot.  Whilst providing little impetus in creating meaningful forward movement he is at least good in the air and is a pleasingly physical presence in the inevitable melees that we create.  A better team will hurt him though.

ELMO 5 Decent with the ball at his feet, but still an obviously limited footballer.  Elmo will provide the odd charging run and impressive delivery, but invariably the crackle of threat will quickly fade.  Has to be held accountable for our miserable far-post achilles heel.

TARGETT 5 Disappointing today.  When he doesn't 'click' with the players around him he can seem disconcertingly leaden.  The trademark slide pass rule is a constant asset, but too often plays at a lick or two below the required intensity.  Poor reactions and lapses in concentration sometimes lead to weirdly ragged periods.

NAKAMBA 3 Oh my!  This was less Bambi on ice than Bambi's mother on ice.  Dreadful touch, constant mishit passes and the general air (and threat) of a trapped housefly.  Deeply wobbly.  Let's hope it's just a confidence issue.

LUIZ 8 Really good today.  Was everywhere.  Showed bite and versatility.  I have often wondered if Luiz, who would so clearly be more at home with the neat little passes and touches of Manchester City, is cut out for a relegation scrap.  But today his occasional drifts into what sometimes seems like an apathetic complacency were very short-lived and he mostly lead by example.  Nowhere clearer than in his brilliant goal-saving clearance.

GREALISH 9 Magic again.  The boy's a wonder.  Notice how many twinkle-toed wonders will feint and fidget with several touches before making a burst past a marker.  Not our Jack.  Each touch is part of a carefully calibrated dance through the stingiest imaginable space almost redrawing the pitch's shapes as he hops.  Could he perhaps demand more of our wingers?  His devastating swashbuckling could be even more cutting with wide players that stretch the play.  Set piece delivery still too hit and miss.

EL GHAZI 6 Whilst very much one of Anwar's more hapless performances, including his trademark point black miss, he's still a constant threat, popping up in the right place again and again.  I also thought his hold-up play today was decent.

TREZEGUET 3 Oh my, Redux!  Sadly, alternates between total anonymity and those seemingly endless close-ups of him looking sheepish and hangdog as another promising ball trickles away from his feet like a tipsy father chasing a beachball on a blustery beach.

WESLEY 4 Watching Wesley's performance I frequently thought about those fluttering figures you get outside car dealerships in the U.S.  A very mild wind was powering Wesley today.  Not sharp enough.  Not incisive enough.  Not there enough.

HOURIHANE 7 Confidently taken goal.  Was really good for ten minutes, some neat passes, an uncommon aggression, and smart link-up play... and then a goal... and then very little.  But that was about all we needed.

JOTA 4 Makes Juan Mata look like Sonic the Hedgehog.  I wonder if he's made it home yet?

LANSBURY 6 Kicked a ball really hard into the crowd.  Has a beard.

 

[southcoastvillan]

heaton 8, Elmo 7 konsa 7 hause 9 targett 5 nakamba 5 luiz 6 jack 8 trez 2 el ghazi 5 Wes 6

conor 7

Hause motm as he won lots of aerial duals and stepped into lead the defence well in a big pressure game, really like his simple effective no nonsense approach to defending and think he may be a good partner for Mings in the long run.

game was poor quality fare but when coming off the back of a series of defeats it’s never going to be champagne football, and it comes down to toughing it out, taking a chance when it falls to you, the goalie playing well and riding your luck, I’d say we succeeded on all those fronts today (slightly playing devils advocate but I only remember two quality saves from heaton, many intimating he had an absolute worldie  game today, which was not necessarily my view, as well as he did play).

Most fans have their scapegoat player (or two or three) who can do no right and maybe I’m dogmatic but mine is trez, wtf does smith see in this guy, total waste of space, no pace, seems to tire very quickly and generally poor fitness, ‘cheats’ all the time with his closing down and defensive duties when running up the pitch to take himself out of the zone of defensive duties whilst never getting near to Nicking the balls or challenge a defender, no end product.

reinforcements needed in the winger and CF positions is a must on 1 Jan

 

[TheMightyVillans]

Thought Heaton, konsa, hause, Jack and wesley had good games.

