Ratings & Reactions: Burnley v Villa

[TheStagMan]

2 hours ago, Graham t said:

No , ex professional centre forward who understands what is required from a striker. What are your credentials?

Having eyes and having used them to watch the game?

[TheStagMan]

1 hour ago, SuperTed said:

Sign him up!!! 

Do we really want Ross back????

[Davkaus]

I'm genuinely stunned that Westwood has made a career at this level. Several years after leaving us, he still seems to hide from thew ball when his team aren't on top. He's a dreadful footballer, yet somehow he's a multi-millionaire. What a world.

[Graham t]

1 hour ago, SuperTed said:

Sign him up!!! 

Make me an offer, ( I may have slowed up a tad as I'm 68 years old now....) but I did play alongside a former Villa centre forward in about 1969 /70), yes, honestly.......

[AVTuco]

What an important win and comeback from the Watford atrocity. Well done Smith and players. 

[ciggiesnbeer]

4 hours ago, Herman22 said:

One other thing, seeing Westwood was a great thing. Reminded me why I had no time for him in a Villa shirt. Does nothing going forward, doesn't do enough defensively and his set piece deliveries are generally poor. 

He does the simple things well so I hear. Future England captain and all that. Lulz

[chappy]

Great afternoon at Turf Moor today! Much better than my last two away trips (Sheff Utd and Watford)...

I thought the new formation worked really well, not sure if it caught them off guard but it suited our three CBs well. Konsa looks much more assured next to Mings and brought the ball out nicely at times, a great assist for our disallowed goal too. Hause  seems a lot calmer with Mings on the pitch too and successfully got us out of a few tight situations down on our left. Guilbert is a great option as a wing back and I’m sure it would suit Targett when he comes back too. So well done to Dean on that one!

Douglas Luiz had one of his best games for us today, my only criticism would be a couple of very tame efforts on goal in the second half when a pass or something less cute would have been the better option. Some excellent passing though and you can see the quality he has, he will only become more consistent with experience.

Grealish was fantastic again, he really is the heart and soul of our team and most if not all good things we do go through him. Much better through the middle and scored two lovely goals. Great moment when he walked over to give Dean a massive hug as soon as the final whistle went too.

Trezeguet is not a man to lump long balls up to in the air but thought he hassled and harried well today, a good option to press. Excellent work to win the ball back after giving it away and then set up the attack for our second goal too.

Wesley was really good today, voted him MOTM. HIs knock downs were good and it was a really good example of physical centre forward play, even more obvious in contrast to Kodjia when he came on (more on him later). He was getting into better positions closer to goal as well. Looks like getting players up and around him helped! Another really nice moment when he scored, everyone gathered around him - you could see how happy they were for him, even Heaton shouting him from our penalty area and giving it the double fist pump in the air. The injury doesn’t look good at all though, Douglas seemed pretty distressed about it at the time and I’ve seen the photos on Twitter too. Hope he comes back fit and strong soon but looks like it could be a season ender, gutted for him if so after his best performance in a Villa shirt. Hope Heaton’s injury isn’t a serious one too.

VAR: ridiculous decision on the disallowed goal, they’ve made a rod for their back in the way they’ve adapted it for offsides but that was a particularly bad one today, Wes wasn’t even involved in the goal! Didn’t celebrate the Wes goal as I was sure it’d be disallowed - a real shame.

Kodjia: felt people around me were being a bit harsh on him, we couldn’t expect him to come on and play the Wesley hold up role - it’s not his game. However, he did look very ponderous and clearly isn’t the long term option for an injured Wesley if we are going to play with today’s system. The only way I could see him working would be in a two up front (we briefly saw it with him and Davis a couple of years ago) or if he was one of our wingers - he doesn’t track back like Trez though, or pass like AEG.

Ratings:

Heaton 8 (Nyland 10 for catching that corner )

Konsa 8

Hause 7

Mings 8

Taylor 7

Guilbert 7

Nakamba 7

Luiz 9

Grealish 9

Trezeguet 7 (Hourihane - not long enough)

Wesley 9 (Kodjia 4)

Great start to the decade!

 

 

Edited January 1, 2020 by chappy
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[robby b]

I've watched Sky's highlights and I love what the commentator said about us today: "Aston Villa are scrapping to survive but... they're doing it in style!". Nice.  : D  More style please guys, in our remaining league matches !

