Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Leeds

[villalad21]

I think if the game was proof of anything it is that Smith wants to slowly revert back to his expansive football and taking big risks. Like we played pre lockdown.

I think the post lockdown tactics was just a survival thing but we will see.

Edited October 24, 2020 by villalad21

[Kingman]

Woken up this morning still scarred by the absolute mental torture of last night 

Listening to the shear wank fest of Stephen Warnock coming in his pants in that scouser drone for 90 minutes 

I now know what it would sound like if a bunch if whale sharks bummed a scouse dolphin!  

[TRO]

27 minutes ago, onmeedson said:

What always disappoints me is we never adapt to a game, we put a team out and play that way and only that way. Leeds made a change after 20 mins when they could see a problem and went on to target cash to provide the route to most off our downfall. Cash was not to blame but the lack of help he received was amount to a kid getting a school dinner from the government. We all know if you run through the middle at that defence a gaping hole appears, bielsa knew it and exploited it. Tactics are a major part of the game we just do not use it.

I think it is fair to say, most of us are looking at midtable as a finish......so we are going to get beat.....but that last night was emphatic and showed up our vulnerabilities, if we don't learn from that we are dum.The next window we should be looking at different types of players.....we have just upgraded on the types we already have.

I Still think we went gungho too early and should have concentrated on nullifying their enthusiasm and willingness to run, We were like a gunslinger, who couldn't wait to kill and talk later....I think the 4 wins did get inside our heads, hey it happens.

This Villa team is potentially a very good side....we have to learn from last night and take that in to the Southampton and Arsenal games.

Not many teams will have that level of intensity in their play.....but we have to be "Prepared" when they do.

Edited October 24, 2020 by TRO

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

 

[fightoffyour]

I’m crap at football, but the first time my wife played a 5-a-side game with me (she played for the Polish women’s U21s) everything that touched my boot turned into gold. My touch was like Velcro, shots were flying in from the halfway line, everyone was looking round like “what the **** is going on.” For that 1 hour she actually thought I was a great player.

That was Patrick Bamford last night.

Grealish had a shot cleared off the line and then almost scored the goal of the season running past the entire opposition team. Either of those go in and we win that game. The capitulation to going behind was unacceptable but it was the first time this season. No need to panic.

[bannedfromHandV]

We were ripped and pulled apart by a better team with inferior players.

Really didn’t want to have to come on and admit this but here we are.

I despise Bamford even more than Leeds.

[TRO]

29 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I think if the game was proof of anything it is that Smith wants to slowly revert back to his expansive football and taking big risks. Like we played pre lockdown.

I think the post lockdown tactics was just a survival thing but we will see.

I hope not.

I think it showed last night than when the goals don't go in you have to have a fall back position of not conceding.....I think they was very aware of how to play us to get purchase on the game, and it worked for them.

[TRO]

3 minutes ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

 

Not being smug....but it only supports what we witnessed.

[Kiwivillan]

Leeds were all over Wolves 1st half then got sucker punched. We needed Grealish goal line clearance to go in maybe different game but so many of our players were dialing in their performances. I hope this game is a wake up call

[TRO]

1 minute ago, bannedfromHandV said:

We were ripped and pulled apart by a better team with inferior players.

Really didn’t want to have to come on and admit this but here we are.

I despise Bamford even more than Leeds.

In a nutshell.

[villalad21]

3 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Leeds were all over Wolves 1st half then got sucker punched.

Classic Wolves. They are so good at it.

They just defended really well and let Leeds wear themselves out. Came for their throat when they sensed tireness in Leeds.

Absolute tactical master class from Nuno.

Edited October 24, 2020 by villalad21

[TRO]

1 minute ago, Kiwivillan said:

Leeds were all over Wolves 1st half then got sucker punched. We needed Grealish goal line clearance to go in maybe different game but so many of our players were dialing in their performances. I hope this game is a wake up call

You are right, but we can't keep expecting magical moments to bail us out of the pragmatic sides of the game.

We can finish midtable playing like we are but if we have aspirations of better things, we have to be able to emulate that kind of workrate...whether they can sustain it is another thing, my suspicion is Biesla has ingrained it in them.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Im thinking this sort of result and the bringing back down to earth in this fashion can be turned into a positive as it helps build a good mentality if we come back stronger for it by being determined and dogged against Southampton. If we put in a good performance then it will only show good signs of how this team have mental strength. We didnt respond well to going behind at all. Need to find bouncebackability to set backs, especially in-game. Didnt feel confident at all when we went behind yesterday that we’d come back into the game. 
 

Great start though, lets hope we respond with a good display against another side who have had our number in recent times

[PaulC]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

It had remnants of December 2018, but we scored the first 2 that night....their intensity and workrate just simply over whelmed us and sadly that is what I feared would happen before the kick off last night.....I don't think we was prepared for that.