We are far too nervy when we don't need to be. Number of times towards end of match where we could have taken out time on the ball but just booted it up field.

If we can somehow get a striker and winger in Jan then hopefully that will see us over the line. Trez and El ghazi are just way too inconsistent

 

[nepal_villan]

We were very poor and lucky to win. We were raving about some of these same players a few weeks back, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and attribute their dip in form to a lack of confidence. Need at least 1 win in the next 2 matches.

[Kiwivillan]

4 hours ago, Shomin Geki said:

HAUSE 6 A noticeably uncultured footballer, unfortunately, frequently swinging aimlessly with his lazy Putter of a left foot.  Whilst providing little impetus in creating meaningful forward movement he is at least good in the air and is a pleasingly physical presence in the inevitable melees that we create.  A better team will hurt him though.

2nd on Whoscored with 8.1/10 behind Grealish. Probably due to most clearances 9 (6 more than next best Villa player Elmo), most tackles 5, most blocked shots 3 as well as 1 interception (most was 2). In a tight 1-0 win that's monster defensive stats

[thunderball]

Hause and Konsa could well be our future CB pairing, still both very young for a centre back duo, but showing up in high pressure games when others around them are not. Engels and Mings will likely return on reputation when fit, but the deputies are looking great value and very promising.
 

Considering we got Engels, Konsa and Hause for a circa combined £22m that was great business and medium/long term planning.

Edited December 27, 2019 by thunderball

[Delphinho123]

6 hours ago, Shomin Geki said:

I always like when people do player ratings.  So I'll do some player ratings.  I hope my thoughts are sufficiently different to KentVillan's excellent summary.

HEATON 9 Arms as strong as a bear.  Ice-coldness personified.  Not only did he make some excellent saves today, but the saves were reassuringly excellent.  I do wonder if he should be bollocking the full-backs more for their frequently clueless vulnerability when 'defending' the far-post ball?

KONSA 8 Showed keen leadership, bringing pace, intelligence and daring to our back line.  Possesses the mixture of athleticism and poise that gives our defence a greater sense of coherency than it deserves.  A player quietly growing in stature.

HAUSE 6 A noticeably uncultured footballer, unfortunately, frequently swinging aimlessly with his lazy Putter of a left foot.  Whilst providing little impetus in creating meaningful forward movement he is at least good in the air and is a pleasingly physical presence in the inevitable melees that we create.  A better team will hurt him though.

ELMO 5 Decent with the ball at his feet, but still an obviously limited footballer.  Elmo will provide the odd charging run and impressive delivery, but invariably the crackle of threat will quickly fade.  Has to be held accountable for our miserable far-post achilles heel.

TARGETT 5 Disappointing today.  When he doesn't 'click' with the players around him he can seem disconcertingly leaden.  The trademark slide pass rule is a constant asset, but too often plays at a lick or two below the required intensity.  Poor reactions and lapses in concentration sometimes lead to weirdly ragged periods.

NAKAMBA 3 Oh my!  This was less Bambi on ice than Bambi's mother on ice.  Dreadful touch, constant mishit passes and the general air (and threat) of a trapped housefly.  Deeply wobbly.  Let's hope it's just a confidence issue.

LUIZ 8 Really good today.  Was everywhere.  Showed bite and versatility.  I have often wondered if Luiz, who would so clearly be more at home with the neat little passes and touches of Manchester City, is cut out for a relegation scrap.  But today his occasional drifts into what sometimes seems like an apathetic complacency were very short-lived and he mostly lead by example.  Nowhere clearer than in his brilliant goal-saving clearance.

GREALISH 9 Magic again.  The boy's a wonder.  Notice how many twinkle-toed wonders will feint and fidget with several touches before making a burst past a marker.  Not our Jack.  Each touch is part of a carefully calibrated dance through the stingiest imaginable space almost redrawing the pitch's shapes as he hops.  Could he perhaps demand more of our wingers?  His devastating swashbuckling could be even more cutting with wide players that stretch the play.  Set piece delivery still too hit and miss.

