Ratings & Reactions: Burnley v Villa

[osmark86]

6 hours ago, TRO said:

I thought Dean Smiths interview after the game was bang on.

I agree. He seems just as in disbelief as we all are. Then again I usually find that Dean is pretty bang on in every post match interview.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

6 hours ago, TRO said:

I thought Dean Smiths interview after the game was bang on.

It always is. The benefit of having a fan as manager

[icouldtelltheworld]

16 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

I hear you and you are right. However if we weren't so sloppy in those four matches we'd be in the top 4 with games in hand with eye on the champions league! It's feeling like a missed chance. The traditional top 6 are all looking beatable bar Citeh. We really could be looking at champions league football if we weren't this sloppy against teams the performances otherwise show we should have beaten easily. We won't get top 8 being this sloppy.

Oh definitely, I think a bit of naivety showed last night, were a young team still learning our trade in the PL if were being honest. I don't have you have to be that spectacular to break the top 8, some fairly average teams have managed it the past few years (Burnley bring a good example). We'll get there, and this is the most enjoyable top flight season we've had for well over a decade, it hurts to throw away a win but when you look at the overall context there are way more positives than negatives IMO.

[Demitri_C]

55 minutes ago, osmark86 said:

I mean I don't really hate them, I just hate that we lost to them and couldn't beat them twice even though we racked up enough chances to win 5 games. It was a frustrating night for sure and an unusually crap performance defensively which goes against how we've played for most games. We have the second highest number of clean sheets in the league second only to Citeh and yet we let 3 in in 45 minutes against a team that barely scores? that was just too much man XD

Yeah its abit annoying how this seems to happen. Just like Southampton game they have 3 attempts and score 3. Even we scored 7 past liverpool we missed so many sitters.

Lucky we dont have fans at the moment as yesterdays game is the kind of game our fans would have turned i think.

Lets hope we can be more ruthless against Southampton 

 

[osmark86]

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

Yeah its abit annoying how this seems to happen. Just like Southampton game they have 3 attempts and score 3. Even we scored 7 past liverpool we missed so many sitters.

Lucky we dont have fans at the moment as yesterdays game is the kind of game our fans would have turned i think.

Lets hope we can be more ruthless against Southampton 

 

Honestly some fans are just too fickle and whiney. we're absolutely brilliant overall this year. this is football after all, win some lose some.

[Demitri_C]

1 minute ago, osmark86 said:

Honestly some fans are just too fickle and whiney. we're absolutely brilliant overall this year. this is football after all, win some lose some.

Yeah i dont want ti be too harsh on them as they ahve been excellent this year. Most can see there has been huge improvement 

[osmark86]

Just now, Demitri_C said:

Yeah i dont want ti be too harsh on them as they ahve been excellent this year. Most can see there has been huge improvement 

I just hope that when fans are allowed back we don't hear booing again. I can't stand when fans boo their own team. I'm a fan of AIK here in Sweden and our fans NEVER boo our own team. Even if we're down by 4 goals we still sing and chant and spur our players on. I wish I could say the same for our beloved Villa fans, but it's just not the case unfortunately..

[MaVilla]

12 hours ago, Follyfoot said:

I would say 6 to 8 points behind where we should be

thats probably true.

However, the league doesnt work on shoulda woulda coulda, we are where we are because thats where we deserve to be tbh (which overall isnt a bad place - this terrible result aside), if we dont take our chances or see out games, thats our error(s) and reality, not shoulda woulda coulda.

We did the shoulda woulda coulda last season (ie: shoulda got X points, shoulda been Y position), we nearly got relegated.

I dont mean that as a negative thing, i just mean where we are is reflective of what we have done and by that its deserved (ie: with more composure and savvy, we would have buried Burnley by half time, we didnt, thats out own fault and deserved on that basis).

 

[MaVilla]

24 minutes ago, osmark86 said:

I just hope that when fans are allowed back we don't hear booing again. I can't stand when fans boo their own team. I'm a fan of AIK here in Sweden and our fans NEVER boo our own team. Even if we're down by 4 goals we still sing and chant and spur our players on. I wish I could say the same for our beloved Villa fans, but it's just not the case unfortunately..

i agree, but i also think it wont change, either for Villa or other clubs in the PL.

[Teale's 'tache]

Frustrating result, frustrating performance really, should of been out of sight by half time. I'm not going too worry to much about it, it's a freak result, they happen sometimes, even to the best teams.

