Ratings & Reactions: Villa v West Ham

[TRO]

39 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Shocker.

Only Watkins played anything like a good level, team looked tired physically and perhaps mentally too, going to need to find something big to get a result on the weekend.

Thought West Ham played well though and were easily the better team for the majority of the match.

Most teams will play well, if you give them that much space....it was criminal.

[Vive_La_Villa]

11 minutes ago, BOF said:

Saw it after 10 minutes. We were second to everything. We are knackered. We need to start rotating or our season will peter out. 

I said after the Southampton game we need to solider through the next 2 and then it’s pretty much a game a week for quite a while.  8 games in 18 days is crazy. 

[maqroll]

44 minutes ago, PaddytheVillan said:

We've been poor for the last 5 games, this is just the worst performance of them all. We are struggling with a complete lack of depth, Smith has to take some blame for not using subs or trusting more of his players. 

Cannot believe how much we were outplayed by a team containing "J-Lingz" 

Please tell me he doesnt call himself that

[PaulC]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

Most teams will play well, if you give them that much space....it was criminal.

Might need to rethink the midfield. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

Most teams will play well, if you give them that much space....it was criminal.

I don’t think space was the issue. We just pretty much lost every single 50/50 all game. They bullied us. 

[flashingqwerty]

27 minutes ago, smg said:

No clue how to manage ? Utter b******s

So continuing to play a completely useless Barkley and McGinn but eplacing the in form Traore was good management was it?

Playing 6 games in just over 2 weeks using only 13 players, leaving players on the pitch, clearly exhausted, when there are viable rotation options on the bench is good management is it?

Give your head a wobble!

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

9 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

Also I cannot give Watkins motm as his giving g the ball away started the counters that lead to the 2nd and 3rd wet spam goals. They were cheap giveaways as well.

I think people fail to realise that most of the time Watkins is trying to both control the ball AND fight off a defender trying to ragdoll and pull him down him at the same time. Alot of the time he is almost falling backwards trying to control the pass.

He is all the way UP TOP.

Still doesn't excuse them being able to gallivant through our whole team afterwards though.

Edited February 3, 2021 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[villalad21]

It was never sustainable the way we've been playing as of late. 

This is the reason why some folks were not happy after Southampton despite winning. 

Something isn't right with the team and i think the main issue is Barkley 

[The Fun Factory]

That wasn't good was it. Perhaps in hindsight needed to freshen the team up. Arsenal is going to be difficult now. Before we have another VT meltdown we are in a far better position this far into the season than anyone predicted. However bit of a missed opportunity tonight. I am still worried if Watkins gets injured we have nothing on the bench to replace him. Onto the next one.

[TRO]

16 minutes ago, Kjøttbacken said:

Mings good, Ollie decent but for a couple very costly touches. 
 

We really struggle against cave men.

 

 

Because, we don't have anyone in the squad to call on ,to counter, it.

[maqroll]

46 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

Barkley... what's the point?

Doesnt quite seem like a Villa player

[TRO]

4 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Might need to rethink the midfield. 

I have never been more sure......this has been coming.

[Lerner's Driver]

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I think people fail to realise that sometimes Watkins is trying to both control the ball AND fight off a defender trying to ragdoll him at the same time. Alot of the time he is almost falling backwards trying to control.

He is all the way UP TOP.

Still doesn't excuse them being able to gallivant through our whole team afterwards though.

Gallivant is right. What a **** word. We look weak, as if to say, "sure, we'll have a go at fending off the attacks, but deep down, we know it's not quite good enough. Never mind, we tried" Weeeeeaaaaaakkkkk!

[gurru991]

19 minutes ago, Villaphan04 said:

just remember, Everton lost to Newcastle the other day. These games happen in the PL -- we aren't at the level of Man City yet, we can't be expecting to win every match. We will have off days 

The League is very different this season with no home advantage without fans in the stadiums.  There are no easy games for any team right now & any club can win at any time. Man C are on a different level to the rest of us .

[Lerner's Driver]

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

Because, we don't have anyone in the squad to call on ,to counter, it.

Agreed, no shithouser. 

[TRO]

9 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I think people fail to realise that most of the time Watkins is trying to both control the ball AND fight off a defender trying to ragdoll and pull him down him at the same time. Alot of the time he is almost falling backwards trying to control the pass.

He is all the way UP TOP.

Still doesn't excuse them being able to gallivant through our whole team afterwards though.

The pundits mentioned the midfield and it looked like Craig shakespeare, mentioned it to Dean, but Dean seemed to scowl or rebuff him.

Edited February 4, 2021 by TRO

[Lerner's Driver]

3 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Doesnt quite seem like a Villa player

He doesn't quite Seem like any clubs player. Pure floater.

[maqroll]

1 minute ago, Lerner's Driver said:

He doesn't quite Seem like any clubs player. Pure floater.

[smg]

1 minute ago, flashingqwerty said:

So continuing to play a completely useless Barkley and McGinn but eplacing the in form Traore was good management was it?

Playing 6 games in just over 2 weeks using only 13 players, leaving players on the pitch, clearly exhausted, when there are viable rotation options on the bench is good management is it?

Give your head a wobble!

Agree with your assessment of Barkley, McGinn also suffers from his inclusion but the selections will be based on figures produced by players in training which will show that the players were not clearly exhausted, they were just beaten tonight, god forbid, by a better team on the night. I expect changes will be made for Saturday and if we lose it will because the manager took too long to bring them in. It’s interesting that we can tolerate a weak bench when we are winning, but those same players become viable options when we are losing. 
Finally I have no need to give my head a wobble just because you have different opinions.

[gordy]

Needed time to calm down after that muck. Truely terrible showing but having had time to analyze what I saw, I can see some worrying trends.

First is fatigue, we looked tired. West Ham and ourselves have the most unchanged teams in the PL. But they had some rotation in tonight. Luis and Mcginn have played every game except 1 each through suspension. Ditto for Cash and Grealish.

Two is life beyond Grealish. I dont mean him leaving I mean more diverse play than just "give the ball to Grealish". Barkley was brought in to do this but a blind slug with asthma could have done more than him tonight with no other option. I counted 4 occassions where Grealish was called back to receive the ball from defenders, played it up to the box/wingers, only to have it fired back at him when he hit the half way line.

Finally countering high fast. We were caught by Leeds, then Burnley and now West Ham. When these teams play a high press, it causes havic for us trying to play from the back. We give it away eg Konsa or fire it up the field. We need to find a way to work out of a high press and stop messing about near our own box asking for trouble.

Just my take on it, feel free to call me a raving monster looney but remember, they have a political party now 

Edited February 3, 2021 by gordy