EL GHAZI 6 Whilst very much one of Anwar's more hapless performances, including his trademark point black miss, he's still a constant threat, popping up in the right place again and again.  I also thought his hold-up play today was decent.

TREZEGUET 3 Oh my, Redux!  Sadly, alternates between total anonymity and those seemingly endless close-ups of him looking sheepish and hangdog as another promising ball trickles away from his feet like a tipsy father chasing a beachball on a blustery beach.

WESLEY 4 Watching Wesley's performance I frequently thought about those fluttering figures you get outside car dealerships in the U.S.  A very mild wind was powering Wesley today.  Not sharp enough.  Not incisive enough.  Not there enough.

HOURIHANE 7 Confidently taken goal.  Was really good for ten minutes, some neat passes, an uncommon aggression, and smart link-up play... and then a goal... and then very little.  But that was about all we needed.

JOTA 4 Makes Juan Mata look like Sonic the Hedgehog.  I wonder if he's made it home yet?

LANSBURY 6 Kicked a ball really hard into the crowd.  Has a beard.

 

So you weren’t at the game then? In the game I watched, Hause was comfortably our best outfield player and Luiz was garbage for the most part. 

[cbr600rr]

much needed win, credit to heaton -jack & smith ..for throwing connor on .

 

[dudevillaisnice]

11 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Smith won’t keep this lot up 

Smith is also part of the problem.

[KenjiOgiwara]

2 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

So you weren’t at the game then? In the game I watched, Hause was comfortably our best outfield player and Luiz was garbage for the most part. 

He was absolutely excellent. His block on the line is gif worthy in itself 

Edited December 27, 2019 by KenjiOgiwara

[TRO]

14 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

Still not quite sure how we won that, Norwich must be kicking themselves.  Grealish is carrying the side and if  Heaton not pulled off a world class save we would have dropped two points again.  We saw at least an improvement in effort from last Saturday but it is debatable if we saw an improvement in quality from Villa.

Wesley ran around a lot, Marvelous is not marvelous and Targett was utterly dreadful. We have definitely played better this year and lost which I don't know if that is a good point or not.

Somehow got the win but we need to up our performances to progress up the table. Perhaps this will give the boys some confidence to do so. UTV.

its just 2/3 players that gives us that edge.....the rest are mediocre.

[TheStagMan]

I was getting increasingly pissed off by the Amazon commentators on the game going on about how great Norwich were, and I think some may have been influenced by that. Yes, they had some good chances, but our defenders stopped them or they didn't take them. We also had a number of chances that we either didn't take, or some good defending from Norwich made them look less clear cut. I thought overall that it was a fairly even game. Did Norwich make and complete more passes than us? Yes, but a lot of them were tapping around in their own half that we didn't challenge. That said, they had a few very good passages of play and looked a world apart from the team we played earlier in the season. That said, we also had a few good passages of play, and did threaten.

We are missing Mings and SJM. Two very good players whom we rely on heavily, Mings, whilst he makes a ricket by overplaying sometimes is very good defender, and more importantly a leader and motivator at the back. We are low in confidence. I think that the 4-1 against Leicester really shook us, coupled with the losses against Sheffield and Southampton. Those three games have been our biggest losses not just this season, but for a couple of years. Both the team, and Smith are young and inexperienced at this level and this is a massive challenge for them. Neither should be written off at this point. Remember, through necessity this team has been together for half a season and have been thrown into the fire against teams that have been together for much longer.

We also have weak links in Trez and Wesley. Both have struggled to adjust to this league, however I will say that both are still young and will develop, BUT we should not be relying on them - we need to sign better, or at least more experienced in this league and take both of them out of the firing line - take the pressure off and let them learn and play their game. 

We have four good (and long-term) central defenders in Mings, Engels, Hause and Konsa, Chester is also making a comeback and will be interesting to see how far his recovery can go (not too long ago we thought his career was over). Guilbert and Targett are good enough for the moment. I actually think Luiz and Marv are decent enough in a settled side.