Burnley have done this many times, and I'm not sure how. They were awful for most of both games against us but have walked away with 4 points. You'd think it's not sustainable, but somehow they manage it. The fact of the matter is if we take our chances in both games we'd of won both of them comfortably, we didn't and have paid a heavy price. We do need to become more clinical, we create enough.

At least we got out of it without any major injuries this time, there are positives but the overriding feeling right now is just frustration.

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by Teale's 'tache
typo in my typo

[osmark86]

16 minutes ago, Teale's 'tache said:

Frustrating result, frustrating performance really, should of been out of sight by half time. I'm not going to worry to much about it, it's a freak result, they happen sometimes, even to the best teams.

Burnley have done this many times, and I'm not sure how. They were awful for most of both games against us but have walked away with 4 points. You'd think it's not sustainable, but somehow they manage it. The fact of the matter is if we take our chances in both games we'd of won both of them comfortably, we didn't and have paid a heavy price. We do need to become more clinical, we create enough.

At least we got out of it without any major injuries this time, there are positives but the overriding feeling right now is just frustration.

 

well I mean it happened to Liverpool against the very same team. also Man Utd managed to mess up royally against Shef Utd yday so you're absolutely right.

[Raver50032]

This is a time to be humble and understand that we let ourselves down last night in various places on the pitch, and on the touchline. We've played 'worse' and won, or at least been under attack for long periods and not lost (Leicester... Chelski). I can 'understand' the prevalence of emotive language in the immediate post match fallout, but some of what I have read across 19 pages is nothing short of knicker wetting. 

We weren't robbed. Being robbed is Palace away last season. 

We weren't entitled to win anything. Short term memory for some people in context of where we've been over the last 5 seasons. 

And it shouldn't ruin your mood for the week. Again, in context, we're having a good season. 

Christ. 

There's a time and place for hand-wringing and worry - this wasn't it. We've been undone by VAR controversy, and although the form book is looking like a dicey spell, we've been up against two of the Top 4 in very recent fixtures. 

We go again... but it's going to be a tricky match on Saturday. We haven't found a way to play against Southampton. Yet. 

The best thing in all of this, including our recent patchy form is that we are still creating chances. We can get better at finishing them, of course we can. We can get better at game management and use of personnel. Of course we can. The time to worry is when we stop creating. 

For now, I shake my head and smirk a little at some of the reactions to this match. 

[osmark86]

14 minutes ago, Raver50032 said:

This is a time to be humble and understand that we let ourselves down last night in various places on the pitch, and on the touchline. We've played 'worse' and won, or at least been under attack for long periods and not lost (Leicester... Chelski). I can 'understand' the prevalence of emotive language in the immediate post match fallout, but some of what I have read across 19 pages is nothing short of knicker wetting. 

We weren't robbed. Being robbed is Palace away last season. 

We weren't entitled to win anything. Short term memory for some people in context of where we've been over the last 5 seasons. 

And it shouldn't ruin your mood for the week. Again, in context, we're having a good season. 

Christ. 

There's a time and place for hand-wringing and worry - this wasn't it. We've been undone by VAR controversy, and although the form book is looking like a dicey spell, we've been up against two of the Top 4 in very recent fixtures. 

We go again... but it's going to be a tricky match on Saturday. We haven't found a way to play against Southampton. Yet. 

The best thing in all of this, including our recent patchy form is that we are still creating chances. We can get better at finishing them, of course we can. We can get better at game management and use of personnel. Of course we can. The time to worry is when we stop creating. 

For now, I shake my head and smirk a little at some of the reactions to this match. 

I wrote "robbed" because I felt we totally should have won it, but you're right, we weren't robbed at all. sure, they did get some flukey goals but we shouldn't have allowed them to score any of those goals and that's on us. I just hope we snap back to reality and up our focus for the Soton game. We cannot play 45min and expect to win football matches.

[Raver50032]

1 minute ago, osmark86 said:

I wrote "robbed" because I felt we totally should have won it, but you're right, we weren't robbed at all. sure, they did get some flukey goals but we shouldn't have allowed them to score any of those goals and that's on us. I just hope we snap back to reality and up our focus for the Soton game. We cannot play 45min and expect to win football matches.

Peace be with you sir. It's all good 

[onmeedson]

Dean summed it up pretty well,  the defence took a knife to a gun fight.

[DJ_Villain]

I’m more pissed off that Ben Mee scored to be honest...

Bastard should still be locked up

[mottaloo]

I looked at the bench and didn't think there was much on offer to turn it around.

Against Burnley. 

I don't know how El Ghazi is feeling now, especially after the end to last year that he had. Perhaps I'm wrong but he might be a tad miffed.

Anyway, still chuffed with our start and i have a good feeling we can get a result on sat night.

