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Player Match Ratings: We win (the second half)!


John

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We picked up exactly where we had left off, in the second half of our previous home game against Leeds yesterday. At the end of the first half, we were three goals down and that had made it 0-6 during our last 90 minutes of football at Villa Park. We really do need to not take a half off during home games, as we have now done in our last two!

It was therefore to be a matter of damage limitation in the second half, as it is not often that teams recover from a three-goal deficit. We were better in the second half, although it could be argued that it would have been difficult for us to be any worse. We did actually win the second half 3-1, thanks to two stoppage time goals. The score does not therefore look too bad on paper, but it does not really give a true reflection on the game. We can take some crumbs of comfort from the fact that we did at least show some spirit in the second half and we gave the score a more respectable, and a less embarrassing look.

Southampton assumed their job was done after they had added their fourth. Had we played on for another two or three minutes, or scored from one or two more second half opportunities, we might even have stolen an unlikely late point from them. After all this will be a season of unusual scores, as the current league champions found quite recently at Villa Park.   

Southampton have now won three successive games at Villa Park comfortably. They did so yesterday by executing their plan to beat us exceptionally well and they were again like our previous visitors, dominant for at least 45 minutes. When you score three goals without reply during those 45 minutes, that is more often than not, all it takes to leave with all the points, and it cannot be argued that we were again second best on Sunday afternoon. This was an afternoon when every shot the in-form visitors hit, landed smack on target.  

Two consecutive home defeats have put a large dent in our tremendous start to this season, but thankfully we do have those twelve points in the bag, and they cannot take those away from us. We started this game, as if we were still nursing the hangover from our last one. We just did not get started during the first half and we paid the penalty for that, against well organised opponents, who have now leapfrogged us in the table. We failed to react to the early warning we received after just 3 minutes, when a slide rule VAR decision, thankfully denied the visitors an early lead.

Villa then went behind after 20 minutes when unsurprisingly, Vestergaard headed them ahead, when marked by the comparatively diminutive McGinn. We then gift wrapped two first-half free kicks for birthday boy, Ward-Prowse. They were both on the edge of the box and the dead-ball specialist hit what even for him, were two exceptional strikes past the wall and into the left-hand corner of the net past Martinez. Ings added a fourth on 58 minutes (his 5th in his last 6 games against us), hitting another unstoppable shot, this time into the right-hand corner, to put the game beyond any reasonable doubt. To be honest, at half time I thought that the full-time score could have ended up as anything. I had not then guessed it might end up 3-4 though!         

We are now outside of the top four and could well be down to eighth tonight, but we do still have a game in hand (although that is admittedly at Manchester City). Our confidence has been dealt a body blow by back to back home defeats. Opponents will now view us as a team that can be beaten and one that may be on the slide, rather than as one that wins games for fun and will be hard to get anything out of. Our team now needs to turn things around quickly.

As Billy Ocean once said, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” and it will be tough to make amends for these two home performances, for our shell-shocked players. They got themselves into a great league position, they now need to fight to recover their lost match-winning form and to stop leaking goals, by looking again at how we are conceding them (as we did during lockdown).         

My player ratings from a game of two halves (for both teams), that has left us needing to stop the rot (at Arsenal of all places) are:

Emiliano Matinez – 5 – One of those days when a keeper has little to do other than to retrieve the ball from the back of his net. Had little chance of stopping Vestergaard’s 20th minute header into the left-hand corner of his net and the same was the case when Ward-Prowse hit their second and third from around 3 yards outside of the box, and from the edge of the box respectively into the left hand corner of the net with unerring accuracy. Ings added a fourth hitting a screamer from the edge of the box that he could also do nothing about, as it flew into the top left-hand corner of his net.

Matty Cash – 4 – Stopped an Adams cross reaching the unmarked Walcott on the very edge of the box to earn himself a booking and to concede the free kick that produced their third goal.

Ezri Konsa – 5 – Ings flicked a 3rd minute corner on at the near post towards Adams at the other post. Ezri got back to reach the ball first with an outstretched leg but the ball bounced onto his arm and into the net. Fortunately, Adams was adjudged to be marginally offside by VAR to prevent Ezri from being credited with their opening goal.      

Tyrone Mings – 6 – Did well to block a 2nd minute Ings cross on the left edge of the 6-yard box. Headed Jack’s cross from the left of the box, between McCarthy and his left-hand post from just inside the 6-yard box, to open our scoring after 62 minutes. Nearly scored a second when his 80th minute header from a Barclay corner was tipped over the bar by McCarthy.      