[Keener window-cleaner]

That was a massive win! I must admit I thought looked a bit desperate when I saw the line up with three at the back, didn't think we would have had the time to implement that in training, and felt a bit like DS had abandoned his playing style philosophy. But massive credit to the management who made the switch and the players who adapted to it perfectly. Probably having Mings back was what made it click, you could see how he was constantly shouting orders and giving directions. Against rugby style Burnley with the presence they have in the air it was a smart move to have three centre backs. It made us look so much more solid, also with Nakamba and Luiz sitting in front. Despite looking quite defensive we still managed to play quite well and get into good positions. I don't really know what positions Jack and Trez were supposed to have, but it worked. We weathered the storm in the first 15 mins of the second half, and I would have wanted us to keep more possession, but at the end of the day we got the points. That was so important. It was a good display, but to be fair, Burnely were awful in the first half, like Norwich were when we beat them away. We will need to win more games away on our own merit from now on and not just let the wins come when the opponents have a day off.

As for VAR, **** off.

 

[KenjiOgiwara]

Only been able to see the first half, but whatever. 

Grealish top notch. 
Wesley good stuff. Should have buried his first chance, but made it right with quick foot work on the second. 

Konsa very good. 

Mings is absolutely instrumental i organising us, but I knew that already.

Guilbert superb.

Taylor is crap.

Luiz good. 

Trez did really well. Indirectly the reason for both of our goals. Good half. 

Crossing was absolute shite once again.

Back 3 looks very comfortable.

 

[foreveryoung]

4 hours ago, Davkaus said:

I'm genuinely stunned that Westwood has made a career at this level. Several years after leaving us, he still seems to hide from thew ball when his team aren't on top. He's a dreadful footballer, yet somehow he's a multi-millionaire. What a world.

If Head injury Baker could make it as a professional footballer playing in the Premier league, anyone can

[sheepyvillian]

I thought Trez had his best game today. It was his had work that led to the first goal. I'm really happy for a player that shows such enthusiasm. 

[TRO]

Never give us a prayer today.....so well done to all concerned, inc fans.

set the standard now in that first half, shows we CAN do it.

[LakotaDakota]

9 hours ago, AVFCDAN said:

We probably need to match our points from the first half of the season in the 2nd half, great start picking up a win in the first game of the second half of the season. Another 15-18 points should be enough to stay up.

Second half of the season started against Watford, we have played 21 of  38. Think we may need more than 40 to stay up this year. An awful lot of teams already sat in the mid 20's, Norwich look like they are starting to get a little cut adrift but otherwise there are only 6 points between Watford in 19th with 19 points & Everton in 11th on 25. Everyone in the bottom 10 is only a good/bad week away from changing positions dramatically at the moment

[Kiwivillan]

7 hours ago, Davkaus said:

I'm genuinely stunned that Westwood has made a career at this level. Several years after leaving us, he still seems to hide from thew ball when his team aren't on top. He's a dreadful footballer, yet somehow he's a multi-millionaire. What a world.

He scooped 2 Burnley player of the year the other season and got double figure assists from memory. Did you just pick this game to write him off?

[briny_ear]

Very good and much needed win today, excellent first half and we scrapped well in defence when under more pressure in the second.

I’ve given Grealish MOTM but Mings’s return to defence was massively influential today. 

Let’s hope this is a turning point and also that they both stay fit for the rest of the season. On that subject, Heaton’s injury was worrying. Without wishing to be cynical, I will be surprised if Wesley’s is too serious.

[LakotaDakota]

23 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Without wishing to be cynical, I will be surprised if Wesley’s is too serious.

Look at the photos in the Wesley thread. His knee looks f***ed. Would be surprised to see him again this season

Edited January 2, 2020 by LakotaDakota

[Davkaus]

7 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

He scooped 2 Burnley player of the year the other season and got double figure assists from memory. Did you just pick this game to write him off?

I'll admit I don't make a habit of watching Burnley so today may well be an off-day. Looked all too reminiscent of how he played for us though.

 

[Kiwivillan]

21 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I'll admit I don't make a habit of watching Burnley so today may well be an off-day. Looked all too reminiscent of how he played for us though.

 

I think he was victim of a shite situation as far as we were concerned

[LondonVillian]

5 at the back was a good call would like us to do this more. DS actually changed the system which was suprising and it worked well. 

Wesley was solid I thought today, good to have mings back as well.

Edited January 2, 2020 by LondonVillian