[darrenm]

First chance I've had to write down my thoughts on last night.

I think we played well both halves but were let down by slopping defending for all 3 goals. Perhaps the players have such a swagger that they feel like they don't have to take some teams seriously.

Firstly, let's get the defending out of the way. I haven't re-watched their goals because I'm not a masochist but this is what I remember was wrong with each:

1. The corner. If you have Mee and Tarkowski both running in together at the back post, then zonal marking isn't going to work. It was a free header under almost no challenge while Mings and Konsa were near the front post. If you're playing a team like Burnley with huge defenders who will be looking to score from set pieces, you have to have a strategy for dealing with them. If that involves going man to man, putting Mings and Konsa on the 2 CBs at corners or some combination, then do it. I think it was Barkley who didn't track them and he's possibly big enough to at least make himself a nuisance and not allow a free header. Maybe he's protecting the hamstring and doesn't want the rough stuff. I did think it should have been a free kick for Mings before the corner anyway from the shirt pull but the ref seemed happy enough to let the big boys have a tussle.

2. The bizarre ghost ball. It's a recurring theme that we get caught out from that side. It was just a random not especially hard pass into the box. I think if Cash is a bit closer or he has more support from his winger then that doesn't come in. Once Martinez is unsure if he needs to cover the front or back post for either the deflection or not then he's always going to be struggling. I seem to remember Konsa being a bit slow to react and if you look at Burnley's defenders, at no point during the entire 90 mins were they slow to react to anything.

3. The cross and header. Just a superb header really. Maybe Mings could have been a bit better with the challenge and maybe the ball in should have been under more pressure but I think Cash stands off because it means no-one can skin him on the outside. Also, normally we're fine with crosses into the box because Konsa or Mings will always get there first, they get cleared to Douglas or McGinn who can quickly start breaks. Quickly turning defence into attack is how we get behind teams and why crosses in to the box are almost encouraged sometimes.

On to the attack. Grealish is just an incredible footballer. Beautiful football. I'd just love him (and others) to not let the rush of blood to the head get the better of him so he can do 1 last brilliant turn, drag-back, spin, feign, etc. Sit the defenders and goalkeeper down like on the training ground before slotting it away after a 60 yard run where he's sprinted past 6 players while still having the ball under perfect control to score goal of the decade. Then again, other times when he's got space to shoot and he could leather it (and with his quality he'd likely score more often than not) he stops to play someone else in and the other team can then pack the box and recover. So I'm asking all of the players to do the opposite of what they do in each situation. Which probably means there's no right answer and hindsight is a wonderful thing. We're still scoring 2 away to Burnley which should be enough and not many other teams will be able to do.

Talking of hindsight, plenty of people who were admittedly reacting straight after the game when still angry are blaming lack of subs for conceding the goals and I think it's too easy to make that criticism. If we're looking like scoring then there's no reason to pull any of your best 11 off the pitch to be replaced with a lesser player. A knackered Barkley or McGinn is still capable of cracking one into the top corner. With hindsight I'd have taken Traore off after we got back in front and replaced him with Elmo to shut down the right hand side and McGinn off, then replaced McGinn with Nakamba. But either one of those players I'm taking off might have been the difference on another night and scored some mad volley off a cross.

Oh yeah and penalties. We don't get anywhere near what we should considering how much time we spend in the opposition's box. Plenty of times last night all Grealish or Watkins had to do was run across the defender while under pressure and it's a penalty. I think they need to get a bit smarter with that because other teams are. Watkins 1 on 1, I know he's banking on scoring but when a defender is coming across you at speed in the box (Kenneth), it's them who has to avoid you. You don't alter your run to avoid them. If you still have control of the ball and they take you out, it's a penalty.

So, it's really that decision making in attack could be going better, Cash could do with getting a bit tighter, Traore needs to help out a bit more, attackers need to be a bit more cynical and marking on set pieces needs sorting.

But we still look brilliant to watch.

[VillaJ100]

Can't believe we lost to this shower. So annoying. Burnley are like the herpes of the league, irritating and impossible to get rid of. Although i'm glad at least all our players have both legs this time

[jasonperry_uk]

Too much space between our defence and midfield really, which allowed them the opportunity to put those crosses in without enough pressure being put on them (particularly for goals 2 and 3). Traore wasn't tracking back (typical really, but the second half really highlighted that) and so McNeill had all the time in the world because Cash was caught between wanting to tackle and covering the space behind him - it really needs 2 players to defend these situations properly. We have to get better at 'fighting'  and pressing against physical teams like Burnley.