Our issues are on the wings and up front - None of our main wingers (AEG, Trez, Jota) are good enough. AEG needs to be more consistent, Trez has looked poor and needs to adapt to the league, Jota I think is just not good enough at this level (but I do like him as a player and he is OK as back-up/cup player/against the weaker teams). We desperately need replacement wingers in January.

Our striker options are poor, Wez, Davis and Kodjia. It's a shame that Davis suffered his injury as I genuinely think he would have been more effective than Wes has been. I would even have considered playing both. At the moment I would also consider playing Kodjia as a winger - he has pace and does like to run at people, and out on the wing where there is a bit more space, could be effective. He is not an out and out main striker at this level. Ideally we need to get someone in Jan. Imagine if we still had Tammy! If we get a striker and a winger we could look at letting Kodjia go as for some reason Smith does not seem to want to play him.

 

In terms of playing style - we don't press the opposition when they have the ball until they reach the final third. This has been the case for a very long time. Other teams do this - why don't we? Similarly when we get the ball, we seem to get to the final third and then stop - again, this has been the case for a long time. I think that the lack of quality up front harms the whole team. We look like we are playing with 10 men a lot of the time. 

 

 

[KenjiOgiwara]

4 minutes ago, TheStagMan said:

I was getting increasingly pissed off by the Amazon commentators on the game going on about how great Norwich were, and I think some may have been influenced by that. Yes, they had some good chances, but our defenders stopped them or they didn't take them. We also had a number of chances that we either didn't take, or some good defending from Norwich made them look less clear cut. I thought overall that it was a fairly even game. Did Norwich make and complete more passes than us? Yes, but a lot of them were tapping around in their own half that we didn't challenge. That said, they had a few very good passages of play and looked a world apart from the team we played earlier in the season. That said, we also had a few good passages of play, and did threaten.

We are missing Mings and SJM. Two very good players whom we rely on heavily, Mings, whilst he makes a ricket by overplaying sometimes is very good defender, and more importantly a leader and motivator at the back. We are low in confidence. I think that the 4-1 against Leicester really shook us, coupled with the losses against Sheffield and Southampton. Those three games have been our biggest losses not just this season, but for a couple of years. Both the team, and Smith are young and inexperienced at this level and this is a massive challenge for them. Neither should be written off at this point. Remember, through necessity this team has been together for half a season and have been thrown into the fire against teams that have been together for much longer.

We also have weak links in Trez and Wesley. Both have struggled to adjust to this league, however I will say that both are still young and will develop, BUT we should not be relying on them - we need to sign better, or at least more experienced in this league and take both of them out of the firing line - take the pressure off and let them learn and play their game. 

We have four good (and long-term) central defenders in Mings, Engels, Hause and Konsa, Chester is also making a comeback and will be interesting to see how far his recovery can go (not too long ago we thought his career was over). Guilbert and Targett are good enough for the moment. I actually think Luiz and Marv are decent enough in a settled side.

Our issues are on the wings and up front - None of our main wingers (AEG, Trez, Jota) are good enough. AEG needs to be more consistent, Trez has looked poor and needs to adapt to the league, Jota I think is just not good enough at this level (but I do like him as a player and he is OK as back-up/cup player/against the weaker teams). We desperately need replacement wingers in January.

Our striker options are poor, Wez, Davis and Kodjia. It's a shame that Davis suffered his injury as I genuinely think he would have been more effective than Wes has been. I would even have considered playing both. At the moment I would also consider playing Kodjia as a winger - he has pace and does like to run at people, and out on the wing where there is a bit more space, could be effective. He is not an out and out main striker at this level. Ideally we need to get someone in Jan. Imagine if we still had Tammy! If we get a striker and a winger we could look at letting Kodjia go as for some reason Smith does not seem to want to play him.

 

In terms of playing style - we don't press the opposition when they have the ball until they reach the final third. This has been the case for a very long time. Other teams do this - why don't we? Similarly when we get the ball, we seem to get to the final third and then stop - again, this has been the case for a long time. I think that the lack of quality up front harms the whole team. We look like we are playing with 10 men a lot of the time. 

Very good post. If not spot on.