They had some key players out too....but their relentless style was too much for our narcisstic, self indulgent offering.

me too, i thought there was a degree of complacency about our performance. we needed to start of fast and match them and we didnt. no good Smith saying the first half was even because it wasn't. We needed to keep the ball better too. Kept giving it away cheapily playing into their hands. 

[villalad21]

Just now, PaulC said:

me too, i thought there was a degree of complacency about our performance. we needed to start of fast and match them and we didnt. no good Smith saying the first half was even because it wasn't. We needed to keep the ball better too. Kept giving it away cheapily playing into their hands. 

I really don't think it is complacency.

We've seen this against Bielsa before. This wasn't too different from the 3-2 loss at Villa Park.

Fair play we took a 2-0 early lead but after that they were all over us and fully deserved their win.

I just think we struggle against this sort of teams.

[sne]

Very much a "Mom's spaghetti" performance. The manner of the defeat was disheartening. 

They handled us much better than we should allow them to and nullified our midfield pretty much. Some players might have had an off day but that wasn't the real issue. We allowed 23 shots, 9 on target and while we certainly also could have scored we lacked killer instinct and our players took too much time when they got the opportunity to shoot or pass.

They were better than us and deserved the win, was a rout in the end but maybe that's a good thing as it forces us to refocus on what lies ahead. IF we had gotten a bit full of ourselves then this would have knocked the stuffing out again. Up to the leaders on and off the pitch to make sure we handle this the right way and get it right for the Southampton game. No big changes needed, some adjustments and maybe a bit more intensity in trainings so we release the ball quicker in the future.

[TRO]

3 minutes ago, PaulC said:

me too, i thought there was a degree of complacency about our performance. we needed to start of fast and match them and we didnt. no good Smith saying the first half was even because it wasn't. We needed to keep the ball better too. Kept giving it away cheapily playing into their hands. 

spot on, the giving the ball away cheaply was a feature of us not standing strong when the pass is delivered we was out muscled too easily....I too think Dean was wrong in his assessment that it was even, in some aspects it may have been, like chances but in play, it clearly wasn't....they wanted it more.

We do need to work better at keeping the ball...I think up until last night we have, but we need to do more. I think physicality has so much of a knock on effect to so many more aspects of the game and it showed last night.

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, romavillan said:

I think we fell apart a bit after their goal but we could have scored a couple by then, it could easily hve been 2-2 by then! We competed well enough for 70 minutes of the 90. Even when we were a bit all over the place I wouldn't say we were pathetic or dreadful. Not like the 11 strangers the last manager often put out or the even worse days before that.

Decision making, I guess you mean Jack mainly, he was guilty of holding on to it too long a few times I think, but then again on another day he gets a brace and the pen gets given so 2 goals and an assist. His passing accuracy was down, as a group we didn't handle their pressure well. Better teams than us will not handle their pressure either. 

I think it is far more realistic to give credit where it is due, Leeds were excellent all over the park. They play first touch, full throttle with exceptional movement. Bielsa has done an incredible job with the squad he has. That said 3-0 flattered them a bit given all the chances we had, they shoudl really have been down to 10 men inside the first half hour as well if the ref had any bollocks.

I've seen other people saying you can't criticise without someone trying to make out you aren't a good fan. I think that's over defensive from people that have always criticised Smith from the start. I do think that after the start we have had the level of criticism is a bit much though. I also think the level of praise and expectation from winning our first four was way over the top though. I'm happy we're 11 points clear of the bottom 3 to be honest and we're 39 points away from having a massively improved season and cementing our place back in this league.

Very disappointing result, and a performance I woudl think Smith will study hard and an experience we will learn from as a group.

 

But leeds could have been a couple up as well before then. They were domiantjng the first 15 minutes. Then we came back into it. Then second half we fell apart aftee the first. I thought those days were behind us but clearly not. It was a complete shit show after that.

Basic errors. 

Grealish thinking he is superman wss great to see but he made the wrong decision. Alot of jacks play was wrong yesterday. Not sure why he felt he needed to do everything himself as he has quality round

[TRO]

I think there are 2 things here.....

• we have not targetted players in the transfer market so far,who can deal with this kind of play, maybe thats to come.
• secondly we don't seem to train/set up in preparation to deal with it.

things to look for during the season.

[PaulC]

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

spot on, the giving the ball away cheaply was a feature of us not standing strong when the pass is delivered we was out muscled too easily....I too think Dean was wrong in his assessment that it was even, in some aspects it may have been, like chances but in play, it clearly wasn't....they wanted it more.

We do need to work better at keeping the ball...I think up until last night we have, but we need to do more. I think physicality has so much of a knock on effect to so many more aspects of the game and it showed last night.

Yes it showed in the possession stats at the end of the first half which was 60-40 in favour of Leeds. Doesn't mean everything but it showed they kept the ball better than us. We want to be direct but we are overdoing the long ball a bit. 

Edited October 24, 2020 by PaulC