Matt Targett – 5 – Hit a couple of measured crosses that on another day may have produced a goal. Unfortunate to concede the foul that led to their first, when Walker-Peters took the opportunity to tumble over his leg, after he had hit his cross.                

John McGinn - 4 – Why he wound up marking Vestergaard (who stands ten inches taller than him) when he headed home their first from a precise Ward-Prowse free kick is beyond me. Some way off his best.    

Douglas Luiz – 5 – Had an 89th minute shot from outside of the box saved by McCarthy. Walcott did not need an invitation to go to ground to claim the free-kick that Ward-Prowse scored their second from, when the two players ran together towards the box.

Ross Barclay – 4 – Hit a 74th minute shot over the bar from outside of the box. Not his sort of game yesterday, with the ball he can make it talk, without it he can sometimes let a game like this one pass him by.             

Jack Grealish – 7 – MOTM – Had a 10th minute shot deflected just wide of the far post off Bednarek, having been found by Targett inside the left of the box. His 52nd minute header from a Douglas cross was saved by McCarthy diving to his left. Having crossed for our first and been brought down for our penalty, he then scored our third himself on 97 minutes. Douglas hit a ball from the right of the field to find Jack on the left, he then moved on to the edge of the box and placed a shot just inside the left-hand post, that left McCarthy flat footed.  

Bertrand Traore – 4 – Substituted on 29 minutes, having himself kicked the ball out of play after an innocuous turn, to the apparent incredulity of his manager on the touchline. Found by Barclay in space on the edge of the penalty area with a 24th minute free kick, but his shot which was already going wide of the post, was deflected further wide by a defender for a corner. Did disappointingly little to stake a claim for a regular starting place in the short time he was on.                               

Ollie Watkins – 5 – Quiet again during the 90 minutes, but finally came to life in stoppage time. Made a 91st minute run into the left of the box and hit a shot that McCarthy blocked at his near post. Jack was then brought down as he moved towards the resultant loose ball for our penalty. Ollie then demonstrated admirable confidence in demanding the ball from Captain Jack, and he sent McCarthy the wrong way from the spot, hitting the ball into the left of the net on 93 minutes.

Substitute:

Mahmoud Trezeguet – 6 - Replaced Traore after 29 minutes and did enough to regain his starting place, in my opinion. His diving header from a 52nd minute Grealish cross, was only kept out by McCarthy’s left leg at the near post. Chested down a 69th minute Targett cross, but his shot was blocked by Vestergaard just inside the 6-yard box before it could test the keeper. Chested down another Targett cross just 2 minutes later in much the same position within the right-hand side of the box, but McCarthy gathered the ball at the near post at the second attempt. Chested down another cross, this time from Watkins, that had been headed on by a defender, but his 76th minute shot was again kept out by McCarthy.   

Ahmed Elmohamady – 5 – Came on for Cash on 67 minutes and did well enough. 

Up the Villa!

John Lewis

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The issue I had was that if it was SJM's job to mark Vertergaard, thats fine, but he needs to be tighter and block his action, SJM at fault for that.

Other then that Ward-prowse was on the money and those free kicks deserved goals.

Interestingly enough we beat them in every stat but it didn't feel that way watching it. So it can be said that the free kicks were the whole game, killed us.

For me its the players not doing their jobs, concentration was poor, decision making same.

Clearly though our squad depth is not there yet. We definitely need another couple of windows to fix all the leaks.

 

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With regards to McGinn marking Vestergaard. If teams practice zonal marking, the great weakness of that system is it simply enables a big attacker to choose to stand next to someone inches shorter than him. Mings would and should have tracked their biggest attacker, but he stuck to his zone instead. A big weakness I think.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Phil Silvers said:

The issue I had was that if it was SJM's job to mark Vertergaard, thats fine, but he needs to be tighter and block his action, SJM at fault for that.

I think it might be a zonal vs man marking thing, but in any case it does not make any sense whatsoever for those two to be paired up against each other. John would need to be able to leap like a salmon to win a ball in the air against him and he would need to have a ball and chain around both of his feet as well.  

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I am confused as to why we have started playing zonal again, I thought after lockdown we had stopped it all, shouldnt the results at that point be the reason zonal is avoided.

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